Ok, so I may have to do a fair amount of back pedaling. For those who have read (and those of you who haven't I accept your apologies now and direct you to the post below), about my second trip to China I was ready to swear the country off for good. Well....that didn't really last that long as I am en route (sitting in Seoul) back home from the land where Nixon famously said, "Wow, that's a great wall!" (sidebar- that is a true story of how the Great Wall got its moniker!).
I am returning after attending the Olympics with my company that is a worldwide sponsor of said Games. I will have to give Big Red a shout out for cleaning up the air! Last time I was in Beijing it was extremely "cloudy". But by the third day the clouds didn't go away and it sunk in that hey- it may be blue skies, but even that sunshine can cut through the impenetrable shield of smog that had its grip over the city. I was so suprised to actually see what could be described as "blue sky" and "sunshine" that I about fell over. I even saw the moon there! It truly was a Christmas miracle and gave me pause as to what lengths the government had gone to to make it happen. I don't want to know!!!!
But, alas, I was there to attend the Olympics and it was really good. Note I say good, not great. With so much of the environment "controlled" it was hard to get that sense of excitement or excuberance that might exist elsewhere. The government was so concerned about protests that it didn't encourage any public gatherings. No big screens in Tianamen Square or on the Olympic Green. Heck, you couldn't even get on the Olympic Green without a ticket so the massive space felt hollow at times.
I did however get to attend Badminton (interesting), volleyball (USA vs Poland- go USA!) and track and field. It was the last event where I got to see the 100m world record broken in front of 90,000 people. Very cool- but the seats were totally uncomfortalbe! I couldn't imagine sitting through 4 hours of the Opening Ceremonies in them, yikes!!!
Anyway, hope you enjoy the pix of Beijing's coming out party!
PS- Finished off 2 of my last four classes leaving me one last semester for my MBA. I'm done in December, baby!
4 comments:
congrats on being done with your mba soon...dec. will be here before you know it. say hi to the wife & kids for us. smiles!!
Hey kids! Happy to find you out on the bloggosphere!
FYI--Geoff told me you'd be in CA the same weekend as Jared's wedding. We'll be at your Mom's place! Maybe we can see you in LA on our way up to Chico on the 2nd Oct ?? Email Geoff.
PS We had a great time at your mom's place. Sorry we missed you in L.A. hope your trip went well.
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