Hatching History in the Bird's Nest

Alright. It's pretty late here but I have a lot to tell you and a big day tomorrow too. I just got back from the Bird's Nest tonight. We saw Men's and Womens 4x400m which USA took first in both. Two gold medals and an olympic record for the men's team. We saw it live. We saw Belgium break a national record in high jump and javalin olympic record for the men broken by an Eastern European man. It was probably one of the coolest events I've seen thus far. Not to mention, the Bird's Nest is one of the largest venues I've ever seen in my entire life. I am only 20 years old but this thing is MASSIVE. Thousands and thousands of people filled the stadium. It was sold out. And although we were pretty high up, our views were spectacular. We were just opposite of the finish line. We had a perfect view of the Women's high jump and the javalin field. The crowd was intense with energy. I can't even belive how many people were there from all different types of nations and lifestyles. Walking to our seats, people were praying to Mecca inside the stadium. A group of Bahama fans cheered for their runners a few rows in front of us. And the sea of American flags when we won was priceless. There probably wasn't a better time to come to the Olympics than this year. To top it off, listening to the our national anthem twice, echoing through the Bird's Nest made me damn proud to be an American!

Jimmy, Devon and I went with some other kids from our group and we all sat together. I brought my flag and we all waved them around to support our teams. Walking out of the Bird's Nest at night, it was cool to look through the tangle of steel out on the Olympic Green. The Water Cube, just across the plaza from us, was glowing blue and there were thousands of people milling around like ants on the green. The fountains we going off, the lights were flashing, and music was playing on the speakers. Great time. I have to get the pictures from Devon since my camera broke but still. Amazing.

Speaking of my camera, I spent 3 hours today trying to figure out what to do. Buying a new camera out here costs the same as buying one in the states. I could go to the Silk Market and try and get one there, but honestly, with my luck do you think that would be a great idea? I probably shouldn't risk it because I'm sure that I'd buy a camera and plug it into my laptop and start an electrical fire and burn my hard drive. So, I was wandering around our neighborhood with Rachel trying to find an electronics store. The first one had my camera, and the price was Y2600. I asked him if that was the real price (well I tried to ask) and he said something back. And then he wrote down Y2390. I was kinda confused because I'm pretty sure bartering isn't typical in stores. But little did I know. I decided that was still too expensive to make an impulse decision so we decided to go to another store. At the next store, the guys had my camera for Y2500. I told them that mine was broken and I wanted to get it fixed. Well, I dont know what I said exactly but they kind of got the point. All of a sudden there are 3 camera guys all speaking to me in Chinese and of course I'm just looking around like what the heck is going on. I waited until they all finished jabbering and simply said (in Chinese), "I don't understand." They thought that was funny and then they pulled out a Nikon box and found a map of something and pointed to it. They kept pointing to it but I apparently wasn't getting it. Because I had told them I had recently purchased the camera in the US last month, they knew that it was under warranty. These smart camera guys were pointing to a service center. So I asked them what would be cheaper, buying a new camera or getting it fixed. They said they didn't know exactly how much it would be but they knew for sure the person could fix my camera. They think it could be as cheap as Y400-600. But, the place doesn't open until Monday. 7am. Well, I gotta do what I gotta do. So I'm waiting until Monday. They wrote something down on a piece of paper (most likely the address of the service center) and they told me to give it to a taxi and they will take me there. I'm predicting another Chinese Adventure here, but I could be wrong. I really am done with breaking all my stuff. It just gets me frustrated.

We're heading to the Great Wall tomorrow. To a non-tourist part called Mutianyu. It is going to be spectacular. The weather should be great as well. Don't worry, I'll steal pictures from all my friends and we will all be happy. In the meantime, have a great day and I'm going to bed.