Beijing

This is the first full day of the Olympics in China. It still looks smoggy out the window of my friend Xiaojun's Beijing apartment. (The tall building in the distance on the right is where I lived in an apartment during the month of June.)

I wonder how the athlete's are doing with the smog? I used to go for long walks in the city, but there were some days when I would walk only a few blocks and have to go back inside because of the smog hurting my eyes and lungs.

But Xiaojun tells me that at her house in the north suburbs of Beijing the air is much better, and you can sometimes see the blue sky.