Olympics Day 2

Day two of The Olympics brought my first trip to The Olympic Green. The Green is the area in north Beijing where most of the Olympic venues were located including The Bird's Nest and Water Cube. The Green is a huge space that contains not only the sports venues but a large dancing fountain, a massive park, open squares, and space for all the sponsors to promote their latest products.

The entire Green was surrounded by a huge fence and the only way to get on The Green was to take the subway. Security being what it was they were taking no chances and decided to force everyone onto the subway where they would be contained and easier to monitor. This also gave Beijing a chance to put everyone on their new subway lines which I must say are fantastic. In order to get from my house to The Olympic Green I had to take two subway lines, each more crowded than the last. Each and every station along the new lines is pristine and well decorated with murals and mosaics not to mention the plethora of flat screen TVs all showing live Olympic events. The subway is cheap (two RMB) but with an Olympic ticket it was free. From the first line I had to transfer to another new line, Line 8. Eight, as you must have heard by now, is a lucky number. There are not eight subway lines in Beijing but this one, the line that goes directly to The Green, had to be named Line 8 in order to secure luck and prosperity.

The transfer to the new Line 8, which only has three stops, all on the green, is where the security set up shop. Every subway station has at least three exits. In order to transfer to Line 8 and enter The Green all spectators had to leave the station through one exit. From there spectators were herded to the official security entrance. This place was a well oiled machine. The massive numbers of volunteers allowed the Beijing Organizing Committee to really do the security right. They had tents set up that housed a great many metal detectors and x-ray machines. Before a spectator was allowed to go through the metal detectors we were lined up in lanes and waited patiently until we were allowed to go through the detectors. All the tickets have electronic cards inside them so when you went through security all you needed to do was place your ticket on the reader and it would give you a green light. Also on the ticket reader was a video camera. I made sure to smile my best as I passed by. From there you were technically on The Green but still VERY far away from the venues so everyone was then herded back underground (again through a singular entrance) to get on Line 8. The stops on Line 8 are each decorated in a very Chinese style. One station is decorated to look like it is made of Ming Dynasty porcelain. Very classy.

Sidenote: One thing I am leaving out here is the absolute crush of humanity. When there is only one entrance to an area that contains eight sports venues it is inevitable that you will get a little claustrophobic.

It took about two hours from the time I left my house, but I was finally there. Once on The Green the available subway exits all lead to the mouth of the Olympic sponsors, and they will eat you alive. Coke, GE, Samsung, Lenovo, Omega, all of them were there in specially constructed buildings where they could make unassuming sports fans wait in lines in order to consume advertisements. It was licensing at its finest. I walked around, taking it all in, and then headed to The Water Cube. What a building that is, eh?

It is time to mention that I was drawing a little heat for what I was wearing. It was the good kind of heat. I was wearing my American flag like a cape over my USA shirt. The Chinese fans especially liked this and requested many photos with me. As I entered the area where The Water Cube is located I was approached by a man identifying himself as being affiliated with Japanese MTV. He wanted to ask me about some Japanese guy who was racing against Jason Lezak but that is not how he phrased it. He asked me who I was rooting for. I was wearing an American flag on my back. He asked me if I knew who the Japanese swimmer was. I responded with something along the lines of, "Yeah, uh, he is, uh, Kenji.....Fuji..." The guy then saved me by saying the guy's name which I promptly mispronounced. He was asking me about Kosuke Kitajima. He asked me if I thought Kitajima would beat Lezak and I told him that I couldn't possibly say that with an American flag on my back.

I went into The Water Cube and was immediately floored by the place. There was no lighting on at all inside the concourse. It was all natural light which was cool. Inside the pool area was totally insane. I have never seen that big a place just for swimming and diving. The stands were again, silent. The format at the swimming venue was just great. It was race after race after race. Fantastic action. Then came the meat and potatoes event, the Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay. It was a fantastic race with Phelps tossing down a phenomenal first 100. After the 200m mark the American team was lagging. With Phelps already out of the pool I thought their chances were slim. As the anchor leg began the American team was almost a full body length back from the French swimmer. Then Lezak went extra crazy, throwing down the fastest 100m freestyle in the history. He came back from a half a body length with 50m to go. The place went crazy and I lost it. It was a fantastic moment. That was the final race of the afternoon and everyone was forced out after the medal ceremony. It was a fantastic event. All around people were discussing how amazing that was. People came up and congratulated me. I accepted on behalf of the team. I could not stop smiling. 

On the way out of the Water Cube a guy approached me to see if I wanted to buy Handball tickets for that evening. I think I responded with, "Hell yeah!" The handball matches were not until later that night so I decided to stick around the green and check things out. I wanted to eat something that was not McDonald's. At the concession stand I found what was termed, 'Box Meal'. It was basically an MRE. The box contained a pouch with rice and a separate pouch for a meat of your choice. You then opened up the rice and poured the meat on top and then you put the concoction into a shallow container and set the container on top of two other pouches, one containing water and the other containing some sort of nasty chemical. You put the whole load into a larger bowl and pulled the string thus opening the water pack. The water mixed with the  chemical pack to create a boiling hot meal. Steam shot out in every direction and ten minutes later it was still too hot to eat. The steam provided for quite the spectacle. All in all it was not that delicious. 

As the afternoon wore on I took to the beer. After waltzing around for a few hours, I came across a gaggle of old ladies surrounding a water fountain. Public water fountains are unheard of in China. I did see that some had been set-up in the Olympic Green but they were quite the curiosity for the locals. These ladies were mystified. I walked over and pushed the button down to show them and they laughed and laughed. They then wanted to take pictures with me. One of them grabbed my butt. 

Later it was time to head to the handball venue. I had no idea what to really expect from a live handball match. I didn't know that the northern and central European countries traditionally dominate the sport. All of this new found knowledge came courtesy of a Spanish guy and two Brits seated behind me. We were the only people in the entire stadium not from China or Sweden, the two teams playing at the time. The Spanish guy was some sort of maniac for the sport. He taught us about the rules and traditions and in all made the game more enjoyable. 

Man do the Swedes love their women's handball. They cheered throughout the match, dancing and singing along the way. It was a great spectacle.

I headed home satisfied with my first round of Olympic events. Serendipitously acquiring tickets would become the theme of these Olympics. Three days later Michael A. Rosen arrived in Beijing and shook up the world. More on that later. 

Olympic Ideas

I realize that, in world of sports media, the Olympics happened eons ago. I don't care. The Olympics happen every day in my head. I keep the memory alive. The Olympics to me were 17 days that will live on in my head and in my heart long after the flame is extinguished. These were THE days.

This ends my brief intro to the emotion I have regarding the Olympics and where they stand in international importance four days after the end of the Closing Ceremonies.

Now, I must apologize for what some have considered my 'laziness' during The Games (notice how all things associated with the Olympics are capitalized, that's right, I don't care). It was not laziness as much as it was an insanely busy time here. Between my years of accumulating enthusiasm and the tickets I was able to get hold of, I was unable to concentrate on much but enjoying the spectacle that was Beijing during the games. People were alternately unaffected and obsessed. WOAH, I need to slow down. I am getting all dramatic and ahead of myself. Let's start on the auspicious date, 8-8-08. No, one week before that. That is when things really started kicking off. All the decorations were in place and the city was perking up. Thousands of volunteers were out in force strolling through the streets eagerly trying to catch the eye of any foreigner who walked by so that they could have a chance to put the thousands of RMB mommy and daddy invested in English lessons to good use.

Sidenote: That is not an entirely fair assessment of the volunteers but ahead of the games it was annoying when they all thought I was just visiting.

When 8-8-08 finally arrived I didn't know what to do. I thought that the city would have imploded at the stroke of midnight but it was still here. People were surprisingly calm. I spent the day inside. I was afraid of somehow jinxing things. I am pretty prone to thinking I have jinxed something, like karma is that interested in what I am thinking or saying. This was a day 100 years in he making according to some. I read as much on the internet as I could about the international media's initial opinions about Beijing and the weather and pollution and all that. It was annoying. I did read Jim Caple on ESPN.com and he made a great point regarding the pollution and its effects on the endurance athletes. He said that we shouldn't be to worried about the athletes, we should be more worried about the people who live in Beijing and have to breathe the pollution 365 days a year. Yeah, worry about me!

In the evening I made my way to my friend Comwell's house to take in The Opening Ceremonies live (1 minute delay) on TV. I was there with Ms. Lili Tan (The Tanimal) and a some dude. It was a bit random but it was fun. We watched in nervous anticipation. We all thought that the collective heads of the Chinese were going to explode once the Ceremonies began. They didn't. The ceremonies were quite impressive. People did not stop talking about them for a few days.

The NEXT day I was headed to my first event, Beach Volleyball. I have heard form the NBC broadcasters that the Beach Volleyball venue is generally regarded as the most fun venue of The Games. We arrived extra early, ahead of the 9am start to the matches. Security was a beast. I knew things would be extra 'secure' or at least more secure looking, but this was insane. Lines FOREVER to get into more lines to be patted down and scanned with one of those handy medal detection doohickies. No metal, no liquids. They were not as vigorous that first day as they would be in the later stages of The Games or as thorough as they would be on the Olympic Green. The Beach Volleyball venue was located in Chaoyang Park, the biggest park in Beijing. The stadium was temporary with the sand flown in from the beaches of Sanya on Hainan Island (been there). The venue was cool an unique. They had the concessions set up outside of the stadium proper. The also had beach volleyball pits dotted around the area.

I was very interested in seeing what they had at the concession stands so I went right for them once I got through security. The signs on the outside of the stands read like a dream: hot dogs, pizza, sausages, biscuits, beer, beer, beer. I was excited to eat and drink all those things over the course of the next 17 days but I was denied that dream by ineptitude and, who would have guessed, inflated promises. The concession stands were just that, stands. No more sophisticated than the stand Courtney and I sold Crystal Light from in front of our house one summer (we charged a nickel, our only customer was the mailman, he drove off without paying and I chased to no avail).

They were pvc pipe plastic sheet covered hovels. They sold popcorn but it was microwaved in bags. They sold sausages but they also came in bags. There was never any pizza and hot dogs came on a stick without a bun. Biscuits were the British definition of biscuits, cookies. One more reason to dislike the British. There was literally nothing to eat from the concession stands. It was terrible. In later Olympic related posts I will detail the differences between the venues and their concession options (that should keep you tuned in). The only positive from the entire concession experience was that the prices were dirt cheap. Three RMB (37 cents) for a sausage. Five RMB (60 cents) for a bottle of Coke. They even had three kinds of beer Tsingtao, Budweiser, and Yanjing. The prices were the same for the three, five RMB for a small and eight RMB for a large. All I could do was immediately calculate how many beers could be purchased at The Olympics for the price of one at the Cardinals game. The answer is about 11 and a half. I must point out that a small beer was a CAN of beer and a large beer was a BOTTLE of beer. Tap beer was out of the question. This proved to be a touch annoying when they would have to open a can and pour it into a cup for you while thirty other people waited in line. There was also no limit on beers. More on that later if I can remember.

The Beach Volleyball itself was fun. They had loud American pop music pumping through the place every time there was a stoppage in play, no matter how short. The venue was a bit small and, as with most of the venues I went to, about 1/3 of the seats were reserved for international media. The crowd was pretty good. There were people from Holland, Australia, and Russia. There were a ton of Chinese fans there supporting their women's team in their first match of the tournament. There was even a special cheering section located at the top of the stadium. These people were recruited to fill seats and create a 'fun' atmosphere. They had gone through training well in advance of the games and they all wore matching shirts. They hooted and hollered for both sides while the average Chinese fan just looked at them, almost ashamed for them. There is one cheer and one cheer only that the Chinese do and if you watched ANY of The Games than I am sure you are familiar with it, Beijing, Jia You, Zhong Guo, Jia You. This is it. This is as good at it got for 17 days.

Sidenote: As an American I am concerned with our lack of clever or cool cheers for our country. Everyone has fun things to sing and say except us. The Aussies are particularly adept at being loud and clever. I developed a new and super annoying cheer for the USA, OOOOOOOOOSSAAAH.

As the day wore on it got hotter and hotter and hotter. The thermometer in the sand said it was 120. In the bowl of the stadium air did not circulate and the humidity just took a seat and stayed for a while. Finally, around 11am, the Chinese women came out to rapturous applause. The stadium was about 75% full by the time their match started. I thought it was a decent showing considering the heat. The match went on and eventually the Chinese won. Almost on cue, 80% of the Chinese supporters left. It was terrible. Even the professional cheer squad went home. It was a poor showing of sportsmanship. It was hot and I was not as concerned as I became later when the trend repeated itself over and over again. The attendance issues coupled with the rabid medal tracking made me rethink what sportsmanship is in this country. Initially there was a creepy, China vs. The World vibe happening. Lili and I stayed for another two matches before calling it quits. It was damn hot and I had to get across town to get more Olympic tickets.

I was furiously trying to acquire more and more tickets for the week preceding The Games. I contacted every poster on Craig's List about tickets and ended up finding this girl who lived way across town, on the west side. I went out there to meet her and pick up tickets to Baseball and the Men's Football (Soccer) quarterfinals. I was nervous she wouldn't show up but she did. Her tickets were real. I rejoiced.

I headed home with a fist full of tickets and a sense of what it is like to be at The Olympics. At the Beach Volleyball venue there was a good international mix. While I was unable to cheer for my team I still learned a lot about how to cheer for your country, something I had never done before. You have to be gracious. When you put on your countries colors or even a t-shirt with your country's name on it you become the face of your country. I would say that 95% of Olympic visitors adhered to that notion. Everyone was very friendly and extremely happy to be here. People cheered for their country without ever taunting anyone or going too crazy. It was very respectful. The next day I was headed to the Water Cube to see Michael Phelps compete with the Men's 4x100m Relay team. It would be my first chance to root for my country and see perhaps its best Olympian compete. On the way out of the Beach Volleyball venue there was a small stand selling various flags. I initially grabbed the hand held model of the Star Spangled Banner. I was then drawn to the larger version. It would be my cape. My Olympic look was complete. It was a purchase that would end up enhancing my Olympic experience.
More on that and swimming later

These Are The Days (The Lost Post)

My apologies. My last post was a bit crap. I began writing it at 1am and I was confused. I could have sworn that I had made at least one post during the Olympics. I was too tired and felt that I owed it to those of you who care about the Olympics to bang out a quick blog. The result was confusing and sloppy. I sat down to write another post today and what do I find? An authentic Olympic era blog. Here it is, enjoy.

This post is from August 9

I was in Shanghai last week where I visited Bryne in his new city. He only arrived there the day before I did but together we navigated the city deftly. The trip began when I woke up at 5:00 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. flight. I took a taxi on the newly opened Airport Expressway 2. Huge and newly created especially to accommodate the theoretical rush of Olympic tourists, it is now the fastest way from my apartment to the new termnial 3 only taking 20 minutes. I arrived at terminal 3 and was in awe. I had been anticipating seeing the inside since I mistakenly arrived there to pick up my father and sister several months ago. It is the largest airport in the world they say and I believe it. It is huge and is very open with very high ceilings. It is a marvelous piece of architecture in a city that is rapidly expanding its list of must see buildings.

I arrived in Shanghai with little idea how to get to Bryne's new apartment. I had seen a National Geographic channel presentation on the Mag Lev train that has been built in Shanghai. Mag Lev stands for magnetic levitation. It is like a supertram(p) that hovers on the track creating very little friction. Less friction means higher speeds with less electricity needed. The Mag Lev goes from Pudong airport to the beginning of the Shanghai subway system. I was unsure whether it was the most direct way to get to Bryne's place and upon calling him confirmed that it was not, but I had to take it. Wow was it worth it. The thing is AMAZING! It has seats in it just like a train and a strange hum that enhances its futuristic credentials. There was a speedometer posted in LED lights inside the train and as we departed the station, slowly but surely, the LED showed why this was no ordinary train. As the speed was listed in kilometers per hour, I could only get a rough estimate of what our speed was in miles per hour. The train got faster and faster and the trees, cars, and buildings were whipping by with greater and greater intensity. Another Mag Lev train passed us on the right side and sent a jolt through the train. I looked up, on the speedometer it read 278 kph. That is fast, but we kept accelerating. 300...340...375...400...432!!!! We peaked out at 427 kph which, for those of you playing at home, is a shade under 270 miles per hour. It was amazing. The entire ride probably only lasted 10 minutes but it was well worth the price of admission.

After that I boarded the subway for a long ride to Bryne's neck of the woods. He met me at the airport and we went to his place. We hung out and had some lunch and did a little exploring. That evening we went out for some drinks and to catch up. Bryne had spent the last month in Kora with his girlfriend Seonju. The big news was that Bryne and Seonju married a couple of weeks ago. This is great because she is a great girl and he is a great guy and their kid will either be the tallest guy on the Korean Men's Basketball team or the shortest guy on the English Men's Basketball team. Either way the kid will be schooled in the salary cap, crossover dribble, and exploits of Isaiah Thomas.

The next day we were off to fulfill our destiny and attend the USA vs. Australia in men's basketball. We arrived at the stadium about two and a half hours early. We were hoping that we could just get in the stadium and possibly get some autographs or take some good pictures of the players. Our fatal mistake was not realizing that we were in China. Security was tight as a drum with armed police (a rare sight in a country where 95% of the police don't have guns) and dogs patrolling the area. Bryne and I debated whether they were attack dogs or sniffer dogs. Our final decision was that they probably did a bit of both. They decided to let us in at 6pm. Upon entering we saw that many concession stands and activity booths had been set up. It was not unlike the concourse at a sports event in the US. We got food, a chicken salad sandwich and a salad (a combination never seen in the US), some beers, and took our seats. With about 45 minutes to go before the match the stadium was EMPTY. The Chinese spectator is a new class. Public gatherings have never been really encouraged and attending sporting events is a relatively new concept in China, thus patrons are still getting a hang of it. More on this later in the blog. The stadium remained mostly empty through shootarounds. We arrived plenty early and were treated to seeing both teams warm up separately with the highlight coming when the American team got on the floor. The Chinese fans cheered each individual player as they entered the court but the two who received the most attention were Kobe, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James. We all know how special these athletes are and we all know they are big people but seeing them in person only enhances and affirms those notions. LeBron James is a massive individual. Muscular and athletic he has the body of a power forward and the athleticism of a guard. He is very impressive even when shooting jumpers. Dwight Howard is even more the physical specimen. Tall and lean with massive shoulders, he dwarfs everyone on the court with the exception of LeBron.

It was just cool to see all of those great players together, joking around, talking with each other, all while wearing the same jersey. As the minutes before game time ticked away, I was shocked to see that the stands were still mostly empty. The stadium WAS in the middle of no where, in am industrial park far on the south side of the city, but you'd think people would at least be as excited as I was to see this team. Bryne and I slipped into seats at the bottom of our section. While I did get us tickets, I didn't get us great tickets. Our new home provided a better vantage point. I took this picture at the tip-off:As the game went on the stands filled up but they did not get totally full until the end of the first quarter. One other thing that must be commented upon were the foreign fans in the stands. The only reason that they were noticeable is because the Chinese fans were virtually silent through most of the game. It was a very strange crowd. They were not vocal at all but did applaud good shots or drives by both teams. While they did clap for the Australians, they were clearly rooting for the Americans with countless young people wearing Kobe and LeBron jerseys. The foreign fans, mostly American, could be heard chanting 'De-Fense' and shouting encouragement. The Chinese thought this odd and laughed a bit. When some American jackass stood up a few rows in front of me, he chided the American team in a loud, bellowing voice which could be heard all around the stadium. One man could be heard among a crowd of 14 thousand, that is how quiet it was. Here are some more pictures:































The next day I had to leave early in the morning as I had to be at work early. My flight ended up being canceled and I had to wait for the next one. Luckily I made it on that plane and I was only one hour late for work. Well worth it to see USA Basketball. It was great to see Bryne and I think I might make another trip to Shanghai again soon.

Also this week, a little event you might have heard of called The Olympics kicked off here in Beijing. This is it. This is what I have heard about for over two years. What this city, what this country has been waiting for. The city was whipped into a frenzy in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Athletes could be seen all around the city wearing their team's official merchandise. On my way to work my taxi almost ran over a couple of Cubans, this is the type of encounter that can only happen at in an Olympic host city, or Miami. On Wangfujing, a street near my office, I ran into member from Team Swaziland.
"Swazi!!", I yelled. They responded with a 3 second dance and waved at me. Awesome. Team Nigeria came walking down the busy and increasingly international street. It is so fun to see all of these people from all over the world in one place.

On the night of the Opening Ceremonies things reached a crescendo. My school had to shut down and the day was declared a national holiday by the government, something that NEVER happens. I went to a friends house to watch. The entire ceremony was spectacular. I could have never guessed that it would have been that fantastic. What it did do was put on display the sheer number of Chinese citizens there are. Something like 15,000 people worked on the ceremonies. The beginning, where the drummers banged on drums of light, that part had 2,008 people. It was crazy. I must say that I was a little disappointed in the way the guy lit the cauldron. That fake running shtick was a little silly. The actual lighting of the cauldron was stunning. Is it me or is that flame bigger than normal? I wouldn't be surprised.

The next day, yesterday, I went to Beach Volleyball. My first event of the XXIX Olympiad. The venue was a nice one, located in the middle of Beijing's biggest park. The atmosphere was fun and laid back once you got through security.














The venue has concessions and play areas outside of the actual stadium because the stadium itself is very minimalist and temporary. They had beach volleyball pits outside where many kids
played and made sand castles. It was extremely hot. At 9:00 a.m. when the competitions began is was quite muggy and the pollution, I'm sorry, haze, protected us from the brunt of the heat. But as it got closer to noon the sun came out to play and made things miserable. As for the volleyball itself, the matches alternated between men's and women's. The venue was pretty full but definitely not 100%. The way that the ticketing works for venues that are hosting events all day, is that each ticket is for a time slot. My time was from 9am to 2pm. Around 11am we had a chance to see the Chinese women's pairing take on ?. Did it really matter? The Chinese women are favored to win the whole thing and the crowd likes a winner. This was the first time I was able to see Chinese fans root for a Chinese team. It was fun. The incessant chant, the only one they got is '____ Jia You' which means 'Let's Go___'. It literally translates to Add Oil but the real meaning is something closer to 'Step On The Gas'. This is a phrase I am sure the NBC commentators will pick up on if they haven't already. The crowd cheered every time the Chinese ladies touched the ball. In the end the Chinese team won and then there was a mass exodus. The vast majority, probably between 75 abd 80 percent of the Chinese fans left. This left a mostly international crowd with fans from Australia, Brazil, and the Netherlands representing the strongest contingents. It was a bit of bad sportsmanship I think. You gotta stay. As I have been typing this, I have been watching the games on Chinese TV. Almost without fail they will show an event until the Chinese competitor finishes and then they will switch their coverage. I don't want to make assumptions or stereotypes but it is representative of a sentiment that has been expressed here before that these games are about China vs The World. All of this is to gauge how good China is. I hope as the games go on the Chinese spectators become more interested in the sport rather than the color of the jersey.

There was a thermometer at sand level in the volleyball venue. I knew it was hot but I had to see what it was registering because I had to know. It said that the temperature was 120 degrees on the sand. It was definitely over 100 in the stands. It was a good day at the Beach Volleyball venue but too damn hot in the end. I left with one match left to go and headed to the north west part of the city to meet a girl who had tickets for sale. I bought two more sets of tickets, one to the Baseball gold medal match and the other to the Men's Soccer semi-finals. Wowy, I am jazzed.

Just a few rapidfire thoughts:
-There are no more taxis in this city. They have disappeared. I think they must either be at all the hotels or all the venues. They have essentially evaporated from the roads.

-The heat has been quite bad recently but rain is predicted for the next two days. Today it rained and cooled things of considerably. Today the high is 83 degrees.

-Tonight is the USA vs. China basketball match. To call it eagerly anticipated would be a huge understatement. Every bar in the city is running specials and pulling out projection tv's to satisfy their customers.

-Last night I went out with my friend Meskes and we noticed the insane amount of foreigners that are in the city. They are numerous and kind of annoying. What is more annoying is when people mistake me for a tourist. I hate that.

-The Chinese are pulling out all the stops to make people feel comfortable. All the staff, from security, to the concession stands, to the ushers, all of them speak English. It is amazing considering that, as a percentage, not that many people speak English. It is also a little gratifying for me.

- Beers at the Olympic venues are 5 RMB (60 cents) making the Olympic venues the cheapest places to drink in town. They also have pizza, sausage, and sandwiches available although, at the volleyball venue, none of that was available for some reason. It was advertised so I hope that whatever the problem was, it will be sorted out before I go to the Water Cube tomorrow.

- Michael Phelps is changing the world if only their sleeping habits. Because of AMERICA most of Phelps' races will be held in the morning so you all can get a live look at him in his quest for gold. Thanks. All I can say is that you better be watching and appreciative of the fact that the entire Olympic schedule has been changed for your benefit. This also applies to the 10pm local time start to the USA v. China basketball match.

-Reliable sources say that costumed performers at the Opening Ceremonies wore diapers during their dress rehearsals.

And now I give you this:

Happy Olympics Everyone!

Olympic Size Frustration -----> Joy

I have have to get something off my chest. I was not allowed to receive tickets to the 2008 Olympiad. Before I get into this, I must say that writing about this renews my frustration over the events that have transpired over the last five weeks of my life. I have been unbearable whilst trying to sort out this insane bureaucratic nightmare from the 5th dimension.

Lets start one and a half years ago:
A fresh faced chap from the mean streets of Tongzhou sat in his 12ft. x 12ft. cell of a dorm room scouring the internet for English instructions regarding the purchasing of Olympic tickets by foreigners. After hours of searching our young hero plowed his way through red tape and ID confirmation to secure eight tickets to four Olympic events: Swimming, Track and Field, Boxing, and Handball.

Sidebar:
I have always found handball to be an intriguing sport ever since being exposed to it in gym class at Parkway North High School. It combines the tactics of soccer with the athleticism of basketball with more contact than both. During the last Olympics I scheduled my days around watching Handball. I am Olympic crazy.

Lets fast forward six months:
We rejoin our hero as he has triumphantly, if privately, returns to China. Within days of his return he received an email from the BOC (Beijing Olympic Committee) confirming his purchase of eight Olympic tickets.

Eight months later:
He waits patiently for a notice, a notice that will tell him where and when to pick up his tickets. He receives the notice. There is much rejoicing.

I headed down to the bank where my tickets were being held humming a triumphant little tune that is familiar to all those who enjoy NBC's Olympic broadcast. I arrived at the bank and waited patiently for my number to be called. I walked to the window and gave my passport. The attendant checked my passport against the information in her computer. She turned as if in slow motion and said a long, heavily accented 'Noooooooo'. I shook it off and asked for my tickets. She told me that the information on in my passport did not match the information submitted online. I quested: "WHAT information?" She said that the visa I used to purchase the tickets was currently invalid. I calmly, if loudly, told her that visas expire every year. She said that if I had a question I would have to take it up with the BOC on their help hotline. I refused to leave until justice had been metered out. They called the complaint department for me and put me on the phone with a lady who told me that I must submit a change of information form and a copy of my passport for the information to be changed. I protested loudly, both verbally and non. Curses filled my head and sharp motions with my elbows and shoulders were their manifestation. I was asked to leave and took exception to the force of their request. I hesitated and turned back to the counter when a security guard armed with a taser baton held it over me. I walked out briskly muttering under my breath. I was beside myself with anger and thought about going home and just calling in sick to work.

Two days later, after I had calmed down sufficiently, I proceeded with my formal request for a change of my information. I submitted my information as requested and an emailed automatic response told me to wait five days for confirmation of receipt and then I would receive another email. I waited five days. Giving them the benefit of the doubt I even waited a sixth. I then called. I was told my information had been received and my request would be carried out, "pay close attention to your email", the voice said. That I did. It was inevitable that I would. I have been waiting for this day since 1988 when I watched Shannon Briggs box at the Seoul Olympics while staying on South Padre Island with my family. I had been waiting since the Winter Olympics in Albertville when my sister and I pretended to be downhill ski champions as we raced through the living room of our home in McAllen Texas with Crayola markers in our hands doubling as ski poles. I had waited since then so what was a couple more days I thought.

I waited a couple of days (three days ago) and called back, this time the girl remembered me. "You're the guy from before, aren't you?" she asked, "I am guessing I am." I replied. I knew I had made an impression on the last girl I talked to and banked on the fact that she doesn't get too many white people alternately beg and demand over the phone. She felt sorry for me and told me to call the ticket agents directly (I thought that is what I had been doing.) She gave me a name. I called the number and demanded to speak to the lady whose name I had at my disposal. I calmly explained my situation and she told me she would call me back in four hours and tell me what she could find out. She called me when I was between classes and told me that no one at her office had ever received any email from me. I went red hot. After I regained consciousness I told her that I would send her my information again and she then told me that I should write a letter to her office about the entire situation. I told her, "never". I could NEVER do that. They had me jumping thought hoops for over a month and they expected me to do another trick? I flatly refused and told her to get me my tickets before it became an international incident. The next day, today, I got confirmation that my information had been changed and I rushed to the bank a second time. Remembering my excitement the first time around I made sure to assume nothing was coming to me.

In 1993 I thought it was my cocksure attitude that prevented the Houston Oilers from beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs and I wasn't about to let it happen again.

I entered humbly hoping the guard would not recognize me. I approached the window and handed my passport to the lady behind the glass. She took it and smiled, I was looking for good signs and this was the first one. She punched a few numbers and then went to a big box. She pulled out an envelope and asked me to make sure everything was in order. I opened it and saw... They must have been doing some construction in there because it got real dusty for a moment and my eyes started watering. I thanked the lady politely and left in a hurry before they could find some sort of mistake. They are mine.

I have three days of work ahead of me before I can board a plane and head to Shanghai to see Team USA take out the uppity Australian basketball team. The three days of work will go by a little easier because I have to work a Wall Street English 'roadshow'. This is an event done in a public place with the intention of attracting more students. This one is called The BJ Carnival. There are several jobs for the foreign teachers to do one of which is play poker for eight hours. I am not that lucky. I was assigned to be the oral examiner at the BJ Carnival. I could have been playing poker for eight hours but instead I will be the oral examiner at the BJ Carnival. I hope I at least get a souvenier t-shirt identifying the event and my role.

Olympic Insanity

As the Olympics approach I will be blogging a little more regularly. Things have been moving quickly here and it is hard to believe the games are almost upon us. It is hard to believe because people here are as excited as they were two years ago. The anticipation and excitement probably peaked this past fall. Since then a series of events have caused concern, fear, and disappointment, all helping to take a bit of the shine off of these Olympics. Between the riots in Tibet, the trade wars with the US, and the Beichuan earthquake, people are saying that the games are 'cursed'. The really funny thing about that is people are blaming the 'Fuwa', the Olympic mascots. Some say the five of them represent five ills that have befallen/will befall China.
People say the yellow one named Yingying, whose form is meant to symbolize the deer that inhabit the Tibetan plateau, is responsible for the unrest in that area. Jingjing, the panda looking one, brought the earthquake in Sichuan province, home of the panda. Beibei, the blue one, planted all that algae in the water in Qingdao, the city that will host the sailing events. This leaves us Huanhuan and Nini, whose nefarious plots have yet to be exposed. And you thought they were cute. If you take their names and put them together it reads Beijing Huan Ying Ni, which means Beijing Welcomes You. If you read it backwards it means Paul is dead.
The newest subway lines opened last weekend. I am super excited about them because the subway is a great way to get to new places around the city and the new lines are really nice and clean. With the opening of these two new lines the grand total of subway lines in Beijing stands at six. The mini line that runs to the Olympic venues is numbered eight. Only six lines but one is called line eight? That is because eight is a lucky number, hence the opening ceremonies beginning at 8pm on August 8th 2008. Soooooo lucky. There is a huge run on weddings that day as well. I spoke with a student of mine who planned to get married at the moment that the opening ceremonies start. Speaking of the opening ceremonies, they had the rehearsal last week and wowy were the fireworks spectacular. What else would you expect from the home of black powder?

Back to the subway lines for a second. When I moved to Beijing only two years ago, there were three lines in Beijing. In the last eight months three more have opened. There are plans for six more lines to open by 2012. It is just amazing how quickly Beijing is skipping over the 20th century entirely.

Old Subway Line

New Subway Line

One thing that has changed in Beijing in recent days has been the installation of banners, art, signage, volunteer booths, and designated lanes for the Olympics. The city is certainly getting dressed up. The volunteer program was a huge success here. Two years ago, in an event here in Beijing, Jackie Chan kicked off the volunteer registration. Millions of people submitted their names to do everything from working the aforementioned booths where visitors can have their questions answered to carrying the medals and delivering them to the athletes. Word on the street is that volunteerism has is advantages when applying for membership in the party. Now all over the city volunteers are manning question booths in street corners and subway stops all over the city. All the volunteers got very cool shirts. Based on the number of shirts I have seen there must be nearly 80,000 volunteers. They are everywhere.



In Olympic related news, I bought tickets to see the US Olympic Basketball Team play against Australia in Shanghai in a pre-Olympic tournament on August 5th. I am incredibly excited. Bryne will be in Shanghai by then so I will go there for a quick visit as I need to work the next day. I can't stop smiling, I am just thrilled. On July 25th the remaining Olympic tickets went on sale at the venue's box offices. It was insane. Thousands of people camped out and waited for those tickets to go on sale. It was a madhouse and people were angry when (surprise) many of them tried to run to the front of the line as tickets went on sale. Basketball, diving, ping pong, and gymnastics were the first to go. Badminton tickets were sold out long ago. It should be noted that, for the first time in Olympic history, a stadium entirely devoted to ping pong was constructed. Today I am headed up to the Olympic area via the two newest subway lines (with camera in tow) to see if I can get my hands on some baseball tickets. I can't decide if it would be cooler to see USA vs. Japan or USA vs. Cuba. Why not both?

I plan on posting more pictures, thoughts, and observations as they come in. Until then make sure you keep the Fuwa out of your life.

Summertime in the City

I have been quite busy here in the last couple of weeks. Lots of news stories and mindless drivel in store so lets get started.

The biggest bit of news is that my roommate Bryne has moved out. He left at the end of June and is visiting his girlfriend in Korea before heading to Shanghai to start a new job at a school there. It is the end of an era. Bryne and I came to Beijing and worked the same job last year and decided to room together this year. He is a very good friend and will be missed. Before I start weeping uncontrollably I should let you all know that I will be visiting Bryne in Shanghai in September to relive the helsian days gone by.

Since his departure two things have changed in the apartment: There is more food in the fridge and more dirty dishes in the sink. I am terrible at doing dishes. Call me spoiled, call me a child of the modern age, call me domestically challenged, or just call me lazy but this is the first time I have lived without a dishwasher and my lack of talent in that field has been exposed. And since improving myself is a big hobby of mine, it is something I am working on.

A quick update on a topic I raised in my last post. I solicited ideas for movies to show to my students and received many suggestions. Thanks to all who shared their ideas with me. Two weeks ago I showed what is one of my top 50 movies to the students. I was very excited when I saw it in the video store and purchased it immediately giggling to myself all the way home. Groundhog Day. What a fantastic movie that is. I had been looking for it for a long time because of its obvious appeal to my students. It has broad comedy, a tinge of romance, and repetition, three things they love. It was well received and students were lining up afterwards to borrow the movie. Success.

The glory days of DVD buying seem to be over in Beijing and I have the Olympics to blame. Last week I struggled to find an open DVD shop. My old standby was open but had changed format seemingly overnight. The only DVDs they had for sale were Chinese ones, all the foreign DVDs had been removed from the shelves. I recognized the truth instantly but denied it and headed to another DVD shop. There too I found the same sad situation. I realized instantly that the famed Olympic crackdown was in effect. For months the media in the west has been reporting on Chinese efforts to curtail pirating and enforce international copyright laws. This was the first time I had seen evidence of such efforts and though I knew these tactics would eventually be employed I was saddened by their implementation. I traveled to an area near a local market that caters to Western tourists. Stationed outside the front doors of this market are men who quietly whisper 'CD,?DVD?'. Those men were gone. I walked around the market because I figured that, while I never went down the proverbial rabbit hole and followed these men, some unwitting tourist had. I assumed that they would not have to walk far so I patrolled the perimeter of the market. Soon enough I found a small DVD shop. Within one second I realized the same scourge that had wiped out the Western DVD's at the last two shops I had visited was in effect at this shop as well. As I tuned to walk out a voice called out to me, "Looking for Western DVD sir?", I replied in the affirmative, "Come with me", she whispered. I followed her into a back room with a smaller than normal door. We went through the door and into a hallway for service staff that was attached to the larger market. Down the hall we went and through an unmarked door through the door we made a left, then a right, and finally came to our final door. She knocked three times, slowly. The door opened and a choir of angels sang a beautiful song of celebration as I entered what looked like my dreams. DVD's everywhere. It was great, but is this what Beijing has come to? Secret hallways and knocks now required to procure Western DVDs?

This crackdown on the DVD's is just part of a larger effort to prepare for the Olympics. With the games just more than three weeks away efforts to create a 'safe and secure Olympics' are in full effect. Measures to reach that goal have included beefing up security on the subway. Me looking like a member of a particularly feared and despised ethnic minority in China has led to me being called out for bag inspection a little more than most although such inspections never occur at the stations near my home or near my work. Sporadically well armed police can be seen patrolling major intersections throughout the city center. They are decked out in body armor and carrying serious heat. Surface-to-Air missile installations protect the Bird's Nest and Water Cube as well, just in case they need to shoot down a plane over the center of the city. I've talked with my students about the amped up security and most of them hope that the bag checks in the subway continue after the Olympics. I was a bit surprised by that and hope to engage one of them in a more in depth conversation on the subject in the days to come.

I have plenty of other stories regarding this topic but none I should write down here.

On a lighter note, my office had a party last weekend at a cafe in a rather ritzy shopping area in Beijing. The biggest hit at the party wasn't the food or drink but Jenga. Jenga is a hell of a game that I was introduced to in the early 1990's. A stack of wooden planks are weaved together to form a tower and players take turns pulling the planks out and placing them on top of the structure. If you knock down the tower you lose. Since it can be played with any number of players there is no real winner, only losers. It is a game to identify a loser, which makes it unique in the realm of indoor family entertainment. At work one of the teachers is creating a class based on board games and Jenga was included, that is how it found it's way to the party. Jenga is unknown outside of the US. I didn't know this. Everyone was Jenga crazy including Maggie, my Chiense boss. There was a group of about seven people playing and she was the ringleader. She would call on people who were not even playing the game to come over and take a piece. I think she saw it as some sort of test of mental ability. The entire staff was all over Jenga. After the staff party broke up a contingent of us headed to a bar. There we set up Jenga and resumed play, this time drawing the attention of passers by. We even drew a bit of a crowd once the tower got really high. The Chinese wait staff was also involved in the game. Jenga brings people together.

The day after the party I was invited by a student of mine to join him and several other students in dining at his family's restaurant. I was happy to go on an eating expedition and joined them for lunch on Monday. My students are all adults, between twenty and sixty years old with the average age around twenty-nine. The students I dined with were David, Kiko, and T-Bag. That day we were visiting T-Bag's family at their restaurant. The four of us headed to the south part of Beijing. It had been told that the southside is the stabby side of Beijing, with most of the violent crime in the city happening on its southside. Violent crime is rare in Beijing and even more rarely reported. No one I know in Beijing has had a friend or acquaintance who has been a victim of a violent crime which is amazing. Think about your own life and friends? Amazing, isn't it? I headed to the southside with phone books tucked into my pants ready for a stabbing or a delicious meal. I got the latter, thankfully. T-Bag's family restaurant is located on the fifth floor of a market. It is a small place that specializes in Sichuan food. I had a bowl of spicy noodles and boiled vegetables in a spicy sesame sauce. It was great. We stayed there for about two hours talking and enjoying ourselves. T-Bag's mom, (Mrs. Bag?) thanked me for teaching her son. She was a very nice lady and thanked me profusely. It was great and I plan on getting back there sometime soon.

This weekend I organized basketball on Saturday at Beijing's premier street basketball venue. We had great attendance and I put up some monster stats in limited action (5 points, 1 3-pointer, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in 7 minutes of play), so all was well. Before, during, and after basketball I was being hounded by a clutch of coworkers and students to join them for a hike northeast of Beijing near Mutianyu, a section of The Great Wall. I was on the fence as they would be leaving at 7:30 a.m. and I am unaccustomed to such a time as I don't begin work until 1pm. After much cajoling I agreed to join them. I went to bed early and joined them the next morning at the apartment of one of my coworkers. From there we piled into two cars and made for the mountains. It was a three hour drive full of singing along with Chinese pop songs (not by me of course) and questions about curse words in English. Once we made it to the mountains we emerged from our vehicles to find that it was quite warm, 93 degrees. We began our ascent at 11 a.m. the scenery was beautiful mostly due to the abundant rain we have received in Beijing recently. The trees were incredibly green and the streams were flowing quite rapidly. From the trail you could see unrestored portions of The Great Wall. It seemed as if most of the hike was spent going up up up. Portions were quite steep but the trail was well maintained and clearly marked. We finished the hike around 2 p.m. covered in sweat. It was a fun if exhausting. After we finished the hike we were quite hungry. The area we visited is famed for a special dish that uses some kind of river fish that is found in the area. We went to a local restaurant and enjoyed this delicacy among others. One of the best dished was one I had never had before. It was fried pumpkin in but the batter used salt and sugar and it was dredged in goose egg. It was quite delicious and a great mix of savory and sweet. After the meal we headed back to Beijing, this time the pop songs were not so entertaining. For some reason it was decided that the party could not stop and we had to go out shopping. I was...exhausted. We parted ways after a couple of shops and I headed back home for a long overdue shower around 8:30 p.m.

This morning I have some housekeepers in my apartment cleaning around me as I type this. I hate this. It is awkward. They refuse to come when I am not here so I they have to clean around me while I look like a lazy slob. This could be a way to reform their customers but that would just be hurting their own business which relies on people like me.

Soon I'll be off to find another DVD joint and maybe get some more of that fried pumpkin, soooo good.

Miscellany

Things have been quiet in this neck of the woods. I have been trying to enjoy me free time by getting back to some of the routine which I enjoyed so much last year, when free time was more abundant. Several weeks ago I finished work on a Saturday night and felt like eating some of the lamb kabobs that are a staple of small, slightly dingy, restaurants that dot the streets in many parts of Beijing. I headed down to a hutong near my office in pursuit of such fare. I found a little place that seemed to be hosting a coronation. In the small restaurant were 15 people packed around 20 different dishes. I, being the only white guy for several blocks, drew a bit of attention as I took my seat near their table. The stares are something that I have gotten used to and something that I will miss when I leave China. I took my seat and placed my order which included a glass of Bai Jiu, the famed Chinese liquor. I ate my food and drank my drink as the people at the adjacent tables delivered countless speeches all of of which were followed by toasts. Because I am white and because I was drinking bai jiu I was drawing stares from the oldest gentleman at the party table. He toasted me with some of his 'good' bai jiu. I put quotation marks around good because There is no such thing as good bai jiu. All of it can be used as accelerant and therefore tastes the same. It was obvious that he had been at it a little longer than I had that evening. He began swaying in his chair and I began to worry for him. The other members of the table had to physically restrain him from ordering another bottle. He wouldn't be happy until I was as drunk as he was. He shook off his handlers and got himself together long enough to deliver an impassioned speech. All I got from it was something about how he is the boss, he has worked a long time, he was buying the entire meal, and some diatribe about hot and cold. As he delivered this speech every reveler at the table sat in silence looking everywhere but at the orator. They were being shamed. He stopped at the end of his five minute speech and got what he had asked for. He poured me a glass and I glanced over the faces of the members of his party. They were trying to put the heat on me to make him stop. I had refused his offers for more many times. I had no choice in the matter. I decided to just act more drunk than I actually was since I understood that this was his ultimate goal. After two glasses I began to wobble and sway. He was happy to get me to concede. It was his victory. I paid my bill, said my goodbyes, and left the restaurant. As I walked from the restaurant I realized that I may not had been acting as well as I thought.

Work has been going pretty well. I have been doing a movie corner every Wednesday where I show about 60 students a movie in English and explain the plot, vocabulary, and phrases. Here is a sample of some of the movies I have shown recently:
Jerry Maguire
She's The Man (students' choice)
The Usual Suspects
Gattaca
A Fish Called Wanda
The Shawshank Redemption
Edward Scissorhands
28 Days Later
There's Something About Mary

Of all of these I'd say that Edward Scissorhands, The Shawshank Redemption, and She's The Man have been the most popular. They seem to enjoy movies that are sweet and positive. I tend to hate movies like those. I have been struggling to find movies that I would enjoy showing them. Edward Scissorhands and Shawshank are great movies, but She's The Man? They loved it! I am always looking for more movies so if you have any suggestions please send them my way.

Two weeks ago was my friend Cromwell's birthday. He is a popular dude and even had some friends from Hong Kong come up here to help him celebrate. He had a catered dinner at his apartment on Saturday and we went out for a ridiculous brunch at the Intercontinental Hotel. This whole brunch thing is a monthly event for me and my friends. These brunches are posh and there is no way I would be able to take part in such a decadent tradition were I living in the USA. I say this to clear the air and not mislead people into believing that I could have a comparable lifestyle in the US. The brunches usually feature a great assortment of delicious treats and champagne. Cromwell's friends were great and very funny people. After brunch we all headed for a foot massage followed by cocktails at a nearby bar and restaurant. It was a great weekend full of delicious food. That is the best kind of weekend.

I am a bit sick and I know why. Sports. Sports have made me ill. I don't really blame them. I mean they are so engaging and exciting that it is no wonder I have become dependent on them. I love them and I have no one to blame for my current condition but myself. Recently, I have been staying up late to watch the Euro 2008 soccer tournament. I had several favorites going into this tournament: Holland, Spain, and Portugal. All historically underachieving football nations. The first game of the evening starts at midnight with the second one starting at 2:45 a.m. This second match is difficult to watch all the way through, especially in the face of......

THE NBA FINALS!!!!

I had my sleep drastically reduced considering that all the NBA Finals games started at 9 am and the last Euro 2008 match ended at 4 am. For a week and a half I endured five hours of sleep every other day. But it has been worth it. The Finals were great. I am a Kobe hater and a KG lover. I love to see good guys win. It is fun to see the Celtics on top again after 22 years of futility. I remember watching that series 22 years ago at Joey Holland's house back in McAllen, Texas. I was happy to endure a few droopy eyelids to witness such great sporting events.

What didn't help my situation was terrible weather. The weather in Beijing has gone from very pleasant to stifling in the course of a week. Summer in Beijing is known for two things, both detrimental to the Olympics: pollution and rain. The pollution traps the heat and gives you an awesome first hand experience with the greenhouse effect. Stifling. The occasional rain seems strange in Beijing. Not far south enough to be part of the monsoon region of China and not far west or north enough to be in the desert, Beijing lies at a weather crossroads in China. The winter is extremely dry and the summer quite wet. Four of the last seven days have had rain lasting only about an hour or so. Last Monday was exceptional. I play in a soccer league that meets on Monday nights in Chaoyang park. Our games start late, around 9pm. Last week I was not sure we would have a game. Torrential rain was predicted during the day but never manifested itself. As we prepared for the match lightning raced across the night sky. In the first minute of the match a light drizzle came down that was actually quite a pleasant contrast to the hot, muggy, air. This persisted for about two minutes before the skies opened up. Sheets of rain poured down. It was that big fat rain. We continued to play thinking that such rain could not sustain itself for too long. There were a few good opportunities for goals. We continued to fight for possession and challenge balls in the air. The rain was suffocating. I actually felt as if I was drowning while running up the field spewing water to stay afloat. The setting was great were we two national teams battling for the European Championship but we were The Carpal Tunnel Chopsticks battling The Dulwich Chinese Lions. The referee blew his whistle and I immediately shouted (because that was the only way he would have heard me over the rain), "It's only a little rain!" There are about 7 five-a-side fields in the sports complex and simultaneously everyone had their games canceled and we all sought shelter in a small room in the center of the complex. In about seven minutes of rain I was entirely soaked along with my wallet and all the money in it. Bryne and I ran to catch a taxi ahead of the rush of people who would eventually settle in the same idea. Taxi's never stop in the rain so we had to wait a bit. I could feel a sniffle coming on. Now, one week later, I am speaking like James Earl Jones.

I just spent the last five minutes trying to find a good Darth Vader quote to end this post. An appropriate one does not exist but this one is cool:

"The Rebels are alerted to our presence. Admiral Ozzel came out of lightspeed too close to the system. He is as clumsy as he is stupid. General, prepare your troops for a surface attack"

Earthquake Relief, Police Raids, and Flaming Gas Filled Balls of Glass on My Feet

Viewing my last post now, I regret being so cavalier about the earthquake. At the time I had no idea of the devastation or the human toll the quake exacted in other regions of China. I must apologize for my attitude but I will not delete the post. The post represents how I felt at the time. This whole blog thing is about capturing a moment or two and relating my experiences to those with a passing interest. Since the last post I believe we have all seen the images of collapsed buildings and people being pulled form their rubble. The situation is horrific and especially heart wrenching considering the One Child policy and the damage done to most of the schools in that region. For about 10 days after the quake, Chinese media has been extraordinarily open in the coverage. The media here is more famous for the amount of good news it reports rather than the images of peril and destruction that have flooded the airways recently. This openness is strange but entirely necessary in order to contrast the handling of relief efforts in China to those in Myanmar. The news coverage was immediate and extensive with live feeds from some of the worst hit areas and interviews with top level personnel regarding strategy and government action. I guess the theory is that as long as the government is doing a good job the story will be reported. What has not been reported in the Chinese media is the efforts and donations coming in from abroad. A big deal has been made about the private donations which, in the first week, reached something around 200 million dollars according to some sources in China. There was a telethon about three days after the earthquake. It featured many celebrities and taste-makers pleading with the audience for money. In every taxi I took that day the driver was listening to the telethon. We set up a donation box in our office and collected money from the students and staff. No word yet on how much was collected. During the designated three days of mourning many events were canceled including my weekly soccer game. During the three day mourning period foreign entertainment channels were blacked out and a message explaining the mourning and earthquake took their place. CNN and other foreign news channels still ran but HBO, Cinemax, MTV, and National Geographic were all blocked.

Exactly one week to the minute after the earthquake, China observed a three minute period of silence to honor those lives lost in the disaster. When I first heard this news I doubted very much that China would come to a standstill for three minutes. I was in the silk market getting fitted for s new suit when they announced the period of mourning would be observed. Sure enough even in the bustling silk market, a symbol of the economic voracity and consumerism that China is now becoming known for, all commerce stopped as we all stood in silence alone with our thoughts for those who lost their lives and those whose lives will be forever changed by the tragedy. Moments of silence, both formal and informal, are unheard of in Beijing and China in general. This was the first such event in the history of the country. As such the Chinese have a little to learn about executing such events. As I stood in the silk market I could hear the wail of car horns and sirens coming from the street. People stopped their cars in the road, got out, and honked their horns for three solid minutes. It was a bit eerie and awe inspiring.
The Saturday after the earthquake Bryne's friends Andrew and Paula Smith came to town for a visit. Andrew is Bryne's friend from university and Paula is his wife. They are both very funny and good people. I entertained them on my days off by going with them to Tienanmen Square, Wangfujing shopping street and, how every foreign visitor is treated, taking them to fabulous meals around town. They were with me last Monday at the silk market when the moment of relative silence was observed. During their trip they stayed with Bryne and I in our apartment.

One morning as I was getting ready for work, the door bell rang. Thinking Bryne had ordered a housekeeper to clean I opened the door without a second thought. In stead of a set of housekeepers there were two heavyset cops at my door. I had heard reports that the police were cracking down on all things from drugs to immigration and visas. Some of my colleagues had reported that they were called upon by the police to produce the proper documentation. Hearing this several weeks ago I decided that my time would come eventually so I made sure I had all my documents handy should an occasion such as this would occur. I invited the police in and went to fetch my passport, visa, and proof of temporary residence. I knew my passport and visa were in the room where Andrew and Paula were sleeping so I gently knocked on the door and told them that the police were in the living room and I had to get to my passport. To me this was no big deal but to them it smacked of 'police state'. As I returned with my passport the policeman asked me if there were other people in the house. He knew full well that there were other people and asked me to produce them and their documentation. They were not too comfortable with the whole situation, especially considering the policeman's lack of English skill. I remained calm until I was told that my documentation had 'extinguished'. "Extinguished?!?!", I said. "Extinguished", he said.

As it turns out I gave him the wrong form of temporary residence and it was indeed expired. Not a real difference now that I think about it. Either way I had become an illegal. When the cops told us that they were calling in another officer who was more adept in speaking English I felt a little more relaxed. When the third police officer arrived he was clad in black, which immediately put me on edge. His English was good but a little chilling when he pointed to me and said, "You...have no problem", then turned to Andrew and Paula and said, "You...have big problem."
We were all pretty excited to hear that visitors who come to China and do not stay in a hotel must register with the local police department. Although Andrew and Paula were scheduled to leave in less than 24 hours, the police officer recommended that we all go to the police department that morning to register. I was less than thrilled as I was scheduled to be at work in less than an hour and a trip to the police station is never a good thing no matter which country you are in. We headed down there with our passports and visas in tow, as those were the only documents we would need according to the policeman in black. We got a taxi to the police station and went down the winding alley ways to its front steps. Inside was a crew of crack policemen and women, half of whom were sleeping, the other half filling out dozens of forms in triplicate just to go to the bathroom. Sorry if I seem bitter but hell, how many damn forms and stamps do you need to live in a place and contribute to its economy? Soon it was our turn for scrutiny and we were swiftly rejected for not having the right paperwork. I was furious with my building manager because I was told that all my residence papers were in order eight months ago. Andrew and Paula decided to forget about it as they were leaving the country the next morning anyway. I was not as lucky. That day I just headed for work and decided I would deal with it on my day off.

On Saturday I was at the helm of a mock wedding that we put on at my school. I wrote 20 speaking parts for students to perform during our two hour wedding event. It was a lot like a Tommy and Tina's Wedding thing, although I have never been to one of those. The over all story had no plot. It was basically a two hour role play exercise where the 20 performers were supposed to mingle with the other students and tell them about their problems with the in-laws, unrequited love for the bride or groom, and various other forms of family dysfunction. The students loved it and by all accounts it was a big success. We had 120 students attend. The bride and groom had their first dance to Total Eclipse Of The Heart by Bonnie Tyler. It was hilarious and the students did a great job. That evening I went out with a young lady and we went to dinner and ended up at a foot massage place. She told me that this place was quite famous throughout China. It turned into one of the mos excruciating ordeals of my life. They kneaded my feet and calves like they were making pretzels. The real surprise came when they (the girl I had to get through a full week before that could happen. A full week of teaching 30 classes can be tiring. On top of that I was planning a mock western wedding for our students. I wrote 20 and two masseuses) were discussing things in Chinese. I was struggling to understand and then I heard words that I had been trained to avoid, 'Ba Guan'. Ba Guan ,or cupping, is by far the most alarming and unsettling form of Chinese medicine. It involves glass bulbs that contain a piece of thin gauze that is soaked in alcohol. The alcohol soaked gauze is then set alight and the bulb quickly pressed against your skin to create suction. The whole process is pretty grand. The girl I was with was afraid of it and refused. I pressed on. It was a strange sensation. They put one bulb on the bottoms of each of my feet. They only left the cups on for about 10 minutes. When they are left on for a long time they leave fantastic bruises and even leech a little blood out. It was fun.

Yesterday I worked a bit of overtime and got one day off today. Of course this is the day I had to take care of all the business with the police. This time I was prepared. I am now a legal resident of China and I can be unafraid. It is like I have a new lease on life. I no longer fear the doorbell or the chubby police or even the black clad ones.

Is this normal?

I was just sitting here doing some work on the computer when I felt like I had been struck with a fit of vertigo. I closed my eyes to try to regain my balance. It wasn't coming back to me. I heard creaking and felt that the whole building was swaying. My curtains were swaying and I immediately began looking for my keys. It was a little difficult to walk to my room. I found them and headed for the door. As I made my way there I saw my clothes on the clothesline. They were swaying as if a breeze were coming through the closed window. A sense of danger and urgency filled me as I hurried out of the apartment. I instinctively hit the elevator button but then realized that was probably a terrible idea. I headed for the stairs and flew down them. As I exited the building there were others behind me. I got far away from my complex of buildings and made my way up the street where there was a crush of people in the street all staring at the top of their buildings. We have had stormy weather recently in Beijing and it was quite windy outside. I assumed that the swaying was due to the high winds. I strolled around the streets contemplating my future in an apartment that can't withstand high winds. I questioned Chinese construction codes and procedures. After walking around, getting a bite to eat, and a careful study of the exterior of my building I returned to my apartment. I left the TV on and CNN was reporting a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Chengdu. I had never been in an earthquake before so now I guess I can check that one off of the list.

Family Visits and Basketball Ringers

China has had a profound effect on me although not in any way I can explain...yet. I know that when I go back to the US I will then realize what I have gained and how I have grown. I am hoping I have gained and grown from this experience and can't wait to find out how. Time spent in China alternately moves at light speed and a snails pace. New buildings go up, friends back home have babies, the old man in the hutong next to my apartment sits and watches things go by. Currently I am stuck on a loop of work and home. My life seemingly stays the same and I can notice all of the changes happening around me, or I thought I could. Nothing shakes an expat out of their routine and removes the blinders like having visitors. Visitors see things the way I saw them when I first arrived. That sense of wonder, confusion, and fear is a powerful tonic and I miss it.

In March my sister (Courtney) and father (Lee) arrived. This was a trip several months in the making and I was extremely excited that they actually made it out here. Courtney had been to Asia before, on a trip in 1998 that included Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. My father had never been in Asia. It is not as if previous Asia experience can prepare one for modern Beijing, but it does make you aware of the toilet situation. They arrived on a Sunday and stayed for about nine days. I secured four days off which was phenomenal.

I had done my research before their arrival and found that the new Terminal 3 was receiving flights from Korea. As Courtney and Dad were arriving from Korea I thought it best to meet them at Terminal 3. T3 is as awesome as the movie with the same name (I am not being sarcastic here, I loved T3 the movie). It is said to be the largest building in the world but I don't know who is counting or how they count. The building is quite nice and, as they only send two flights out and receive two flights a day, still quite shiny and new looking. After I realized neither flight arriving that day was theirs, I hurried over to Terminal 2 to collect them.

It was so great to see them strolling out of customs with their heads on a swivel looking for me as I was looking for them. Once collected we caught a taxi and headed for my apartment. After we arrived they settled in and we caught up with each other for a bit. They were both pretty tired but pressed on in order to reset their internal clocks. This was an impressive feat because my father is famous for his inability to sleep on planes. Courtney and I headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things and my dad stayed back and rested. The supermarket was an interesting experience for Courtney. She was able to see some of that famous yet increasingly elusive 'real China'. There is a lot of construction on me street so she was treated to an exhibition of strength by the 70 year old men working at the site when they made their own concrete with sand and water. She also bore witness to the diaper-less babies that excrete judiciously. We wondered whether a diaper-less baby would become potty trained more quickly due to its diaper-less circumstance. Yep, this is me and my sister, two reasonably intelligent people having this discussion. We returned back to the apartment, groceries in tow, and soon afterwards both of my visitors were asleep for the evening.

I must mention that their trip coincided with the 'unrest' in Tibet. I am limited in the comments I can make on these events because I am not up for the scrutiny but..... These events, as I'm sure you all heard, were...'under reported' here on the mainland. CNN was especially frustrating in that regard. Every time pictures of the police and military doing what they do came on the screen the whole thing went black. These events and the Chinese response to them definitely impacted Courtney and Lee's trip. Because the unrest coincided with the annual meeting of the National Peoples Congress which is an annual event where representatives from districts within all provinces meet to vote yes on things, my father and sister were treated to the full show of China's power and control. Security had been ramped up all over town, the news redacted, and on top of all of this a sand storm rolled into town. They were treated to the full show. Their second day in town we headed down to Wangfujing (where I work), Tienanmen Square, and the hutongs near Houhai Lake. We were able to get up close and personal with the new Grand National Theater before heading to Tienanmen which was a madhouse. The entire square was shut down due to the congressional meetings there and because of the Tibet situation, security was at an all time high. This is one of the first images of China that my father and sister had. We walked around in the opening area of the Forbidden City but decided to not go inside as I had arranged for one of my students to take them on a tour while I had to work. From there we went to Houhai Lake and walked around the hutongs for a bit. It was a long day so we returned to my apartment and ate at a Chinese restaurant located nearby. The restaurant specialized in Sichuan food which is notoriously spice. I thought my dad would see it as a challenge. He enjoyed the food and didn't sweat too much. From there it was back to the apartment for some DVD's and a good night's sleep.

The next day we went to the Silk Market where, as anyone who comes to China knows, things can be crazy. I lectured my guests on the finer points of Silk Market etiquette such as "don't show any interest", and "never ask the price if you don't want to buy it." These tips and the etiquette you must follow make a trip to the Silk Market more of a competitive event than a shopping experience. I must say that they did a good job and we got some good deals. The trip went well, due mostly to my impeccable instructions and maneuvers in the market. Things fell apart at the end. We were heading for the exit when one of the stall workers said she remembered me from before. Knowing this tactic and knowing that I had never seen this woman before I said, "This is my first time here." Within nanoseconds of these words exiting my mouth a chorus of stall workers shouted in unison, "First TIME? and we were pounced upon, divided, and assaulted. One lady distracted Dad with some leather jackets or mock turtlenecks or something. Another lady manhandled Courtney and physically dragged her into the stall. A human shield of stall workers prevented me from reaching Courtney momentarily, I then made it over and was able to pry open the death grip that the stall worker had on Courtney's arm. Dad, still jet lagged, was confused and befuddled by the pace with which this very tactical operation took place. I broke Courtney free, we grabbed Dad and we made it out still having some money to our name. I love the Silk Market.

That evening we had a delicious roast duck dinner and made an early night of it. On Wednesday we woke up a bit early and headed to the fruit and vegetable market near my house. The market is divided into meat and vegetable sections for obvious sanitary reasons although precautions taken in the name of sanitation ended there. The meat section was best described by Upton Sinclair in The Jungle. There was blood all over the floors, pig heads just staring people down, organ meat of all kinds, and bullfrogs. I never buy meat from this market but it is a good place to go to see how real Chinese people buy meat. The veggie part is loaded with an incredible assortment of mysterious fruits and vegetables. We had fun walking around there for a while before making out way out east, to Tongzhou, to visit my old stomping grounds from last year and have lunch with Cindy. We headed out by subway and Cindy picked us up from the station. Her erratic and distracted driving was on full display. We had a delightful lunch and then went to LuHe High School so I could show them the grounds. While at LuHe we ran into some of my old students. It was great to see all of them as it was the first time I had seen any of them since the last day of school last year. The kids that seemed to hate me the most were surprised and actually excited to see me. I was happy to see all of them, especially Hot Sauce and Liberty.


The next day I had to return to work so I set Courtney and Dad up with a tour with one of my students. They went to the Forbidden City for the day and endured a Chinglish tour by my student, Apple. The next day they went to The Great Wall with Wendy whose English is considerably better than Apple's. I had to work and in the evening my school had a basketball game against a school from the university district in Beijing. I did not play as to give more students an opportunity to play. Before they game I riled them up with a few famous sports quotes but the one that stuck, and really displayed the character of the team, was, "No autopsy, no foul." This seems appropriate for a team that is coached by yours truly. The game was an epic battle of David verses Goliath. Our team, a bunch of scrappy young professionals fresh out of college with real high powered jobs, against their team, a bunch of students from the sports university. Collegiate athletics are very different here. There are entire universities devoted to sports with no other type of education. These were the students we were up against. Their shortest player was taller than our tallest. It was like all of those 80's movies with all the Russian automatons facing off against the emotional, passionate American team. This time both side was made of communist automatons but theirs were bigger and stronger. (Only kidding) Our players were quite passionate and emotional through out. I couldn't tell if it was due to my pre-game pep talk where I told them I would be fired if we lost, or if it was all the things I told them the other team said about their mothers, but this team was playing great. It was a physical match. I was at times John Thompson, Jerry Tarkanian, and Bob Knight (to the uninitiated, this means I had a towel on my shoulder that I sometimes bit and I also did a lot of yelling). When one of our players took an elbow to the lip I got to play trainer as well. I walked over too him while blood dripped from his chin and asked him, "Are you ok?"
"Sure", he replied but it sounded more like a question.
"He needs to go to the hospital", said one concerned fan.
I asked him, "Do you want to go to the hospital or do you want to play?"
Without hesitation he replied, "Play"
We took a few minutes to stop the bleeding then I subbed him back in. It was a close game but in the end the opposition was too good. After the game my injured student went to the hospital where he received five stitches. After the basketball match I met Bryne, Courtney, Lee, Cromwell and Steve for dinner at a Xinjiani restaurant where we enjoyed a stage performance while we ate. The next day my dad left Beijing so Courtney and I accompanied him to the airport. Of course, this was the best weather over the week he was here. After seeing him off Courtney and I headed to a park and then did some more shopping. The next day I returned to work but not before Courtney took me to get my haircut. My hair was the source of much controversy and she aimed to get my mane shorn, a scary prospect for any Samson. We went to a salon near my office. It was a good haircut. After the haircut, I headed to work and she went on shopping. At worked I looked at the schedule for the day to see what classes I would be teaching and noticed that I was not teaching. A mistake on my part. I left the office in a hurry to track Courtney down so we could take advantage of this new found time by going to see some more sites. Serendipitously, I ran into her as she was about to board the subway. We went back home, I changed, and we headed out to the Temple of Heaven. Again, it was a beautiful day and the pictures we took there were great.

The next day Courtney boarded a plane and went back home. It was great to see the both of them. When I was a child I could have never imagined having a rendezvous in Beijing with my father and sister. It was a great little vacation for me and I think they had a good time as well. The next week it was back to work for me. I told my boss about my basketball failure and hoped my claim to my students wouldn't turn into a self fulfilling prophecy. It wasn't and I keep on working and awaiting more visitors.