Katie Goes...

This has the be the nicest day I've seen in Beijing so far! The seasons changed last night. I felt it. pretty cool to be there the moment the wind shifts into Autumn. The sky is Carolina Blue and the clouds are scattered and puffy~ just gorgeous. It was wonderful to take Betty out for a ride; back to "frogger" in this traffic! I'm making chicken coconut curry tonight, and planning my future. I'll be staying in, on a date with myself (which is ultimately better than any Australian guys in white jackets!!).

It is a profound thing to be in the presence of greatness in a unique and compelling moment in history. It was amazing to see the head of the Beijing Olympic Committee and the head of the IOC and the Mayor of London there on stage for the transfer of the Olympic flag from Beijing to London. It was more than exciting to see the fireworks and Olympic flame through the top skin of the Bird's Nest. It was cool to see David Beckham and Jackie Chan and all the Athletes in one place. But. what made me literally not be able to close my mouth for a full five minutes and bring tears to my eyes? It was seeing Placido Domingo sing- IN PERSON- sharing the same stadium as myself. I fell in love with him in college, when I had to do a paper on "La Traviata", which is when I really fell in love with Opera for real. it was just almost too much. You know those moments when your heart beats so hard with everything you thought you wanted as a kid and yet also with extre...

i'm so excited about sleeping that I can't sleep. :) one more day of odds and ends and then...REST next post will have much more...omg. i just don't know if i can really describe what it was like being there at the closing ceremony. I mean...yeah. wow. the fact that i was in the same space as all those athletes, world leaders, Placido Domingo, Jackie Chan, and David Beckham...wow. More soon! ah, sleep. YAY!!!!!!!

The final stretch is where you are on the verge of your second wind, and also possible implosion from exhaustion. Well aware of this nefarious dichotemy, we all power on. Last night was so funny. Evidently this is a pretty "big-deal" hotel (Yao Ming owns a suite here) and yesterday, BAZAAR had a huge opening or party or something and all these Chinese popstars were here. they came out of the hotel to be driven 100 feet to get out again before the little, screaming Chinese girls. pretty funny. But it was pretty cool that Jet Li and Tony Blair were both at a dinner on the 5th floor of the hotel last night too. (much more impressive for me than Chinese boy bands- call me old-fashioned). Then, on the way back from my nightly dvd pick-up, I told the cab driver where to go (in Chinese) and he laughed EXACTLY like Jabba the Hutt (in Return of the Jedi when Leia unfreezes Han, you know). As the hot night air blew my hair across my face, the moon came into view through the Blad...

It's another 3.30am arrival home. The smell of hosta flowers permeates the still night air as I make my way home through a maze of asphalt and red lanterns. The full moon is starting to wane and I have to pinch myself to think about what happened. I didn't think I'd get to see any events, but fortune smiled on me and there I was at a swimming finals! I still can't believe I was there. even with pictures. it was just amazing. A million years ago I used to swim and it was so sweet to walk into the water cube and be assailed by the smell of the pool. such good memories came back and little did I know I'd be part of history that day too! I had a "lollipop" sign and was one of those tour guides, like the pied piper, leading big executives through the most gorgeous day I've yet experienced in Beijing. We finally got them settled with races underway. Libby was there from Australia, Natalie was there from America, and then Aaron Piersol ...

Wow. i don't even know what to say, that was just brilliant! i actually didn't really think they would use the song. but they did. it's the one right before they light the first small torch, when the girls in white dance, right after the speeches. wow. that was just amazing. and then the closing fireworks, we COULD see them!!! that was so damn cool. well, i'm running out of adjectives to describe this night. *and now i have to try to explain to the hotel staff that the projector needs to be fixed, before all the CEOs come back from the ceremony. he he. communication is a luxury not easily attainable here. sigh. gotta go!

So, I saw some of the fireworks leading up to the bird's nest, but the smog/haze was too thick to see anything from the stadium. bummer. but, I'm hanging out in the air conditioning with a screen and projector~ not bad. those poor "cheerleaders" who have to dance in cowboy boots for HOURS... so, i thought it might be like this, but there are hardly Any cars on the roads right now!!! wow. once in a lifetime indeed!!!! Team China is just rounding the last bend. there should be fireworks soon. (i hope) I don't envy anybody the trip out of the stadium. wow. The body caligraphy was really awesome, and the light shows were really incredible. OOH and the world that came out of the ground, with the people dancing on it...that was awesome. the costumes, the endless supply of beautiful women in gorgeous dresses...very cool. *the song Sarah Brightman sang- that was the second song, that I only changed two small things about. but how freakin'...

I'm watching the pre-show on the local CCTV channel. None of the international Chinese channels will be showing the ceremonies, just the one serving the mainland. The dances and costumes I've seen so far are pretty impressive, even though they are dwarfed by the size of the stadium floor. The smog/haze is just dreadful. I can see about three blocks and I'm on the 61st floor. good grief. it is pretty amazing to be here though, i must say. and i'm a sucker for all the big music and dramatic shows. i'll probably get all misty-eyed when the real ceremony starts. it's profound to be here in this moment. i'm so grateful and blessed. sending all my love back home! xoxo

Oh there is so much to tell, i don't know where to begin!!! Should I start with chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes (not much of a story other than they were AWESOME!), or that i have three roommates now and it was slightly dicey at the police station getting all the registration done, or that there is a flower sculpture of the Great Wall near the Lama Temple (Oiy so tacky, but bloody brilliant), or the subway (ha. just in general), or the fact that an Olympic venue is Right Across the Street from my apartment!!! they were practicing on the stage for the event and we went up to the 14th floor to peer into the park. so funny. let's just say that it's obvious that Coca Cola is a sponsor. :) I'm wicked tired tonight, but that's because I spent the last 7 hours in a huge ballroom at the JW Marriott listening (for the first hour) to program directors ask questions about transportation (omg it's going to be a logistical Nightmare!), and the last 6 hours getting n...