Day of Goodbyes

It's really weird to say goodbye to the way you've lived for seven weeks and the people that you've come to love over the past seven weeks to go back to normal.

Last night, we went to a alumnus' house to watch the Closing Ceremonies. Then, we went to the ONS Party so we could have one last soiree with all of our ONS buds. I'll really miss them.

Today, throughout the course of the day, I've been saying goodbye to all of the Australians. That was really hard. I mean, the first chance I can, realistically, I'm headed down under. And, I have about 10 couches to sleep on once I get there.

And, my final goodbye of the day is to you people. Over the past two months, you've kept up with all of the insanity of these games, this job, and this city. I hope along the way you could learn some stuff and laugh a lot, and feel like you too were in Beijing for the games.

A couple of thank yous:

• Fountain County Neighbor. I know that a lot of you wouldn't have even known about the blog without reading it in the Neighbor every week. I can't thank them enough for publishing it in its enitrety.
• Journal & Courier. Even though I wrote a couple of times on the J&C blog, but they were awesome for publshing what we all wrote.
• YOU! Mom and Dad have been telling me how many people are reading this and, to be honest, I'm blown away. Thank you so much for all of your comments and e-mails. Thanks for being interested. Your reading eyes were the motivation to keep blogging and keep being as detailed as possible.

My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be back tomorrow night, back to the American life I'm used to. But, there is no doubt, that I will never EVER forget the life that I had and that I have truly grown from my Beijing Adventure.

Bye.

Oh, and PS, I found my camera.

Sad Day

Today marked the end of an era in my life, albeit a short one. It was our last day of work.

It's a shame the way things were laid out, because Olympic Mountain Biking could be one of the most boring events in the games. Just to give you an idea, I fell asleep today on accident. And, it was such a non-prioirty that all of us be there that, if I hadn't had woken up and decided to go down to the Mixed Zone, no one would have woken me up.

So, today we did a lot of sitting around and really felt like two days shoved into one. It honestly, to a lot of us, felt that we had a full day, took a long break, and had another, all the while not really doing much at all.

After work, we headed off to Tim's, this barbecue/Tex-Mex place we found here, with all of our staff. It was nice to have us all in one place, just like the Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago (even though it seems like FOREVER ago). We ate, drank, watched an Australian diver win the gold, watched the American relay teams win gold, and watched the American Women's Basketball team practically win gold. But, the entire time, there was a sort of sad feeling in me, because, even though we will most likely meet up with the ONS crew tomorrow night, tonight could have easily been the last time we see them.

I hope not. I hope that, in December of 2010, I'm in a paid position covering Curling at the Vancouver Olympics for ONS. Yeah, it's been discussed. I hope that I can, in the next year or so, make it to Australia and see Amy, as well as all of my new Aussie friends.

The memories of our weeks here came flying back at me. The time Ernst asked me and Chad to go interview a female Mountain Biker...who was a guy. The picture that hung up on our whiteboard of a Fuwa who had fallen down. The names we had given to various people in the mixed zone, like Pinky and Witchy...and VeloFred. The press conference today where, in translation, a man told us he had a cervical injury. That's right. He had a cervix.

These cannot be recreated and will never be duplicated. I hope that I can just take the most from this experience and move on.

Day of Disappointment

So, last night, when I finished blogging, I totally had, in my head, the picture of a blog about how BMX was awesome and then we went to the softball game and saw the US team win gold.

But, the best laid plans...well, they never play out.

BMX was canceled because when we woke up it was pouring rain. So, we got all the way to the venue, were there for about an hour, and came right back to the dorm. I took a nap, watched some TV, and got ready for the game.

The game that we lost.

That's really all I can say. It was extremely disappointing and a sad way for the Americans to go out in the last softball game ever at the Olympics (for now). But, we witnessed history and had a pretty fun time doing it.

I just hope tomorrow is better.

You Know a Day is Blogworthy...

...when you have to make a list of what happened, making sure you don't forget anything.

The day started out early, thankfully with a shuttle to the Cluster for the first day EVER of BMX racing in the Olympics. We got to the office and Ernst was playing Ernsty Claus. He all of a sudden had all of these presents for us, which was pretty incredible. One of them was this lanyard that was rainbow colored, which prompted Krystyna to say, "I had no idea Ernst was hiding his gay pride keyholders from us this entire time." If I had been drinking milk, it might have poured out through my nose. But, you have to take into consideration that this was at around 8 in the morning, so we were all a bit loopy.

So, we headed on over to the BMX track. I posted pics of it earlier, but it's pretty incredible. We were all looking forward to the inaugural BMX Olympics. But, it started off pretty boring.

It was hot, which didn't help. But, the way the BMX is set up is that every rider goes through two seeding runs which then splits them up into quarterfinals for the guys and semis for the girls. There was literally two hours of just one person on the track at a time, riding by themselves. All the excitement we could muster was due to the overzealous announcer exaggerating and editorializing about each run. AWFUL! THE MAN IS AWFUL!

Anyway, it was pretty boring until the actual racing started. Then things got really exciting.

So, it seems that the first turn of the track is slippery. Apparently, according to many of the riders I talked to today, they were not only well aware of this fact heading into the Olympics, but they brought it up to the powers that be a year ago and no changes were made. I'm starting to think this was intentional, because there were a few big crashes today, all on the same spot on the same turn. Maybe it's like the reason most people watch the Indy 500: to see who wins and watch any crashes that may occur. Maybe the Olympics and UCI know this? Ahh, who am I to say?

Well, needless to say, all of the crashes and the suspicious lack of enthusiasm in the crowd gave the journalists (as well as us) a lot to talk about today. It was an early day that wasn't very long at all, but seemed pretty long. All I can say is that tonight, you guys will probably see the BMX finals, something that you won't want to miss. Just try not to listen to the announcer in the background and you'll be fine.

After work, I fell upon something quite amazing...an opportunity to go to the Softball Gold Medal game tomorrow night. So, I jumped on it. I had the money and the time, so why not? How many times am I going to get this opportunity again? Well, considering I never thought I would get to see any events in the first place, I'll go with slim chances.

So, Kelsey and I headed on over to this guy who had the tickets. And it was some of the most interesting time I've ever spent.

From the subway from the venue to our first transfer, we met a guy who sells beer at the Cluster. And, the most fascinating part, other than the part where he offered us free beer whenever we wanted, was the fact that he had an accreditation that looked exactly like mine, except for ONS Flash Quote Reporter was replaced with the more awesome title of "Tsingtao Beer Vendor". How awesome is that?

So, then, we went on another little jaunt on another line where nothing interesting happened.

Then, we got on another line (yes, it was as complicated as it sounds). We call the guy, we get in his car, and get the tickets. Really all I can say about that.

Now, to get how all of this next part of the story started, I have to explain something about the name of the station we had to stop at in order to get to our new destination, the USA House (ie the Holland House) and, more importantly, the USA Store.

It was called Dog-something and Shithi-something. So, we called it by it's obvious abbreviation.

When we did so, this guy in official Canada Team gear laughs and says hi to us. So, since he was all decked out, I asked if he was with a team. It turns out he wasn't, but he was officially there with his wife, who used to be...wait for it...an international gymnastics judge.

Yes, those people who you yell at on TV when you see them. It turns out their quite nice and will explain the new gymnastics judging system to you. If anyone wants an explanation, I'm dying to give one at some point. It actually makes a lot of sense to me now.

Then, we were on the escalator up, and Kelsey said, "You know what would be awesome? If we walked out here and there was a Starbucks, just waiting for us."

So, after we went to the Starbucks that was right outside the station, as if it were waiting for us, we went to the store. It took a long time to find, but an amazing thing happened on our journey. People were really willing to help us.

We didn't have a map. We didn't have anything written in Chinese characters to point at. We didn't have anything translated. All we knew was that the USA House was near the Jasmine restaurant and Gate 9 of the Worker's Stadium.

But, people knew where all of those things were and, while being accompanied with two British people who were working for the US Sailing team, we eventually found the house. It's an amazing store. First of all, I haven't seen American prices in more than a month, so that was refreshing, if not at the same time depressing, a penultimate reminder of how much more expensive everything is going to be once I get back to the states.

So I stocked up on Americana at the US Store, hit up Annie's Italian Experience for food, and headed on back to blog with you fine people.

Make sure you come back tomorrow for a blog after the Softball game.

See, in the business, that's we call a tease, people!

Looong Day

Today was the last day of the Track Cycling, and, to be honest, I'm kinda sad about it. It goes back to that whole thing that I'm used to the track at this point and I'm not sure I'm ready to have to grab quotes from BMX riders or Mountain Bikers.

That being said, I was up early today to head over to the velodrome and then interview some Mountain Bikers. The big challenge with the mountain bike course is that, as I've said in a previous post, it's carved into the side of a mountain. This makes it extremely hard for the athletes to train on the actual course...and, therefore, extremely hard for us to pin them down for an interview.

But, we got a few, which was all we needed. The nice thing is that we're done with having to get interviews and such from the BMX and Mountain Bike because the events start tomorrow. Plus, not nearly as many people care about those as compared to the track.

Today, I felt really productive for the first half of the day and then didn't feel like I was a useful member of the team at all in the afternoon. Firstly, I fell asleep reading "The Daily Show and Philosophy" (and I may have drooled in the book a little bit. Seriously, we all just passed out during our hour and a half break.), then went up to the track and sat in the ENG zone, which has become the mixed zone that wasn't supposed to be.

Essentially, the journalists learned early on that the athletes weren't going all the way over to the actual mixed zone, so the journalists just kinda found a spot to pester them. So, therefore, we were there too because we stalk the journalists for our own personal gain. So, I was there in the ENG, the name for this new zone, all day. Every time an athlete came through, either a) someone else had them and was in a better position than me or b) the athlete didn't speak English...or c) the athlete was someone we really didn't care about.

So, I really didn't do anything until Chris Hoy won his third gold medal...yeah, he doesn't stink...that I did anything. Then, I was busy the rest of the night.

It was kind of a boring day, but honestly a pretty exciting day. A lot of great races, some controversy with the Chinese Individual Sprinter, who fell and got to race again and won, but then bumped the other rider so was disqualified. It was nuts. I also met a really nice guy from EuroSport and bonded with the New Zealand TV guys again.

Up early tomorrow for the first ever day of BMX! Up early, but also done by 1:00. Perhaps off to find the USA house for some team merchandise and then off to do some much needed laundry.

Oh, and I understand that some people might want to e-mail me questions or whatnot. That's totally awesome. My e-mail, if you want to send any questions or comments my way, is pwrighth@purdue.edu OR philwrighthouse@gmail.com.

We Screwed Up

Today, we knew was another big day. We had the Men's Team Pursuit final, the Women's Points Race, and a lot of sprint qualifying. When they put the schedule up of who was going where, I was frightened, because I saw my name up there...a lot. The two medals mixed zones and the two press conferences after those events. I was going to be busy. I was looking at the list and commented on having to be in a few places at once. Amy told me that I was their go-to guy.

Scary, I know.

First up was the Points Race. With the PR, the women ride 100 laps (no that's not a typo) and then, every 10 laps, they sprint. The people who win the top four spots from each sprinted lap get points. The person with the most points wins.

Early on, within a few laps, there was a huge crash. We're pretty sure it was no one's fault, just two bikes running into each other. But, nonetheless, in the aftermath, USA's Sarah Hammer was holding her collarbone (broken collarbones are the most common cycling injuries) and Trine Schmidt, a 20-year-old rider from Denmark who I interviewed during training, was down. Trine got back up...Hammer, obviously, didn't.

So, after the race, when Marianne Vos from the Netherlands had won, saving the Netherlands Cycling Team from being a complete failure at these games (just Google Theo Bos...if the word overrated doesn't show up on your screen ten times, it should be considered a surprise), I waited around to see if I could talk to Trine, since she was involved directly in the crash and lived to tell about it (I still don't know how Hammer is). After she got done with a really long interview with all of the Danish press, she saw me and remembered me. The medals ceremony was about to start and neither of us could go anywhere once it started so we had this really long interview, which was awesome. She showed me where the crash and fall had BURNED THROUGH HER SUIT and gave her this nasty raspberry and these scratches all over her arms. It was crazy.

Then, I hit up the PR press conference. The bronze medalist didn't show up. This has been a very common thing: people not showing up for the press conferences. The most common excuse is that they have to go to Doping Control. I wish I could write more about what the athletes go through, but all I can give you is the quote I got from Great Britain Cycling GOD Chris Hoy today:

"It took two hours. It was really unorganized and very unprofessional. When you're competing on a world stage you expect it to be a little more organized than that. I didn't get to eat until half past eleven, and I had a race the next day."

Really, what more is there to say about that?

Anyway, we had the press conference and then went back up for the Men's Team Pursuit. Great Britain broke the record that they set last night. I was actually taking down Hoy's quotes while watching him watch his teammates. He kept telling us, "They're going to break it. They're on pace." It was pretty awesome.

Things were going perfectly. We went back down, and Lauren and I dominated the TP press conference. And, by dominate, I mean we were the only two people who asked the silver medalist Denmark team any questions in English. Seriously, the DANISH PRESS was sitting in the front row...and they didn't say a word. Not even a Danish word. Ticked me off.

It was all going well...

...until we screwed up.

To be honest, it wasn't really our fault. And I say we because, even though I had no part in it, we're a team and it's everyone who screwed up.

There was some confusion at the end of the day about one quote from the GB TP team and who said it. It was attributed to one guy, but probably said by the other. The problem was, we figured out, was that they switched numbers. Every cyclist has a number, a number that is put on all of our start lists for each event. In a team mixed zone, you have some sort of idea about who's who, but most of the time you're talking to team member X and have no idea what the person's name is.

In that situation, as we were told during our training, you do a couple of things.

1. Listen for the journalists. A lot of times, they will throw the athlete's name into the beginning of a question. If you can hear the name and match it to the start list, you have whoever is speaking.

2. Look at their number. You can see the number, match it to the list and you're good to go.

Unless cyclists have switched numbers.

And that HAS to be what happened here. Has to be. I poorly took a couple of quotes from one of the guys in question (later, when I went backstairs to put them in, they were the same as quotes that had already been put in, so I didn't bother) and thought that he was guy X until the press conference, when I realized he was guy Y.

So, all of that confusion, the retraction and the correction and all of the sense of failure that came with it put a damper on what was otherwise an awesome day.

Oh, and before I go, I thought I would go through the rest of the week I have left here. Some people I've been talking to from home have been curious.

TUESDAY- BMX & Mountain Bike Training; Men's Madison, Women's Sprint, Men's Sprint
WEDNESDAY- BMX Seeding (Probably done by 2 p.m.)
THURSDAY- BMX Semis and Finals (Probably done by 1 p.m.)
FRIDAY- Women's Mountain Biking
SATURDAY- Men's Mountain Biking (LAST DAY OF WORK)
SUNDAY- Day Off and Closing Ceremonies
MONDAY- Day Off
TUESDAY- Flight Home

Blogathon

So, I haven't posted in a few days, but, to be cliche and at the same time completely honest, work is crazy right now. So, since this post will cover three days, I'll split it up so everyone can follow the insanity which is working as a flash quote reporter at the Laoshan Velodrome.

DAY 1

It was the first day of the games. One of the good things was that we didn't have to be there until late. The track cycling schedules each day start around 4:30 so we have to get there around 3:00. Plus, the past couple days, we've had a shuttle that picks us up and takes us there, avoiding the rugby scrum that is trying to get a seat on the subway.

So, we get to the velodrome and it was nice to see everyone again. Andy (our Sports Information Specialist) Ernst and Amy (our two ONS reporters) and Krystyna (our ONS supervisor) hadn't all been in one place since our big dinner more than a week ago. It's also nice because we know there's only one medals event today, so it should be a pretty easy day.

Then, the chaos started. I told you last time about how they moved the mixed zone, right? Well, they moved it and now, we found out as the day went on, they were restricting our access to it.

Let me make something clear to everyone who might be confused. The mixed zones are where we do our jobs. The jobs that they brought us here to do. It's the only place we can do that job. And, as we work on our first day, they are only letting about four of us in there at a time. Sometimes, entire teams will come through the mixed zone. What are we supposed to do then?

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I've talked on the blog before about adapting to new things and that's exactly what we had to do. What was going to be all of us in the mixed zone, ready to pounce on a moment's notice on an unsuspecting athlete became shifts of us frantically running up and down the stairs when we weren't just sitting in the office, watching the events on TV. It's a really dysfunctional way to do it, but it's the way things have to go now, so we're working with it.

It was a really long first day. Like I said, there was only one medal event, but, after it, we had the medals ceremony and then the press conference and then had to make sure we had to get all of the quotes we had from all of the mixed zones and interviews and press conferences into the system before we left.

Also, let me point to something that could become a common thread to all of the rest of these blog posts. GREAT BRITAIN IS AMAZING AT TRACK CYCLING! Seriously, in the past three days, with five medals events, GB has won eight medals. EIGHT! It blows my mind how much of a machine they really are. It's stunning.

That being said, I've heard "God Save the Queen" about 20,000 times, it seems. And, yes, it's "My Country 'Tis of Thee," but when I hear it with Bradley Wiggins or Rebecca Romero standing with a gold medal around their neck, it's hard not to get lost in the Olympic moment.

GB rocking the drome makes our lives a whole lot easier, because the interpreting skills are pretty non-existent until we get to the press conference. So, having at least one of the medalists (most of the time the gold ones) guaranteed to speak English is a big benefit to us.

So, it was a long, long day. After the day, we went to the Holland House. All of the countries have kind of embassies for the games, where people from that country, as well as others, obviously, can go and be a part of their home during the Olympics. One thing that makes the Holland House interesting is that it's all sponsored by Heineken. Yes, that Heineken. The green beer with the red star (honestly, I just called it that because I didn't want to type Hein...never mind) bought out an entire building, covered it in orange and had it turned it into a giant party.

We were there for a while and then, once it closed at 2, we headed off to Sanlitun.

Where I left my camera, never to be seen again.

Yes, kids, that's right, I no longer have a camera. I still have a lot of pictures and can get more from people, but I got it out of my pocket and left it.

DAY 2

We knew coming into the day that it was going to be a rough one. We had three, count 'em, THREE medals events, plus some big time names in semis and qualifying rounds. Plus, whenever we got off work, we were going to try to haul it to the bird's nest to get to use whatever we could of our Track & Field tickets we got. And THEN, I was off to Sanlitun to try to see if the bar still had my camera, which, as you know now, was a wasted trip.

So, as expected, it was a long day. There was a lot of running around, thinking quickly, trying to be in more than one place at the same time. A lot of elbowing, scribbling, squinting to read computer screens, sloppy notes and electronic timing systems. A lot of drinking water any chance you could, actually watching the race any chance you could and wishing you could eat all of the chances you couldn't.

On the upside, and it was a big upside, we saw some awesome races. I mean, big name and awesome race, one after the other, with the kiddies from the other side of the pond dominating the entire time.

So, we left, found a taxi surprising quickly (we had heard rumors that getting a taxi to travel to the Bird's Nest from the velodrome was a bit of an issue because they wouldn't travel out of a certain district) and headed on over. We got to seats (not our seats, but seats nonetheless) just in time to see the Jamaican guy break the WORLD RECORD in the 100m Sprint. It was really quite amazing to see a packed stadium of people from all parts of the world cheering for this Jamaican guy who was dancing around the track, on top of the world.

And, that was the only race we saw. But, we saw the best one, so it's all good.

Day 3

Today started out with the downside that we didn't have a shuttle. After the blow of losing my camera, I didn't feel like muscling through the subway. Ahh, the things we do for this job.

So, today we only had one medals event again, but still, some pretty big names in other events for qualifying. We spent the first big chunk of the day in the office watching handball, which is quickly becoming the summer version of curling for me. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, curling is the best sport ever from the Winter Olympics. And, yes, the thought has crossed my mind that I might do this all again in Vancouver. But, as the cliche that I've heard from so many athletes over these past couple weeks goes, "Let's just take it one day at a time."

And, I'm just here to help the team. You have to give a 110% and, the good Lord willing, things will work out. Things will work out.

Anywho, we watched handball for a while, then got to work. Again, a lot of running around and trying to get as many quotes as possible. I met some really nice guys from New Zealand television.

By the way, there are two mixed zones. The first is the broadcast mixed zone, where all of the television and radio people do their interviews. It's turning out that a lot of athletes are going through there and not heading to the press mixed zone, which is the place where we've been kicked out of. The BMZ is really cramped and lined with camera cases, wires, cords, mics, video screens, all sorts of things. So, today, I was waiting to interview Allison Shanks, who had just lost out on getting a bronze in the Women's Team Pursuit, something that was considered something of an upset. So, I started talking to the NZ guys, making sure of where their cameras were going to be so I wouldn't be in their way, when the silver medalist Wendy Houvenagle from (shockingly) Great Britain, came to do a quick little interview. From where I was standing, I could hear her just fine and was getting fine quotes. But, to my shock (seriously this time) the NZ guys moved out of their station so I could get through and hear Wendy better.

This is the BMZ equivalent of giving some stranded random person on the side of the road a tow or a jump. It rarely happens and when it does, you're so freaking thankful.

So, I got quotes from Wendy and from Allison and that was huge. Then, I got back up to see the GB Men's Team Pursuit break the world record. Yeah. They're not that bad. So, I waited and waited for the team to come through, only to find out that they weren't doing any interviews. Instead, Ernst and I did talk to their coach, who was a heck of a nice guy and even took the time to explain some of the tactics of this race and the race that they have to run tomorrow to me. I mean, I mostly understood it, but we asked him about the race and went in to an awesome, if not flash quote-y, answer about drifting and the perfect timing you have to have. Really nice guy. Favorite part was when we asked if they were expecting to break the record and he said, "Yeah, we expected to break the world record. Just not this soon."

It must be nice to be able to be that cocky.

"Phil Got Shot in the Head"

In a figurative way, of course. Let me explain.

If you hadn't figured it out, our jobs, as of this point, has been a lot of fishing. We look at which teams are scheduled to practiced at that moment and look at the big fish for each team, the favourites in each race or whatnot. Then, you have to a) hope they actually show up to practice, b) agree to talk with you and c) speak English. As Frankie Valli says in "Jersey Boys", getting an interivew is like the Stations of the Cross.

Now, every time, until today, I have been rejected by someone for an interview, it's either been for a good reason (ie, the team has to get on a bus soon or they have a meeting at the embassy or they don't speak English (and even that hasn't been much of a deterrent)) or done with all the politeness in the world.

That is, until today.

I was up at the track and was planning on interviewing a Danish cyclist who is the runner-up for the Points Race from the World Championships this year. But, mainly, Krystyna gave her to me because she was cute.

And, no I'm not kidding.

But, this is after Ernst made "friends" with one of the Netherlands cyclists by helping her carry stuff down to the locker room. It was adorable.

But anywho, so I was waiting for the Danish team to finish up in practice so I could go talk to her, when Ernst and I saw the Danish coach doing an interview. So, he logically suggested I should try to get him to talk as well and could maybe lump it all together in a story about the Denmark team. So, after he was done with the interview, I went up to him and asked him if I could talk to him now or after practice.

"No."

And that was it. I was donezo. Stick a fork in that possible interview. Shot down. Which explains the title of this post...

Kelsey: We've been shot DOWN today! Phil got shot in the head!"

Aaaaaaaaaaand scene.

Well, anyway, I ended up getting the interview and it went really well. This good day was all topped off with the fact that today started the period of time where we get a shuttle bus to the venue, meaning that our charming (wipe the sarcasm off that statement) subway ride everyday will cease to be. Added bonus: on the shuttle, we watch Chinese music videos and Bruce Lee movies.

After we got back from work, we headed over to Annie's Italian Experience. Yes, I swear that's the real name and yes, I'm well aware it sounds like a ride at MGM studios. But, in all actuality it's a really really good Italian joint here. Awesome fettucine with ham and mushrooms, cappucino and tiramisu. Then, on the cab ride back, I had the best cab ride ever.

We get in the cab and Andrea decided to make friends with the cabbie by giving him a KitKat. Then, he asked us (we think) if we knew any Chinese. So, we start going through what we know.

Hi hao. Hello.
Booyao. I don't want it.
Xie xie. Thank you.
Pijou. Beer.
I Ping Xiue. Cold bottled water.
Tai gue la. That's too expensive!

Just to name a few. So, then, in an act of desperation, above Lauren and I laughing at the situation in the background, Andrea sings "Beijing Welcomes You," the official song of the 2008 games.



So, then the man proceeds to teach us the rest of the song. And, then the flood gates opened. We learned up, down, left, right, I am an American, He is an American, She is an American. It was the perfect cap to a really fun day.

Tomorrow starts the insanity of the Olympics. Events start @ 4:30.

A Boring Day, Then a Productive One

Yesterday was really a boring day, hence no post. I interviewed a cyclists, he didn't really know English, I waited around for the cyclist a lot. Then I went home. Pretty normal.

Today, I got to sleep in, as today is my last day off before the craziness of the games start. I woke up and watched some swimming. I saw Phelps win another gold (shocking, I know) and Katie Hoff in, to be honest, a disappointing performance, in my opinion. I understand she was swimming against the world record holder, but she sank so low in the last 50m...it was sad. Also caught some gymnastics today and saw the US get beat by the Chinese. It was a solid year for both squads that, while we didn't rock gold in either men's or women's, it shows that we're a powerhouse that isn't just about gold medal fluke years.

We went to Paul's for some brunch. Then, Chad and I headed off to Sanlitun to the Adidas store. I bought the official Chinese team jacket, which is pretty sweet. Then we went off to a Mexican restaurant we know for some margaritas and a quesadilla. It was a small day, but a nice last day off before the madness begins.

Jam-Packed Day

Yesterday, I woke up to a startling e-mail. It was from Jane, our professor, saying, very non-chalantly, that we had tickets to Beach Volleyball for Monday (today). Needless to say, this was an awesome development, considering I had already resigned myself to the fact that, other than the awesome cycling action that will go down at the Laoshan Bicycle Cluster, I wouldn't be able to see any of the events.

We also learned that on the 16th, at least some of us will get to go to the Bird's Nest to go see some Track & Field (or, as it's officially called in Olympic-Speak, Athletics). But, I'm supposed to work then so, news is still developing on that front.

So, we got up and made our way over to the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground, which is, essentially, placed smack dab in the middle of an amusement park. It took us a while, because there was a severe lack of taxis this morning. Plus, when we got off the subway, and found a taxi, the driver dropped us off at the completely wrong gate. So, we ended up taking a short little cab ride around to the other side of the joint. Then, we were in.

The one thing that was looming in the thoughts of all of us was whether the weather would cooperate. It had rained overnight and just looked like it could pour at any second. It was bad enough that volunteers were handing out ever-so-fashionable ponchos at the entrance.

We got to the court and, to be honest, it is...AWESOME! We walked in after the first match and then got to see the Australian Men's team beat Angola.


And, yes, those are cheerleaders. Let me explain the typical Beach Volleyball Match.

In between points, there is blaring music. The music varied from Bon Jovi to European dance music and everything in between. Every about 10 points, the teams switch sides. Then, there are technical time outs. During these, anywhere from 10-20 Chinese cheerleaders, The Beach Girls, come out and do a little dance...or...eight volunteers come out and rake the sand. Guess which one's more entertaining?

So, in short, they really have tried to create a party atmosphere, and it partially works. It doesn't seem like you are watching these people down on the sand who have trained their entire lives for this while cheerleaders in skimpy outfits dance around. It's an odd, odd juxtaposition.

A couple of fun things about the day:

1) Kobe was there.


Yes, that man in the white jersey with his legs taking up another seat (assumingly because his awesomeness doesn't fit into one seat) is the one and only Kobe Bryant, who helped to lead the Americans in kicking Yao Ming's butt (although he's so tall, they actually just settled for kicking his shins and leaving it at that) last night.

2) We met an Australian reality TV star. This guy Chad saw some of the Australians in their full regalia (remember, Australia played in the morning) and called them, meaning us, since I was with them, out as fellow countrymen and women. So, we sat near him, moving to much, much better seats in the process. My friend Janice kept saying how she recognized him, but chalked it up to him looking like a footballer. Then, he says, "Did you ever see the show Playing it Straight?"

And there it was. That was where Janice knew him from. "Playing it Straight" was an Australian reality show from about four years ago where a woman had numerous suitors to choose from. But...wait for it...are you sitting?...some of them were gay and some of them were straight!! EGAD! So, she had to rule out everyone and eventually pick the straight man of her dreams. If she did, both of them won $100K each. If she picked a gay guy, he walked away with all $200K.

Classy isn't it.

And, in the course of conversation, we found out, not only was he on this show.

HE WAS THE WINNER!


Chad is the dude in the front left in the white shirt. Turns out, he works in Perth (I love the way the name of that city sounds...Perth.) and she was in...umm...not Perth, so they eventually grew apart.

And, I Googled this. It's all true.

It was a crazy day off. Back to the salt mines tomorrow.

It's Like the Best Satellite Package Ever...But FREE!

So, I forewent posting last night for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I got home at midnight, which I'll explain in a second. Secondly, I didn't feel like I could blog about the Opening Ceremonies before people had seen it.

Weren't they absolutely incredible?! I'll say, with all honesty, that the city feels different today than it did the day before.

But that could be that I had to be out the door at 7 in the morning to get to work. But, I'm gonna go with the Olympic Spirit.

We went, as I said we would, to Paul's Steak and Eggs for the Ceremonies. We sat down and I had a lovely meal of country fried steak, mashed potatoes, caesar salad and some black forest cake for dessert. The aforementioned cause of the late night was because the international feed we were watching decided to take a commercial break every 18 seconds...a commercial break that lasted 8 minutes. We counted.

Therefore, during the long long March of Nations, we would see about five countries and then have a commercial break. So, we ended up being about 45 minutes behind the live ceremony. To put it in another way, we left Paul's soon after the American team came out (in their stunning ensemble), took a taxi back to campus and got back to see the amazing torch lighting.

So, much to my chagrin, I went from that long long tonight to being up early this morning (the earliest I've been up so far here in Beijing, to my recollection) to get to work at the velodrome this morning. We were uncertain enterting the day, considering we didn't know a) how many athletes would be in the same position we were in, completely tired from the night before, perhaps getting a much-needed reprieve from training and b) how many of them would/could talk to us. And then there was c) Not having Krystyna, our boss, there to grease the wheels, as she was at the road race today. So, we embarked on what turned out to be a pretty solid day, for not having any professional help: two flash quote reports and a news article.

One of the best things about this job right now is the television we get in the ONS office. There are all of the normal channels that we've had for a couple of weeks now, including CCTV, CNN International, BBC World, EuroSport, MTV...all the essentials. But, today, they added channels DX 1 thru 40. Those channels are, I swear to you, all Olympics, all the time. If it's being played on a court or field, it's on TV for us. It's AMAZING! Today, in our down time, I watched handball, judo, boxing, basketball, weightlifting, equestrian, the cycling road race, and gymnastics. It was nuts. At points, we were hesitant to leave the office to go do, you know...OUR JOB...because we were watching the Australians play Belarus in basketball. Truly awesome day. :)

Now, a welcome two days off.

Another Day, Another Interview

Sorry I didn't have a post up yesterday. I was sooooooooo busy posting over at jconline.com. Check it out if you're bored...well, more bored than you must be to be reading this.

Today was just another day at the office. I thought, when I left, I would be the last one to be at work. But, pleasant surprise of surprises, I was first to get there. So, I went up to the track and watched some of the teams going around. I've been around professional cyclists for a few days now, and I'm still amazed with what they do on a daily basis. Especially the team, I forget which country they're from, that ride around in a circle at blinding speeds non-stop...for more than an hour.

We've seen the Americans a couple of times now and, I will say, regardless of what they want to put on their faces when they walk off a plane (Google "USA Cycling Masks...you'll find the controversy), they are working their butts off on that track. And, they're nice, at least compared to some of the cycling teams we've encountered so far.

Later in the day, after lunch, we got to talk to the French team. And, it was refreshing to talk to a coach who said, "Yes, you can talk to anyone you would like." I got to interview Clara Sanchez, a French cyclist who actually lives and trains in Aix-en-Provence, which is where the D'Arlier kids go every year. It wasn't the best interview, since she had to answer through a translator (aka one of her teammates), but it was cool to be able to talk briefly about Aix and how much I love it.

So, another day, another interview down. Now, tomorrow will be a crazy day: Opening Ceremonies (which we'll watch at Paul's Steak & Eggs, some of the best food here) and, more importantly, a day off. Sleeping in, maybe some errands if it's not too crowded out there in the harsh harsh world.

I Love Our Staff

So, I was going to post about the wonderful Subway TV entertainment, but then I looked and I'll have a starring role in the J&C blog tomorrow, so I'll save it until then.

Today was the first day of cyclists on the track. And, to be honest, it was pretty uneventful. A lot of cyclists, especially cyclists who are endurance riders (or "enduros" as Amy calls them) might not even be here yet because of the pollution and weather. It's a whole lot more beneficial to practice in the mountains of Germany or in Australia or someplace like that than it would be to just keep riding around the track a week and a half before they're races start.

So, today was kind of slow going, but I worked a little more on my story and did more research on riders and, even though it was only one or two, we got to watch some riders on the track. We also got to see the pace bike for the Keirin.

The Keirin is an event where the cyclists have to run behind a motor bike for a billion laps, jockeying for position. Then, the bike leaves and they sprint for a couple of laps, every man (or woman) for themselves. Well, we got to see the pace bike, which was pretty cool, actually.

Every day is a reminder of how awesome of a staff we have to work with. I hear stories (not necessarily horror stories, but less than pleasant stories) from people from other sports and other jobs where people just sit and do nothing all day, have no idea what they're supposed to do, etc. We have a very good balance of being prepared while being able to take time with whatever we're doing and having fun while doing it.

So, we now have about two and a half weeks (not to be confused with Two and Half Men...though, oddly enough, I could have bought every season of it from certain DVD shops) left and I feel weird. I feel like we're winding down, but ramping up. I just hope things keep going the way they're going and everything turns out well.

Isn't It An Awesome Feeling...

...when something you thought was crap turned out not to be. Let me explain.

So, now that training is over (more on that in a second) tomorrow begins the period of teams' training periods. We don't know when exactly they'll be on the track, or how many of them there will be, but now is the time to really get some writing done...well, anything more than our Flash Quote Reports and Press Conference Reports. So, pretty much from Day 1, Amy and Ernst and Krystyna have been pressing us to come up with story ideas: different angles to cover that would make interesting stories to put into the system.

So, on a whim, I tried to come up with an idea. In doing our research, I found a lot of track cyclists with road track experience, including some of the favorites in all the sport. So, I want to do a story about how they benefit from doing both. And, apparently, it's a good idea. I was expecting it to be a sort of empty gesture that, even thought it was bad, it at least showed some effort and forethought; but, it turns out to maybe be a viable story.

Soooo, training was pretty non-eventful. We went out to the BMX venue and, thankfully, even though it was humid, the smog was covering the sun, so it was about a billion times better than it could have been. The deal with BMX will be that we'll have to call in our quotes to people back at the main ONS office at the velodrome, since the walk between the two is about 10 minutes or so. We practiced that today, which was helpful for everyone. Then, they threw out a mock rain delay at the venue so they could practice putting the tarp out onto the track.

It made me long for the Cubs grounds crew. It was just really inefficient and felt kinda like a waste of time. The rest of the day was pretty normal. Mixed zones, press conferences, lunch (It was one of the worst days for lunch. Didn't sit well with me AT ALL!) and then some milling around, at which point I came up with my story idea, and then back here to the dorm. Oh, and we also learned the ICMS (Something Content Management System) which is how we'll input all of our reports.

Overall, a pretty good day. Back to begin training for the cyclists tomorrow.

I've Got to Admit, It's Gettin' Better

Well, a little bit after I posted yesterday, we found out that we, in fact, did not have to be at the venue at 9 in the morning, but at 2:30 in the afternoon as we had originally thought. So, we took the opportunity to go out last night for our comrade Andrea's birthday. So, that was a good time.

So, this morning, we got up and headed on over to Laoshan Bicycle Cluster, fearing more of the same of what we got yesterday: poor planning, lack of information, unrealistic "simulations" of what we will be going through on a daily basis, and language barriers. Well, one out of four ain't bad, I guess.

We got there and found out that we were actually doing Mountain Biking as opposed to BMX as we thought, which is no biggie. So, we hiked on out to the Mountain Bike track, which is carved out of this mountain. So, we stood there for about a half hour in the sweltering heat, which was fine. Then, we found out that we would actually be interviewing cyclists!!! They were two members of the Chinese team and we got their names. Krystyna, our boss, ran and grabbed as much info on them as she could, which wasn't a lot, so we could ask informed questions.

At this point, in my head, I was reveling in the fact that we wouldn't have to deal with Chinese volunteers posing as the athletes today. I mean, I appreciated it, I guess, but they really didn't have good quotes and the Chinese volunteers that got thrown into being the translators for the "athletes" really didn't know what was going on. So, imagine my disappointment when...

...we had Chinese volunteers posing as the athletes and Chinese volunteers that got thrown into being the translators for the "athletes" really didn't know what was going on.

So, we pieced together a flash quote report. Then, we hopped on over to the press conference. The big step of improvement today was that the translation was better, which helped. It was quicker, it was more cohesive and you could tell that, most of the time, they understood what we were asking.

So, like I said, today was better than yesterday. And, hopefully, tomorrow will be better than today. Because, really, that's all you can ask for, right?

Really? An Hour?! or "How I Learned to Find a Shallow, Thoughtless Mystery Book"

So, after yesterday's respite, we got up early this morning for a dress rehearsal of sorts. Today was meant to be a sort of test for all of the security staff, as well as a chance to get all of the cogs of the media machine to work together. We got there, I later than everyone else since no one let me know that they left, and we weren't given any information about what "events" we would be covering and what "athletes" we would be talking to.

So, we get out to the mixed zone and wait. And wait. And wait. And then two Chinese volunteers come through. We aren't given their names or anything, but are expected to simulate a real mixed zone. So, we do the best we can, run back downstairs and type up the best Flash Quote Report we can come up with and then head off to a "press conference".

We knew walking into the mock press conference that they purposely wanted us to ask difficult questions, i.e. questions about doping, the weather, things like that. But, that directive quickly took a backseat to the fact that the translator, another Chinese volunteer, didn't understand even the germane questions we were asking. So, even though we dipped our toes into the controversial waters, it was hard to do when we just got blank stares returned to us.

And, then, we were done. We were there at 9:30 and outside looking for a place to eat by 10:30. And, before we left, we learned that while we originally thought that we would be going to do the same thing at the BMX venue tomorrow afternoon, we were told to be there at a shiny 9:30 am again. And, 9:00 the morning after that.

This is the first real test that everyone else has had here at the venue. I just hope things go a little better tomorrow...for everyone's sake.

Then, after a lunch at Sizzler, we went to this international bookstore. Lately, I've been reading a lot of philosophy: heavy stuff. So I bought a couple of just detective stories to take my mind of Aristotle and how St. Thomas' rules of just war apply to Season 3 of 24. And, no, I'm not kidding.

LOOOOOOOOONG DAY

So, today was an intense, intense day of training. At the beginning of the day, we were told that there would be three races that would need covering today. This is very similar to the way things will be set up once the games start.

So we're told that we are covering the Men's and Women's Sprint finals and the Men's Madison, which is the race where two riders essentially fling each other around the track. Look it up. I swear it's true. So, then, we have to try to guess, to the best of our ability, who will win first, second and third (or at least who's expected to). At least in the Sprints we were given who was in the semifinals, so we could narrow it down. In the Madison, we literally had no clue until we were given the results.

So, after our lunch, we were told that person A won the gold, person B won the silver and so on. So, as we already had done our research and knew what to ask them past, "What does it feel like to win?", we hauled it up to the mixed zone and ran a fake mixed zone. Then, we all RAN downstairs (and I mean that literally) and typed out our flash quote reports. Then, after 10 minutes of this...

...we did it again. Then, we had a press conference after fake race B. We'll have to do this, cover a press conference and write up a report, which is just like a flash quote report but longer. Then we had 10 minutes to write up the report. Then...

...we did it again. Then, we watched some video of BMX from the test event they did at the track here at Beijing last year. It was interesting to watch, to see how the riders manouvre this behemoth of dirt and pavement. We saw crashes and passes and riders who literally would just run out of speed and not be able to make it over hills and would just have to...stop!

Then, we watched some of the Chinese team practice on the track. It was nothing lightning fast and nothing crazy, but it was cool to actually see some riders on the track for once.

Then, after we found out that Paul, our Chinese manager, had planned a dinner for all of us, we went with Raul, another volunteer with ONS, to this tea house that he knew about. This is a genuine tea house that brews its own tea (the manager pointed out this fact multiple times) and we were shown how to brew and pour Chinese tea, traditionally.

1. You put the leaves in this pot.
2. You take molten-hot water and pour it in with the leaves. Not too much, though. Actually a better idea, apparently, to go lighter on the water than to overfill it.
3. You put the lid on the pot for 30 seconds at the most. The longer you let it simmer, the stronger the tea will be.
4. You take the cup that you will be drinking the tea out of and clean it by...yes...pouring the tea into it and dumping it out. Let it be said that the woman demonstrating this to us was doing it on a special table that was slanted and drained so that the water could be poured onto it with no problems.
5. You fill the cup up 70%. You leave 30% because, in Chinese culture, this signifies the openness of friendship and possibilities.

It was a crazy thing to watch. Then, we went to this dinner that Paul had arranged for us. It was traditional, like the dinners I told y'all about a couple of weeks ago. We just ordered tons of food, with the help of our Chinese friends Li and Eric who both gave us reccomendations and helped us order. I rocked some steamed scallops with garlic sauce that, other than the can't miss staples of Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and Sour Chicken, were the hit of the table.

It was an awesomely fun day that included a lot of hands-on stuff. But, I'm exhausted. Thankfully, we have tomorrow off to do...well...probably, nothing.

So we've started hardcore training at our venue. In the past few days, we've met Ernst and Amy, our two other ONS reporters. They're really awesome and a wealth of information when it comes to both the job and the sport. Tomorrow, we meet our Sports Information Supervisor who is solely there to help us, as well as the journalists covering cycling, with sport and event-specific information.

Today, we got to see where we will be (as of now) living for the next couple months: the mixed zone. Just to let y'all know, if you happen to watch any cycling on TV, and the mixed zone stays where it is right now, you'll see a Purdue student. Flat out. From where we stand, waiting for athletes to come talk to journalists, we're a five yards way from the track. And not even the boring straightaway part of the track...the awesome 43 degree slant of the track. We're able to see pretty much 100% of any race.

Now, the downside is that we're also in the middle of everything: the whizzing bikes, the music and announcements in between events, medal presentations and much much more. But, as I say, we've been hearing rumors that the whole setup might change, so who knows.

If This Doesn't Scream, "Representing the United States on a Worldwide Stage," I Don't Know What Does!

No, I'm not wearing my Adidas Beijing 2008 shoes because I don't have them yet. And I'm not wearing one of my three pair of Adidas socks because you wouldn't have been able to see them because I don't have my Adidas Beijing 2008 shoes. And, you can't see my Beijing 2008 water bottle, which is clipped to my Beijing 2008 fanny pack (or, if you're Australian, bum bag).

We're Breaking Down Cultural Barriers, Here!

So, yesterday, I learned something odd and, to be honest earth-shattering.

Rugby has rules.

Who knew? I could have sworn that it was just a bunch of drunken people from...umm...not America who tossed what appeared to be a football with a glandular issue while they would, periodically and without reason stop play so someone could kick the swollen football across the field. I also knew that, at times, people would cheer, becuase, obviously, something good had happened; and that there was a lot of violent looking tackling.

Well, it turns out, all of this is true. But, there are methods to their madness.

And I freakin' love it.

I went with the Aussies to a pub-style place across from Hooters (yeah...Hooters) to watch the match between Australia (The Wallabies) and New Zealand (The All-Blacks). Australia won, thankfully and I actually learned to love the game.

Then, we went to a Mexican restaurant where I had a delicious quesadilla. And, then, we went to the mecca of karaoke bars.

Let me first say that they don't do karaoke here like they do it back in the states. When we do karaoke in America, we do it in front of everyone. In China, you pay a fee per person and then are taken to a room with your entire party. Then, there is a TV and a computer that has all of the songs available to rock the house with. We went to a place before that wasn't all that great and was, to be honest, pretty shady.

This place was a palace. It was 60 yuan per person, which is just about $10 in America. It looked like a five-star hotel. We walked in and there were giant couches, three mics (unheard of previously) and even a tambourine and a maraca to serenade the singer with. It was a lot of fun.

Today was pretty much a day of nothingness. Tomorrow starts our training...(ominous music plays).

HAHA...I feel satisfied with revenge.

Sitting in a theatre. Not knowing what is going on in front of you. Hearing things that are odd and foreign. Having to read jokes, poorly translated.

I'm describing two things. The first was the American response to Chinese Opera. The second is the Chinese response to Hairspray, which I saw tonight. The parallels between what they must have been going through and what we sat through a couple of weeks ago.

Now, keep in mind, and I'm not necessarily proud of this, but this is my third time seeing Hairspray on stage. I know it well. I know where the jokes should hit, where the big laughs and reactions should be and where. And, to be honest, most of the time, I, along with the three Aussies who i went with, were the only people laughing. It was funny, because I felt like I needed to laugh harder to compensate for the lack of reaction from everyone else.

And, this is not to say that the Chinese didn't love it. They were on their feet nanoseconds after the show ended. Plus, during the intermission, two people came out and taught the audience a dance, which then everyone did with the cast after the show. I had never seen anything like that before.

They reacted totally to the music more than they did the script. They also loved the visual gags and the really broad stuff going on. Even though I feel a little better knowing that they were probably confused for a big chunk of the evening, I know for a fact they enjoyed Hairspray exponentially more than we enjoyed The Marriage of the Moth and the Monkey or whatever that piece of junk was called.

Excuse me, but there's a scorpion in my soup.

It tasted like salted shrimp shells. It tasted like nothing. It did not, in fact, taste like chicken.

A Day of Venues

So, did you know that we're here for the Olympics? I had no idea!! I mean, I got that card thingy that says I'm with the Olympics, but I hadn't really done anything...til today.

Today, we visited our venue(s). First of all, it's about an hour long ride on the subway. We get to ride the subway for free with our accreditation, so, even though I look like Grizzly Adams in my photo, it's not a big deal for us to take the train.

Then, after getting out of the subway station, it's about a 10 minute walk to the cycling cluster.


Yeah...it does look like a spaceship.

The first thing we saw, after walking through the offices that we'll be working in and seeing where the press will be sending their stories after each race, we went into the velodrome. We walk into this area and see one of the Friendlies (see previous post) and about 25 hot Chinese dancers all in a choreographed dance number.



Then, we got to walk on the track, which is really a site to behold.





Then, we traveled outside to the BMX area. BMX, for those of you who may not knew, is new this year.

This was taken from the starting platform of the BMX track, somewhere that was so crazy to be standing on. The course starts with a HUGE downslope so that the riders can gain speed and look that much cooler when they race.

Then, we hit up the mountain biking course.


That's really the only bit of the course you could see from where we were, since it's carved out of a mountain.

So, now, after that hard, hard work day, we're off until Monday. So, I think I'm going to start looking in to exploring some restaurants and some side trips and things like that.

After I came back and took an American TV break, I went with some of the Australians to go see the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest, the two coolest and most popular venues here at the games.


Me outside the Bird's Nest. I don't know why I look like I just got hit over the head with a frying pan by Tweetie Bird, but it's pretty cool. And, no, I didn't end up in jail. The entire area around the Nest is behind fences and under guard watch because a) it's cool and b) it's where the Opening Ceremony will be held, and they're being so hush hush about it all.

This is the water cube where all of the...uhh...water events will take place. I'll never get in there, but dangit if it isn't so freaking cool.

Well that was the day today. No idea what's coming for tomorrow.

Talk to you all soon...

Phil

Day of Laziness and Spicy Food

Today was a day where we just didn't do a whole lot. I went to bed early last night after a night of karaoke. To those who know me, you would think I was in my element, at the karaoke bar. But, to be honest, the selection of songs wasn't suited to me, it was really hot in the room that we were all in (all 15 Purdue people and the majority of the Australians I've come to know and love) and it just wasn't as pleasant an experience as I had hoped. Apparently, though, there a better karaoke place a bit farther away (this was within walking distance of the dorm), so maybe that will be a better time.

I woke up late(ish), and went to a Korean restaurant that's on the campus here. We had NO IDEA what we were ordering. I got this weird, extremely spicy rice dish (at least I think it was rice) that had, not kidding, a fried egg on the top. It was so spicy I could only eat about a third of it. Water is such a pain to order here, and so expensive, that it's easier, and more economical, to just eat a little bit of something spicy than keep ordering water.

I did laundry when I got back from the restaurant. I think I'm going to just end up buying a bunch of cheap towels from the supermarket here on campus because they're such a pain to wash and dry. Plus, I've had a couple of days where mud and my shoes have gone at war, with the mud infiltrating the majority of our bathroom space. It's just easier to clean up all the mess with a towel than...umm...something else?

So, right now, the little load of laundry that I did is hanging above me. I'm hoping it's dry, or something resembling dry, by the time I need it tomorrow. If it isn't, we have a problem.

I found out today, after about a week of struggle with AT&T and Samsung (I'll call them out. I'm ticked enough I don't really care at this point!), I will have to purchase a Chinese cell phone so I can use the Chinese SIM card that all of the volunteers have.

So, tomorrow, our last free day before training starts, I have to find a phone, hope my laundry is done, and go to a nice(ish) dinner for one of the Australians who is no longer with us (meaning she isn't at our campus anymore...she's not dead!). Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Hope things are going well back home.

Phil

Most Expensive Day So Far

It was an expensive day today because we went to the Olympics Store so I could get souvenirs for everyone back at home.

The Olympics Store is so weird, the way it's set up. You find what you want to buy, let's say a set of chopsticks with these little adorable marketing tools on them.
You find the chopsticks, then instead of just taking them and moving on, you have to find a worker. The worker then writes down what you want on a receipt-type slip with three duplicate copies. Then they take it away from you. It's gone. You can't have it.

Then, once you've done this with all of the items you want (which, in my case, was quite a lot) you then take all of these slips of paper to the cashier. The cashier adds it all up, you pay and then she gives you one of the duplicates for each item you purchased. Then, you have to go back to every "station" you bought something from and get your stuff. It's three times longer than it has to be. But, along with being par for the course for China (we've seen a lot of things that could be done more efficiently) I guess it's the best way to prevent theft.

By the way, those characters are the Friendlies, the official mascots of the games. Beibei, Jinging and all the others. If you take the first half of their names and put them together in the order they're displayed, it spells out, "Beijing Welcomes You". Neat-o indeed.

So, last night, we went to what is, I'm assuming, the bar district in Beijing. There were literally 30 bars lining the streets of this area. Let me tell you people, you haven't truly heard Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" until you've heard it from a Chinese singer who barely knows the words. Truly transcendent.

Today we are going to start our quest to go see "The Dark Knight", the new Batman flick (in case anyone in America has been in a coma and just woke up). Ever since we started planning for this trip I knew that this comic book/movie geek might not get a chance to see it. So, the quest begins for searching for a theatre that will play it...in English.

More later on DVDs and the art district we visited yesterday. Stay tuned...

So, today we went to our second (half) day of training from ONS and Infostrada. We started the day, after an bus ride that was a bit more expedient than the day before, with some notes on looking at statistics and using the stat sheets and results sheets that the ONS will give us after each race to ask better questions.

For example, instead of asking, "What do you think went wrong today?" you can ask, "You slowed down seven seconds from the second lap to the third. What happened?" This will, in theory, prompt the athlete to give us a better answer that is more in depth and better suited for a Flash Quote Report.

Then, we went through some team building exercises as an entire Cycling Flash Quoter team. Surprising fact of the day: Alongside the Purdue students will be some people from Missouri University. We did some simple little icebreakers and teambuilding activities. The big points that were made during this part of the training were that we are all part of the Olympic News Service and that, when you focus on the team and the organization as a whole entity, everything will go that much better. The name that I put at the end of this post is the closest thing to a byline any of us we'll get in the next two months.

And, to be honest, I'm OK with that, because even though I'm used to credit for what I write, as all of us are, we're here at the Olympics! We've all had to deal with a lot of changes, and, whether it be the food, accommodations, bus trips, humidity, or any of the other 100 things some people have been complaining about, I keep reminding myself that I am in one of the corners of the world that I never would have thought I would end up: China. In Beijing. For the Olympics. It doesn't really get much better for a kid from Attica, Indiana who just always figured he would watch the Olympics on TV every two years. (That's right, people, I totally tune in to the Winter Olympics too. Curling is the greatest sport ever!)

In our training session, we then talked briefly about the biographical content that will be gathered and provided to us by ONS. Biographical information, much like statistics from a race, can greatly enhance how you ask questions and, more importantly, what questions you ask. Yesterday they mentioned something to us that a huge Olympics fan like me found fascinating: The system that we will use for biographies of athletes is the EXACT same system that they use on the television broadcasts. So, when you're watching gymnastics and Bob Costas has one of those weird facts that you hear and wonder, "Where in the heck did he get that from?", rest assured that he got it from the ONS.

Today, most importantly, we got our accreditation.

That lovely lanyard hanging around my neck will get us into the velodrome, the venue that will contain all of the awesomeness that will be the track cycling and BMX cycling. So, other than being vital to us doing our jobs as flash quote reporters...it makes us look really really cool.

Well, that was Wednesday. I hope that everything is awesome back at home. Starting tomorrow the bulk of us have about five days off so if anyone has any suggestions of things for us to see or do while we're here, please post them. We've already done the Great Wall, the Forbidden City (well, at least most of us have done that anyway), the Summer Palace and the sewage treatment plant. So, please, feel free to drop some suggestions on us.

It Was Like the Chinese Oprah...Not the Opera, Thankfully

So, today was our last sort of day off before we start training for the Olympics and our jobs as flash quote reporters. I got to sleep in today, which, even though usually I have been getting up well before I had to, was a nice change of pace; being able to sleep in and not have anything to really get up for. Most people around here took the day off, staying in and blogging or uploading photos onto their blogs, something I've been sadly remiss in. But, I heard of something greater...

...the electronics silk market. That's right, it's like the silk market, with all the bargaining, killer deals and carnival barker-like vendors. But, instead of handbags, shoes and ripoff designer clothing, it's all electronic goods.

It's a bit of a trek, but it's worth it. For a geek like me, it's like Christmas and Heaven rolled into one four-story building. We spent a big chunk of the day there, and after I got an iPod dock with speakers, computer mouse and headset/microphone, we went to the Wal-Mart for some much needed goods. Like Oreos and Chips Ahoy.

I also got a bucket to do laundry in. Even though they told us that laudry facilities would be on site, and even though they are, they aren't the best in the world and they only work about half the time. So, I'm turning the time machine back and washing my clothes by hand. We'll see how that works out.

After we got back, and a little down time, we went to a Chinese talk show. It's aired on CCTV, which is the main (perhaps government-run) television station in China. In fact, there are about 9 CCTV stations on our cable here in the dorm, one of them in English. And, another interesting tidbit: CCTV is the exclusive home of the Olympic Games once they start.

So, after a long bus ride, we got to the basement of this CCTV building. This is the old building, as an extremely amazing new CCTV building is being built within the city. After a dodgy-looking box dinner in a green room/waiting room, we got to this studio...where we were the special guests.

The host was this guy who immediately started talking to us, sort of like a monologue from Jay Leno or David Letterman. We all listened to the show through headphones that were feeding us an English translation. He immediately involved the audience in a couple of activities and then brought out his first two guests: the Games' oldest volunteer and the co-leader of the volunteer effort.

Then, after talking to some more of us in the audience, he brought on a woman from a project called Together in Beijing. TiB was started in Norway to benefit disabled children and send them to the Paralympics here in Beijing, which will take place after the Olympics. Then, the host brought out a blind girl and partially deaf girl who made crafts and drawings. Then, they all gave us gifts. It was an extremely emotional time, and an interesting look at the Chinese media.

Tomorrow starts our training. Wish me luck.

Phil

That Was Quite a Long 3 Days

So, tonight, today for y'all, is the end of our three day tour provided by the Olympic Committee. Two days ago we went to some wall, apparently, according to some people, it might be considered Great.

That's right, guys and gals, I climbed up the Great Wall Saturday. First of all, I'll say that Saturday was the FIRST TRULY BLUE SKY DAY we have had since I arrived. It was perfect. The humidity went away, the pollution was gone and it was nothing but sun and blue skies to escort us to the Wall.

The Great Wall is part of this giant community that has been built around it. It has homes, but mostly a lot of restaurants...including a Starbucks. For anyone who knows me, they'll know that this is like an oasis in the middle of a mocha-less desert.

When you enter the Great Wall part of it all, you wait. And wait. And wait some more. We waited for what was, supposedly, an abnormally long amount of time because the President of Mexico was there and half of the wall that is open to tourists was temporarily shut down so he and his security detail could get up to the Wall safely without all of the other people around.

Well once we finally got past an initial staging area that felt similar to what I imagine a sardine feels like, we got some clean air and started our descent up the Wall.

Let it be said that, not to toot my own horn, but getting up the Great Wall is no easy feat. It's incredibly steep, switching from wicked inclines to steps that are probably a foot to a foot and-a-half high. There are railings, but they're low and not very useful. Combine these obstacles with a gorgeous yet brutal, beating sun and you have a heck of a climb.

But, after many water breaks and stoppages to make way for locals and their umbrellas, which are just begging, it seems to poke your eye out, we made it to the top. Oddly enough, the top of the Great Wall is incredibly small. It was really just meant as a lookout point, it seems, so all of these people who have been making this trek up there are, all of a sudden, crammed into an extremely tiny area.

A group of us, once we got to the top, sang "Hail Purdue!" Video of it will hopefully be up soon.

After the Great Wall, and lunch, we visited the Ming Tombs. The majority of emporers and empresses from the Ming Dynasty are buried there. Again, the tombs suffered a similar fate to some of the other things we've seen: they've been really overdeveloped. What might have been a very cool look into the Ming emporers became kind of cheapened when you walked down an "ancient" courtyard and a woman is selling ice cream right next to you.

Skip to today, which, going into it, promised to be a somewhat mixed bag. We started it off with the Summer Palace, which was built in 1750 as, obviously, a summer home for the emporer. But, in its long history, it has been burned and pillaged and rebuilt, and then added onto and developed for tourism purposes. The odd part of the Summer Palace is that 75% of it is water, a giant lake, more specifically. So, in the couple of hours of free time we had to use, I had some calligraphy done, which looks very cool, and then me and a group of the Aussies took a trip of a boat down this little alcove of the lake.

After lunch, we went to a botanical garden that, shockingly enough, is on the site of a old palace...that had been burned...and then developed for tourism. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

Dinner.

Then, a Chinese Opera. This was something that I wasn't sure if I would look forward to and my suspicions were...correct. I mean, the Chinese Opera is something, supposedly, steeped in tradition and is full of meaning and history. But, honestly, it didn't come through in what we watched.

Firstly, it was hard to see the screens with loose translations of what the characters were saying, so we missed out on a ton of what was going on in the play. But, we caught the gist...and it still didn't really help.

Secondly, there was one woman, playing some sort of princess that had a truly grating voice. Nails on a chalkboard is an understatement.

So, the opera was kind of a bust...BUT, it was still very cool to see and, if nothing else, a pretty fun story.

So, that is the end of our three day extravaganza with BOCOG and our tour guide Henry. Tomorrow, Monday, is a free day, so I think there is some laundry in my future and then, tomorrow night, a taping of a Chinese talk show.

Talk to you all soon,

Phil

2 Days in 1 Post

I was going to post yesterday, but after a long LONG day yesterday, I was too tired to post.





Yesterday, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiennamen Square. The Forbidden City, for those who don't know, was the palace where all of China's emporers lived until the final emporer in 1911(ish).

The Forbidden City is one of the most opulent things I've ever seen. It is part magnificent palace, filled with gold and jade and all sorts of things that signified a higher social status in the Chinese culture. But, the other part is that it served a number of functions, including the last defense between attackers and the Emporer, the place of business and the living quarters for the Emporer, his wife, and all of his subsequent mistresses.

That's right, he had thousands of mistresses. Who lived on site.

So, when we got to the palace, after we took our obligatory pictures, we went and found a tour guide. For anyone who ends up ever going to the Forbidden City, totally get a tour guide. It's the only way to go. Without our tour guide, Amy, I wouldn't have known anything I just typed out. It would have just been a lot of pretty buildings. But, during the tour, I learned about what all of the architecture meant and what everything was used for. Definitely the way to go, and, to be honest, a bargain at 40 yuan. (6 yuan = 1 dollar, by the way)

So, since we had a tour guide, it was a long day at the palace.

Today, we started a three-day tour provided to us by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG). We started with, I kid you not, the sewage treatment plant.

It turns out that the plant will take a lot of the sewage and provide a lot of the non-drinking water for the Olympics area. We then went to a rural village in China that, while being poorer, is developing. We went to what was supposedly an ancient Buddhist temple that's been around for ages. But, it became clearer as we went on, that, while that may be true, it was more like a theme park/gated community that, if it had been ancient at one point, was tremendously TREMENDOUSLY renovated.

We walked through a nursing home type area where the staff sang a song for us, which was pretty surreal. We've really been getting sort of a VIP treatment here, police escort included. Now, keep in mind that the police escort really doesn't mean a whole lot, as there are no rules on the roads. We saw an ambulance tonight with its lights on and no one...NO ONE...was getting out the of the way. Kind of amazing.

Anyway...Buddha Theme Park.

We went then and watched a group of people from the community do Tai Chi, which is a slow, steady form of martial arts that is meant to preserve the body and soul as opposed to defend the person against any attacker.

After we left the village, and a long LONG bus convoy back to the city, we went to a restaurant in Beijing proper (the name of the joint escapes me right now) that has been around for almost 200 years and is famous for its Peking Duck.

Peking Duck is literally a process.

Step 1: They bring the duck out to you and take off the skin. Using bread or wontons, vegetables and sauces that are at your table, you make a sort of duck skin sandwich, along with some of the duck meat.

Step 2: The meat is all carved off and you eat it with rice, bread products or one of the many MANY sides that are brought out to you. We were given all sorts of sides, including everything from steamed vegetables to beef dishes.

Step 3: The bones are taken back into the kithcen, ground up and boiled to make a soup, which is then served to you. Sadly, we were running so late that, I have a feeling that part of the meal was taken out so that we could get back to the dorm at a reasonable hour.

It was truly an amazing meal. The way the overwhelming majority of meals work here in China is that a bunch of different dishes are brought out and people take small portions at a time. Everything is placed on a giant lazy susan that you just rotate to get to whatever you need. It's completely different from America, where we order everything separately and rarely eat anyone else's food.

So, suffice it to say, it's been a long couple of days. Tomorrow, we head off to the Great Wall and then to some sort of tunnel system underground.

Talk to you all soon,

Phil

Details on the Job

So, we just had a meeting with Krystyna, our Australian Manager for the Cycling site. We found out a few things I thought I would pass along to whoever cares.

• We don't officially start work until Day 7 of the Games. This gives us a TON of time to train and, more importantly, learn all of the rules and strategies of the various cycling events.
• The chance of seeing any other events and getting tickets is slim to none. I'm a little disappointed with that, but I'm focusing on the positives.
• Monday night, we are going to a Chinese talk show taping.
• The actual job itself will be a lot less stressful than it may have seemed in the first place. While this news is awesome to hear, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm a very stressful person by nature. :)
• Part of our training will include talking to some cyclists about why they do what they do.

So, that's an update. Talk to you all soon.

First Full Day

So...today, we had a tour of the campus here where we're staying. It's sprawling and, to be honest, easy to get lost in, but I think we'll be OK.

I got my computer situation taken care of so I have that HUUUUUGE hurdle taken care of. I was feeling a little lost this morning. It's very odd to be in an environment where you know absolutely nothing, unless it's in English. There's nothing to reference and, very rarely are there people around to ask questions to.

Today, during the tour, I got to know the Australian students here working for the Olympics and staying the same place we are. It's honestly as if we've known each other for a real long time. They're all very nice and I think getting to know them will be a huge benefit to this trip.

Today, after our tour, we visited the Silk Markets. First of all, there's not a lot of silk at the silk market. But, whenever you know people who have been to China and they come back with a cheap, knock-off designer something that they got for a quarter, they got it at the Silk Market. As SOON as you walk it, you just have a billion people asking you to buy purses, luggage, shirts, etc. It's very intimdating and, to be honest, a little frightening. But, there are good deals to be had if you're ruthless enough to bargain them down to the price you want to pay.

After that, we went to a Chinese Wal-Mart. Honestly, it was a lot like an American Wal-Mart except for a couple of things.

Firstly, it's cheaper. I know that may be hard to believe because, let's be honest, Wal-Mart is the most inexpensive place around. But, when you convert the prices, it really is a whole lot cheaper than it is in America.

Secondly, there were a lot of people just sitting on these benches that are placed all around the joint. Like it's a park or something, you just see old men reading the newspaper, sitting next to the giant containers of Tide.

Now, I'm back here, wondering whether I should take a nap or not. Other than that, not much shaking here.

Talk to everyone soon,

Phil

Landing on a Jet Plane

I landed in Beijing at 2:30 PM here in China, 2:30 AM back at home. It was a long day after a flight from Indy to O'Hare this morning and a long LONG layover in Chicago. But, hey, any excuse to eat a Chicago dog is alright with me.

The flight from Chicago to Beijing is sort of a blur because, to be honest, I slept a lot. I remember watching some mediocre Disney Channel shows and starting to watch a movie, but I fell asleep soon thereafter. Then, every hour and a half or so, I would get up, mull around and try to amuse myself somehow, but eventually fall back asleep again.

Then, we took a ride on a taxi from the airport to our dorm, the Communications University of China. Finding a taxi driver who knew where we were supposed to go was a challenge in itself. Then, the adventure began.

Let me say this about China drivers: Watching out the windshield was like watching me playing "Grand Theft Auto". Except it was all real and not nearly as fun.

Our rooms are alright. Small, but, to be honest, more storage space than I expected.

Speed Bump #1: The adapter I brought with me to fit the plugs here in China doesn't fit with my computer's adapter. And my battery is about to die. So, I have to either look for a new one or give up on mine entirely and use the computers in the lab here, which just isn't nearly as fun.

Other than that, it's been a long first day here. Tomorrow, we start some sightseeing and things like that.

Talk to you all soon,

Phil

Post #1

This is will be where I'll keep track of all of my Beijing/China/Olympics adventures.

Post #1

This is will be where I'll keep track of all of my Beijing/China/Olympics adventures.