Wow, I can't believe it's almost the end of the year already! These last few months really went by fast, especially with all the amazing events that I've been involved in. I had the honor of meeting former US President Bill Clinton and presented him with a copy of the Seventeen magazine that I was on the cover of last year. I also gave the magazine to one of my heroes, Serena Williams when she shared a meal at McDonald's with me and other Special Olympics athletes. I got to run with leaders of Intel during the first March for the Future Charity run for Special Olympics in Beijing in October. It was a beautiful, fun day and I was proud to participate in this first of 3 events that helped to raise US$100,000 for Special Olympics!

My friend and fellow Special Olympics athlete Jia Sirui and I also met many celebrities in Shanghai and Beijing . Lacoste invited us to Shanghai as special guests to their charity party which honored our 2007 World Games. We got to meet Korean actor Nan Jinzhen, the beautiful model Lu Yan, Taiwanese TV hostess Hou Peiqin and Chinese actress Zhao Wei.


Jia Sirui, Lu Yan and me at the Lacoste party

We also went to the Louis Vuitton Beijing flagship store opening. The store donated money made on this night to our 2007 World Games and we got to meet many huge stars. We met Olympic athlete and 2007 World Games ambassador Liu Xiang as well as Zhao Wei again and met the famous director Zhang Yimou and actress Xu Jinglei. We were so excited we could hardly contain ourselves!

The most exciting moment for me was when Special Olympics Global Ambassador and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came back to Beijing and helped me and my fellow Special Olympics China athletes celebrate reaching our goal of 500,000 athletes by the end of this year! I got to run the final leg of the torch run right up to Arnold who gave me a big hug. I was so excited and proud to show my parents my picture on the front page of the China Daily the next day!

photo courtesy of China Daily CEO Roundtable

It's been an amazing year for me and my friends at Special Olympics, especially during the past few months. I am looking forward to 2006 being an even busier and more exciting year and hope to share more of my stories with you then!