Opening Ceremony

So today.....our guests arrived!! What a hectic day. And of course, it's Opening Ceremony Day. We scrambled to everyone checked in and settled and then get them on the AO coaches. Our Atos coach was scheduled to depart for the opening ceremony at 4:30pm. At 3:30, those of us who had been hosting since 6 am (which means I had been up since 4) were called in for a briefing. I just assumed to go over the days work. However, we were pleasantly surprised with tickets for the OPENING CEREMONY!!!!! I was soooooooo excited!!! I couldn't believe it! And......the tickets were on the 15th row from the floor!!!!!!!!


I'm going to attempt to express what i felt. However, I don't believe that I will be able to even come close to really relaying to you the feeling. I was exhausted. But I was so excited to be going that I didn't even think about my exhaustion. When we arrived, its quite a walk to the stadium from where the buses are allowed to park. By the time we all got into the stadium, I was soaked from the heat!! It was soooooo hot. And inside the stadium, it was not better. The roof was open and they had some sort of fans blowing, but it did no good! It was hot! We were in our seat by 6:30 pm and the show was to begin at 8. However, the entire time we waited, there were Chinese dancers performing on the floor to entertain. I was mesmerized by their costumes and their dances, the music.....everything was very traditional Chinese. So many children were involved in the dances as well. And of course, I loved seeing the children.


Finally, it was 8 pm. But before I go any further, I wanted to mention the Bird's Nest. The massiveness of this building was mind blowing. Most everyone has seen the opening ceremony by now and Adrian recorded it for me and I can't wait to see it again....But the feeling of being surrounded by this huge stadium was quite daunting. They had this jumbo tron that totally circled the stadium. I was blown away.

There is no way I can go through everything and you guys seen it for yourself, but for me, there were a many many special moments in the presentation that I was mesmerized and will never forget! Here are some, just to mention a few:


The 2008 drummers. I could not believe just how in sync these guys were. With the large number, their performance was so tight!! the lines of dancers were so straight. Their beats were so together. Just breathtaking!


When the Lighted Olympics rings were raised from the floor!


I also really enjoyed the Chinese puzzle performance. In the stadium, there were gasps because it was so mind blowing.

I loved the lighted men!!


I loved the "world".


One of my most favorites was the scroll! It was a "wow" moment for me!



And when the US team was announced and began marching, I screamed, screamed and then screamed some more!!!! I told Adrian and the kids that when they watched it, if they heard a wild crazy woman screaming, that was me!! As a matter of fact, I lost my voice.

When Yuan Ming came out escorting the Chinese team along with the child that helped save his classmates, it was pretty special.

And the highlight of it all.....The lighting of the torch. OMG!!! It was so off the charts that I stood there with tears. I kept wondering how they were going to light it. And I assumed the person would be raised with wires....but when he began to "run" around the edge of the ceiling, I was totally blown away. I was standing beside one of our clients spouse (who, by the way, was an absolute doll) and both of us stood there with tears.

The show was phenomenal.

I must say, as I sat through this show and as they began to call out each country and they would show the leader of that country.....I was in awe that I was sitting at this venue with some of the most powerful men in the world - Bush - Putin - President of China - Presidents of most of the European counties - South American countries.....unbelievable.


Click on the below link to view some of my photos. I took many many more but have just uploaded the highlights. My battery on my camera ran out before the end of the show. However, one of the other hosts took pictures for me at the end and she will send those to me when she gets a chance. (If I had known I was going to that show, I can assure you, my camera battery would have been totally charged!)


Enjoy the pics!!!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/sdhcortez/MyAdventure?authkey=j031qDolq2k