Beijing 2008...oh my!

Well this may have been the most anticipated event of my short 26 years. Not necessarily because I am an Olympic zealot per say but mostly because since my arrival in China in February I could not look within a 2 ft radius without seeing a Beijing 2008 symbol, or listen to the radio for more than 2 seconds with out hearing Beijing Aoyunhui er ling ling ba nian (Beijing Olympics 2008). Not to mention the fiasco that was the torch relay. I should be thankful though since the Olympics have finally given me a new topic of conversation with cab drivers besides the weather. There are only so many times you can really say "The weather looks bad today, do you think it might rain?" and being met with a grunt as if to say "This is Shanghai idiot. Of course it's going to rain!" before turning yourself into a mute in taxis.

I really don't think I can put into words how much, at least in my observations, the Olympics have affected the Chinese people's lives. In both good and bad ways. Besides the obvious tremendous sense of pride that has been re-instilled in this nation after decades of trying to claw its way out of a cultural malaise they have also been met with the challenges and triumphs of being a global force. This is a country extremely proud of its people and they want the rest of the world to share in their celebration. At times it was invigorating to hear and see such genuine honor for ones country.
DISCLAIMER: big tangent ahead.
(Sadly I can't say that I've seen that in my own country for quite a while. It seems as though the US has battered through one disaster after another since 2001 and each time its built up a new wall between neighbors. Why was it that when I was forced (yes forced) to use my American Flag credit card in Germany I was embarrassed? I can easily say a Chinese person would hand it over with beaming confidence in any country in the world. I like to think that deep down at the core, honoring of one's nation are what the Olympics are all about. My American pride was immediately restored when I saw my team, 500+ strong, walk through the Birds Nest with a Sudanese refugee as the flag bearer. It's been a while since I've sung 'God Bless America' but my pipes were working overtime during the opening ceremony with my few fellow countrymen in a heavily packed Aussie crowd...the few vodka-sodas didn't hurt either)

Anyway, the Chinese' pride was altogether genuine but borderline hubris. Especially now since they've won 33 gold medals and counting. Just yesterday I watched their beloved Prince of sport Liu Xiang (he won their first track & field gold medal in Athens and has since become the Michael Jordan of China) have to bow out of the Olympics because of an injury. The reaction?? While disappointed, one person said, "Its ok. We already have so many gold medals." There. Done. Like yesterday's news.

Other effects I've seen? Well besides the auto response for whenever something doesn't get done being, "Oh because of the Olympics", there have been businesses just shut down cold out of national security. Not just a couple here and there, whole blocks of businesses. The metro station I get off at every weekend for my runs has a whole underground strip mall with hundreds of stores. Just yesterday I arrived and every single one of them was closed. Special friend told me that they had been closed by the government b/c they were places where people could gather and potentially cause harm to others or create an uprising. Can you believe that?!?! These stores are people's livelihoods and they are just shutdown for 2+ weeks w/o compensation!

Anyway...enough about that. Let's get to the fun part. My Olympic experience. We kicked off the Games with a robust gathering at a local (and only) sports bar in Shanghai. This was organized by an Australian friend of mine so naturally the crowd was awash in Green and Gold. But like I said earlier, my few compatriots and I managed to get in quite a show of American Pride when the US team walked out. Although I must confess that I did partake in a few Aussie-Aussie-Aussie-Oy-Oy-Oys (the Australian National Chant). I feel I'm allowed a sense of Australian pride after living there and Special Friend happens to be from there :) The real fun came though when the Chinese team marched out. The entire bar gave way to the guilty pleasure of chanting "Zhongguo Jiayou, Zhongguo Jiayou!" (Go China! Go China!) China's national chant. Myself included. The excitement in the air was electric! Let the Games begin!!

A friend from UCLA and San Francisco, Courtney, had contacted me a few months earlier to say she would be coming to China b/c her brother had qualified for the Olympics in 4-man Skulls Rowing. She and her boyfriend Mark stayed with me for a few days in Shanghai then headed up to Beijing for the games. They offered me a place to crash in Beijing if I wanted to head up there and I of course could not turn down the offer :)

I overnight-trained it up to Beijing which was quite convenient but probably won't be happening again. My friend Ying and I got the top bunks of a 4 bunk compartment. We shared it with sweet Mr and Mrs Wang who weren't so sweet after they were slurping their instant noodle bowls and snoring the night away starting at 8:30pm. But alas we made it to Beijing, only to be greeted by a most ominous sky. The heavens opened up around 4:10, 30 minutes before Courtney's brother was about to row. The event would be canceled for the day. Not, however, without an apology to the Rowers from the Chinese government for the rain. I kid you not.

But one day's miserable weather leads to another day's glory. The next day was probably the most beautiful day I've ever seen in China. Blue skies, white fluffy clouds and dry heat. A perfect day for some friendly competition! And what competition would be friendlier than USA v Cuba BASEBALL!?!? That's right. Two conflicting nations converging via their national pastime. Another friend in Shanghai mentioned a few weeks earlier that he had extra tix so I jumped all over them. The game itself was so-so but basking in the beautiful sun just behind thirdbase with an $0.80 beer couldn't have made me any happier. Well not entirely true. Throw in a Dodger dog and who knows what I would have done with myself! Speaking of concessions, China really blew it on this one. Every venue had the same menu of crap ('scuse my language). The food available really was deplorable. All that was offered were spam sandwiches, chips, popcorn and some really pathetic and inedible looking sausages in cellophane wrap. Here was a perfect opportunity to share chinese snacks (dumplings, pork buns, fried noodles) with the world and they blew it on processed, pre-packaged junk. It really was sad and was the same situation I found at every venue leading to my liquid diet for the day :) But back to baseball. It really was a beautiful day and although the US lost to Cuba 8-7 in extra innings it was fun just to be there. The Cuban's had quite a lively contingency RIGHT behind us but they were friendly towards us Americans. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess they maaaaaayyyyyyy have been from the states and maaaayyyyy have had family who immigrated from Cuba at some point. I don't know. Just an educated guess since the last I read it was hard for Cuban's to afford bananas let alone a plane ticket across the world to China. Regardless, it was a friendly game that I am thankful to have witnessed. Off to Rowing!

The baseball park could not have been farther away from the Rowing park. And traveling across Beijing might as well be like traveling over state lines due to the massive expanse of the city. Basically it's huge and traveling from point A to point B for me was like trying to get from Pasadena to Long beach in LA without a car. Nightmare??? Yes! Especially after my liquid diet at the baseball game. My head was a bit foggy and navigating the Beijing metro system to get to the Olympic green to catch the shuttle buses to Shunyi Rowing park was..um..a tad tedious. It was tedious just writing that all out!! But I made it and got a beautiful sightseeing trip along the way. The gov't built new highways to get to the park through lush greenery which really showed a side of Beijing I had never seen. And mountains in the background. Who knew!

Finally I made it after almost 2 hrs of travel, some of which was hindered by mis-communication between the "English-Speaking" volunteers and myself. I learned fast that my Chinese is not yet up to par. The rowing park was gorgeous though and the races were very exciting. The most exciting being Courtney's brother's race of course. He did so well, finishing second in his heat which qualified him for the gold medal race. Although he and his team would eventually not medal, what an amazing feat to make it to the finals. They are a really young team too, so you can count on seeing them at the London Games in 2012.














I thought my Olympic experience would end with this event until we got a call at 8:15am the next morning from another friend of Courtney's saying he had 4 extra tickets to that day's swim events!!!!!! That meant a trip to the beautiful Watercube and a Michael Phelps race!!!!! We booked it to the 'cube and unfortunately b/c of the rammed security line, barely missed Phelpsie's race and SEVENTH gold medal performance :( We did get to see the phenom's victory ceremony though and about 7 other races. Just being in the cube alone was enough for me. It truly is a beautiful and serene building and seeing MP's ceremony and the raising of the American Flag while the Star Spangled Banner played throughout the arena again brought back that flood of USA pride that I had been longing for.


That would end my Beijing 2008 Olympic experience. Beijing itself was not a fun place to be. It is too big of a city and there wasn't much of an Olympic spirit beyond the walls of the venues but these games have changed the face of this nation and ultimately the world. The excitement will all come to an end in about a week but my true anticipation is for the way this country reacts when these games are all over. Stay tuned for post-Beijing 2008!

For all of my pictures of the Olympics click here!