Beijing is rocking my socks off...(again)!!!

   Ok, so I had a good first day of work getting situated. I am now working in Venue Operations inside the Paralympic Village. The Village is where the athletes stay. There is apartment style housing, a rather large cafeteria and a fitness area that includes a gym, outdoor swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts, etc. So when a colleague gave me a tour around, I couldn’t help but take a few photos with some of the athletes I encountered. The women’s USA volleyball team was especially happy to receive BOG cards! You may not be able to tell from the photo, but most of them have at least one prosthetic leg.

 

      So around 5:30 I get a text message that there might be a ticket for me-and that I should call the boss-boss. Whoa. 20 minutes later I am in a car on my way to the Olympic Green! Because of the credentials the “Olympic” car has, we are able to drive onto the Green…ps this is very rare, and even more rare on the evening of the Opening Ceremonies. The driver was pretty convincing-and he even tried to get the car past some guards that were clearing the way for the VIP buses coming through--to no avail. But I was more than taken care of and was a short walk to the gate I needed to meet at. The boss-boss himself gave me my ticket and showed me the way to…the box seats. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How blessed can one girl get? Did I mention yet how amazing the Opening was?? I am amazed by artistic work of the director- Zhang Yimou. The colors, music, costuming and choreography left me in awe. I was emotionally moved by the wheel chair athlete who was able to pull himself up to the top of the Bird’s Nest in order to light the Olympic flame! A magnificent night- of which I am extremely grateful.

 

it was soo good meeting up with my past managers! (Craig, Erica, and Sohpie) 

Below is the torch being lit- if you look in the top right of the big screen you see the guy pulling himself and wheelchair up to the base of the big torch.