Saturday, August 9, 2008

Olympic Confessions

Last night I watched the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. While the Olympics are in Beijing, I figure I should go ahead and let you all know that I have never been to Beijing. That may be shocking to some, but it is important to understand that while I lived in China, I was a three to four day train ride from Beijing.

China put on an impressive performance last night. The precision, costumes, and sheer numbers were almost indescribable. Of course there was a ton of symbolism to everything that was done. In my personal opinion, the drum number at the beginning was the highlight of the evening. I was a little freaked out about the smiles on their faces. It isn't natural to see Chinese men smiling...that and the smiling looked forced/fake. I was glad to hear that they had been told to smile, because I thought I was beginning to forget what the culture was like.

That being said, I must confess I fell asleep on the couch before team U.S.A. came into the stadium.

Second confession...I keep calling Michael Phelps, David Phelps. Not sure why I get these two men confused. They really don't look anything alike.




Third confession...No, I did not understand the Chinese announcements. I have forgotten the vast majority of the Mandarin that I learned while living in China.

Fourth confession...I am currently watching May/Walsh play volleyball. They are winning against the team from Japan. Of course neither of those two facts are confessions. Here is the confession...I don't play volleyball like them. I know this is shocking to some. I might look into getting some of that black tape that Kerri Walsh has on her shoulder. It is suppose to be equivalent to taking Advil.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I am signing off for the night as my medicine has begun to kick in and my eyes are getting heavy. Sleep is not far off.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hopefully, you stayed awake long enough to see "Michael" Phelps' awesome swim for the Gold! and a new world record! He is so cool! He is making the USA look good! and he is unabashed about his love & respect for his Mom - so very cool!

The opening ceremonies were amazing too! I guess with 1.5 billion people, one-fifth of the world population (as the sportcasters like to remind us), there was no shortage of willing(?) humans to use for the many spectacular scenes. I heard today that the scene with the boxes raising & lowering with the Chinese symbols, had been practiced for the last four months at least 8 hours daily, sometimes more. And that the opening night was the first time they had done the presentation perfectly. So the Chinese and Michael can truly say, "practice makes perfect"!

Jane said...

dreamlady- I did not stay awake long enough to see Michael swim. I have enjoyed watching the coverage this afternoon though...but technically, I feel asleep during that too. Hmmmm...I might have a little problem! :)