pportunity. For as long as I can remember I have soaked in as much Olympic coverage as possible. In 2000, my mom woke me up to see the Sydney Opening Ceremony live. 2002, Salt Lake, fell on my birthday, my friends were all over for a surprise party and instead of doing something I made them watch the Opening Ceremony. You get the picture. This why last night might have been the greatest night of my life. No, I didn't get to attend the Opening Ceremony as we all had hoped, but to watch it, knowing that I was part of this huge event, was beyond words. Knowing the drama and effort that has gone into the Games and the Opening Ceremony gave me a greater appreciation for the show.I had two options last night, go to a local street and watch it on the big screen or go to Paul's, get food, have a seat and know that there would be an English version. And while I may regret it a little, I chose the second option because it was for sure. If things had fallen through with the street option I would have been devastated, seeing as they didn't I am a little disappointed I didn't do that, but hindsight is always 20/20. This doesn't mean I was disappointed with Paul's. He had a satellite En
glish feed that allowed us to understand what the heck was going on. As I write this you are all probably starting the March of Nations, have fun. It is long. (Oh and there is no rhythm or reason to the order of the countries.)OOOH and I am seeing the US again right now! So exciting...I am rewatching it. On that note, I have never been prouder to see my country march. Of course I am always proud to be from America, but to be in another country during the Olympics and watching the Opening Ceremony just sparks something. I feel like at home we are so defined by what city, state, or college we are from that sometimes we forget we are one. Sitting there with people from Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, China...etc it just made everything come full circle. I can't really explain it and I don't like to get too deep in these blogs so we'll end it there. Anyway, since the feed was satellite it switched off live and we had to wait almost 3 hours to see the USA walk in. The commercial breaks were 7 and 8 minutes a piece. I will never again complain about the commercial breaks. Three of us were determined to see the team walk. When they came we all screamed, watched them fo
r their two minutes of TV time and quickly ran out to get a cab home. Upon arriving home we found out that they still hadn't lit the torch. I ran upstairs and made it just in time to see the torch lit. Which, by the way, I think is a gorgeous torch. I was thoroughly impressed with the show. Everyone has been so focused on the negatives and I was so glad for the people, BOCOG, and everyone involved that the night passed with few glitches. The Chinese people are so proud of their country, it's history, and the honor to host the Games that is was nice to see the pollution and political comments cease, even if it is only for one night. I think my favorite part of the ceremony was the fireworks. Many of the streets here were shut down for the firework displays. As you watch it you will notice the fireworks were everywhere. The footprints started in the Forbidden City and moved north to the Bird's Nest (probably my favorite part) it was so original and cool.
I have today off and I am going to brave the town. We have been very sheltered lately only going out to Laoshan that I have no concept of how many people are actually in the city right now. I hear it is ridiculous. I have today and tomorrow off so I am doing my last runs now. You will notice I started to post pictures for the last few blogs, right now I am leaving for the day, but tonight and tomorrow I'll put more up. There is one of my in the uniform and the torch!! I hope you liked the Ceremony!! I don't have last night's so those will have to be in the mix to do later.
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