08.08.08

Well, its finally arrived. August 8th, 2008.

It is so exciting to be here right now; its as if the air is crackling with excitement and electricity. This city has been preparing for this day for seven years, but really China has been waiting for this kind of exposure for almost 30 years. We've seen a lot of preparations in the past month: the Fuwa, the "One World, One Dream" slogan everywhere, Beijing Huanying Ni cartoons, the ads at every single bus stop, the rain every night. We've seen more in the past few weeks: the dress rehearsal of the fireworks, the increased signs of "Beijing 2008", the old people with the "Beijing 2008" tshirts, the young volunteers with their badges wandering around in brightly colored shirts, and most prominently, the half-car odd/even rule. There are banners everywhere, the giant CCTV screen by 东四十条 are constantly playing the '中国加油‘ cheer, the tv screens on the bus showing the torch route.

But now, here it is. Its like we're standing on the edge of a huge hill, about to sled down. As if a huge force was pushing this city (or even this country) forward and we, a bunch of foreign college kids, got swept along for the ride. And now we've reached the jumping off point and the momentum pauses just for a second to reflect -- its the quiet before the storm I think. A good storm, don't get me wrong...but its just this slight calm with the underlying realization that tomorrow is the biggest day in recent Chinese history and that we're going to be there. That's just amazing.