Last hours

Just a short update to let you know about my last full day in China...

We hit up the 798 Art District with our friends for one last little adventure. It's an old factory district which has been reinhabited by artsy folks and their studios. It was a blast. Check out pictures; I was a little inspired and tried to be a little artsy myself.

Afterwards, it was dinner at Luga's in Sanlitun one last time. Believe it or not, Chris and Alysha have gone there for their signature burritos three times in the last 24 hours! I don't know if my stomach could handle it.

Tomorrow morning, Leroy and I will hop on the subway for our last (tears) ride to visit Mao at Tiananmen Square. It will be kind of creepy, seeing the preserved Chairman up close, but hey, when in Beijing... Then we'll grab our luggage and head to Beijing International to catch our flights back to the States.

Thanks to all of you who have kept up with my blog over these past weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and hope you have, too! Please feel free to contact me at christinaharp010@gmail.com or through this blog if you'd like.

Xia xia, Christina

When I lived in Beijing...

When my fellow Boilermakers and I embarked on this crazy/wonderful journey, we asked ourselves, 'when is it okay to say you've actually lived in another place? Is it based on length of time, how much you embrace the culture and immerse yourself in the local life, or what?'

After much debate, we came to the conclusion that we indeed have lived in Beijing. We weren't put up in a fancy hotel, we had to find our own food, entertainment and really survive. We made the most of it, each in our own way, and here is a list compiled by our group about...

When we LIVED in China:

• I spent more time washing my clothes that I spent wearing them.
• A horn was always honking.
• I found out that corn is not only good on the cob but on popsicles as well
• Meals that cost less than one U.S. dollar were the norm.
• “Nearby” meant a 40-minute subway ride, minimum.
• I was a minority.
• I rediscovered books, as they were the only English “entertainment.”
• I never got used to be stared at constantly, and I will remember how that felt next time I am tempted to do the same.
• Bread had sugar in it and eggs were black.
• I waited in the bathroom next to Jennie Finch and Laura Berg (U.S. softball players).
• We learned how to wash our hair in the sink because mud showers were a weekly occurrence.
• Cramming yourself on the train was typical and sprinting at the transfer station was essential to assure a seat in the next train.
• We were all "pretty ladies," especially when someone wanted you to buy a knock-off handbag or a pearl necklace.
• We learned how to communicate with cab drivers without speaking a word of the same language.
• Lime and blueberry were flavors of potato chips.
• Adidas blue was the craze.
• Finding cheese felt like winning the lottery.
• Friendships blossomed and pre-conceived notions disappeared.
• I was inspired by the people but enraged by their system, and it became the most unsettling paradox I've ever experienced.
• There was a woman with a pet duck who took it for walks every morning around the campus of our university.
• The babies had crotch-less pants and were free to do their business whenever, wherever they pleased.
• I was both more proud and more embarrassed of my country than I had ever been in my life, all in one day.
• I fell in love with international track cycling in a serious way.
• A continuous struggle to do simple tasks taught me the true value of patience.
• My hair looked like it should have been called the Bird's Nest, but the Olympics became real and even more magical.
• I realized that it's easy to get by without the little things in life if you know you have western plumbing to go home to.
• Wrinkled clothes became common. Without a dryer and an iron, one had to rely on the wrinkles to come out while on hangers, which didn't happen most of the time.
• Watching television wasn't common. The Chinese television stations were all in Chinese but one so the time-killing TV viewing option wasn't available.
• I realized I take A LOT of amenities I have for granted, and I hope I never will again.
• I realized for all its problems, the U.S. is a pretty great country.
• Seeing a couple wearing matching shirts was no big thing.
• Getting your picture taken by someone with a camera phone was as common as a cold.
• Random people would try to practice their English with us.
• People would spit on the ground, anytime, anyplace.
• "No Smoking" never meant no smoking.
• The suspense of opening a door to a bathroom stall to find out if the toilet was Western or not was often our biggest thrill.
• We were the “loud Americans” everywhere we went. The Chinese are very quiet.
• We ate many, many meals not knowing what we were eating.
• The silkworms looked worse than they tasted.
• The bicycles were more dangerous than the buses.
• A lukewarm shower was something to be excited about.
• I realized how ethno-centric the U.S. really is.
• I learned the first two lines of "Beijing Huan Ying Ni" from an enthusiastic taxi driver who spoke no English.
• I made friends from all over the world that I know will last a lifetime.
• I found out that from China to America, Chinese food got lost in translation.
• Tourists/foreigners asked us for directions and we could actually help them out.
• We got our picture taken everywhere we went, even when sleeping on the subway.
• An hour-long massage was cheaper than a drink and sandwich at Starbucks.
• I consumed my body weight in white rice.

Bittersweet memories

I can't believe it. My time as a volunteer at Laoshan has finally come to a close, with the conclusion of the mountain bike events today. At times, it has felt like the days dragged on and on; others flew by and I wished I could pause and rewind them at least one more time.

Today was a mix of those moments. One one hand, it was a looong day. Due to the rain earlier in the week, the women's race was changed to this morning, while the men had their race this afternoon. I sweated gallons in the morning race; the sun was beating down on us and it was hot! I don't know how the ladies did almost two hours on the bikes, but there were a few DNFs due to dehydration and heat exhaustion.

On the other hand, I had to say goodbye to many of my Chinese friends that I was used to seeing all day, every day, at work. It was also sad to see the photographers go that I had gotten to know, some of them at every event I worked. The Olympics is crazy like that, everyone has been working and preparing so long for just a few short weeks. Then, before we know it, it's over.

And now it is. But today was another day full of little fun surprises. I got assigned to the medal ceremony photo position for both mountain bike races (aka right in front of all the action!) and so during the races I could go wherever I wanted, including up into the mountain to watch the riders. Val met me up there during the women's race and we were literally a foot from the action. Incredible. I am also proud to say I might have prevented a wreck because the girl who eventually got silver lost her water bottle out of its cage on the rocks near us, and no one made a move to grab it, so I ran out and got it out of the way. I kept it. Good souvenir, I think. They get millions, don't worry. A Belgian rider almost took out some spectators when he chucked his out into the crowd later on in the day. I don't understand how they have the energy to do that (or pick up their bikes high over their head at the end of the race like gold medalist Julien Absalon. By the way, I was standing with his family as they watched their son win his second Olympic gold. Love this job...

At the medal ceremony, I met a photog, Liz, who looked like she was about to pass out under all the camera gear she was carrying so I offered to help her carry it (against the rules but hey, it was hot out there). We got to talking and she's from the States, her husband is a professional Iron Man triathlete, and she is a very talented photographer. How do I know? She was the official photog for Team Discovery at the Tour de France (yes, Lance's team). She also does work for Lance's Livestrong Foundation. It's so fun to meet such interesting people everywhere here.

After I helped her out, she was asking me about the Trek store down the road and did I want to come to a reception there with her? Ummm yeah! So Val and I went with her to this reception where there was amazing American food (I had a grilled cheeseburger. You can't even imagine how good it tasted to me, especially after the long day I had), interesting people (we hung out with US mountain biker Mary McConneloug's family, and the team manager and PR people for USA Cycling), and of course, air conditioning and a place to sit down. After hanging out for a while, Val and I headed back to where our shuttle would pick us up to head back to the CUC.

Our volunteer friends started up some karaoke on the way back on the bus microphone. They even convinced Val and I to do a song (Backstreet Boys' Shape of My Heart). I figured out why the Chinese love to do karaoke so much--- they are actually good at singing! I was so impressed. I, on the other hand, am borderline tone deaf so I felt sorry for them. They cheered us on, though, so I wasn't too embarassed. One guy's voice cracked and they told him to stop in Chinese haha!

I can't believe this is almost over...

Pin trading and BMX biking

Yesterday marked the very first Olympic BMX race in the history of the Games. Pretty historic, and I had a prime view of all the action, stationed at what my photog friends called 'the best photo position at the venue'. Actually, if you want to be specific, they said the only good photo position at the venue. But, hey, I'm just a lowly photo position assistant, what do I know?

Today, it rained so much that the competition, including the BMX finals, were cancelled. It was a bummer; we all love watching the riders doing their jumps and riding around the hairpin turn (right in front of where I am standing) where multiple crashes have already occurred. It is an exciting sport, with a totally different dynamic than that of track cycling. We've now gone from calm, Olympic theme song music and riders in Spandex so tight it must cut off circulation, to blaring rock music, fans in skater shoes, and riders in baggy jerseys. I must say it's a welcome change. I loved track cycling but it is nice to see something different.

Since we didn't have to work, Val, Traci, Megan, Andrea, Amy and I went to find the USA House, a place where American athletes and accredited sponsors can go to eat, hang out, party and buy Team USA goods. There are houses like this for all of the major countries at the Games. Supposedly, any American who knows about it can get into the store, but the fussy Russian lady (yes, Russian) at the front desk wouldn't let Val and I in because we didn't have the proper credentials.

Well, as you know from previous blogs, this pair of go-getters does not give up easily. We walk out, and see another door on the other side of the building open. Bingo. We walk into a restaurant area, where people are hanging out, eating and chatting. It is like we are supposed to be there, all fellow Americans enjoying themselves and the Olympics. No problem. We wander around, and after a few minutes, I decide to ask the bartender where the shop is. Right down the stairs? Why thank you. We headed down to heaven. I could have bought you all something in that store. Okay, two things. All of it was so cool. But I kept it under control and purchased a long-sleeve tee and the cutest running shorts ever for myself, and a couple of gifts. It was hard, let me tell you, but I made it through. Whew. When we left, we exited through the entrance that the Russian was at. You should have seen the look on her face. Oops!

Due to the weather, BMX will now be held tomorrow morning before the women's mountain bike race. Another early morning, but oh well. Hopefully we'll have a better day for it.

In addition to the cycling events at our venue, I am also involved in another type of sport (almost), and that is pin trading. Many people with accreditation badges (like mine) or even just Olympic hats or shirts take part in trading pins from places around the world. These collectable items are coveted by people and are really fun to display. I am building a bit of a collection, with many of my pins coming from my photog friends that I've met over the duration of the Olympics.

My favorite pin that I have received is a boxing kangaroo that I received from an Australian journalist who is friends with Ron, our Aussie photo expert. I am also hanging onto a Reuters Beijing 2008 pin that I received from my pal Jacky, a French photog who works for Reuters. He gave it to me after I helped him out by purchasing two venue pins for him (that can only be found in spectator areas, where photogs aren't allowed). Also, I told him that we volunteers didn't get any coffee; that it can only be found in the media lounge (where we aren't allowed) and so now he asks me every morning and afternoon if I need any coffee. Of course the answer is usually yes!

Iron people, 3 pieces

That is the literal meaning of the Chinese translation for 'triathlon'. The men's triathlon was today. Val and I left at seven a.m. to get on the subway to take our favorite 919 bus to the K34 Olympic bus to the Triathlon venue, where we were hoping to get a glimpse of the action. We didn't have tickets, but that didn't faze us. We were determined to find a spot alongside the road where we could cheer on our USA athletes.

On the subway, we happened to be next to a couple who looked as if they were headed to the same place (she was wearing a USAT shirt... hm, I wonder!), and soon they asked us if we were going. We told them of our situation and we all braved the Beijing bus system together. Matthew and Alayna were great, and half the fun of the Olympics is meeting all kinds of people from around the world... or at least the other side of the country!

I have to admit, I was a little more skeptical of our plan than Val, but she was sure that we would be able to watch the race. We got off the bus and began walking up the hill to the security tents where you gained access to the venue. I don't know what I was so nervous about, but I really hoped someone would just hand us some tickets. Val was more proactive, thank goodness, and started asking spectators if they had extras.

Sure enough, an American guy said he had one. One. Oh no. We couldn't leave each other out of the fun. But Val took one for the team, and told me I had to go no matter what. The guy, a friend of Matt Reed's, sold it to me at face value (so nice!) for only about 7.50 USD. I was in! I headed up to go through security while Val continued her search.

A few minutes after I was in the venue, she called me with great news: she had found a ticket as well! Someone actually just gave it to her... we played our cards right, I suppose, by staying at the bottom of the hill and catching people early. There were many wannabe spectators at the top holding out wads of cash, hoping to score some tickets.

I considered myself lucky and was so thankful for the opportunity to see world-class athletes compete in an exciting sport at a beautiful venue. Amazing.

But it gets better: after Val and I watched the swim conclude and the bike portion of the race begin, we decided to find an area that someone recommended as a good viewing point of a hill climb. We ended up somehow in a restricted area for athletes, media and race officials only! Oops! We did have our Olympic credentials on (they let you ride the public transportation for free), but I mean, I had an American flag draped around my neck-- we definitely didn't look ready to work.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining. We stood at an amazing position so we were facing the athletes head on at a turn before they entered the transition area! It was fantastic. We met some nice people while we were enjoying our view, and I even saw a photographer that I work with at the Velodrome. They're everywhere...

We headed back up to the spectator area (somewhat reluctantly) and watched the rest of the race from there. Val and I had a great time, and were glad we were persistent and didn't give up on our quest for the triathlon tickets. We watched Jan Frodeno cross the finish line to his gold medal and then cheered on Team USA as they finished the race.

After the conclusion of the race, it was time to head back to Laoshan for our last day of track cycling. I watched as Vicky Pendleton of Great Britain dominated the women's sprint finals, while fellow Brit Chris Hoy won his third gold medal in the men's sprint. These two are unstoppable and unbeatable. It was a great show.

Argentina took home the gold in the men's Madison, which is similar to points race but done with partners and even more complicated. I really think I would have had at least three crashes going ten times slower than what these guys were riding. It was crazy to see them all coordinating their relays as they zoomed around the track. I was happy to see another country take home some hardware (Great Britain totally dominated the track scene), especially because one of the riders, Juan Esteban Curuchet, is, at 43, the oldest track cyclist at the Olympics. It was also his final international competition, since he is retiring.

The Purdue photo group went to an amazing burrito place in Sanlitun after work. My chicken burrito was so good! It was a great end to a fantastic day. Goodnight!

Crazy for triathlon

Soooo I tried to get tickets. And tried and tried. I did not succeed in this, obviously, since I am on my computer writing this.

But, on the bright side of things, I am watching the women's triathlon live right now on CCTV2. And it is awesome! Go USA!

I tried to buy tickets off of mean people on the street, I tried to find them online (they all had been sold already), and now I am seeing tons of empty seats in the stands at transition. This is what it's been like for almost all events in Beijing. People are sad because the seats are there, but the tickets aren't. I think if I were an athlete I'd be sad to see that.

I am rooting for all of the Americans, of course, but especially Julie Ertel. I watched her win the US Olympic Trials in Tuscaloosa, Ala. this spring. She is so nice and a great competitor. This is a photo of her with myself and some of the Purdue Triathlon Club members after she won her bid to the Olympics.

Go Julie Go! U-S-A, U-S-A!

Laura Bennett just finished fourth!! Amazing performance!

Hot pot and record timing

Oh what a day (two days ago...)!

I went with my Chinese friends Lake, Angell and Sherry for a shopping adventure in the city. We were trying to find paper that I can take home for my scrapbook that I am going to make for the trip. We went to the neighborhood surrounding the art museum, where there are lots of art shops but unfortunately they were the wrong kind of store, selling mostly art supplies and more expensive paintings.

No worries, we had fun nonetheless, and I found a cute little notebook that I had to have. My friends were pretty amused at my eager excitement of simple things like a notebook (those of you who know me, surprise-surprise, right?) Then we moved on to bigger and better things-- lunch!

Lake wanted me to try Hot Pot, a traditional Chinese meal style that most closely resembles fondue in the States, I think. There is a large pot of scalding hot water heated by coals in a container in the center of the pot. You dip meats and vegetables into the water and voila! they are cooked! Afterwards you can dip them in a peanut sauce, which was fantastic!

My favorite things were the shrimp balls and the beef. We all stuffed ourselves so full we could barely move! Oh, for dessert we had hawthorn berries. Interesting.

Now it was time for work. Stuffed and sleepy, we made our way to the subway and went off to Laoshan for the second day of track cycling. When I got there, everyone was telling me that I did a good job the day before and I didn't really think anything of it, but then Lisa, one of my supervisors, told me that I had been chosen as 'Volunteer of the Day' for the first day of events and that I had won a prize (cute little Fuwa stuffed animals-- the whole set!) Pretty exciting, I was really happy that they thought I was doing good work.

I watched Chris Hoy win another gold medal (2 for 2 now!) and hurriedly changed back into regular clothes to head to the Bird's Nest to catch the last of the track and field events for the day. Val, Chris and Alysha had all taken the day off so they were already there along with some of the Aussie and American students that are in our group, so I was on my own to get there.

I wish you had all taken the Beijing subway so you understand my journey. I felt like it should be a new Olympic event. As I ran through each transfer station on the way to the next train (I took five on this trip), I was 'that' crazy American girl. I felt like everyone was staring at me but oh well. I was not going to miss that 100m men's final, no way.

Finally, I arrived at the Olympic Green! Finally, I could see the Bird's Nest, or National Stadium, in all it's awesomeness. Absolutely fantastic venue. It's even more beautiful in person than in pictures, I can tell you. I quickly found my group and was able to catch the 800m final of the women's heptathlon. USA came away with the bronze medal-- yay!

Val quickly painted my face so I could be patriotic for the race we were all waiting to see. The sprinters are absolutely crazy, and I know you already know what happens but I was so thrilled to witness Bolt setting the new world record in person! The crowd went wild! It was exhilarating to be there, caught up in the moment, cheering with the whole world. And to make it even better, Walter Dix brought home the bronze for the US. Hooray!! We cheered and cheered until we couldn't cheer anymore.

We left the venue and took pictures around the Olympic Green. Kelsey and I had a blast finding the Today show taping area and convinced the security guards to let us have a quick photo on a show golf cart (I'm convinced it's Matt's, but who knows?!)

An exhausting day but well worth it all. I am so lucky to be here!

Just awesome

I wish I could describe today so you could experience it like I did, firsthand. I'll try my best.

First of all, I did more work in the first half an hour that I was at the Velodrome today than I did the previous week. It was a good feeling; I was stationed at the photo positions at the top of the first turn, facing the starting line. You can't ask for a better view than that.

I made sure that the photographers had everything that they needed and weren't doing anything they weren't supposed to. Their favorite thing is to stick their huge camera lenses out onto the track, which is pretty dangerous for them and the riders, who sometimes ride up to the top of the steep inclined track. Most of them were pretty good about listening, but some I had to keep telling them to do or not do things. I didn't like that part, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I met so many great photogs today. A man from the Netherlands was here for his tenth Olympic Games and showed me some of the photos he had taken today. Some were at the Water Cube, and he had fantastic pictures of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. My favorite photogs of the day were the guys from Greece. They were SO funny and so sweet; I told them I heard that the photographers would be unfriendly and they laughed and said some are, you've caught us on a good day. We chatted about where we were from and they joked about getting the show over with so they could go rest. They still had to go work at the Bird's Nest after the Greek team was out of the running (sadly) for the team sprint event. I told them I had a friend who was Greek-American (hi, Alex!) and also tried to pronounce their names, quite unsuccessfully, but it was fun.

The races were great, but in the first qualifier, a Polish rider crashed his bike. I hoped it didn't have a negative effect on the rest of the evening, and nothing else happened after. The rider was just scraped up, so that was good.

Then, Bradley Wiggins from Great Britain broke the Olympic record (held by him) in the individual pursuit qualifiers. It was amazing to see him fly around the track! The crowd was going crazy!

Finally, the events wrapped up with the team sprint finals in which Great Britain took the gold, followed by Germany and France. The medal ceremony was fantastic to watch close-up. I was basically up and to the left of where they were on the podium. Sweet.

It was time to go home. After five hours on my feet, I was ready to go and we missed the first shuttle back to CUC so we took the subway. Smart choice, because who sat down next to us but Chris Hoy's family! Chris had just won a gold medal (and helped set a new world record) in the team sprint and his girlfriend was holding his bouquet two seats down from me. His dad sat next to me and we chatted. It was really cool to see how happy he was for his son, but at the same time used to having him do well. At 32, Chris has won almost 30 world championships and already has three Olympic medals now. His dad said that they're hoping for three golds by the end of the week in Beijing. He gave me an autographed postcard of Chris, so nice! I'll add it to the collection: a Chinese volunteer friend of mine gave me a postcard autographed by three members of the Great Britain team this morning, including Rebecca Romero and Victoria Pendleton.

I can't wait for tomorrow. Goodnight!

Contingency plan or propaganda?

Work this morning began as any other workday had... arrive (by shuttle, this time, yay!), go to Kai's office, watch some Olympics on BOB's live feeds and wait for further instruction. After a few hours, Val and I were told we needed to go with some of the Chinese volunteers to hear about a 'contingency plan' from the deputy venue manager. We all went to her office, where two of our friends translated the gist of her message for us.

Let me preface this by saying we had no clue what we were going to hear, but did not expect the first 20 minutes to be about the Chinese government and political party ruling the country. Oh, but we did... the girls couldn't translate everything for us but what I did gather from the hour of 'lecture' was this:

• The volunteers were encouraged not to work for the Olympics because it was fun, but because it was 'serious'. Apparently they should be more serious about their volunteering for China as a nation.
  After this, Chelsea (my Chinese friend) set the lady straight, saying the volunteers were all working hard, and asking why they were being criticized for doing good work, regardless of the reason behind it. She was applauded by some of her fellow volunteers.
  
• As a copy of various Free Tibet materials that could be found online was passed around the room, our speaker explained how China wanted to be one nation, and to keep Tibet. "There is misunderstanding between Tibet and China and the rest of the world. The Dalai Lama has over 400 slaves, but everyone thinks the ground he walks on is sacred," she continued. The students asked us in a whisper if we had heard about Tibet in the US. I almost choked as I answered, and I think they understand why the rest of the world feels the way it does about the situation.
  
• The talk shifted to an incident involving a Hong Kong journalist who was reportedly struck by Olympic security guards..."fake news" according to the lady. She claims that he struck the guard first and that foreign journalists are just "waiting" for a story to happen. Hmm...
• Now, China allows more freedom for journalists, so they can write stories without going through all of the approvals that the government used to require. She said that the Chinese media are more efficient, though, than before, allowing them to get a story out more quickly and eliminate false reporting by foreign journalists.

The volunteers all seemed to think she was exaggerating and said it was too 'serious' of a meeting. They were curious about our (American) thoughts on the issues and seemed to understand that we didn't really agree with the way their media was controlled by the government and such. To be honest, they seemed to agree. I think they are all really bright and it will be interesting to see what change this generation of Chinese will bring about to their country in the future. They rolled their eyes and laughed at some of the things she was saying, not to the point of disrespect, but to illustrate that they weren't buying into everything.

Oh, I almost forgot... the point of all of this political talk? To get the point across that pretty much THE most important thing to the Chinese at the Olympics is that absolutely NO political signs or demonstrations will occur in the venues. For example, if anyone comes with signs, shirts or posters that say anything negative about China (especially in reference to Tibet), it will not be tolerated. Well no kidding, there aren't supposed to be those kinds of messages displayed at the Games.

So, folks, the contingency plan is: If you see a Free Tibet sign, get it down and alert the proper authorities. Noted. Sheesh, what a meeting.

On a more positive note, the first cycling event starts tomorrow. I can't wait!

The blue day blog

No luck. Though we saw the US softball team on the practice field (they waved to us!), we were unable to score any tickets to the game from scalpers. Rar.

The girls and I arrived at the venue on the 996 bus and proceeded to circle the area several times, keeping our eyes peeled for potential ticket-holders willing to sell. It’s very different from American sporting events, where there are loud, obnoxious guys hawking tickets from every street corner for a mile around the stadium. For one thing, there is a police/guard about every 50 feet surrounding the venue. This is a big deterrent for scalpers. I mean, really, a slap on the wrist from a campus police officer or the Chinese government confronting you about your illegal activities? … Big difference there.

We’re walking along, and all of a sudden, this guy just sort of appears out of nowhere and asks if we’re looking for tickets. We tell him yes and he starts walking with us, covertly telling us that he has two passes for the 9:30 softball game. Well, we were there for the US-Venezuela game that didn’t start until noon. But we also wanted three tickets. We told him we’d call him if we couldn’t find any more and went on our way.

An hour or so passed, with no other encounters. We see Ali (our scalper) approaching from the other side of the street, calling us on his cell phone. He tells us that since the game is almost over, he’ll just give us the tickets. We told him we really just wanted to see the US after he informed us of his ticket source.

Apparently, some Norwegian big-shot has lots of event tickets and employs Chinese people who can speak foreign languages to sell them around the venues for a significant markup, and Ali is one of such employees. Pretty smart. Ali told us he makes a set amount every day regardless of the tickets he sells.

So, Ali called his ‘boss’ and said we could come with him to the hotel where the boss was staying to get the tickets. The Doubletree Beijing is no CUC. This place was so fancy; a Coke was 38 RMB. I can buy a bottle for 2.5 on campus, in comparison, and for 5 at the cycling venue. Val, Kelsey and I waited in the lounge while Ali went to find our tickets. After what seemed like an eternity, he came back and told us there were no tickets available for that game. I also asked about the women’s triathlon, which I am dying to see, but he didn’t have that either.

Ali apologized profusely, and even offered money for our troubles. We didn’t want that from our new friend, just a photo to commemorate our day. Hopefully, he will come across some tickets in the coming days and let us know about them. He left us with the advice to buy tickets off of the Chinese, and not from people like his boss, who was ‘cold-hearted and only cared of money’.

We said goodbye to our new friend and cabbed it back to the softball venue for one more walk around the field, where the game had just started. Still nothing. We headed back toward the subway station, where I ran across a few Chinese men who were carrying some tickets. I asked if they were softball tickets and they laughed and said no. They rattled off some sports and one happened to be triathlon. I think I almost fell over I was so excited.

I asked to see the tickets and, sure enough, three tickets for the women’s triathlon were right there. I offered to buy one on the spot. The guy said okay, for 100 yuan. I countered with 75, just to see, and he said no. They said they wanted to see all three for 300. I said, I’ll buy them for 250. Then they showed me that they had tickets to another event that day; that they couldn’t even go to the triathlon. But when I offered the money for the tickets, just like they asked, they wouldn’t take it. I don’t know what their deal was but I was pretty upset. It was just another disappointment to add to the day’s list.

Right then we met another friend, Hannah, from Canada, who is in China for a few months visiting a relative as part of a one year, three-month trip around the world. She was really nice and we shared a cab to the subway station.

The girls and I decided we needed a pick-me-up and stopped at Yonganli for the LG Twin Towers Mall. We got sandwiches (so good) and splurged on Frappucinos. It made me feel a little better, I think.

As far as weather goes, this is the nicest day that we have had, thanks to the weekend storms. I could actually see blue sky. Not the color-corrected blue that you’ll see on your Olympic TV coverage, but actual blue with nice white clouds. It almost felt like home. Almost.

Back to work tomorrow… goodnight!

Beach volleyball

Mr. Gao got us the hookup. That's Mr. Gao, one of the important BOCOG officials who interviewed us for the volunteer positions we now hold. We were able to go see Olympic beach volleyball yesterday at Chaoyang Park thanks to him! It was great!

The venue was really fun and exciting; I had never seen pro beach volleyball live before. We saw Australia versus Angola, and the Aussie fans were incredible. Their team ended up with the win, but the Angolans(?) put up a good fight. I cheered for both teams. It was just great to be there.

After that match, Val and I had to leave for work so we set off with Traci for Laoshan. We had asked for the morning off but it turned out to be alright because no one was doing anything anyway. I know, you are shocked, right? Later in the afternoon there were actually quite a few photographers in from AFP, AP, and a few smaller places to watch teams like the US, Great Britain and Spain practice.

For quite a while, Ron (our Aussie photo expert), Val and I hung out in the mixed zone area out in the middle of the track. So basically right next to some of the best cyclists in the world. I was three feet from Taylor Phinney, a brilliant young rider from the US. A lot of them were really friendly and a few talked to us, which was fun. I can't wait to watch these guys perform in the upcoming week. Our events start on August 15. I will post a schedule on here so you can see when all the events will take place.

After work, the three of us went to an amazing little restaurant and had some Peking roast duck, egg drop soup (with tomatoes-- even better than home!), and Chinese cabbage. It was the best meal I've had in a long time!

Today, I am off with Kelsey and Val to see if we can get tickets to the US women's softball game. Wish us luck!

It's not about the bike

...but it was about almost every other mode of transportation yesterday during our quest to watch the Olympic men's road cycling race.

Kelsey, Val, and I left the CUC at 6 am to take the subway across the city to the Beijing North train station. We had gotten tickets the day before to ride the brand-new S2 train to Yangqing, a town about two hours (by fast train) north of Beijing. The train was brand new and we splurged for first-class seats-- 23 RMB, or about five dollars. Big spenders, I know. As we rode along, we saw the beautiful mountains and scenery of China as well as followed the race course for quite some time (between naps, of course).

You need to know that the train station at Yangqing is not close to where we needed to be to see the race, either at Badaling or further south at Juyonguan Pass. The pass is where the race ends, so of course we wanted to be as close to that as we could.

We arrived at the station with no real plan of what was to happen next. We talked to some volunteers at a booth, where one of the girls introduced us to a lady who said she'd take for 150 yuan. We agreed, even though it was kind of sketchy. But welcome to our lives in China. We were doing okay until the guy (maybe the lady's husband? She was crammed in the backseat with Val and Kelsey-- so funny) drove along a backstreet and stopped at some building. He came out in a few minutes with his Olympic volunteer/Yanjing beer shirt on. Ok, I guessed, now we were ready to go?

Taking that 'cab' was the best decision we could have made. It was impossible to get closer to the Badaling and the loop that the men would do seven laps on before finishing without taking back roads through the country because the main highway was closed for the race. We sang along to his fun CDs -- he played the three English tracks over and over again-- and cruised along the mountains and through tunnels until we got to Juyonguan Pass. I really wanted to say that we'd give the driver the 150 only if he included the CD, but I did get my point across that the music was 'good' (hao) using Val's phrase book-- you won't believe the section that I found the adjective in, though!

We made our way to security to see if we could get up to the finish line but apparently you need tickets (which every bit of info we had seen said you didn't) so we just walked up the course until we got to this point where you could see the riders coming in and getting onto the loop. Basically, an amazing location because we'd get to see some of the best riders in the world go by eight times!

We arrived a little before the actual race was starting in Beijing, at 11, so we took the time to paint ourselves red, white and blue and hang out with our fellow cycling fans. We met and talked with so many people from all over the world; it was fantastic! I talked with a man from Johannesburg, South Africa who was living in Beijing for a few years and had just done the Great Wall Marathon in May. Also, there was a family from the US whose son is a 16-year-old road cycling champion. Then there was a lady and her daughter from Belgium whose other daughter, Lieselot Decroix, was competing in the women's road race the next day (they wouldn't even be allowed to watch her finish at the top of the hill... sad). There were also a couple of Dutch guys who knew a lot about cycling and could name every rider they saw. It just enhanced the experience that much more to be surrounded by such people. We were so lucky!

Watching the race was amazing, and we saw all of our US guys as they zoomed by on their bikes. Check out my photos to see lots of video and photos from the day. It was awesome to be able to see so much of a 245 km race. I also got interviewed by ESPN; I'm not sure if the footage will run on TV or Internet, but it was definitely sweet to represent our country's fans at the race! Even though the Americans didn't take home the medals, we were proud of them.

We left at about 5:30, and headed down the road to the nearest town with a bus stop. On the way, we met a couple who had been at the race and were headed back to Beijing. The man was from the US, and his wife was from Taiwan. They were so sweet and were really fun to talk to. Eventually, a van stopped and asked if we needed a ride. For ten yuan, sure, we're game. So we got into the 'party bus' which already had five people inside. I sat on the floor. We were dropped off at the bus station, and rode the 919 into Beijing. From there, we took a cab to the Duck & Goose, a sports bar, where we ate some good pub food and actually met a guy who had done his undergraduate work at Ball State University (it's a small world after all), then arrived home around 10 pm.

It was a long day, but by far one of my favorite in Beijing... and the Olympics have only just begun!

Maybe you can have a rest?

Yesterday at work may have been the best worst day I've had on the job so far. Training consisted of learning the location of the photo positions at the velodrome and BMX course. This is probably the sixth time I've 'learned' this. But, hey, at least I will be able to identify them when I am 80 years old, blindfolded, spun around til I'm dizzy, and asked to point them out. Just so you know, when we try to take initiative and ask one of our Chinese supervisors if we can help with something, they usually answer with "No, I don't think so? Maybe you can have a rest?" Frustrating. Six hours a day for this? I can't wait until our events begin and I will have some real responsibility.

The highlight of the day was during our 'rest' after lunch, when Alysha and I took our rest at the track. Cyclists from Ireland, the Netherlands (lots of medals to be won for this team), Germany, and Belgium were scheduled to practice and we are so fortunate to be able to have front-row seats! A few notes about the teams: the lone cyclist from Ireland was so sweet, taking pictures of his staging area (where his bikes and equipment are kept in the center of the track); it was really neat to see the athletes excited about riding at the Olympics. Then there were the mighty riders from Deutschland; they were HUGE and didn't seem to be phased by anything in their fancy sunglasses and gear. One sprinter is about 5'5" and his thighs are larger than my torso. I'm not even exaggerating this-- kinda scary. The Dutch cyclists were the ones to be watching, however, with Theo Bos (he holds the world record in the 200m sprint) and the entire team riding swiftly around the track. Be watching for the Dutch, British, and Australian teams to bring home the medals in track events.

I am really getting into track cycling and will continue to follow it after the Olympics. There is a different element of excitement to it versus road cycling, so I think I can now say I am becoming a cycling fan, all around. I can't wait to learn more!

Speaking of learning, I had a chat (versus a conversation, which I had to explain the difference between) with some of the Chinese volunteers so they could practice their English in regards to our venue and events. I love talking to them and helping them out-- they are truly keeping Val, Chris, Alysha and I sane during our less than stimulating workdays.

So, Zoey asks me: "Christina, may I ask you a phrase. What does it mean in English? What is 'nice ass'? You can imagine my reaction: shocked laughter, followed by asking her where she heard this... turns out her friend is a volunteer at the shooting sports venue and was told this by an American athlete. Wow. What a goodwill ambassador. Zoey asked if this were good or bad and I had to explain to her what it meant and that it was not really a very polite compliment; that he should have said she was beautiful or pretty. It is harder than you think to explain something like this. Later, Alysha was asked the meaning of 'shorty', which one of the girls heard in a rap song. Sometimes I just wish I spoke Chinese.

The Olympic torch arrived in Beijing, too. I saw it as I was riding the subway to work, where everyone's eyes were glued to the TV. Turns out it was at the amusement park next to Laoshan, so we could have gone and watched it but of course our bosses told us when it was too late to go over. We watched it on BTV and wished we were there.

Later in the evening, we celebrated Andrea's birthday with a smörgåsbord of American foods and an amazing cake from a bakery. It even had chocolate coins inside it! It was a lot of fun and nice to enjoy some foods from home. You will probably be shocked at some of the things that we were so excited about: Doritos, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, gummy bears, pizza with cream cheese or peanut butter smeared on, milk, cheese, and crackers. Yum!

Beijing huan ying ni!

Beijing welcomes you! And right now, the city is welcoming international guests... there are so many people everywhere; it's madness, but fun to see! I met more native English speakers today than I have since I got here exactly one month ago.

A visit to Starbucks after dinner tonight gave us the chance to meet three American rowers who were off for a few days of touring before the Games begin. Go USA!

This morning, I went to a bilingual yoga class at the Yoga Yard, across from the Worker's Stadium. It was pretty similar to the classes I have attended at home, in terms of poses and such. I liked having the class in Chinese and English; it was sort of relaxing to listen to the Chinese. Afterward, there was a free meditation and chanting session in Sanskrit. I can now say a few words of Sanskrit. Sweet.

It was time for lunch. I walked into a cute cafe across the street and was greeted by the sound of the Backstreet Boys crooning some love ballad. The popularity of boy bands is alive and well in this country, that's for sure. Check some of them out in the music video for "Bejing Huan Ying Ni". All of the singers featured are popular Chinese artists.



As I listened to American music, I read my book about Africa at an Italian restaurant in China and it got me thinking about the international spirit of the Olympics. It is truly an amazing thing to experience, and the Games have yet to begin!

Val and I met up at Tiananmen Square later in the day to see the Olympic madness ensuing there. I arrived first, and we made the mistake of meeting by the entrance to the Forbidden City (aka the giant picture of Chairman Mao), where there are thousands of tourists who want to take pictures of the foreign girl. So awkward. One lady was hell-bent on having her son take a photo with me. He didn't want to, I didn't want to, but she was not having it.

I ended up meeting a couple of guys from BBC-London who had just arrived the day before, and actually could tell them where to go for shopping and such. I really am living here, giving directions to visitors. It was a good feeling to help out, even if it was just directions to the best shopping areas.

Feel Olympics in the haircut

I don't know if this headline made it to the American media, but it is indeed an article I read while scanning the latest Olympic news from Xinhua (the Chinese outlet covering the Games).

If you haven't seen it, let me sum it up as this: the people are excited; so excited, in fact, that this barber is giving boys free Beijing Olympics haircuts. I thought you'd enjoy the photo.

In other news, work was actually pretty productive today. This morning, we practiced Chinese and English phrases with our fellow volunteers. It was so fun to have them cheer for us when we got things right! One of the Chinese girls, whose real name is Zhang Qianyu, decided she wanted an English name so I asked her what letter she wanted it to start with. She said 'q' like her given name (this goes last, family name is first-- and stays the same even when women marry). Well, I don't even know of a name that starts with 'q'; so much for that. I asked her for another and she chose 'z' and so now her English name is Zoey.

Later, we took another trip around the velodrome to become even more familiar with all of the photo positions (areas where photographers can shoot from) and came upon a couple of people from the news agencies. One man shook my hand, introduced himself as Ken and asked all about what we were doing. Turns out he's from Getty Images and is the head of their Olympic operations. This is the big time. They have 75 photographers in China to cover the Games! How great to meet someone with his experience and knowledge of sports photography!

After lunch (hot boxed Chinese lunch with three waters and a Coke-- not as great as it sounds), we went through some more scenarios with Ron, our Australian photography staff expert, on what we should be expecting from photographers at the venues. Then it was time for the run-through of the Mountain Bike event. It was during this that I began to realize just how many people are required to pull off the Olympics. I don't think I'll fully get it until the Olympics begin, though. Two women from the Chinese team were out riding the course, and they were fun to watch!

We were on hand for the practice medal ceremony (I am pumped for our front-row view with the photographers!) as well as a mock press conference afterward. Being behind the scenes can be pretty exciting.

On the subway ride home, a guy sat between Alysha and I and started fanning himself. I, being on the receiving end of this, decided to tell him thank you, "xia xia". Well, apparently this made him think that I spoke Chinese, because he showed me the art on his fan, rambling away in Mandarin. Great.

I smiled politely and said, "No, only English", then remembered that we learned to say "I'm sorry" and "excuse me" today. Alysha and I said it and he actually understood us! If you haven't tried to pronounce Chinese, I can tell you it's quite difficult, especially where there are so many accents and such. Every time I hear a local say "you're welcome", it's pronounced differently. We were so proud of ourselves and I repeated the phrase over and over again for the rest of the trip: "dui bu qi" in pinyin.

That's all for now. Zai jian! Bye!

70 minutes in heaven

I had a foot massage today, but not just any foot massage: a 70 minute one complete with a shoulder and neck rub. Simply amazing.

Patrick and I went back to the place where we all had gone to get massages earlier a few weeks earlier and opted to pamper our tired feet. We were escorted to a room with big comfy chairs and a huge flatscreen TV (the ladies currently in there were watching opera; I had already had my fill of that!) The channel was switched to the sports station, and soon our masseuses entered with buckets of hot water to soak our feet.

After a neck and shoulder massage, they started in on our feet. It was glorious and I soon fell asleep. I awoke, rejuvenated, and ready for another day at work tomorrow.

The best part? Only 88 yuan (about 13 USD)-- what a deal! This was definitely money well spent!

Volunteer warm up

"Beijing ja yo, Laoshan ja yo!"

This is the chant we heard as we arrived at work on Thursday as there was going to be a volunteer 'warm up' (our version of a pep rally). It was great to see all of the Laoshan cluster volunteers together and so excited about the upcoming events!

There were 'cheerleaders' whose job it is to encourage audience participation that taught us cheers like the one above. There were also hand gestures which were easy enough for even me to learn. Olympic officials were there to recognize outstanding volunteers who had worked at the test events during the previous year to ensure that the venues were ready for the Olympic Games.

My favorite part of the morning was watching the Fuwa come out and dance as well as the Olympic volunteer song. It translates to "I Am a Superstar" and is really good. Many of the volunteers knew the words and sang along. There is a music video to go along with it and I like seeing the volunteers recognized for the behind the scenes work that makes the Games possible. Even though I know no one but us cares, it was still nice to see.


Alysha and I went exploring and found the team locker rooms where the cyclists will get ready before their events. They are basically like large hotel rooms, nothing too exciting, but it was fun to think about the amazing athletes that will be there in just a couple of weeks!

Weather forecast

I woke up this morning to clearer skies, meaning I could actually see the apartment buildings across the street from our university. The good visibility always happens the day after a good rainstorm, and we had one yesterday. You can tell exactly how the day is going to be (usually) by looking out our window to see the apartment buildings: Smoggy? Yes, no sun to be seen today. Less smoggy? Oh it'll just be hot and humid. Clear? What?!?! (That's only happened maybe three times since I've been here.)

I know that the news reports from Beijing have said that the air quality is indeed improved (not visibly, but by scientific measurement) but I am not sure that this is the case. I personally have not noticed an improvement, except maybe in the pollution caused by the traffic reduction rule. I know that we are becoming more used to the air here, but it's still by no means vastly improved. I feel bad for the marathon runners.

The air situation was actually mentioned by two of my fellow Chinese photo volunteers. One was talking about her brother, who lives in the States, and how much 'different the environment is' there. The other said that there weren't as many birds in Beijing because of the air quality-- this is true, there are a few sparrows and that's about it, besides the caged birds that are popular pets. I was very surprised to hear the situation mentioned by any citizens here.

I'm going to go enjoy the view while I can...

Kung Fu Panda and Kong Chef's Table

The photo services crew (Val, Alysha, Chris & I) were in for a night of fun after training with our new Chinese friends. We had asked them last week about Noodle Loft-- due to our quest to visit it-- and they were so excited. Yesterday, when I arrived at work, Lake (his English name) informed me that he had eaten at the Noodle Loft the previous day and it wasn't that great. He had found another noodle place to eat instead, Master Kong Chef's Table! He also bought tickets for us to see Kung Fu Panda at the cinema.

After work, we took the subway to the restaurant where we enjoyed delicious beef and noodle dishes as well as some interesting desserts. My favorite dessert was the mango ice cream and peanut ice cream; least favorite (the Chinese love it) was a red bean and green bean iced dessert with mango and the little gelatin balls that are found in bubble tea. Interesting. The girls at our table were so cute and fun. We had a blast!

Before we left, we were given red envelopes with one yuan inside, which is a gift of good luck, according to our new friends. Red envelopes with money are traditionally given on special occasions like weddings or Chinese New Year. What a sweet gesture!

There wasn't enough time to go back to CUC before the movie so we headed there and played games in the arcade. We raced cars and tried to win a panda out of one of those elusive claw machines. Amanda, a Chinese volunteer, and I tried DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for the first time. What a disaster. I can safely say I will never attempt a repeat performance. But at least I tried.

Kung Fu Panda was great, and I am happy to be able to have seen it while in China. It was really neat to see how many of the cultural details really are (somewhat) like the country, and I know that firsthand now. Most notably, the differences between the theater here and at home are that they serve sweetened popcorn (it was a strange sensation when my taste buds were expecting butter and salt!) and the movie sound is much quieter. The seats were really comfortable, too, but I will say that I can't wait to eat some buttered popcorn at my next viewing experience at home.

We were so thrilled to have had this experience with our photo services comrades, and they seemed equally as excited. They told us after that they would not have had dinner and a movie in the same night if it weren't for us. We felt guilty for them being so generous, but hopefully we'll have an opportunity to return the favor sometime soon. It is so fun to make new friends at work, and to learn more about Chinese culture from people our age.

It was a great ending to an interesting day. At the venue, we learned more about where we would be stationed during the events and what would be happening where. It's important for us to know where photographers can and can't go as well as who can go where (Pool photographers have the run of the house, pretty much) but more about this later. We were able to see some Chinese track cyclists practicing, which was awesome. It made me want to buy a bike when I get home, for sure, and gave us a taste of the speed we would be seeing at the Games.

Today I saw a Mao suit

Val and I had a fabulous morning at Beihai Park. We planned to get an early start, in order to check out the morning activities of the locals, and set our alarms accordingly. We rolled out of bed and out the door by 6:30, certain we were too late to get to the park in time (it took about 40 minutes by subway/taxi to get there), but we were greeted by the sight of a elderly Beijing man walking backwards past our building—a sure sign that it was exercise time.

As we walked along the streets, people were lined up at shops’ counters to get their breakfast- various meats and rolls and pastries. I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure a chicken wing is not the best way for me to start my day, so Val and I passed. KFC was open, full of hungry customers chowing down on sandwiches of all sorts. This is 7 a.m., don’t forget.

We arrived at the park and were happy to find that we didn’t miss anything. In fact, we were in the midst of entertainment wherever we went! I have to say that this was the most enjoyable morning I have spent in Beijing. We watched people practice tai chi, flag and fan dancing, tap and jazz dancing, as well as a strange exercise that involves wearing thick gloves and walking on all fours. Not sure what this accomplishes or signifies…

In addition, there were people playing all sorts of games like badminton and kicking this feathered toy, which looked so fun to try.

The park was beautiful and peaceful for the first part of the morning, until more people started to arrive. After we had our fill of the dancing and such, we found a quiet spot by a pond where others were enjoying snacks and naps to plan the rest of our day.

Next stop: the Drum and Bell Towers to the north of Beihai. We climbed the Drum Tower to see the drums being beaten, which was an even steeper climb than the Great Wall (or very close). It was a nice view—had there been no smog—followed by a short presentation of the drums sounding. All of the drums are replicas of the 24 that were beaten in Imperial times, when the civil and military leaders apparently organized their lives around the signals. There is one original drum which was very neat to see; it seemed as if it would fall apart if touched.

After the steep descent (I didn’t fall down!), we grabbed lunch at a little Chinese café near the towers. It was the first spring rolls we had seen in Beijing, and they were fantastic. So fresh and tasty! Val was pretty excited about soy sauce, which doesn’t usually come with meals anywhere here, believe it or not. Also there is no salt or pepper available (unless you’re at a Western restaurant). In addition, I enjoyed some crab dumplings which were pretty good too.

We decided to be super-touristy and take a rickshaw (bicycle with passenger seats or cargo area) around the hutong area we were in. It was fun, but our driver kept stopping at all of these doors that were significant in some way and insisted on taking our photo at each one. Of course, the accompanying signs were written in Chinese so we had no idea what we were seeing. It was on this ride that I saw an old man in a Mao suit, as in a military green, Chairman Mao Zedong, style suit. Wow. What a sight.

My guide book included an interesting walking tour of the Dashilan area, which includes some notable stores dating from the Qing era as well as some great hutong. We were headed in the right direction, but then could not find where exactly the walk started. The book does not list anything in Chinese, only English, so it was kind of difficult…okay, really difficult at times. To help you understand how the hutong system works, picture narrow alley-like streets with no comprehendible signs to indicate where you are or where you should be going. There is also no one around on many of the smaller streets, much less anyone who can speak a word I can understand.

Finally! I found a recognizable street included in the tour! Of course, it turned out to be the last street, the one we were supposed to end up on at the end. We did the logical thing and proceeded to go backward through the route in the book. It worked out great! We saw some fun shops and I bought a piece of celadon pottery to take home. The people in the shop were so nice, and then invited us to have tea. We enjoyed a traditional Chinese tea and learned a lot. The tea was so good!

Since this blog is getting pretty lengthy, I will just tell you about one other notable shop we visited. This was the Tongrentang traditional Chinese medicine company, where you can find anything from shark fins to giant mushrooms to dried lizards and sea horses (among other things I could not identify). Some of the items were very expensive, up to thousands of yuan. It was crazy! Two floors of all kinds of healing elements, and the shop was bustling with customers.

The shop was on a main street near Tiananmen Square and was being prepared for the Olympics. Flowers in planters lined the streets and some heavy-duty street construction was taking place... I wonder if they'll have it done in time?

What a day! And to top it off, I had some coffee-flavored gum that left me craving a latte, as well as some chewy strawberry candy that was like gum but meant to swallow after a little bit of chewing. One other thing you might find interesting was something our Chinese volunteer friends introduced us to, a drink that they call the ‘acid drink’, which tastes like BBQ sauce, no joke. It is refreshing to drink cold, but I won’t lie—I couldn’t finish it. It is very fun to see all of the flavors here for products that we would never consider using at home, like prawn-flavored potato chips. Oh yummy. I am going to make it a point to write more about these foods in the future.

Here’s a quick shout-out to Carah, Liz and Caitlin. Thanks for the call the other night; it was great to hear from you! I have yet to hear any Dave in Beijing, but I'll keep my ears open.

Learning, waiting, watching

We got our uniforms today! After three hours of waiting and waiting… and waiting, we finally got them from the storage area, transported them to the velodrome by bicycle – I got to drive!—and sat and organized each person’s items. This all could have taken place rather quickly, in an hour or so, but it didn’t.

I’m not sure if it’s a lack of organization or what, but it was so hard for our little group not to just take charge and distribute the items ourselves. Or at least grab our stuff and get out. It also might be that the Chinese just don’t seem to be in that big of a hurry to get things done; things just kind of happen when they happen.

This isn’t to say there is a right or wrong way of doing things; I just want to point out some differences. Yesterday we were sitting in the press conference room and four people walked in. They proceeded to care for the plants in the front of the room at the podium. There were maybe 15 medium-size pots. One man watered, one put dead leaves into a bucket which the third woman held, all while the fourth watched.

This type of group work can be found throughout Beijing, and I’m not sure what it accomplishes. It is just very different from the U.S., where we like streamlined and efficient systems to get things done. Here, not so much.

After biking to the velodrome with the boxes of clothes, I hopped off and proceeded to grab a box to take it inside. It was immediately grabbed by one of the guys with me and he said no, no that they had “many friends to help”, indicating more men on their way over. I tried again to help and they finally let me after I told them that in the U.S., women like to do the same things as guys. I picked up a box that maybe weighed 20 pounds and was told by a girl that I was “so strong!”

I’m not sure if this was just politeness or what, but it struck me as interesting. Women here are treated as equals of men (so I’ve seen on some levels at least) but with more old-fashioned chivalry, I guess you’d say, than in the States, for the most part. The guys that ride with us to and from work on the subway are always the first to grab a seat for us before themselves and let the women get in line for lunch or enter buildings first. This is not to say that our American boys are any less polite, of course…

At lunch, we learned from our Chinese friends that the soup which accompanied our meal every day was actually Green Bean Soup (no beans, though, just broth) and was good to drink in order to lower your body temperature in hot weather. Could someone please explain to me how this works?

I can without a doubt say that you learn (or at least observe) something new every day here!

Training days

Wednesday was our first day of training at the Laoshan Bicycle Cluster. We left our dorm at 7:30 a.m. for a commute by subway (we take Line 1 from one side of the city to the other) and then on foot to the venue, an hour and a half of travel total. Good times.

I will preface this by saying (if it isn't evident by the lack of detail I've given thus far) that we know very VERY little about the details of our work. It is kind of tiring to wonder day after day when you'll be given your instructions or at least know what you will be doing the next day (or any day, for that matter). But--finally!-- a call from Lisa, one of our supervisors, alerted us to report for duty.

So there we were, walking up to the brand-new Laoshan Velodrome (where track cycling events are held and we'll be spending the majority of our time), ready for duty. But first a morning pat-down by security, scanning of credentials, and a stroll through the x-ray machine. We signed in, received meal vouchers and our three bottles of water (down to 2 today) and headed to the Photo Manager's office. There are a myriad of titles and acronyms used in this place which I won't bore you with. Unless of course people want to know. Like I said earlier, I could create a dictionary of sorts for this.

Here is what we think our training schedule looks like until the Games begin:
Morning lecture
Lunch 11- noon
"Rest" until 1:30
Some kind of activity in the afternoon

I wasn't able to attend yesterday as I was still battling my mystery sickness (sorry for ignoring the blog, too) but today followed this same schedule. The lectures are from various managers and supervisors around the venue. Usually, we hear the same information at least three times. The first day we also got to tour the facilities, which was great. It is unbelievable to be behind the scenes, especially before all the commotion begins in August. Construction is basically finished, there are just minor things going in now, especially all of the computers and technology required for information storage and delivery between our venue and the MPC. (Basically, the faster the photographers from the big outlets like Reuters, Getty and AP can get their images out, the faster and more they are used/sold by news media around the world.)

We checked out the BMX track which looks insanely difficult to master at high speeds on a little bike (in my inexpert opinion). We have the great honor of seeing the first BMX Olympic competition ever which is really exciting!

The mountain bike competition will take place on Laoshan Mountain (more like a very large hill) and some of the inclines those riders have to face look terrifying. I have only seen glimpses of the course but it looks intense.

Today, the best part of work was our rest time which we spend on battery-powered scooter bikes that are amazingly fun. Basically you can pedal if you want, or use the throttle (maybe?) to use the motor (I am not very technically inclined, I apologize) and then if you pedal AND use the throttle it goes really fast. Chris and I (whose scooters were the most charged) made it up a big hill and decided we needed the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz's theme music to accompany our rides. I have a feeling we'll be using these a lot!

My roomie Val and I won't be able to sleep tonight; we are so excited about getting our uniforms tomorrow!!

Back in the game

I'm back. I apologize for the delay in posts, but I have been sick for the past few days with something that left me curled up in bed drinking Sprite, watching old Cary Grant movies, and eating meager helpings of rice and Cheerios. I don't know what it was but I'm glad it's over. Let's just say I have never wished for homemade chicken soup so much as then.

Since my last post, I have done a few things. Getting an hour-long massage that was cheaper than a grande Frappucino and muffin at Starbuck's was a highlight. Four girls and two guys decided to go, and some had already visited the massage parlor once, so they knew that the women gave a much gentler massage. There was only one female masseuse available, however, so Chris and Patrick did a rock-paper-scissors war to see who would get her.

After putting on slippers about two sizes too small with cartoon cats on them, all of us girls went into a room, donned 'pajamas', and enjoyed our massages. Kelsey, who was next to me, was getting a special treatment that sounded like she was being beaten with a wet noodle. She said it felt good, though! I enjoyed my visit thoroughly but the next day my back was slightly bruised. Well worth the pain, I thought.

Watching the pre-Olympic coverage on CCTV 5 entertained me when I wasn't sleeping the past few days. They show sporting events from past Games as well as qualifying events for this year. Sometimes they are tutorials of how individual sports work (this type of thing is also shown on the subway); my guess is to have the people of China broaden their knowledge of all the Olympic sports by Games time.

Today, we took the subway to the Pearl Market, where we bartered for pearls for ourselves as well as gifts. It was a little overwhelming for me, since I don't know anything about jewelry. The advice we did have was to bite the pearls to make sure they were real. It was a pretty fascinating place. Megan, Val, and I wanted Starbucks so we found a taxi and asked the driver to take us there before we went home. He was great! He spoke some English (which he learned by tape, he said) and helped us with a few key Chinese phrases. He waited for us to purchase our drinks then drove us home.

The drive home was much faster today, thanks to the new driving laws enforced by the government for the Olympics. It basically states that on certain weekdays, vehicles with licenses ending in odd numbers only are allowed on the road, and on the other days, only even-numbered plates are allowed. We weren't sure if this would actually work when we first heard about it, but after today I am pretty sure that it will make a difference. Not sure how well it could be enforced in Chicago, but this would do wonders for the traffic in the city!

Tonight we are going out to dinner for Alysha's birthday. Happy 22nd!