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!