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