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.
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.
1 comment:
Love the pictures. Could we see more - perhaps with you in them? I'd like to know what the cycling area looks like:) Please spare me the obvious piece of information that it's televised ;-)
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