The Olympic Stadium

We are so lucky that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous in Beijing for the past week. It’s been about 80 degrees and sunny just about everyday. Everything is in bloom and campus looks exquisite!

Last Saturday, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went down to the Olympic Village. It took us forever to walk from the Metro to the Bird’s Nest, not because the walk was very far, but because so many Chinese tourists wanted to stop and take pictures of us.

The best part about the Olympic Stadium was that “Beijing Yuanying Ni” or “Beijing Welcomes You,” a very popular song in China recorded just for the Olympics, was playing everywhere! I know that I have mentioned this song before in your blog, because it gets stuck in my head all the time!

We were able to actually go inside the Bird’s Nest, which was really cool because we were allowed to go down on the turf field. The group of us sat around chatting and tanning on the green, which was ironic because so many athletes had competed there and meanwhile, we were having a very relaxing day!

I was actually surprised by how small the Bird’s Nest was in person. After watching parts of the Olympics on television, especially the opening ceremonies, I would have thought the stadium, or at least the turf field would have been much bigger. Regardless, it was still very cool to see!

While we were relaxing on the turf field, some inflatable characters of the Beijing Olympic friends mascots came out on to the field and did a choreographed routine, which was pretty funny. The mascots were inflated so big that they frequently kept bumping heads during the routine. The music was also very catchy and cheery.

After we left the Bird’s Nest, we bought kites in the Olympic Park and flew them in front of the Water Cube. I picked out a kite with all of the Olympic mascots on it. It was perfect weather for flying a kite and many of the Chinese tourists also bought kites and were flying them. It was only a matter of time before my kite got tangled. Fortunately, Marie was able to untangle it for me when we got back to Beida and we hung our kites from the ceiling in our room. They look awesome!

Next to the Olympic Village, there is a small amusement park, so when we were done flying kites, we walked over to check it out. We then went back to Beida, grabbed a bite to eat on campus and went out for another fun night on the lake in Hou Hai!