VolleyBALLLZZZ!

High: We didn't realize how meaningful it would be to cheer for an American team playing for an Olympic gold. Watching the American women win this morning filled us with a profound sense of national pride that was stronger than either of us expected. Amy joined Alden in crying the entire way through the medal ceremony. Not to mention, it was a kick-ass game.
Low: This blog has been a great way to summarize our adventures to friends and family, but unfortunately we spend so much time trying to keep up with the blog that we haven't been able to maintain the level of personal emails that we would have otherwise. We miss you!
AHA: Things are never as soft as they appear [shudder]. This includes beds, chairs, and really all furniture in China. Don't let it fool you, as it has both of us on separate occasions. Flashbacks include (but are not limited to), Amy flinging herself exhausted onto a rock-hard mattress and Alden mistakenly slamming her heels on the concrete-like surface of an ottoman.

So you think this year's Opening Ceremony was innovative? Well, so did we, BUT the incredible show we witnessed in Yangshuo demonstrated that Zhang Yimou's talents extend to the "natural" stage. The outdoor show had over 400 performers and an enormous amount of wattage, as 5 of the surrounding limestone peaks were lit up and created a majestic background. And by the way, the stage was a body of water, so most of the performance took place on boats.

Do you ever wonder how the other half lives? We now know. When we arrived back in Beijing yesterday afternoon, we returned to the same convenient hotel near the Bird's Nest. By the grace of some holy Olympic spirit, we are coming to you live and in living color from the bird's eye view of said bird's nest. We know, because we can see it from our private balcony which is attached to our expansive living room, which is between our separate living quarters with private baths. This is unexpected. (Everytime we come home, we hold our breath as we pass the reception desk and fully expect them to graciously inform us that we have been packed and relocated.)

"You don't eat no meat?" Through a partner at Amy's mother's firm, we were fortunate enough to meet and have dinner with a young Chinese lawyer, Cao Yu. He took us and three of his visiting American clients to an amazing vegetarian place called Pure Lotus. We were extremely overwhelmed by the range of meat-less wonders available on the menu, but as a traditional Chinese host, he ordered for the table. His "clients" were only slightly older than us and we ended up going out with them after dinner.

Why did we stay up that late? Six AM comes awfully early when the night ends at a Mexican restaurant...in China. It comes ever earlier when it's pouring down rain. Those of you who watched the women's beach volleyball events will appreciate that we are not exaggerating when we say, it rained...the entire time. This time we remembered our raincoats AND borrowed "Big & Tall" sized umbrellas from our hotel. Of course they confiscated our umbrellas at the game's security check, which we weren't that upset about until we began to realize that magically everyone else still seemed to have made it through with their umbrella. Insult was added to injury when we walked into the stadium to hear the Rihanna's song, "You can stand under my umbrella...ella..ella...aye aye aye." So we got wet, and by wet we mean soaked to the skin, pruney feet, "isn't this rainjacket supposed to be waterproof" wet. However, the event was nothing short of phenomenal.

How many of Beijing's top ten things to do can you accomplish in one afternoon? Mercifully, the rain let up for the majority of the afternoon allowing us to walk Tian An Men Square and see the Forbidden City. Next we did the obligatory Wangfujing Night Market, most famous for exotic foods not limited to starfish, scorpions & snake -- on a stick. :) We had to eat something, so we opted to glazed fruit on a stick, by far the most civilized option. Our final stop for the day was horrifyingly awesome. Six sweet floors of dongshi [stuff] that "fell off the boat." With Alden's shopping savvy & Amy's hard-driven bargaining, we left with more bags than we came with.