I'm In CHINA!!!!

We checked into our hotel about an hour ago! The trip went very smoothly, except for that everyone thought Patricia was Chinese and tried to talk to her in Chinese. We are going to make a sign that says, "I'm Vietnamese not Chinese". Patricia just said, see the Asians can't even tell us apart! :) haha . The Beijing airport was amazing and beautiful, not to mention enormous! We arrived around 5:00am and here a picture of the plane that got us here safely!



Because we arrived so early, the airport was empty which helped us to get through everything fairly quickly. We had a guide waiting for us, the nicest guy ever! His name is Lyn and he got us out of the airport and to the hotel, being a great tour guide along the way. He said the airport was just finished, about two months before the Olympic games began, which explains why it is so beautiful. There were paralympic signs everywhere...I tried to take a picture of a huge one hanging from the ceiling, but it wouldn't come out. :(


Lyn helped us get checked into the hotel and up we came to unpack and shower (hallelujah) and see if we could get internet access. When we tried to get hooked up with the internet, it asked us for a username and password. So I called down to the front desk and asked them for it. She asked what room I was in and what my name was, and then she told me you cannot have a password because I was not checked into a room. HUH??? How can I not be checked into a room? I'm sitting in a room! So three people transfers later, a guy finally says he'll call me back, there must be a mistake. Really?! We obviously got connected, but Patricia and I will be laughing about that one for a while. "You can not have password, you not checked in, you not a guest." :)


So here's a picture of our view from our hotel! We get to see the out over the front of the hotel. It's beautiful.

So I just got off the phone with Eric. He was able to secure guest passes for us to be able to go and tour the Athlete Village today. That will be a lot of fun. I have to admit that I'm just kind of really excited to see Eric though! :)

Now that I know I have internet access, I will be posting often and taking lots of pictures! Hope you don't get sick of me!

Oh, one other funny story...I changed my computer to represent the time in China, and when I went to blogspot.com to start my post, everything was in Chinese. I had to laugh, good thing I know what I'm doing! :P

One more thing

I just found out that the Church News, a newspaper published by our church, released an article on Eric.  Here is the link, if you want to check it out.  

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/cn/view/1,1721,500006868,00.html

Opening Ceremonies

I got a call from Eric this morning at 6:00 just as he had finished walking into the Bird's Nest for Opening Ceremonies.  I immediately went to universalsports.com to see if they were broadcasting it.  They were!  I was able to watch the remainder of the ceremonies live, which I have to say were AMAZING.  It was a perfect way to start my travel day to China.  Eric and I were expecting them to be same as the Olympic opening ceremonies, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were completely different.  I loved that they had many people who had disabilities as well participating.  It was very well done and I would encourage you to watch it online at universalsports.com.  I was hoping to be able to see Eric as all the athletes walked in, but he didn't make the camera. :(  I loved the torch lighting.  As the torch got passed to the final person, it was a guy in a wheelchair and you could tell you he was on a pulley.  He pulled himself up, all the way to the top of the Bird's Nest where the torch was.  I couldn't believe how far he pulled himself up.  About a 1/4 of the way up, he paused for a minute, and the whole stadium erupted in cheers to encourage him along.  It was so touching, seeing everyone rally around him.  It really gave me a sense of what these games are all about, and made me soo excited to leave.

I will be honest and say I had a hard time leaving Logan.  I knew I would, but he did GREAT.  All morning long, while I was packing, he would pull my suitcase around and say "Bye, Mommy".    It definitely helped me to know he was happy, and will be happy while I'm gone.  Thanks to all of you who are helping and have offered to help while I'm gone for two weeks!

On our trip down to LA to catch our flight, Eric called me.  He had just woken up.  He said he LOVED opening ceremonies, and that it was quite an experience.  He was sitting up in the stadium seating so he had a good view of everything, except the lighting of the torch.  It was up behind him, but he said the guy who lit the torch on the pulley was only about 5 feet from him!

We are both excited to be in China together.  We are hoping to be able to get together that first day we are there and before he begins his competition with the ranking round the next day to see the Olympic Village.  I know it's going to be an incredible experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity!

I Got a Phone Call!

I woke up this morning and ran to the computer, but Eric wasn't on the computer, so I thought I would hurry and get the shower. Turns out he tried to instant message me while I was in the shower, and by the time I got out, the lines of people waiting for a computer were getting long, so he decided to just call me! It was so great to hear his voice!

He's doing great. He had another good day of practice and they had their flag ceremony tonight. He explained it to me that 4-5 countries at a time go to the International Zone where there's an amphitheater. There are all kinds of dignitaries there and each country's anthem is played and their flag is raised to be on display throughout the paralympics. He said it was a very neat experience.

Tomorrow is Opening Ceremonies! He thinks it should be pretty similiar to the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. It's going to be an all night affair and they've been told they won't get back to the Athlete Village until 2-3 in the morning. That means I won't be able to talk to him tomorrow morning, and then I leave to go to China...so the next time I talk to him, I will be in China too! It's still very surreal to me.

I believe UniversalSports.com said they were going to broadcast the opening ceremonies, so if anyone wants to check it out, hopefully you can find it there.

My next post will probably be from China! :)

He branched out!

Yes, I don't think too many were surprised that Eric had McDonald's for dinner his first night in China, so when I instant messaged with him this morning, I had to ask what he'd eaten that day. He went out on a limb this time and ate pizza, cereal and a PB sandwich. :) He said he'd be back to Mickey D's tomorrow.

He was able to practice and said the field was really nice. The weather wasn't so friendly, he said the wind was swirly and it rained at the end of their practice time. They have 4 hours to practice every day, either in the morning or the afternoon. He said he shot average, but that his main competition, the Koreans, were eyeing him and his new release. They had fear in their eyes! :)

I asked him what else he was able to do besides practice and he was able to go to the "International Zone". It's the part of the Athlete Village where all the shops are. He told me that it would be a place that we could meet and hang out as well. I was excited about that, but then he also told me he thought he could get guest passes and be able show me all of the athlete village, which got me really excited.

One thing that kind of surprised me today is that Eric said from the Athlete Village and the archery field he isn't even able to see the stadiums (the bird's nest, water cube, etc). He said it wasn't due to smog, but that the whole area is so spread out and it's just too far away. I can't even imagine. I think I'll be doing a lot of walking, or getting to know the taxi system really well!

Eric's in China!

I woke up this morning at 6:30 and rushed to the computer to see if Eric had sent me an email, and he was actually online so we were able to instant message for about 25 minutes! It was 9:30pm and he was EXHAUSTED. He said the flight was long, 12 hours exactly. Once they landed they were greeted in the airport by about 50 people to escort them through the airport. They had buses waiting at the airport to take them to the Athlete Village. He said everything is so huge and oversized. There are flags everywhere and all the olympic signs/rings have been changed to reflect the paralympic logo. He said that by the time they got all checked into their rooms, it was 6:30pm and they had an orientation meeting at 7:30pm, so they had to hurry and eat. Any guesses on what his first dinner in China was? In the words of Eric, a double cheeseburger, 5 chicken nuggets, french fries and a coke zero. Yes, he found the McDonald's. He said everything else they saw looked a little scary, but they didn't have a ton of time to look around. He thinks it will be McDonald's and PB sandwiches for him!

He's excited to be able to go and shoot tomorrow afternoon. I can only imagine what a cool experience that will be to go practice shooting at the place where he's going to win the gold medal. I can't wait to be there and see him do it.

Eric Update

I just got a call from Eric to tell me goodnight at 6:30pm. They are supposed to go to bed now, wake up at 11:00pm to eat breakfast. Next they load the buses at 1:00am to head to Denver. They load the plane at Denver at 5:00am and leave for San Francisco at 6:00am. They will land at 9:00am and board the plane again for China at 11:30am. Eric said they are allowed to sleep now, on the bus to Denver, and on the flight to San Francisco. After that they are required to stay awake, including the entire 12 hour flight to China. They will arrive in China at 2:30pm on the next day, September 3rd. So he has a very long day ahead of him, but he said he is very anxious to "get this show on the road".