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!

Call me C-R-A-Z-Y

I realize that I just wrote a post about how hot and unbelievably uncomfortable it is to be outside for even a minute here in Shanghai these days so the fact that I have signed up to run a marathon may prompt the need for check of the mental faculties. Yes, I have signed up for the Hangzhou Marathon in November. Not only have I signed up, I have assembled a run group to encourage my craziness. We've actually been running together for about 5 weeks now very informally. To be honest, I was all talk in the beginning when I said I wanted to do a marathon here in China but one thing led to another and all of a sudden I found myself putting together a training calendar for 5 other people and not long after that the title "Coach" was thrown at me. AHHH me and my big mouth!! I think the real craziness hit me when a friend who is coming to visit asked what she could bring from the States and I immediately answered BODY GLIDE. No. Not peanut butter M&Ms, Wheat Thins or Oatmeal Teddy Grahams (all of which are also greatly appreciated ;). Body Glide :/ (I envision my brother and Susan, his fiance, saying "What's wrong with that?!?" ). So here I am....training for a marathon....in....China...Lord help me.

It's an interesting thing running in Shanghai. I don't think I could have come from a farther extreme in terms of running environment. I could have walked out of my door in San Francisco and blindly chosen any direction to run in and eventually found myself among the most beautiful running trails in the state. Not exactly the case here. Unless you want to be intimate with a bike, motorcycle, taxi or BUS it's wise not to do any action blindly. I did do a couple runs out on the sidewalks near my old apartment and I could never figure out if the locals were staring at me because I was either a)blonde/western/woman or b)running. The running for health or leisure aspect hasn't really hit here but honest-to-god if there's an announcement for a slash in prices for cooking oil you best be looking out for the sudden herd of Michael Johnson's sprinting your way.

So my Saturdays now consist of 7am wake-ups, which would probably happen if I was running or not due to the rabid vegetable bargaining going on in the markets below my apartment. I'm going to digress here but it is AMAZING to see the bustle of activity that goes on early weekend mornings. We take the metro to get to our run destination and it is PACKED. Like wall-to-wall, face-in-armpit PACKED. Sometimes I just want to shout: WHERE ARE YOU ALL GOING!?!?!? Really where are they all going at 7am on a Saturday?!!? Once I figure it out I'll let you know. Anyway, we have a really nice park to run in that knocks out about 10ks which is fine for now but once we get into the real training (20-30ks) we'll have to get creative with our run destinations. Luckily I have another friend who spent time in Austin and shares my CA run culture experience. We're determined to bring that lifestyle to China so I when friends ask what they can bring from home I don't have to say body glide :)

Here is a link to the marathon I will be doing: http://www.hangzhou-marathon.com/index.php?lang=en

Someone turn off the Oven!!

I just can't win. Last year (the last 4 years for that matter) I was complaining about a fogged in San Francisco July that resembled nothing close to Summer. Well looks like the Summer gods are making up for lost time in Nicole-land because DAMN!!!!!! its HOT in Shanghai! I probably sweat more in the walk from my bedroom to bathroom than I did in all 3 marathons. Yes I have AC, central AC actually, and it goes on very frequently but I am from California. We're genetically programmed to be "green" (and when I eventually meet Leonardo DiCaprio he will be captivated by my ability to stay environmentally conscious and fall in love with me and....hey, a girl can dream can't she??).

Anyway it's running a consistent 97-100 degrees the last week or so with about 70%humidity. For example: right now as I write at 10pm Accuweather is reporting a temp of 100! 100!!! At 10pm!! I have basically kissed good hair days, dry clothes, clear skin and the likes goodbye. I just made myself sound so hot! It doesn't help that I have to deal with THIS every day. It's one thing to be sticky and hot in your own space but when you have to be arm to arm with people in the same, and usually worse, condition it makes things slightly more unpleasant. I will say one thing for China, they're not a smelly bunch. Thank God. I think that purely derives from luck though b/c you can't find deodorant in abundance and most clothes are worn several days in a row. I mean there are definite "scents" but BO is not one of them. Again...thank god because I've been on the bad end of exposed armpits more times than I care to think of.

So this heat comes right when I have included a walk of about 20 looong minutes to my daily routine. That would be the walk from the metro to my new classroom at Jiaotong University. In order to maintain my visa and not have to return to the US I had to sign up for Summer school. If you're wondering if I'm at all concerned about being 26 and have to say that I am in Summer school the answer is a big fat YES...but I am encouraged by the fact that I have 2 40+ classmates in my class of 7. Although, I did grapple with a bout of discouragement when my sweet looking, 40-something, Chilean classmate leaned over during our break and said, "The American students always do the best in my classes." (Umm...have you heard of a little country called Korea, honey?!?) I responded with, "Well I hope I don't prove that wrong (wink wink, smile)." She replied with not the most jovial of faces and said, "Oh we'll see." For the next 3 hours I sat there petrified of flubbing up business Chinese as if I held the fate of American student's image around the world in my hands! The chick was watching me too, I swear! I answered a question and she leaned over again and asked how I knew that. Score one for America! Take that World! Sadly in the end, I think we ended up sub zero in the scoring due to my unwavering inability to remember characters. Sorry America...at least we have our good image in other sectors to stand on...you know like the economy, foreign policy, etc.....................................................

Surviving the Quarantine Exam...barely

Many apologies friends for the long absence. Quite a bit has happened but not much has warranted the "I can't wait to blog about this" thoughts in my head...UNTIL TODAY. And boy did they come back with a vengeance. Before I get to my Shanghai Quarantine story I'll give you an update on my life for the past 6 weeks: I moved into a new apartment with a gorgeous view and signed a one-year lease (YIKES!). Still don't have a job, but I am working on that little detail AND I may have picked up a special friend along the way. We'll leave that for another post though (or if you've talked to my mom in the last 6 weeks i'm sure you have all major and minor details).

Back to the quarantine! So since I love Shanghai so much and want to stay here for a while I had to enroll in another semester of Uni to easily extend my visa and if you are here more than 6 months you have to get a medical exam. Thinking this was no big deal, probably just a check of my height/weight/blood pressure/heart beat/etc, an easy formality to get a visa, I rejoiced in my soon-to-be visa extension success. UNTIL I talked to a few folks who had been through the "formality" and was met with sly grins and phrases like "rite of passage". Oh. dear. All I prayed for was no use of needles or blood drawing or, for that matter, coming within 20feet of a needle. Yes, I have a phobia. Yes, it's all mental, I know, but its there and I get really lightheaded and hot and sweaty and would rather lick a Chinese Metro handrail than get my blood drawn in China! Again I was met with the sly grins and "rite of passage" jargon. Noooooo!

Naturally I put this off until the last minute but finally couldn't escape it. So off I went to the "Shanghai Quarantine Service". The word quarantine jut gets it all going on a bad start. Like you're entering the Int'l House of Disease or so. But, it started out normal enough with many foreigners joining me. What I would soon find out is that we go as a group of about 15 for each appt time and do different stations. What I DIDN'T know, that apparently everyone else did, is that I should have worn pants b/c you have to dress in a gown for the exam but can leave your bottom apparel on. WELL, being nearly 100 degrees in Shanghai at the moment my choice of clothing usually resorts to dresses and did on this particular day. AWESOME. The gown, naturally, was fitted for Chinese people who, on average, are "slightly" shorter than my 5feet8inches. So I had to walk around the quarantine area in front of everyone else in this tiny Chinese dressing gown, holding it down as far as it would go to not show any, um, backend real estate. Uncomfortable from the get-go?? YES but moving on.

Test #1 was an xray. Really?? Is this necessary?? I swear I haven't stolen the torch and swallowed it. I clearly angered the tech in the brief 5 seconds it took me to enter the room b/c he pushed me in front of an apparatus and concocted me in this incredibly odd position, quite forcefully, and told me not to move. I stood there for about a good 5 minutes not moving a muscle but also not hearing anything happening then finally hearing the techie say something that sounded a mix between "don't move" and "good". "What?" "Don't move" "Ah!" "Good" "What?" This went on for about 30 seconds when he finally came in the room and removed me from the apparatus (clearly calling me a stupid foreigner in his head all the while).

Next room...duh duh duh...NOOOO are those??? Yes they are! NOOOOOO! Needles and rubber strips NOOOOOOOOO! It took me a good minute tomentally pump myself up for this and sit down in the seat while the Chinese nurses kept saying "please be calm". After deep breaths and serious closing of the eyes, it was over but not before I had to sit in the room another 10 minutes and listen while 3 more people got their blood taken. UGH! The snap of the rubber and taping of the vein almost made me puke! But I survived. Which I am so happy b/c I got to experience the rest of this lovely exam. I have to say this was probably the most normal of all the tests as it only got weirder from there.

Next was my doctor exam. Let me set the scene first. This hospital is what you would expect out of a 1950's Chinese Hospital, and it hasn't changed since. Pink cement walls, steel gurneys and blue curtains. Nice. The cute little old doctor told me to get on the bed (no sanitary changeable paper here) and started to feel for my heartbeat, etc. Normal enough right?? NO. He then pulled out a sonogram machine!!! Wha??? And started poking and prodding my ribs and stomach which happened to be quite sore from yesterday's yoga session! Why am I having a sonogram in China?? Why?

NEXT, was my ECG whatever the heck that is. I KID YOU NOT. They hooked up electrode CLAMPS to my right ankle and both wrists then stuck suction cups to my chest! Where am IIIIIII??? Please take a moment to picture this and don't forget the skimpy robe that I was wearing as well. The doctor finished after about 5 minutes and proceeded to tell me that everything was normal. No. I'm sorry honey. There is NOTHING normal about this.

When all was said and done I had x-rays, a sonogram, was hooked to electrodes, given an eye test, blood drawn, and a full body doctor exam all within 45 minutes. At least I can say it was efficient.

And so continues this odd but fabulous life I live in China.

N-B-A

It is probably no surprise that the NBA is very, very popular in China (thank you Yao Ming). What is a surprise is the lengths Chinese people have to go to to watch games. The recent NBA playoffs have been banned from being shown on CCTV- China's state-owned television provider- and those are the only channels you can get unless you have illegal satellite. Reason being, allegedly, a Laker player sent around a petition to officially condemn China for their role in Rwanda. Hm, first Sharon Stone now this. LA is not boosting its profile with the Chinese government. So watching a game means waiting for them to download from copyright-infringing internet sources.

However despite these lengths the Chinese people love their basketball. Some of the best conversations I've had have been with cabbies and my security guards about the sport. Just mention one of the trifecta: NBA, Yao Ming or Kobe, and you've got an instant friend. Just last night all the guards had gathered outside my building and were chatting when I got home from watching the replay of Lakers-Celtics game3. I was in a good mood since the Lake-show FINALLY won one and decided to indulge a little. I told them I was watching NBA (pronounced by drawing each letter out a bit) and Kobe (or Ke-be). A collective "Ohhhhhhh" was released from the group and immediately the rambling off of every NBA name known began. I have to say, Kobe is probably more popular than Yao. I see so many Kobe jerseys and Laker shorts I could be in LA (kind of...not really). And don't even bother asking if Yao is going to play in the Olympics despite his injury. It's a non-issue. He WILL play. The highlight of my conversation last night was when one especially enthusiastic guard exclaimed that he likes Tracy McGrady. Now I don't know too much about basketball outside the Lakers so I searched for TMac and discovered he was on the Rockets. This pretty much cemented my belief that no matter who you are if you play for the Rockets (Yao Ming's team), you've got an instant 1.4billion person fan base!

Go Lakers!!

New Videos!

Here are a couple treats.

This first clip is during my parents' recent trip when we traveled south to Xishuangbanna. My Dad had some fun sharing some very useful American idiosyncrasies.



And here is a recent rush-hour metro trip my friend Katie and I took while she was visiting Shanghai. To say it got a little crowded is a bit of an understatement and just when you thought they couldn't cram in any more people...they did. I couldn't really move my hand very far to get the whole scene but I think you get the picture.

Germany!

In the midst of my sabbatical in China I zipped over to Germany for a week to attend the wedding of my dear friends Doro and Chad. Doro is my former co-worker at BV Capital and originally from Germany. Since this is a blog about China I won't write about my trip except this tidbit b/c it has to do with China.

So 2 days before my departure and the night before my parents' departure from China my wallet was stolen and/or lost. It's not worth the time explaining how but it was gone. And along with it went my credit card and ATM card, my chinese bank card, my CA drivers license, my access card to my apt building AND the formula for my hair color from my San Francisco colorist which I was finally getting done THE NEXT DAY!!!! I carried that damn formula with me the whole time and was one day away from taking the plunge when I lost it. Naturally, I got my hair done and it is now two toned from where the roots were showing and the previous dye job. Everyone who saw me right away faked their best "Oh no. I don't notice a difference." But I can always count on my former boss Tom who I saw a few days later to give it to me straight. He didn't even conceal the laughter and said, "HA HA HA I was going to ask you about that!" The worst part is that I paid a premium to go to a place that had "Paris" in the name and it came out looking like booty. Siigh.

Anyway. I luckily had my passport safe and sound and made it to Germany. Being the responsible young woman that I am I had a spare credit card with me. Again being a responsible adult I have never had to use it b/c it is my absolute last resort, only under dire circumstances, never-ever use credit card. Why?? Because it looks like this!!!!!!!!!

Notice the hair too!

Yes I had to travel all through Germany handing over an AMERICAN FLAG credit card. And it was no small flag. No no. It had to cover the entire card. There was no hiding my nationalism. This card was sent to me by my bank and when I was moving to China I said what the heck I might as well take it even though I will never use this awfully embarrassing thing. You should have seen the looks I got every time I had to hand it over. Which, of course, was a lot and always came with the obligatory explanation as to why I have an obscenely patriotic credit card. Why does God hate me?

Anyway. The wedding was wonderful and if you care too see pictures here is a link.