I surely do not want to be the person who writes about traffic. I have traffic jams in London, Sao Paulo and Rome…believe me…worse than here!
I do not want to be the one to write about language problems. The Football World Cup in Japan and Korea, in 2002, was not any better.
And I will not talk about security checks, ticketing trouble and…that's it…can't find anything else!
I can talk about the fact that we are already at the half of the Olympics, and all is great, safe and exciting.
I will talk about the Friday 15th August, a beautiful, the first, blue sky day we had in Beijing. And what a beautiful day!
I have to talk about the three months that have gone by from the Chengdu area earthquake, and how China is rebuilding lives, houses and cities, without making too much noise about it, and life is coming back to normal. No money or attention that goes to the Olympics, come at the cost of the earthquake victims. On the contrary: China does both fronts, very efficiently and very well.
I am sitting here at the Bird's Nest. Seat number 14, row 5, Aisle 216, tier 2, Sector D, if you don't believe me…
Because, I, really do not believe!
The Olympic fire burns my eyes, so big it is, so impressively designed, amazingly unfolded. Like a paper of the deepest Chinese historical roots.
As if she wanted to take a some of the people's attention, to steal the stage, just a little bit, comes a full moon. Clear and bright as an Olympic set of lights, bringing another star in the Games. Had the chance to stop one second and check out that cool Chinese full moon ?
The words flow easy on my mind, but how hard to explain the feeling of being here, inside the most modern and beautiful stadium in the world! What have been said, and what was written and pictured around that Bird’s Nest, it is simply not enough.
Seeing athletes running, the Mexican wave making people shake their bodies and the stands fully taken by well behaved fans, it all makes me forget how sad must it be for Tyson Gay, the US 100 meters champions getting out of the finals.
The stadium, this night, the volunteers helping elderly people get on the stairs to reach their place, the country all together, enjoying and helping in their way to make it unique, makes Us foreigners forget the distance from home, the family and the bed at our house that we lie so much.
So, it is like that: you celebrate the speed, the gold, the results.
And I celebrate that full moon over our heads, the Mexican wave, the new Chinese song I learned that goes like that:" Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni…xiang yinyue…gan dong ni…, and that I will never forget. OK ?"
You celebrate the world coming to your country, and that China will never be the same again, and, I celebrate my new work as "Auto Nominated International Good Will Ambassador of China People". OK ?
In my sixth Olympics of my life, I can say that all fires of the Games I have been since 1988, were marvelous, special and impressive.
But here in Beijing, there is something that makes you want to look at it all the time. Be it because we recall the image of Li Ning walking on air to lit it, or because of its unique design. I cannot answer.
But sincerely, even with all the Stadium fantastic lines, and the Olympic fire that seems to be wanting to fly away from the Bird's Nest, I still decided to take my way towards the other side of the Olympic Ring.
Somewhere in Salintun, downtown Beijing, I lived two hours of crazy moments with thousand people, following the match of women's volleyball between China and the USA.
Sitting in the floor, taking pictures with Chinese that wanted to have me in their cameras, applauding the points, and getting sad for the defeat.
Even so, China losing, the fans were cheering and enjoying their moment.
Sometimes, less is more.
And even not being at the stadium, not having the ticket, and sitting in the floor, I have written another page of memories in my sports unforgettable moments in life.
Is there anyway I cannot respect that gift China is giving me?
http://aoyunpl2.blog.sohu.com/97471212.html