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.