Beijing Huan Ying Ni...

So, one of the songs you hear over and over and over and over (do you get the picture?) is "Beijing Huan Ying Ni" which means "Beijing Welcomes You" - and the 5 mascots represent that.. Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying & Ni Ni. I think they're panda bears dressed up in costumes, but I could be mistaken...

Anyway, the song is extremely irritating when it gets stuck in your head, and it's unfortunately stuck in mine.

Yesterday was the Big Day in China! Unfortunately (or fortunately, because they lasted forever and a freaking day) Megan and I didn't get tickets to the Opening Ceremonies, so we watched them on TV... CHINESE TV. Because of some rule the IOC has, only mainland China could broadcast the Ceremonies (or any Olympic event), so our ONLY English channel couldn't air anything. Sucky.

After a couple unsuccessful attempts to go to the Forbidden City, we thought we'd try it again. Much to our avail, President Hu Jintao (of China) was hosting an Olympic Banquet for all the dignitaries at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square (where the Forbidden City is), so it was closed. We watched all of the people arrive and shake the President's hand, including W. Way to go, America. Needless to say, we had to change our plans because of their little get together. We went to TGIFriday's for lunch, then took a walk near HouHai Lake, and went through some hutongs (neigborhoods). We attempted to go to Song Qinling's former Residence, and the Bell and Drum Towers, but everything was closed in preparation of Opening Ceremonies. They actually had fireworks at all major attractions in Beijing set up for the Olympics (so when you saw the aerial shots of the fireworks, it was from those places). The acrobats were closed also, as they were part of the ceremonies. Since everything was closed, we decided to head back to the hotel for another somewhat unsuccessful day.

The countdown to the ceremonies was really cool- the drummers in unison and everything. The acrobats who climbed on each other to form the bird's nest (National Stadium) were pretty much amazing, too. About half an hour into it, I was bored and ready for them to be over, haha! There were other cool parts too- the rings being raised up, the people drawing on the paper. Watching all the countries come in was probably the best part because we could understand what was going on! Towards the end it got irritating- maybe because there were 204 competing countries/provinces/whatever, or the fact that it was all in Chinese and we couldn't understand it! USA was awesome but we couldn't really see anyone familiar. I think I saw Jennie Finch, and Kobe Bryant was maybe at the end of the line. The Chinese do know how to put on a light show of fireworks, though! I mean, they should considering they mistakenly invented them! I thought the Olympic Ceremonies kind of dragged on forever and a day, but I don't think I've ever watched the entire ceremony either- or the fact that it was over 4 hours long! It was cool that I was watching them knowing I was only miles away from the stadium, though. We could hear the finale of fireworks in our room, too. Fun times.

Today (8/9/08) was kind of another unsuccessful day- we were going to yet again go to the Forbidden City but I got a phone call from my mom. My Grandma I guess went into the hospital and can't speak, but can understand everyone and recognizes everyone coming into her room. I don't know what happened, exactly. She's had cancer for awhile, but I thought she was doing alright. I don't think I would've gone having known she was going to take a turn or anything. On my flight and short 10 hour stay at home right before China, I got to see her and she gave me a cross necklace that was her mother's, and told me that when I was in Beijing, to remember that I was Irish, haha! My mom didn't want to call me, but I'm glad she did so I could know what was going on. I really want to go home, and it's so hard to stay here, but my family told me that my Grandma was really excited for me to go and would want me to stay. So after crying for like, an hour or whatever, Megan and I went to get the other tickets we ordered for the games and ate at a place called Grandma's Kitchen for lunch. Ironic, I know, because my Grandma doesn't cook! We also took another trip to Wal-Mart so I could get more batteries (that stupid made in China charger isn't working) and we could get some padding for our beds (which they don't have any of, go figure). But seriously, though... it was just kind of a blah day. I tried to get more excited about things, but now it's even worse. I just hope it will get better when we have things to see, and an actual game plan. I don't feel like doing anything, to be honest. Just sleeping. I can't do much of that, though, because the beds are so hard. I guess I'll just toss and turn. Wow, sorry for being such a Debbie Downer! I just needed to get that off my chest.

Changing the subject... China is kind of lame when it comes to showing the games on TV. As I mentioned earlier, nothing can be shown on our English channel, so we have to resort to Chinese TV. Well, being that we are IN China, they just like to show whatever sports they win medals. So, I got to see this girl win her Olympic Gold in weightlifting about 6 times. And some guy win his shooting competition... and did you know that China defeated Switzerland in their beach volleyball match? I got to see that 4 times. I also got to see China's Men compete in the first round of gymnastics. We did get to see USA compete in FENCING... I have never watched fencing in my life, except for when it's in a movie or something! No swimming... WHAT?! We can see Michael Phelps in a speedo?! What kind of country is this?! You'd think they'd want to show that because he could win 8 golds in THEIR Olympics... no? Right, NO. haha - The first gold given out went to Katerina something from the Czech Republic in air rifle... it was hilarious to hear the news about this, because they just talked about how China DIDN'T win, and how their girl only got 5th place. Just wait for Team USA to come barreling through! We're going to take all the gold out of this country. We can't see anything online, either, because of some block that smart USA has on their websites... so, if anyone wants to post them on youtube, I can watch them, haha.

Now, for some RANDOM CHINA that I mentioned in a previous blog...
- I've almost been run over by several buses and taxis; there is no concept of stop and go... red lights are more of an option here.
- Several bikes have also nearly hit us; they have bells they ring to let you know they're coming.
- Cars just drive on the sidewalk and in multiple lanes at a time. When you're sitting in the front of a taxi, it's quite the ride.
- Shirts in English are so poorly written, or just plain weird and ridiculous! i.e.(I Swear I'm not making these up)- punk is not pretty, Apportxing ways of eerying bread-she makes the sanwich anofas onsseri by using this dough (WHAT?!), and my personal favorite- make love not babies.
- At our first hotel, we watched Sound of Music twice, and both times it stopped playing before Germany invades.
- Also at our first hotel, we had HBO and 2 news channels. Where we are now, we just have the one, with the same stories playing over and over again.
- You skip over puddles because they could be from children (or adults, for that matter) peeing on the street. Many little kids don't wear pants at all, and if they do there is a slit in the croch. Classy.
- People of China like to spit everywhere- not only just regular spitting, but actually getting that loogie (is that even a word?) spit and then spitting it out. Sick.
- People here are SO LOUD! I mean, I am loud, but WOW. They top me... so you know that's loud! They could be sitting 2 feet away from each other, yet if you were down the street from them, you could still hear them perfectly clear, and LOUD.
- It's funny BEING the tourist. Usually whenever I'm at Disneyland (all of you who have been there can totally attest to this), I see the Asians with the cameras around their necks and take pictures of everything... it makes me laugh because that's not something I typically do. Yes, I take a ton of pictures, but I just don't take pictures of things that are everyday and normal. That is until now... I have become the person I chuckle at. Yay for tourists.
- Oh, all you beer drinkers... I got myself a HUGE bottle of beer for 3 yuan... 50 cents. Beat that, suckas! haha ;)

So... that's China. August 11th needs to get here so we can go see Michael Phelps in a speedo, even if it is through the binoculars. And I need softball to get here too. Hurry up, I'm getting impatient.

P.S.- I think I'm going to bring everyone back a Snickers Bar. It's in Chinese at least. I don't feel like shopping.