The biggest sporting event in the world has finally begun in Beijing.

In the second extract of her Olympic blog, former Canterbury schoolgirl Esther Irwin, who has been teaching in the Chinese city for the past year, records the excitement amid the fireworks, the fun and the Games.

So the beginning has begun!

It is a little as though the city has become some kind of metropolitan thesaurus as there are words related to happiness strapped to bridges and signs: 'harmony’, 'joy’, 'happy lives together’ and the omnipresent 'One World, One Dream’.

Flower pots are everywhere, the taxi drivers are now wearing yellow and maroon uniforms, volunteer stalls perch at street corners with Chinese citizens in bright blue outfits and caps eager to assist, Westerners abound and everyone appears to have an Olympics pass hanging round their neck on a massive, sponsored shoe lace.

As friends and I cycled to a local bar to watch the opening ceremony on a big screen, the atmosphere reminded me a little of the World Cup in England.

Every bar and restaurant was brimming with people cheering and staring at giant screens.

After a drink and a sample of some of the spectacular performances, we took taxis and were dropped as near to the Bird’s Nest, the stadium hosting the ceremony, as we could get.

There, we joined scores of Chinese families to look at the sky and wait for the fireworks. We bought the obligatory Chinese flag for 1RMB (about 7p) and a beer and stood to watch the lights above the nest while children ran about our legs and people sat, stood and readied cameras and phones to record the display.

When the fireworks did explode the view was breathtaking, but I was equally taken with the atmosphere. Everyone hollered and cooed and cheered and waved their flags.

It was a great start to the Games, and I think everyone around us felt excited and proud and a kind of joyous relief that it was finally all happening.