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!