Posts Tagged 'Water Cube'

Salty Dogging in China

We’ve been back stateside for nearly a month now and the repatriation process seems to be going well. We’re still in the process of figuring out what we’ll be doing next and where exactly we’ll be doing it. In the meantime, we’re getting some more perspective on our time and experiences in China. While we’re not yet at a point to put our truly profound and well-reflected-upon thoughts into articulately worded blog posts, we can entertain you with dance!

This video was shot over the course of our whole stay in Beijing, the first bit of which was for our newlywed friends, the Hoffmans. The Salty Dog Rag is a Dartmouth Outing Club tradition and Steph and I taught this frisky foxtrot to hundreds of incoming freshmen during the preorientation camping trips program. Interestingly, the native Beijingers and Dartmouth prefrosh had very similar looks on their faces when we first busted out our moves.

Nested and cubed

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The jewels of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Beijing National stadium (aka “The Bird’s Nest”) and the Beijing National Aquatics Center (aka “The Water Cube”), no longer host athletes from the world but still sparkle every night.

We were excited to have Steph’s Dad visit for 10 days in March. While he was here he arranged for us to visit the two buildings. We toured the arenas, along with throngs of bussed-in Chinese tourists. We snapped lots of pictures (seen below) and were constantly ushered along by a small battalion of guards, guides, caretakers and custodians.

The Chinese authorities have been hard pressed to find an act to fill the Bird’s Nest’s 80,000 seats. But just this week the first concert to be held in the Beijing National Stadium was announced. And who will be headlining China’s biggest venue? None other than Jackie Chan. Yeah, maybe you didn’t know it, but Chan is quite the renaissance man. According to Wikipedia, he’s released 20 albums and trained at the Peking Opera School in his childhood. “Jackie Chan & His Friends” will be rocking the Nest May 1.

Lots more pictures after the jump.

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Continue reading ‘Nested and cubed’



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