Nan Luo Gu Xiang Hutong and Random Beijing Blogging

Now to blog a bit about yesterday, 08-13-08 in Beijing.

Late last night Nicholas from Argentina and I chatted about our stories of the day as we shared a short cab ride back to our hostel from the nearby subway (my share was $.75). He made it to the great wall with a neat guy, Nick, who has been teaching English and learning Mandarin in China for six months. I chatted about my day at two sporting events at different venues, then the VIP reception area of Cocacola for drinks and a snack, then watched a bit of the Today Show, then visited a few of the Sponsor's Exhibits and lastly did a bit of pin trading at McDonalds within the Olympic Green. When we exited the cab there, riding a bike after 11:00 PM was one of the AP correspondents. "Hey, I want to get a bike", I told him as he almost ran into me. He bought the bike to use for a month. He was looking for a place to eat in our hotung. I showed him my favorite place to eat down near the Pass By bar and joined him. He had been to seven olympics so we had a lot of chatting to do!

Anyway both tickets to the events were given to me. One by another hosteler who over-scheduled his day. Just getting to each venue is a real challenge. And for that matter, getting back home is another challenge. At breakfast this morning Roberta from San Paulo said they took a train at 1:00 in the afternoon yesterday to get to a China vs Brazil football at 8:00 PM. They could not get near a train to come back to Beijing so took a cab for three hours! It didn't matter she said because they had a grrreat time! They split the cost of the cab and her share was about $26.00, and yup, Brazil won!

Another ticket was given to me at one of the olympic green information booths by a parent of one of the girls water polo team. Watching our USA water polo team is, so far, one of the many highlights. Speaking of water polo, one of my former students Andrew LaForge will be playing water polo for Stanford next year. When I came in last night was able to get on to gmail for a bit and looks like his awesome mom spotted me on the Today Show! Such a buzz.

Two other little buzzes...on the way out of Opening Ceremony my path crossed Kissingers on the Olympic Green. I simply extended my hand and he said, "How are you" in a tone of voice only Kissinger has. Also, one of the receptionists at the VIP area of Cocacola said, "That was the Prime Minister of Canada who just opened the door for you!"

Sooo many things happening will catch up on the last few days later or will weave them into my next posts.