A little more Olympic fun...

Do you know how proud China is of their Gold medals? I imagine you do unless you have been living in a cardboard box...I stumbled across this in the Sanlitun area of Beijing, which is one of the more "Western" areas of Beijing. I joked that there must be somebody waiting inside the Adidas building (the awesome black glass building behind the "gold medalist") waiting with the next number to dart out and change it, basking with pride and joy as he adds yet another gold medal to China's medal count....this joke, I soon realized- is probably not too far from the truth. With their obsession of accumulating Golds, this should be no surprise.



At this point, the count was at 45. I wonder how many of those little numbers they made...?




Regarding all sporting events, I have found that there are generally 3 kinds of fans.....


The SUPER cRaZy kind that go all out. Everybody knows why they are there, who they are cheering on, and where they are from ....I'll give you 1 guess where this guy is from!



The ones that still get into but aren't quite as crazy. They might not paint their faces lime green, but you still know who they're rooting for....



And those that are more conservative and not so flashy. These people like sports and want to showcase who they would like to win, but prefer not to draw all the attention onto themselves. They are content with a t-shirt...



Aaaaaaand, one more thing about the Olympics....I still think the Fuwas are weird. Only China could have gotten away with these mascots.

The INSIDE scoop on the Olympics...or something :)

I have never really been much of a sports fan, unless it involves something dangerous (aka extreme sports). I like dare-devils, what can I say…but being around all the Olympic hype and excitement of this country, I decided to be a part of this historic moment for China, and in the process decided that going to see sports is pretty fun. I still don’t like watching them on TV though.

On the 18th, Leah and I snuck onto the Olympic Green (hehe) and watched the taping of the Today Show and saw Micahel Phelps, and apparently I was on TV!


There he is!



The cast of the Today Show.


I like soccer (what is known to the rest of the world as football) so after much searching I was able to find tickets to a semi-final game, and it happened to be the US playing Japan, so that was exciting…especially since the US won. And by the way, these were the tickets I was concerned about possibly being fake, and they were REAL! YAY!

I tried to go see the BMX motocross (back to the dare-devil in me) but it was rained out, so I saw the mountain biking instead. Not quiet as exhilarating, but it was still fun to watch and I got some cool pictures.



The BMX venue.



In front of the "rained out" sign.



Go USA!!


The photographers, how lazy are they? I had to work for my pics!
In fact, I think I worked harder than any of these “photo guys” sitting on the ground to get my pictures (being squished against and fence and nearly passing out from the heat), so enjoy!



The medalists!



I love this because of all the Chinese people peeking between the plants.

House of Love Video

Hello Everyone! Here is the video of the Opening of the House of Love here at Shepherd's Field earlier this month....

Jamison

As most of you know, PHF houses not only younger children, but some older ones as well. Today I wanted to feature an older one that is one of the most severe case here...


This is Jamison.





Jamison is 10 years old. He was previously in a family until about a year ago when his father was killed in a gas explosion at his work. Jamison was also in the explosion and suffered severe burns all over his face, causing him to be blind. His mother took him to the hospital, but had to abandon him when his medical bills were too much for her to pay. Shortly after this he arrived here at PHF and has had a few surgeries. The most recent one was reconstruction of his nose where they are taking skin from his arm that will eventually be the skin they use to repair his face. Below you can see how his arm is attached to his nose so that the skin can grow to make this possible. Since he has been back, it has gotten longer! It is amazing was technology and medicine can do!



His arm will have to stay like this for a few more weeks until enough skin has grown for the operation.

Jamison is fascinated by the guitar and has a beautiful singing voice. He seems so happy, like many of these kids do, even though he has been through so much.His friends in the House of Love help him walk to different places and keep him company as he recovers.

A Glimpse into Beijing

As I was in Beijing yesterday, in some areas it was the quietest I have ever heard the city. Seemingly unusual due to the massive events currently taking place there...and then I remembered the new rules about honking during the Olympics, and the even numbered license plates that were taken off the road that day...and it all made sense.

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that on Friday, everybody in Beijing (and maybe all of China, not sure) was off work. It was sort of a "holiday" since the Olympics were opening that day. During the 2 1/2 months that I have been here, the Chinese people have had more holidays from work than most people in the US have in an entire year. They work to live and it seems that we live to work. Most if not all other countries have months of vacation during a year compared to our 2 weeks. Why exactly do we work ourselves into the ground? Thoughts?

I tried to chase down the road cycling race to watch it, but it was pretty hard to maneuver through the city with traffic, and everytime I got to a place it was going through, they had already gone by. So I gave up and went to Olympic City instead.

Here are a few pictures of the stadium from yesterday...


The stadium with a Chinese touch, a kite flying high.



The torch.



One of the many reasons I love China. The people always ask to get pictures with you and it's so funny!

8/8/2008

Some people are way too excited about the Olympics, like this guy....


The countdown clocks have been counting down for years. If you walk into any store in Beijing and the surrounding areas, you are likely to hear the song "Beijing Welcomes You," the song of the Olympics. I could sing you the whole thing in Chinese I have heard it so many times. After much anticipation, years of preparation, weeks of media coverage (some good and some not so good), the 2008 Beijing Olympics have arrived. Pollution, protests, and politics have surrounded these Olympic games, and it is exciting to be right here when it is all happening. Two Sundays ago was the clearest day Beijing has seen in years. Today, it is quite smoggy and of much concern to athletes and spectators here.



In case you were unaware, today is 8/8/08.


8 is a lucky number to to the Chinese, therefore double 8's mean "Double Luck" so today is a very special and lucky day. 8 is lucky in China mainly because of the word for the number 8. It is pronounced "ba" in Chinese and sounds like the word for prosperity, which is pronounced "fa". The Chinese have to pay extra to have the number 8 on their license plates and phone numbers. 888 is to the Chinese as 777 is to the Americans and how we associate getting rich with these numbers.

So obviously, it would only make sense that the games would start at 8:08 PM. 7:08 AM for most of you reading this, but you can always watch them on TV!

With all this talk about the number 8, I must point out that interestingly enough, 888 is "Jesus" in the Greek.


I have been fortunate to witness the excitement of the Chinese and the countdown clocks throughout the years here in Beijing throughout my travels...




The countdown clock in 2005. 1,191 days to go.



Me and the clock at the zoo last year. 356 days to go.


It's almost here!!!! 1 more day!

So as we watch these games with excitement and joy, may these games do in China what they did for Seoul, Korea in 1988, and change the nation forever, not just temporarily while the world is watching.

Josiah

This is Josiah. He was recently living in the Samaritan's House/Clinic, but was moved to the House of Blessings to make room for some new arrivals with more severe conditions. He has a complex heart problem, but you would never know looking at him and his smiling face. He has a Glenn Shunt. He is a little cyanotic, but not to the extent of little Mei Mei. He is capable of running around and playing, unlike some of the other heart babies. He should have a heart recheck Oct.08.



Here you can clearly see the scar from his heart surgery.