Day 8: Beijing

Lauren Edsten, Louisville, KY

Monday, August 11, 2008

I started the day by checking my email to see if anyone had responded then I got cleaned up. I wrote postcards although I may get home before they arrive. Tyann and I made our way to the lecture for a talk on Wushu, a form of martial arts that focuses on not fighting. The Chinese focus on an opponent's weaknesses and then attack.

During the break we discovered we were going to the Zoo. We also learned we had a free night to find event tickets...maybe gymnastics.

The massage lecture was awesome and we tried the techniques on each other. We then learned martial arts moves from a National Champion.

The Pandas at the zoo were amazing. One of the pandas became aggressive and we realized they were more than cute animals. The skies opened up and the rains came next. We made a run for it but got soaked.

We took a taxi to the national indoor stadium to get gymnastics tickets. We saw the Birdsnext, Watercube, and Stadium.

We made it through the first check point but got stopped at the second. We got pictures and white flags with Beijing on them. Our taxi driver taught us Chinese on the ride back. Big Pizza for dinner and then off to bed.

Kristin Howard, Louisville, KY

I'm starting to see familiar faces at the track in the morning. One guy I to to a little bit gets so excited when he sees us. He likes to talk about the United States. The Tai Chi class was using swords this morning. I observed them for a few minutes knowing we had a lecture today on martial arts.

The martial arts lecture was good then we had a national champion talk to us and taught us some Tai Chi. So much about Chinese culture is about focus and control and today I realized how practicing Tai Chi can benefit you mentally, physically, and spiritually.

The other lecture we had was on Chinese massage. the hast half of the lecture was the professor introducing different techniques and then we practiced them on each other. We were all pretty shocked when the first demonstration was a pushing technique and he had Allison lie on the table and started pushing from the calf, went up to the hamstring, and continued to the glute, giving her booty a little squeeze. It was fun to try the different techniques and I'm pretty sure they're the same ones we use in America.

We went to the Beijing Zoo today and I was dissappointed by the rain and by the zoo. It was run down and the animals looked skinny. In Kentucky I would never have to look for a tiger in an overgrown pen. I did get to see a Panda eating some bamboo and giraffes which are my favorite.

After being here for a week now I was craving some American food. We set out for Outback steakhouse but it was closed due to it being close to the stadium. We then spotted a Hooters from the street. We figured you couldn't get more American that that. The cheeseburger and fries were delicious. Tonight Team USA plays China in basketball.....GO USA!