Last night I received a text message from a friend who lives in Beijing, just a stone’s throw from the Bird’s Nest Stadium where the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics are being held today. She told me that every night this week there have been helicopters circling over the stadium and her apartment building, […]
Beijing 2022
In case you are one of the millions of people world-wide who are scratching their heads at how Beijing, a city with virtually no snow and no history of winter sports was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, this article in the Christian Science Monitor may help (somewhat): On Friday, the IOC chose Beijing […]
A Beijing Winter Olympics?
You may not know this, but Beijing is bidding to host the Winter Olympics in 2022. I must admit the first time I heard this, I had to stifle a laugh. Shouldn’t a Winter Olympics host city have, well, snow? Yes, it does (on occasion) snow in Beijing, but if any of it stays on […]
Where the Grass is Greener
The Telegraph has a funny story today about city landscape officials in Chengdu spray painting the grass green. In China’s sprawling smog-blanketed cities, life can sometimes seem a little grey. But Chengdu’s officials hit upon an easy solution to cheer up their city’s appearance: specifically, a chemical solution called Top Green Turf Greening Agent. Chinese […]
Break-dancing Fuwa
I was at the finals for women’s basketball last night–watched the Russians defeat China for the bronze medal, and the US defeat Australia for gold. Both were great games, but the activities during the time-outs and half-time were particularly entertaining. IMy personal favorite was the break-dancing Fuwa. What’s not to like about that?
A Day at the Beach
Thursday was beach volleyball day, and in case you were wondering, in the end I did not try to sneak my peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the venue. I just wasn’t confident enough of success. My friend and I stopped at the Kempinski deli for a bite to eat on our way, so we […]
