journal

Monday, October 23, 2000
Nee how everyone!

What's up? I have just returned from a competition in China. I competed in the 2000 Boisedeng Xuexhongfei Cup Second China International Junior Grand Prix Figure Skating Competition. It was so funny to hear the announcers try to say that in English. I arrived in China on a Sunday. It was a 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Beijing. Team USA stayed in Beijing for two days. We stayed in a Chinese sports camp and were treated very well. We skated in their rink for an hour each day we were there. We had a lot of time to sight see and walk around. On Monday we had a tour to the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. They were amazing to see. Some people never get to see them in their lifetimes, and I actually saw them. It was a great experience. On Tuesday, Team USA traveled to Harbin, the final stop on our tour of China. Harbin is a fairly large city, I'd say about the size of Phladelphia. There were 9.6 million people in Harbin. The rink in Harbin was very nice. In the same area there was a competition stadium and a practice rink. The practice rink was freezing cold, but the competition rink was warm. Harbin was actually very cold. We were about a days travel away from Siberia.

Anyway, I practiced very well on Wednesday and competed my short program on Thursday. I skated a clean short with a triple axel/double toe and a triple flip. Ma Xiaodong (the guy who won) did a triple axel/triple toe and a triple flip. I beat Soshi Tanaka who also landed a triple axel/triple toe and triple flip. I missed winning by one judge. I had a day of rest in between, and then on Saturday I did my long. I skated last. I had my doubts about skating last due to my nationals performance and skating last, but I skated really well. I opened with a triple lutz/triple toe combo and put my hand down. Then I landed a triple axel/double toe combo. After that I put my hand down on the triple flip and then I landed a second triple axel. Then I landed triple loop, triple lutz, and triple sal. I was so happy. I couldn't get to the kiss and cry because there were so many little kids who wanted my autograph. The rink was nearly sold out for every event. They were all petting my hair, since there are no blondes in China. It was so cute. My marks were between 5.2 and 5.6 for the most part on both marks. In the long I lost by one judge again. I was happy that I skated well and finally pulled it together. The exhibition went well. The crowd really liked me. The flight home was exhausting. I left at 6 p.m. eastern time on Saturday night and arrived home slightly after 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. It was awful.

This entry could go on forever, but I have to sleep sometime! I'm now gonna work as hard as I can for easterns and nationals. I am adding triple axel/triple toe to my programs and hopefully by next year I will be doing a quad and triple axel/triple loop consistently. Thanks so much for visiting!

Love always,

-J

P.S. Quote of the Entry: "Well, well, well, look what the cat cleaned up, showered, exfoliated, powdered, lipsticked, guccied and dragged in" -Karen from Will and Grace