2008 Summer Olympics!

I love the Olympics! Ty and I have been waiting all week for the opening ceremony so that we could see all the athletes and all the different countries represented. I was super excited to watch it since it is in Bejing and a small part of my heart was left in China when I was there a years ago. Little did we know what we were going to get when we watched the ceremony last night! The Chinese sure do know how to put on a good show. I really wanted to stay awake and watch the torch lighting part but I couldn't stay awake that late and so Ty did and told me all about it and I really wish I could have seen it in person! If you missed any part of it, you missed out, I don't think anyone will be able to top what they did for this! The drums at the very beginning were the coolest things I have ever seen or heard, I got goose bumps throughout the whole thing.
But while we were watching it, poor Ty had to hear all my silly and crazy Chinese trivia and stories and I got kind of misty eyed but I loved every part of my teaching experience in China (even tearing my PCL and having to wait a month to get month and get it fixed). Here are a few pictures to show you what I am talking about!

I can't remember exactly how this series of events took place but somehow I was able to get the guys at the shop to dress me up in this armor and let us take pictures! It was awesome! At least it got people to stop in front of there store, I would say it was great advertising.

I always wanted to be a drummer and I got my chance on the streets of Urumuqi (far western China). There was big production of dancers and drummers on this stage and a large crowd watching everything and we wanted to get a closer look to see what was going on. When we moved to the front of the crowd, somehow we got involved in the celebrations (these things just happened to us, I have now idea how). My friend started dancing and these four adorable old men let me bang on their drums. What you don't see is the crowd of 200+ people behind the camera that were trying to figure out what these crazy Americans were doing and the construction workers a few feet up in the air behind me watching from above. It was awesome!

This is the COT (the Circle of Trust) at the Forbidden Palace in Bejing. These are the greatest friends that I made while in CHina and we are still great friends today. My adventures in China would have been totally different and probably a lot more boring if I didn't ever meet these girls! There are awesome!

And the COT on the Great Wall of CHina after spending the night there. Can't you tell, we look exhausted. We slept in one of the towers and after playing Truth or Dare for a few hours (that was our game of choice the whole time) we tried to sleep. I couldn't sleep though because I heard a rat going through out food stash which was right by my head. I was freaked out but didn't want to make any sudden moves in case it would attack. Yes, it is illegal and yes, we could have gotten thrown in jail and deported but we were not aware of this until afterwards and besides, how many people can say they got to do that? It was all about the story for us and this was one of the greatest stories for us!