Images of Beijing

Here are some of the things I learned while visiting Beijing in the last few months...


1 - If it looks like chicken... it may be something else, just in case, leave it alone.


2 - If they tell you is chicken, ask what part of the chicken or you may end up eating chicken feet or neck or something


3 - If you think the elevator or the train is crowded, don't worry they'll try to fit 10 more Chinese people in it


4 - If you want to get away from the crowds... go to your hotel room, everywhere else will have tons of people, all the time


5 - Personal space varies according to culture, a couple of inches between your face and someone else's is plenty of space for the chinese :)


6 - If you like bargaining for your purchases, China is the place for you... you can get great deals that way


7 - If you think think pedestrians have the right of way crossing on a green light on a marked pedestrian crossing, think again... cars turning into your street always have the right of way in China, so be ready to jump forwards or backwards...


8 - You can safely take a taxi in Beijing, but the driving will not be safe, they drive like crazy and they'll hardly ever know where you want to go if you give them the address... they will drive around, call someone, and kind of guess where it may be. And yes there are millions of cars on the road.


9 - They use green tea for a lot of stuff, not just beverages...


10 - If your name contains an "r" in it, get ready for a change of name, they'll find a way to make it sound Chinese... like Hen-lee

11 - If you believe in privacy and your right to disagree, China is not for you. Big brother is watching and it is obvious

10 - If you want to visit a mysterious, safe, beautiful place with lots of friendly people, proud of their culture, China is it.

Half-a-day at the Great Wall

Hey, I took almost a half day off here in Beijing... so we left at 7 in the morning and drove to the Great Wall. It takes about one and half hours to get there from downtown Beijing, but what an amazing place. It was hot and humid and it took a lot of endurance and all my energy to make it all the way to the wall (even though I cheated and took the tram almost to the top :) I went there with my friends Nate (who works for Nike Europe) and Ilana in US PR. I wish I could have brought the family because the views are breath-taking and the place is a bit magical. I hope you enjoy the pictures... by the way, the picture of the Chinese military guys hiding from the sun by the window is one of my favorites :)

USA Going for Basketball Gold

It was a lot of fun to see USA beating Argentina by 20 points. Right now The Dream team II looks really unbeatable. I got to go with Morgan Shaw from US Public Relations and we got there a bit late and starving, but let's not go there... you already heard me complain about the availability and variety of the food at the venues. LeBron, Kobe and some of the other players came to Nike Hospitality a couple of times while they were in Beijing. They are pretty cool guys. They are going to play the Gold Medal match against Spain tomorrow. Here are some images from the game. Go USA!!

Locos por el Futbol :)

I know, many of you are reading this and saying.... it's soccer, but since the majority of the world calls it football, indulge me on this one :) Yesterday I got to see one of the most exciting games of the Olympics... Football semifinal between Brazil and Argentina. It was amazing to see Ronaldinho (who wasn't playing very well), Alexandre Pato, Messi, Gago and Aguero play at the Workers Stadium in Beijing. We also saw Maradona in the stands. Every time he waved to the cameras, the whole stadium went crazy. Here's a clip of the penalty kick that happened during the second half. Final score: Argentina 3, Brazil 0. Argentina is playing for the gold medal next. Reporting for MTV News (Molina Television) and especially for the Giles "Crazy for football" family, Henry Molina from Beijing.

A look at the Bird's Nest

Many of you have seen images of the amazing Olympic stadium which many locals have nicknamed the Bird's Nest. it is an amazing structure. The thing that really surprised me was that it is right next to the "water cube" and across from the International Broacast Center. The bad thing is that the logistics around the building really don't match the efficiency and beauty of the stadiums. Security is tight, but inefficient since there is only one open entrance, where everybody has to go through. Because of that you can spend between an hour and one hour and a half just to get into the space... while you sadly can only listen to what the athletes are doing inside the stadium. The food really sucks in selection and availablity. They don't have vendors walking around and selling inside the stadium, so you're stuck standing in another line that can take up to 45 minutes even if you just want a bottle of water (it's been 85 degrees and very humid around here at night.) If you are hungry you can select from wonderful items such as: crackers, bread, popcorn, candy or spicy chips (those are just the "known" items... I did not want to get too close to the hot-dogs here because you never know what you're really getting.

Here's a quick video showing the grounds around the nest. Reporting from Beijing, Henry Molina, MTV News (Molina Television)

Visiting Friends from Florida

This week we had friends visit from Weston, Florida (the Llewellyns--David, Marty, Jonathan, Christopher, and Emily).

We had a lot of fun with them, starting with the ward campout at Ft. Stevens. Friday and Saturday ('twas rainy but fun!) The rain really hit when we showed them the coast...nothing like Florida coast they said! We drove up to Astoria, to Seaside where they were having a beach volleyball competition that day, found the taffy store, then went down to Tillamook--seeing some beautiful views! They fell in love with the ice cream at the cheese factory!

Sunday we went to church and showed them the Rose Gardens & Multnomah Falls. (Hiked to the top with new puppy and all! Whew!)

Monday we went to workout, then took the tour of Nike Campus (from Henry) went to the Nike Store and then went out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory for Henry and my 19th wedding anniversary. We showed them the temple at night afterward--Beautiful! We'll always remember how old it is since it was dedicated the same weekend we came here on our honeymoon in August of 1989!

Tuesday we went to Ape Caves--fun indoor cave rock climbing! Ben LOVED it and would look forward to the "next set of lava rocks to climb"! You should have seen the 9 foot straight up rock we encountered, and the rare cave bug!

Wednesday, Marty hit the kitchen while her husband hit the trails on Mt. Hood! They were both in HEAVEN! Marty cooking three main courses and an apple tart...Yum! While David, found new muscles in his calves and quads as he went up and down the extreme inclines--loving the sights of the falls, woods, trees and flowers. Marty and I took our daughters to paint at Ceramic Cafe after that. Fun!

Thursday we went to the temple in the morning (Great!) and they went shopping later at the Lloyd Center. We were going to take the kids ice skating, but I stayed home--
I already had running around to do with the kids for piano and sports, etc. (well actually everything started before this week!) Does it feel like summer's over???!

Friday, we went to Silver Falls and the outlet stores in Woodburn...fun and beautiful, but it was a very hot day so we went home early and made it a movie night!

Saturday, they picked all the blackberries they could, packed them to go, and shopped some more while I ran kids around from Big Truck Day at Conestoga where Brittany works, to a football car wash, to soccer--Ben and Hailey. Hailey got heat stroke at her game and had to come home--missing her team pool party! :( She's feeling better now though. The Llewellyns left us that night--(sniff, sniff) after eating some more Tillamook Ice Cream! They're now heading back to their lovely hurricane awaiting them! But we had some fun times together while they were here, and the kids got along great! ...until next time! Come and see us again!

Reporting from Beijing

Knee How (actually I don't know how the Chinese really spell their "hello", but the sound is just like their daily greeting) from Beijing. Here I am on my second day of my third Olympic experience (after Sydney and Athens) and on my first day I got to go to the "Bird's nest", or the main Olympic stadium here in Beijing. It is an amazing structure and when you are inside, the energy of the fans, the cheering, the competition and the Olympic spirit are amazing. Now, the food they serve is just crazy... yesterday I asked for a sandwich, and they were all out, so instead I ended up with three hot dog buns and a snickers bar (that's all they had left besides hot dog, which I am not willing to try, and some weird chunks of meat on a stick... i did not ask what kind of meat it was...) Security lines to get into the Olympic village take between 50 minutes and an hour and a half, so if you are planning on seeing an event you have to come two hours in advance. The lines to get drinks or food are not much better, between 25 and 45 minutes. So much stuff has changed around the city from the last time I was here in May... they really cleaned up the city very well and try to show the best to al visitors. I am including a couple of pictures, and the best men's 100 meter race ever... those guys are fast. I still cannot believe I was there to see it!!

Great Wolf in Washington

I've been a bit behind sharing some of the things that we did in July, so here are some images of one of our short getaways of the Summer. In the middle of July, we decided to take a trip to the new Great Wolf Lodge water park that opened near Olympia, Washington just a few months ago. We went for three days and stayed in one of their "special room" for families, where the kids have bunk-beds and an additonal bed in one of their "cabins" within the room. Besides the traditional slides and water activities, they offer "treasure hunts" using an electronic wand, an arcade full of games, and a center where kids can do crafts, read stories and other fun things. Our kids had a blast, and by the end of the third day we were exhausted... there's a lot of climbing, and swimming and playing involved!

The entrance of the Great Wolf Lodge

The kids room looked like a cabin in the woods

Tons of slides and games...

The kids loved swimming 24 hours a day
Mom had fun with the little ones
Brandy and Ben were in heaven...