Living in the Great White North

Field Hockey- Where there is no ice

Canada vs. Great Britain

So it's the summer games and this is as close as it gets to ice hockey.

I really enjoyed the game.

So in field hockey you have sticks with a smaller rounder end on them that you use to hit a small ball.

We had great seats 2nd row behind the goalie but unfortunately there was a fence to keep us safe that interfered some with my pictures.

It was a close game, very exciting.

There's Great Britain's goalie.

There are two 35 minute halves in field hockey.

It was pretty fast pace with a lot of running sort of like soccer.

There's Canada's goalie with his painted mask!

Facing off...

Headed towards the goal...

... missed!

Chancing the ball in again...
... score!

Great Britain was pretty excited.

The end score was a tie 1:1.

Going in from the corner.

Fighting over the ball as it goes out of bounds.

Swimming in the Water Cube

The Cube is just as awesome as it looks on TV!

This was the side you entered on.

Here are the Cube's bubbles gleaming in the sunlight.

What I hadn't realized but thought was really awesome was how the Bird's Nest and Water Cube play off each other. This picture for example you can see the reflection of the Bird's Nest in the Water Cube's bubbles!

This is from inside the Cube out in the hallway and stairwells.

This is inside the Cube where the pool is. Looks pretty normal other than the ceiling which is kind of neat.

This I believe is the women's 50m and that is Dara Torres for team USA in lane 5.

There they are jumping into the water to start their swim.

This is the men's 1500m and you have two team USA guys in lanes 3 and 4 and the record holding Austrailian in lane 5.

Here they are diving in for their start.

This is in the relays which we saw both men and women swim. No finals- all were just heats.
Here they are in the water ready to start with the back stroke. USA is lane 4.

This is cool- they jump way out of the water before landing back in and swimming.

Here they are swimming with USA in the lead!

The switch offs are cool because one person is diving in practically on top of the other person who has swam to the wall and will then get out.

Here is the finish where you can see Japan next to USA next to China- I believe we won the heat but I don't remember!

This is the butterfly for the men's relay I think! That is USA in the middle.

From inside the Bird's Nest you can see the Water Cube!

The Cube lights up all different colors at night.

The Cube with the Nest behind it all lit up.

The Cube has a nice reflecting pond that circles around it creating a nice effect at night.

This almost makes me think of Easter Eggs!

It was so awesome to be able to be there, in the Cube, and to get to see the events and the architecture. China did a really good job in showcasing both of these buildings. They really are the Yin and the Yang of Chinese modern architecture.

Water Polo- the 2nd greatest sport!

This is the Water Polo venue.

As you can see the weather and pollution haven't been all that great during the Games.

Here you can see the Water Polo venue from inside the Bird's Nest.

This is what it looked like inside the venue. (This is not in the Water Cube)

So water polo is pretty intense. I can't believe people can actually swim for that long and focus on the game!

They can only throw the ball with one hand and they have to keep it above the water. They can't punch the ball into the goal either they have to slap it or throw it.

We watched 3 matches- the middle of which was USA vs. Russia- USA won!