It's a Family Affair

Sorry I've been lax in writing this blog, but as I've said my computer crashed on Thursday, and I'm now relying on the kindness of my friends to borrow computers to write this blog. So thanks to Gretchen for tonight's update!
The national pride in China surrounding the Olympic hopefuls is like nothing I've ever seen. The best comparison I can give is what it was like when the Red Sox won the World Series to give you an idea of what it's like. I think its both for national pride but also because they want to finally beat the U.S. in overall medal count. Ever since the Olympic competitions began this morning all of the photo volunteers in my venue were anxiously following their country's medal count. According to CCTV, they have won two golds so far, with one in women's weightlifting that I know for sure.
I hope some of you got the chance to watch the Opening Ceremonies. We watched in our hotel room and thought it was quite amazing, especially all of the technology they used. We were able to glimpse a reflection of some of the fireworks from the Bird's Nest on some of the nearby skyscrapers. We stayed up to see the U.S. team parade through, but went to bed before the torch was lit as we had a 5:30 wake up call. We did see a replay though, and if you haven't seen it I won't spoil the surprise, but you have to check it out. I found out today that Li Ning, the man who lit the torch, used to be a big gymnastics star here and started his namesake company which has become the Nike of China.
While most of our fellow volunteers thought the ceremony was a fitting opening and something of which the Chinese could be proud, one girl said she thought it was rather boring. She said there were too many group numbers and not enough individual ones for variety. She also commented that the chosen Olympic song lacked a chorus and thus was too monotone with not enough key changes.
Tennis competition begins tomorrow, and Nadal and partner will supposedly be on my court. And the excitement continues...