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...