Thank you, Irina. Your reports for Absolute Skating are wonderful and so are your photos. I really got a giggle from the podium photo with Evan, Dai and Plush. The expression on Plushenko's face is not that of a happy or satisfied man, LOL. It's a mixture of wistfulness and sadness over what should have been....at least in his mind.

Mary C.

thanks irina

Thanx Irina, it was lovely to read!

Well done Irina! How does it feel to be a internationally published journalist??

Irina: Bungee jumping?? Tell us please!

Irina - this was very entertaining and lovely to read

I'm joining the queue of girls interested in hearing about your bungee jumping experience!

Wow! Thank you for the great report Irina. I had so much pleasure reading it. And I'm starting to feel real jealous.

i have to say that the bungee experience is what all my friends want to hear about.
so i was thinking what to in vancouver to make it memorable. and after i told sheena and she said she would come to me to whistler i decided to do it. i made a reservation for the day in between the boy's programs.
whistler is somewhere like 2 hours by bus from vancouver. i found whistler a very nice village well worth visiting.
so me and sheena and 3 other people got transported to the jumping site. the ride there alone was quite insane. it was a very, very bumpy road.
once i got there i kind of got scared. i tried not to think about the actual jump all day. but seeing the insanely high bridge kind of got to me.
i have sheena on tape saying she would not do that in her worst nightmares
the people managing the jump looked to me kind of like young hippies. hanging from the bridge and saying stuff like " i love hanging from high places ".
first it was a boy that jumped and he seemed to be fine and then it was my turn.
i was kind of panicking and wondering if i am actually gonna jump or not. they put me on the edge and started counting. i closed my eyes and jumped. i opened them somewhere mid jump. i reached the end of the rope and then started going up and down because of the bungee rope.
i have to say that except the actual jump moment when i was scared out of my mind all the rest of the experience was awesome.
and i made me feel, what i think i can consider as " high ". i just felt extraordinary all day. i kind of felt like smiling all the time i remembered i jumped.
after they brought me back i just turned to one of the guys there, the one i found to be the cutest and told him - i feel an urge to hug you right now. and he was awesomely cute and said - girl, you don't ask for stuff like this , you just for it !!! and we hugged. one more reason to smile about.

keep asking me questions and the stories will come back to me.

Only the cutest guy there would do!!! He was trying to convince me that I wanted to jump too, but I assured him that I preferred to have both my feet stuck to "terra firma"! I wouldn't have jumped for "all the tea in China", even attached to him - & he was lovely!!!

Waiting for Irina to get strapped up & jump. I was wondering what I would say to Bodgan if anything went wrong......

Irina may jump off bridges. but she is a very sound sleeper.....which was great because I never had to worry about waking her up, I could take a bath, go to get some breakfast, anything!

I was trying not to look worried (glad I succeeded!) as I thought you might have enough on your mind at that time!! As you really wanted to do it, are over 21 & legally of sound mind, I wouldn't have tried to stop you, though I still think you are - brave but , dear friend!!!

I was very tired arriving home on the Monday evening, but I slept well & was "all bright eyed & bushy tailed" on Tuesday. Didn't sleep so well for the next few nights, so I was a bit tired for a few days. I've been pretty ok since - in fact in work today one of our volunteers told me how well I'm looking since my holiday & that it must have done me good!

Irina, you are so brave and I just feel like hug you immediately... But as Im thinking, although Im not really attracted by bungee jumping... I would still more likely jump of a bridge than ask a cute guy if I can hug him...