Arrive

Finally settled into the hotel after a long day and a half of travel to get here. We'll keep this entry short, as there isn't much to say about fifteen hour flights. I will say this, though: I'm learning quickly that the Olympics are as much about the people around the events as they are about the events themselves. In my short time thus far in transit and on the ground, I've noticed a palpable excitement that seems to infect everyone I've met. Everyone is happy to be here - many have come to Beijing for their third, fourth, fifth Olympics - in a way that I've never seen before. Anticipation is running very high. Tickets for the Opening Ceremonies tomorrow are going for $10,000, and there's an active market for them.

The Canadian women's synchronized swimming team was on our flight; and I sat next to the girlfriend of America's extra-lightweight judo team member, a gentleman by the name of Taraje Williams-Murray. He placed ninth in the Athens games in 2004, and is back for one more try at a medal before he retires. Judo is basically a second job for him (a full-time job in recent months), with nothing to show for it but a small amount of prize money from international competitions. He's one of those American athletes who dedicate their lives to their sport, yet remain nameless and faceless save for a few brief seconds in the spotlight, if they're lucky. He fights on Saturday and I'll be thinking of him.

We disembarked in the new international terminal of the Beijing airport, one of the new architectural marvels that is redefining Beijing, along with the CCTV Tower, the National Grand Theater and the Olympic Stadium, affectionately known as the "Bird's Nest". If Beijing's goal has been to project itself as a thoroughly modern city and culture, it's done it's best these past few years to build a fitting facade.

On the drive from the airport to the hotel, we also encountered the infamous Beijing smog, and let me tell you - it's bad. Real bad. For the Los Angelenos out there, it's like the heaviest June Gloom you can remember, and it's everywhere, with a slightly metallic taste to boot. I was reading on the flight over that the smog isn't just confirmed to Beijing, but covers the entire country, and in fact is borne over the Pacific Ocean to the U.S. in sufficient quantities to deposit quantifiable levels of particulate matter in the snowpack of California's High Sierras and even in the Great Lakes. Yikes.


But the hotel is nice, I have a stable and speedy internet connection and so far the only site I've been blocked from is Facebook. Tomorrow, with no Olympic events yet scheduled and no ticket to the Opening Ceremonies, I'll be hitting the streets of Beijing by day and retiring to the Casa America in the evening for to watch the ceremonies on TV, just like you. Enjoy the spectacle!