8.8.08.

I don't know if Mom remembers this or not, but I remember watching the 1994 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Lillehammer, Norway, and seeing all of the camera flashes from the crowd. I asked her something like, "Mom, if you could go to the Olympics, how many rolls of film do you think you would take?"

(Rolls of film... ha.)

"I don't know, maybe one or two," was her answer... to which my childlike wide-eyed response was, "Really? I think I would take one hundred!"

Tonight I remembered that moment... which I honestly hadn't recalled until now. It's true, I can remember exactly where I was watching those Games. And something about remembering how awestruck I was watching that ceremony fourteen years ago came back to me tonight standing in Wangfujing Plaza.

Five of us decided to opt out of the "watching Opening Ceremonies at a restaurant or bar" option and headed to the streets. All we wanted was to be with the people... all of them... cheering, singing and watching this day they have been waiting for since 2001. Wangfujing Plaza had a giant TV screen, and thus, a giant crowd. We nestled our way into a crowd of mostly Chinese people, but there were people and flags from tons of others. For the first time, I felt the One World, One Dream motto rushing over me. We were all there, packed into a street, watching for our countries' flags to appear on the giant screen... waiting to cheer our hearts out, for our own nations and for each other.

Everyone was cheering for everyone, it was beautiful. As soon as the crowd realized there was a pocket of people cheering for a country, they would all join in. When the US flag came on, I went nuts... and was joined by everyone. There were "Go America" chants (in Chinese, even cooler) and tons of applause. It was also interesting when George Bush appeared on screen... and the cheering didn't end, but became sort of muffled and awkward... for sure not a surge in enthusiasm (at least that was my impression of the crowd's reaction).

Obviously the artistic elements of the ceremonies were amazing... no detail was spared in making sure the dancing and performances were gorgeous. Some of the craziest things I have ever seen were on that huge screen tonight. I loved the human Birds Nest and the dancing body calligraphy... but also the people running around the globe... and the drummers... and pretty much the whole thing.

The atmosphere of where we were just made it that much more amazing. I've honestly been wanting to be in a crazy crowd like this my whole life. And I did it... and it was greater than I could have imagined. Even when people started to shift around and we got all crowded and, for a moment, were practically on top of each other, the whole experience was so full of energy. People were also very polite, even when stepping on each other... and we noticed as we were leaving that ordinary people had formed a sort of human chain, just holding onto each other, to keep a path clear for people to walk. I can't say I could ever see that happening in the States.

I also can't say I'd see people cheering for so many countries other than our own at home. I probably wouldn't see people chanting, "Sit down please," asking the crowd to all sit so that everyone could have a better view (and get this, it worked). People were smiling at everyone. There was no animosity or people getting annoyed with patriots of other countries. There was just this feeling of a global community... all spread out on a Beijing street.

It's hard to explain it all in words... especially at 2am after standing/sitting in a street for five hours. But those five hours were absolutely filled with the Olympic spirit and energy that I've been anticipating since I arrived. The Games are here. The world is watching. And I'm just spinning around in the middle soaking it all up. I'm so completely thankful for it all.

Lauren and I clinging to each other in Russian/American love while being tossed around like rag dolls.