Celebrating the Olympics

To celebrate the start of the Olympics 2008, a big screen was set in the middle of North King Street at Chinatown. My friend and I decided to check out the stands and galleries first since there was still light out and it was difficult to see the screen. We headed over to the Louis Pohl art gallery and received two bookmarks each. People were scribbling in the back of the bookmarks and we quickly realized that we were supposed to write our wishes on them and then tie them to a tree.



I thought this was funny because the Japanese practiced a similar process in the Shinto religion, but its only the bad luck things that get tied to the tree. ^^; We also received free bubbles, which my friend had fun blowing. I tried my best to catch a picture of the bubbles, but it was really difficult!



The lady that gave us the bubbles told everyone to blow the bubbles at 8:08pm for good luck! Ah~ the obsession with the number eight. It is almost getting a little ridiculous. At the galleries, people were passing around these little cards that said, "Your pass to free stuff!" If we visited at least 8 places, we can get something. My friend won a tiny rhinoceros toy figure while I received an art print from the Pacific Traditions Gallery.



There was a group playing folk music outside and a little girl dancing furiously to their songs with her teddy bear. It was really cute! :)



We also spotted this beautiful furry black dog among the crowd. *o*



It was finally dark and we got to watch the parade. My friend was very eager to see Alexandre Pato, a genius Brazilian soccer player that apparently scored six goals in one game. xD I don't know the name of many athletes except for Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson. Lame, I know. ><; It was my first time sitting down in the middle of the street~ I don't know when I'd ever get that chance again. Hehe. Shortly after we settled down, it soon started to rain and the screen collapsed! How's that for good luck? My friend and I left the rain to eat dinner at Pho My Lan. After dinner, I continued watching the Olympics opening ceremony at home. This is the first time I've actually watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics and the first year I even cared about the event. I think I was too young to appreciate the Olympics before~ this year I'm quite psyched about it. Watching the lighting of the torch was so exciting! It is so like the Chinese to go all out. They're making it very difficult for London to show off in 2012...