Yes, it was great to be at an Olympic venue and see the Bird's Nest with the Olympic flame burning. It was a crazy day and it was really hot when we went to the Olympic Village. We managed to walk around the area close to the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Having two blondes and a bunch of American guys walking around the area caught the attention of the majority Chinese crowd.
Needless to say, we were mobbed (or they were) for photos and such. It was really humorous. At one point, I suggested we walk ten across down the street so people could take all the pictures they wanted without them pulling one or a few of us aside for pics. I felt like we had the paparazzi after us. Everytime we stopped to take a group photo with one of our cameras, we would find a crowd of other cameras taking pictures of us. I would love to see some of our pictures taken by other people. These were random strangers. So funny, I laughed so hard.... (well, I didn't feel too left out. I'm Chinese, not considered as special but I had a great time watching the spectacle and translating when needed.)
When we stopped for a break, someone offered to braid the hair of one of the girls. That was pretty amazing as the lady did a fairly complicated updo, but it was awesome. There were lots of people trying to sell us imitation Olympic souvenirs. We had to turn many of them down. Then there was a man who looked like he was trying to sell us a button and each one of us said no. I was the last one he spoke too and he said, "I'm giving this to you for free. Take it. I'm not selling anything." He was a little frustrated and we were sad we turned him down. He was trying to be nice to the foreigners.
After a lunch of Beijing jiaozi, we tried to reenter the place but the police had already cordoned it off. We walked through a park and found a vantage point to see the Olympic flame. We found a kid there who was catching little frogs (some of them were still tadpoles). He had about 20 stuffed in a water bottle. It was fun convincing him to put some of it back into the pond.
Later that evening, the brave few went out with me to try to see the fireworks live. It was both exciting and frustrating at the same time. The places where we were in the morning were cordoned off by the police. We couldn't understand why some things were blocked, and then the next second it wasn't. When we found a spot, the fireworks were already going off in the distance. I sprained my ankle trying to secure a spot on a hill slope. We also couldn't get back to the subway station we arrived at and thankfully we found some Olympic volunteers who walked with us to the next nearest subway station. It was a fun day but really really tiring. It was worth it catching some Olympic action live.
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