The unity spirit pledged in this Olympics slogan "One World, One Dream" is really being felt and its a party every time you meet a supporter from a different nation.
The dream of mankind being one world family is a humanity´s desire of today. It can heard in the theme song "We are family"of this Olympics (see video link of Olympic torch below), and be seen by the amount of international couples and families I´ve met wherever I´ve been up to now.
Seeing almost all the presidents of the attending countries in the Bird Nest stadium on the opening ceremony, really shows the world as already being one thought sports.
Now
China is a world on it´s own, and this August the world is ONE in China!
See amazing videos of the opening ceremony on:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1601148/2008_beijing_olympic_opening_ceremony/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1601039/beijing_olympics_light_torch_shocking_the_last_torch_bearer/
http://v.ku6.com/special/index_2545229.html
Party also unites people. In the Holland Heineken House I saw the crown prince, his Argentinian wife, and even met the Prime-Minister of Holland (on the photo below). This was a wonderful venue for gathering the always happy Dutch supporters and their friends.
I arrived to Beijing on August 7th and met 3 Brazilians in my hotel, Paulo (EDS Manager on vacation), Cadu & Renata (Brazilian workers in Beijing´s Hotel industry). We saw the opening ceremony fireworks from outside the Bird´s Nest stadium, and had a party @ the famous party neighborhood. To watch fireworks where it was invented is really thrilling.
China is very different, getting around is already a challenge, as you can see by the map of the city on the photo below:
But the Chinese are making an impressive effort to make everyone feel welcome, even going out of their way to take you somewhere, and always with a smile.
The food is amazingly inexpensive, and various sweet and savory dishes will really entertain your taste buds. If you don´t like hot spices, add the word "BUH LAH TEEAHUH" to your order (usually done with help of menus with photographs). I also experienced a bit of China´s generous hospitality once being invited to dinner by to 2 Chinese university students I met in the restaurant.
In regards to the Games, I´ve attended so far:
SATURDAY AUGUST 9th: BEACH VOLLEY
On the first day, besides seeing the Brazilian Girls beat the Brazilian Girls representing Georgia (they changed their nationalities but train in Rio), other 3 highlights were:
1) The massive attendance of the Chinese supporters, that would only respond to the Chinese co-MC (master of ceremony). The surprise was they were there even if China did not play that day.
2) The triumphs comeback of Germany over Norway, that one even having passed over 3 match points against them.
3) The great Beach Girls that came all the way from Spain to entertain us all with their dances in the intervals.
SUNDAY AUGUST 10th: TENNIS
James Blake - USA (#8 ATP) beet Chris Guccione - AUS (# 90 ATP), and Serena Williams - USA (# 4 ATP) was on the way to winning from 19 year old Olga Govortsov - Bielorussia - (# 47 ATP)
It has been a pity since the matches were interrupted due to rain. We waited for it to stop, which eventually never did, but I met the President of the Finland tennis association, having a president noodle snack (nothing really presidential about it).
And as usual we had a fun time with the Dutch with their very creative Olympic rain gear.
Still Pending (will write on the next post):
MONDAY AUGUST 11th: BEACH VOLLEY
TUESDAY AUGUST 12th: TENNIS
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 13th: BEACH VOLLEY
And hopefully next week soccer in Shangai ! :->
See more news on 1st day of Tennis on: http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/tennis/n214526702.shtml
See more of my photos done in Beijing on: http://flickr.com/photos/mariosworld/sets/72157606648148399/