The Great Difficult Winding Staircase & The Olympic Park

I recently went on a school-sponsored trip to the Great Wall of China,
and think that it lives up to its name. It was great! When we went it was
an absolutely gorgeous day, the sky was even blue (which is rare in
and around Beijing). We drove about an hour and a half from our campus in
Beijing to the Great Wall and then had to hike up more steps than I care
to remember up to the wall. When I was finally standing on the Great Wall
of China the view was incredible. It was like being in a movie. I half
expected an animated Hung from Mulan to jump over the wall and attack me –
it just seemed so unreal that I was there. The wall stretched as far as I
could see in both directions over the mountains. Me and my friends
started to climb our way to the highest guard tower that we thought we
could reach in a reasonable amount of time. After about an hour of
stumbling up uneven, rough, and often steep steps I thought that maybe it
should be called The Great Difficult Winding Staircase.  We finally
reached the tower and then began climbing back to the other end of the
wall. Instead of suffering the hike back down we took a toboggan ride
down the great wall back to the park entrance. We each sat on a sled like
seat and then used a handle to move forward or break. It was extremely
fun but also kind of terrifying as I flew down the slide feeling like a
bobsledder. Even thought climbing the wall was a little tough the view
was amazing and just being on the Great Wall of China made it worth every
step. Although it happens often in China it was another “I can’t
believe I am actually here” moments.

Speaking of places I can’t believe I was actually at… this past weekend I
went to the Olympic Park with two of my friends. As we pulled up to the
park and saw the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium I would hear the
Olympic theme in my head, and was transported back to my couch at home
sitting with my family who loves the Olympics. I just kept thinking about
how I had seen all the buildings on TV during the Olympics and yet again
couldn’t believe I was actually there. If you had told me in the summer
of 2008 that I would be standing there myself two and a half years later
I wouldn’t have believed you. Although I could have stood in awe just
looking at the Olympic stadium I had come with a mission. I had heard
from a friend that part of the Water Cube (Olympic Aquatic Center) had
been turned into a water park. My friends and I bought our tickets for
the water park and headed inside. First, we stopped to look at
the Olympic pool used for the Olympic races. It was soooooooo cool to be
inside the place where Michael Phelps had won all his gold medals. Then
we headed to the water park. It was similar to some American water parks
I’ve been to only everyone except me and my two friends were Chinese.
Even though I’m used to being the only white person in Beijing I was
surprised that there weren’t anyother foreigners at the water park. It
was especially noticeable while we were in the wave pool and a giant
screen showed everyone in the pool. Like showing a crowd at a sporting
event the large screen zoomed in on people who were waving and dancing
for the camera, and of course they zoomed in on the three white Americans
dancing just as crazily as all the Chinese people around them. The water
park was a lot of fun, and it was pretty amazing to be swimming
and running around in the Olympic Water Cube.