It's Almost Here

Tonight, China is electric with anticipation for the opening ceremony of the Olympics that begin tomorrow evening, 08.08.08 at 8pm. The countdown, which started 500 days ago is now about 20 hours away. At every significant date before the opening ceremony China celebrates. I still remember last year when I was in Hangzhou on 08.08.07, there was a special CCTV broadcast to mark one year away. New Years was was a big deal this year too. And so was the hundred days mark.

Although I will not be attending the spectacular show in Beijing tomorrow evening, I did get a ticket to the rehearsal of the opening ceremony here in Qingdao. Unlike Beijing, Qingdao's opening ceremony will be one day later on the 9th. It's actually a pretty big deal in its own right.

The tonight's show started at 7pm (as it will in two days). It was held at an all-outdoor venue at the Olympics Sailing Center. Unique to any other venue I've been to, the 3,000 seats ingeniously face the marina, allowing the boats and piers to provide an unmatchable atmosphere to the front and sides. Qingdao highrises are visible to the rear. With such an idea temperature and the absence of rain, it was a beautiful evening. Even though the whole set up is outside, it wasn't a simple production. There were tens to hundreds of colored lights satisfying spectators with all of the colors of the rainbow. There was even a grand piano on the stage.

The first hour, from 7pm to 8pm, was filled back-to-back with pop songs about the Olympics, Qingdao, sailing, etc. At 8pm, the official ceremony began. About 50 flags were brought to the center of the stage, while their names and number of athletes were announced by an emcee. The rest of the evening was filled with all types of excellent dances, singing, and even acrobatics. Phenomonal!

A lot of the work we have been doing at at language services has gone into the Qingdao opening ceremonies. Anything from tickets to speeches, we've done it all. It's very humbling to hear my work being spoken from the sound system or displayed on the big screens in front of the audience. Actually, I noticed a couple of mistakes that I need to correct, so it was a good thing that I was able to go.

It's time to get some rest before tomorrow; I am just dragging.