#080808 A historic day!

2008 Summer Olympic Games is less than an hour away.  I’m lucky to be in the host city, Beijing, and within 2 km away from the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube.  Can’t wait to watch the gala!

T-10 Hours

First post from Beijing

Finally, WordPress is unblocked in Beijing, but I still need to go through a proxy service to write this post.

Anyway, the city is great!!!  There has been so many changes made over the last couple years. Unfortunetaly, I wasn’t able to see any blue sky until Aug. 1, and the fog was back on Monday again.  And the weather has been unbelieably hot, comparing to Vancouver.

One of my dream came true on Aug. 1 when I got up at 3 AM and witnessed the flag raising ceremony in Tiananmen square. It was a moment I’ve been waiting for years.

Flag raising ceremony in Tiananmen square

Ticket to the rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics

On the next day, another dream came true.  Even though I didn’t get the ticket for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the second rehearsal of the ceremony.  The whole night was simply AMAZING!!!  Chinese culture was raised to a new level as it is being shown to the world in a way that’s beyond anyone’s imagination.  The incrediable feeling of sitting in the “Bird’s Nest” and watching an Olympic event was nothing like watching TV, including HD’s.

Even though it said on the ticket “no camera allowed”, I still found so many cameras around me.   But it wasn’t able to ruin my night, not even close.

Dream team coming to Beijing

The USA men’s basketball team has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic basketball games after a win in the semifinal of the FIBA Americas Championship. Team USA, along with Argentina, will compete for the gold medal in my lovely neighborhoods in Beijing – the Wukesong Indoor Stadium.

Team Canada will also have a chance to qualify in the Olympic qualifying games one month before the opening ceremony.

Mao’s calligraphy

I found this font of Mao Zedong’s calligraphy, and it’s pretty interesting. So I used it for the Olympic Games, take a look:

毛泽东为08年北京奥运会题词

One Year Countdown in Beijing