countdown

Well, still no blue skies today. In fact, it was very gray and smoggy, but I still will not be surprised if somehow I wake up to blue skies tomorrow. It is hard to believe the Olympics start tomorrow- after 7 years of preparation. I was hoping to head out today to get a picture of one of the numerous countdown signs all over town saying 1 day left (it originally had 1000 days!), but I didn't quite have the energy. It is really hot and really humid...and I'm 8 months pregnant. So you will just have to imagine with me the energy here as the countdown is almost over.

We were able to buy some more tickets yesterday for more events through an official website for overseas buyers. In addition to the track and field tickets we already had, we got the baseball gold medal game, a rowing match, field hockey and Chris got boxing and wrestling as well (I wasn't so into those two sports). There are also some weightlifting and a few other things available, but we stopped there. Life does have to go on in some sense as well.

Other big news- I rode our new subway line for the first time last night. Chris and I had a date and got to venture directly to the other side of town from our stop- a one km walk from our door. It is nice and easy to get a seat at our stop (the last stop on the west side of town). Unfortunately it is still not too stroller friendly- no escalators going down (only up) and an elevator that is never turned on. But convenient when I need to go out alone and it connects directly to the Olympic subway line that goes to the Olympic park.

Subway line 10

Not to forget Austin news...he has recently been observing "shushu's" (uncles- men basically) outside doing work around the complex and copying them. Two days ago we saw a man repairing the tile on a ramp in our complex and he was hammering. Later that night Austin walked around the house with different objects (Chris' guitar capo for one) and banged them on the ground and then proudly said "Austin hammer". Today we saw men mowing the grass. Then later he pushed around this little push toy (bear on a stick) and said "Austin mowing grass". He is getting more creative with his play and definitely likes to imitate.