It’s always been a dream of mine to go to the Olympics. When I was young I was known to be glued to the TV and hum the NBC Olympics theme music constantly. I’ve been to two former Olympic sites — Athens and Munich, but now I am finally in one during the Olympics!

Yesterday was a back-to-back day of Beach Volleyball from 9a-3p, Swimming from 6:30p-9:30p, and then stopping off in a bar to watch USA v. China basketball before heading home. Along the way it rained on and off, including one last epic thunderstorm outburst after swimming, where me and all my gear got completely soaked.

The soaking was justified though. Swimming is held in the “Water Cube” which is on the Olympic Green. This area is completely sealed to non-ticket holders, which made my $30 swimming ticket so immensely worth it just to see the Bird’s Nest, THE TORCH, Water Cube, the other National Stadiums, the International Broadcast Center, and all the hubbub around.

OK–here we go, a couple of HDR treats.

Live blogging off my iPhone from Chaoyang Park’s Beach Volleyball Stadium. It just stopped raining here after two matches and I’m soaked. But no matter–the music is pumping, the players are bumping, and China just demolished Austria! 中国加油！

(BTW,, beach volleyball has a reputation of being the party sport and this place is awesome. Does anyone make a Choayang Park Party Mix album? I’m there.)

Add another event to the list! Katya and Andy, who are visiting me from Seattle had some incredible preserverence checking the CoSports website and landed tickets to the swimming prelims on Sunday night!!

Yay! I get to to inside the water cube!

Greetings from Beijing!

I’m (a little) behind on my blog, but as the saying goes, better late than never!

A month ago I officially moved to Beijing, China to pursue an adventure and a dream of living/working abroad and studying Chinese. I’m still with Microsoft–just working for the China portion of the Surface team (YouTube it). Things have been incredible and busy since I arrived. On top of a full workload, I’m also taking 2 hr Chinese private lessons three times a week, playing ultimate frisbee on Tuesday nights, making new friends, and rabidly exploring different parts of the city when I’ve had some free time.

Basically, it’s great. And tells why I haven’t had time to write until 3:30a after the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Oh yeah. The Olympics–the event that’s taken Beijing into daily conversation and debate all the way around the world. Well, let me tell you one thing–don’t miss the opening ceremony. Find your friend with the HDTV and make sure you catch at least the first hour. It’s mind blowing. Though I didn’t have tickets to go to the event, I watched it in a park with thousands of other folks on big screens set up for the purpose.

I’ve always wanted to go to an Olympics in person–I love international competitions like this. Though it doesn’t look like I’ll have a chance to go to my favorites–Gymnastics and Diving–I do have tickets to Beach Volleyball and Table Tennis prelims.

I’ll keep you all posted. At least, I’ll try.

Photos!

Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Early Days in China