Let the Games Begin!

Now that the Olympics have arrived, Beijing is substantially different from when we got here in June. The atmosphere is more lively (热闹), there are Westerners galore, and everyone is talking sports. Lots of day-to-day things have changed as well, cab drivers are required to wear ties all of a sudden, security in the subways is as tight as small airports and yes, the weather has magically gotten better. This weekend, for the opening ceremony the weather was not great, and I think the government was not happy about that, but it has been getting better ever since a lightening storm passed through on Sunday (artificially-induced rain, anyone?). For the opening ceremony, we went to Wangfujing Square and watched on the big screen with thousands of people. It was unbelievably of fun, and we got so into it that we started leading chants in Chinese saying "Let's go China, let's go" (中国, 加油!) in front of hundreds of Chinese people... they thought we were hilarious/crazy. This weekend I went to my first Olympic game, a boxing event where Latin America dominated the show and tomorrow I'm going to USA vs. Nigeria in soccer, followed by Argentina vs. Serbia. I'm hecksa excited.

Outside the Boxing event, weather not so good?

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace, a palace built by the Empress Cixi, is a gorgeous spot in the northwest of Beijing and way bigger than I expected with a huge lake at the center of colorful gardens... too bad British and French burned down the original.