Ｃｈｉｎａ！

Sorry I haven't written in a while. As some of you heard I had some issues getting to China. I lost my tickets somewhere in France and Aeroflot (soviet airline) wouldn't print duplicates until they got authorization from Travelocity (a big online company) who of course had no idea what to do or what Aeroflot is asking for. So I called mom in a panic (4:30 her time) and she spent 8 hours on the phone yelling at people but finally I got on a flight. But since I had missed my regular flight I ended up staying 12 hours in Heathrow (I swear that airport is cursed, I'm always detained there somehow) and 12 hours in a Moscow airport and 10 hours in the air. But moscow wasn't so bad. Since you can't leave the airport because of visa issue people sat against a wall and slept using their bags as pillows. Below is my spot where I stayed for 12 hours (6 of them asleep) Maybe not the safest thing but I don't feel I was in any danger.
Day 1- 8/7/08

But my luck changed when I arrived in China. In the first ten minutes of my being there I met a local(Sunzil) because he was singing an American song in English. His English wasn't great but it worked. He was nice enough to take me to my hostel an d then take me shopping with his girlfirend (Villky) Both are taller than me and very helpful. They helped me get a phone so I can call people in china and Korea. (yay I have a steady social life again!)
And me with one of the mascots of the Olympics. I think his name is Yuenyuen. All five together spell out Bei Jing Huai Yuen Ni or (welcome to Beijing）
So, we shopped the whole day but I took pictures of some of the buildings we saw.

The stores on this street are completely empty. It was built just for Olympics . Xidan shopping district. Huge department stores and floors of little shops. It's also where I meet anyone as it's the only place I know how to get to easily from my hostel. This one is cool becuse it's half-greek, half chinese. The writing on the building was romanized.

random sky line
Day 2- 8/8/08 (beginning of the Olympics)
I met up with my friends from home today, Luke. (in gray) and his brother (Robin) I ended up eating lunch with his family in Xidan and then we went to his mother's parents house for dinner and to watch the opening ceremony. His grandparents live about an hour outside of Beijing so it was a very different atmosphere. Small, local town where neighbors were all friends. Here, we're lost on the road looking for the house.

So, after the Olympics Luke's parents, brother, and aunt and uncle left and he me and his grandparents stayed the night in the house. (very nice house too) And here the stereotypes began. His grandma is a mahjong fiend with her only automatic table that shuffles the tiles for her. And when we sat down to a game (they taught me the rules) his grandfather talked strategy by referencing Sun Tzu's Art of War. All in all I really like his family.

Here is Luke and his grandma in his grandpa's garden. Day 3- 8/9/08 (Judo women's 48kg finals and men's 60kg finals)

My beautiful tickets. 9 in all. 3 judo, 4 taekwondo, 1 water polo and 1 decathalon, all are finals. And yes I'm taking care of them so I can frame them later. They really are pretty.
The even before Judo was delayed so the gates opened late. To entertain us and volunteers sang songs, danced and cheered. I suspect them of having gone through a cheer camp. And by the way there are volunteers everywhere. They watch for suspicious activity and are supposed to be there to help. (Sometimes they're helpful, sometimes not)
Beijing Institute of Science and Technology Gymnasium is where both Judo and Taekwondo are held. It's in the center of a university campus and feels like it. The girl with me in this picture is just some random Chinese girl who wanted a picture of me. I'm a token foreigner in a few other photos too.
The inside of the stadium with flags.

Part of the match. The one in blue is Canadian and he came up and sat in front of me after his match with some friends of his. Women's medal ceremony. A blonde Romanian took the gold over a highly favored, highly supported Japanese girl.
Men's medal ceremony. The gold medalist was a South Korean names Choi Minho. And I have to say I'm a bit in love with him. He finished both his matches early by scoring a thousand point for completely pinning his opponent. ( both shoulders and all of the back touch the ground) In the final match he actually lifted his opponent and threw him out of the ring. He was amazing. ( (and the smallest competitor)
I really like China so far. People are really nice. Some will try to cheat you but you can avoid them if you're careful. I haven't had any problems with the air quality either. All writing is romanized in the bigger areas. The hardest part is distinguishing between bus stop names and buying food because these are usually in Chinese and I can't read them. But I learning. Oddly enough my Korean helps. Korean vocabulary is 70% Chinese and so I can understand an odd word here and there.

Hope this relieves all worries.