Hello!!! Ciao!!

It's Saturday morning my time and I've just wrapped up my live shot for the Friday midnite newscast on the Opening Ceremony for everyone back home in Portland. I snagged about 3 hours of sleep last night and honestly I feel like my head is full of sand.

After I finish this blog entry I will work on a story I'm writing and then try to set stuff up for the following week ((where we have some holes in our schedule)).

It's great to see so many familiar faces.. all the same people I worked with in Salt Lake City and Athens are here.. and having that familiarity really helps.

I'm loving Italy and Torino (Turin) and am glad this city got to host the Olympics. I haven't been to Italy before, so I don't know how Torino compares to other Italian cities, but I'm pretty enamored with it.

I'm pooped and have a ton of work to do, so I'll get right to the pictures:

First up.. the bus. It takes me about an hour to and hour and 15 to get to the workspace from my media village. I love the contrast in these two photos. Frankly, riding the bus stinks for lack of a more delicate way of putting it. I feel like a sardine.

DAY ONE:

DAY 5:

Next up.. one of our drivers (Mariangela) and me posing in front of one of many displays of lights around downtown. She's GREAT and honestly, I really like all 4 of them (I'm not spelling this correctly but we also have Lorenzo, Simone, and Daniele). I need to do a story on them. They are smart, witty 20-somethings who wanted the job as an opportunity to practice their English. They help translate when needed. They show us awesome sights in the city and are just fun to hang out with.

Now, my good travelling Olympics buddy Allen Schauffler. He's an anchor with our sister station in Seattle (KING 5). He nicknamed me Stewie in Athens and it stuck. It's only an Olympics thing, too.

Speaking of nicknames.. we call the phojo (photojournalist) I'm working with Rod Stevens "Rockin' Rodney". Also an Olympics thing that's been around since SLC.

His mom is going to love this photo. She usually emails me to tell me that she loves seeing her son since he usually spends all his time behind the lens. We're high above the city in Torino's tallest building the Mole Antonelliana. It rocks. And the Museum of Cinema inside is really, really cool.

Since the Olympic blog is back.. so is my quick response time (QRT). Yeah, I know... dorky acronym. Shoot me your emails and I'll answer them here if it's appropriate.

To XRX: Nope. I wasn't in bed. I was running and gunning as we say in downtown Torino to get sound for a story I was working on. Not as many motorcycles here as in Athens. Bet the weather plays a role in that. ;-)

Trista: Thanks for the nice email. Now you can see my hair down since I need to wear the channel 8 hat (which is two sizes too big and keeps slipping down) during my liveshots to keep my ears warm.

Brandy: Yeah, I do meet a lot of people and while I am TERRIBLE with names I am great with faces. You also emailed me about my hair (from that earlier blog posting about people who write in to share their unsolicited opinions about what I should do with it). Well, here in Italy the wind keeps blowing my hair into my lipgloss. Yuk.

Josh: Thanks!! I am having a great time here in Italy!!!!! Your email made me laugh. I totally enjoy filling in on Mix 107.5. I finally met Carrie face to face the other day. It was so nice since I talk to her all the time via email or phone. Both her and Tim and the producer James are great!!!

Joe: ((who wrote me about my earlier posting and my wipeouts on the ski slopes)) writes: I'm with you regarding skiing.. I swear if I ever go again, I'm going to strap the skis to my rear-end.. since that's where I spend most of my time on the slopes! . Joe, I tell you what... it's always nice to know you're not alone. My neck hurt for a week!

Take care for now. Shoot me an email especially if you know of any Oregon/Washington Olympic connections. I love to hear from everyone back home.

sstricklen@kgw.com

And to my wonderful husband... I miss you terribly and love you dearly. If anyone cares to know.. we bought these little silver necklace charms when we took our ski trip right before I left for Italy. The night before I flew out I asked John to put the necklace on me and I'm not taking it off until I get home. Yeah, yeah.. also a little dorky, eh? But when I'm missing him I just reach up and grab the charms and it makes me smile.