Final Thoughts on the Olympics

When IOC president Jacques Rogge declared the Olympics truly exceptional, I had to agree. China went above and beyond the call of duty to pull off this Olympics. They had a point to prove to the world and they proved it. They have a rich and diverse cultural history, outstanding athletes and an Olympic training ground like no other, phenomenal logistic capabilities, friendly and outgoing people and incredible architecture. I doubt any city or country will be able to compete with China on the quality of the Olympics as they have set a new standard of how to put them on. Of course, this is only possible because the government has the power to do whatever it wants without regard to the people it affects.

The highlights for me included the overwhelming number of volunteers who made themselves readily available for any question or tourist at literally any time of the day. They even personally escorted me and other lost tourists on buses to the exact location of the venues. Often, I felt that the volunteers spent much of their time bored waiting for someone to help, but when someone did approach them, they always smiled and tried their best to give as much information as possible. Despite their long hours standing around, they kept up their spirits. At the end of events, they stood in lines waving to everyone and cheering people off. I think every university student on summer holiday contributed to make this Olympics special and personable.

Surprisingly, the architecture in Beijing really impressed me. I found the curved lines of the Bird's Nest unbelievable. The Chinese like lights as well and every building lit up. I will be interested to see what China does with all the various stadiums built just for the Olympics. More than likely, they will be training grounds for future Chinese Olympians. But to create the Olympic Green, the Chinese government displaced thousands of residents to elsewhere in the country. In fact, China created a wonderful facade of sorts just for the Olympics. The government removed all the migrant workers and boarded up all the slum areas around town. Any area that didn't look pretty enough received a makeover or the government just boarded it up with beautifully painted walls. Cleaning crews showed up every morning to remove trash from the streets and people washed the billboards regularly. When, Thomas asked me what I thought of Beijing, I told him that I found the city to be quite clean. He found that comment funny because he has witnessed the transformation over the last few months to make Beijing the city we see today.

Logistically, the subways and buses ran smoothly and despite or because of the intense security measures, no major catastrophes occurred. With the phenomenal transportation, I could make my way to every venue free of charge with my ticket. Although, occasionally, I had to hop in a cab to get to the venue quicker although, I still showed up late.

Overall, I loved watching the sporting events. For most of the sporting events, the Chinese athletes took so many golds that I now hum the tunes to their national anthem. Who knew the Chinese knew how to box? I watched them take gold a few times in the finals.
There are very few sports in which they did not take gold and I did enjoy watching athletes from other countries win. In particular, I enjoyed witnessing Jamaican Bolt break another world record in the 4x100 relay and begin and end with pointing his hand towards the sky. The track and field events are fun to watch because so many events occur at once and this is perfect for my ADD tendencies. I also took great delight in watching the Australian pole vaulter tie the Olympic record. I'm glad I had the opportunity to watch track and field in the Bird's Nest since I didn't have the opportunity to watch the Opening Ceremonies live.

Nonetheless, the beauty and artistry of the Opening Ceremonies left me emotional and in awe. China took mass humanity as art to a completely new level. However, I did not appreciate learning the sacrifices the artists made to put on those opening ceremonies. The volunteers had to wear adult diapers just so that they could train for 6 hours straight in military compounds in the heat. They never left the compound and trained for hours on end without breaks. Many people sustained injuries when they fell off platforms in the rain. But in China, the show must go on. I'm sure every performer remained proud of their contribution to the Opening Ceremonies despite the painful long hours. To their credit, the world learned a little more about China and all the beauty of the people.

Really, the best part of the Olympics has been partying with the Olympians and in sharing in their victory celebration. So many unknowns became famous overnight and enjoyed the spotlight.
Everyone wanted to be around a Gold medal winner and they made the parties that much more fun. I never imagined that I would party with Olympians when I came to Beijing. They won't join my Facebook network necessarily, but I enjoyed celebrating with them in their Olympic win.

My birthday present to myself this year is hard to top for next year. I do hope to attend the 2012 Olympics in London, however, I know it won't be as fanciful as Beijing and I doubt I will be able to afford any tickets. But, the Olympics are worth the effort, and I am sure I will try to attend again.

Security Threat Purple

If I could pick a color for China's security threat level, I would choose purple. Why purple, just cause.They have taken security to a whole new level. The hotel manager pointed out to me all the security cameras the police installed for the Olympics. Many people must sit at desks all day and night to monitor the thousands of cameras throughout the city. A neighbor sits on every other street corner in the residential area as part of a neighborhood watch. By the way, I still have not registered as a residential alien in this city and I just continue to pretend I am Chinese. Seems to be working, thus far.

I am never afraid to wander through the underground passes at night alone because security guards sleep within the walls of the passes. There are doors in the halls leading to rooms full of bunkbeds. Security cameras also line every entrance and passageway. At one hotel a couple of blocks down, tanks sit outside the front door ready for just about anything maybe even a nuclear bomb. The entire block in front of the hotel, the underground passageways and the street corners are blocked off. Important people must stay there.

To get into the subway, I need to have all my belongings pass through an x-ray machine. Then, when I get to the Olympic events, I pass through one person who checks my ticket. A ways down, another person scans it, then I go through the x-ray and pat down. The degree of the security check varies depending on the venue. For basketball, a volunteer and security guard inspected every single item in my bag and looked at every piece of paper for any signs of protest language. They asked what each gadget in my bag did and asked me to put on my sunscreen to prove it was indeed sunscreen. However, most liquid items are removed just like at the airports. I felt sorry for a lady next to me who had her personal belongings inspected. The male volunteer asked her to explain the use of her tampon. She didn't quite know how to explain what it did especially since the volunteer knew limited English. The security guard then came over and asked her to explain the tampon. We just stood there baffled as to how to explain the function of this. Eventually, they figured out what it was and felt quite embarrassed by the whole incident. After the pat down, another volunteer tears my ticket and then I am finally inside. Food and beverages as well as flags over 1x2m in size are banned. However, in the stadiums, beers only cost 75 cents and water 50 cents, and so I am not bothered by this rule.



In the stadiums, 55 security guards line the inside perimeter of the soccer fields and guards dressed as volunteers line the entrances. Men in black sit in every section and in every row of the basketball games. China sure doesn't lack manpower here. The government periodically closes the entire Tiananmen Square whenever pesky protesters show up. Then the police quickly deport the protesters and they are never seen again.

Internet usage can be limited. China blocks many websites and press people have told me that they can not look up articles related to the Chinese gymnasts being under 16 years old. China limits the bandwidth to Facebook and I have a difficult time getting on there.

Getting into Club Bud doesn't seem to be as difficult as getting into the stadiums. I just show up every other night when its open and let the American guard know that I'm not an athlete, am not on the guestlist, am no one important, but I would like to join the festivities. Wearing the American flag helps and the guards love the National pride. The other night, I met Evander Holyfield. I saw him grooving by himself on the dance floor next to someone who might have been his bodyguard and so I asked him to dance. Thankfully, he gracefully said “yes” and we rocked the dance floor! He is awesome!! I also met Angelo who had just won the gold in the 400m hurdles. Michael Phelps showed up with his swimming entourage. The guards had to put him in a corner of the club because so many people went crazy when they saw him. I couldn't believe that I ended up at the same party as Phelps. The best part of traveling alone is that I am forced to meet new people and I met a ton; athletes from all over the world. I did leave early, around 3am, because I started to lose my voice. The next day, either the bird flu, malaria or the flu took me down.




I could barely get up in the morning and I went to spa to get a massage to relax my back that had tensed up. I didn't have the strength to leave after the masseuse finished and so I signed up for a foot massage right after. 3 hours later around 11:30pm, I finally took a taxi home. I ran a fever all night long and could not get up to find medicine. In the morning, I finally took some tylenol. I have had a persistent fever and am getting to the limit of how many tylenol pills I can take in one day. I show up late to events or sleep through some of it. I hate being sick. I have not gone out and will not go out tonight. I need to rest.

I have had to sell more of my tickets because I don't have the strength to go to them all. I did see handball and loved it! It's a cross between soccer with your hands and dodgeball. I don't really know all the rules, but loved watching the guys dance all over the floor trying to get the ball into the net. I have tickets to the finals and will be sure to attend.

Last night, I watched the gold medal match for women's soccer between US and Brazil. The match went into overtime and USA eventually won in a nail biting finale. The Brazilians were not gracious losers and I was glad USA beat them. Japan, on the other hand, could not have been more gracious in their bronze medal loss to Germany. Despite the constant booing by the Chinese all night long, since China still holds a grudge against Japan, the Japanese women bowed to every section of the crowd and thanked them after losing. I enjoyed watching such sportsmanship. Nap time.

Partying with Olympians

I am currently sleep deprived and can hardly talk. I've been meaning to update the blog for awhile, but my all-nighters spent dancing the night away are starting to take a toll on me. Beijing has such an awesome vibe and energy during the Olympics. The Olympians are finishing up their events and now are in party mode. I see them everywhere, and most American athletes are partying at Club Bud, the Budweiser House. I thought the Holland Heineken House rocked but Club Bud has them beat.

I showed up the other day to Club Bud thinking it was open to the public only to be stopped at the entrance. I either needed to be an athlete, part of the media, or a friend of either on the guest list. Unfortunately, I had none of the above credentials, but I figured that if I could talk my way out of a mugging, maybe I could talk my way into Club Bud. Sure enough, I made it in and found myself in a massive space. DJs spinning and people dancing filled one room, lounging athletes filled another, and more athletes filled the courtyard. Free beer flowed throughout the night and the party did not stop until 4am. I quickly made new friends and had so much fun meeting people from all over. Carl Lewis showed up looking way too cool for himself, and I was lucky to get a photo with him. The US Women's rowing team took gold and partied hard all night long. Mary, from the team, even let me wear and kiss her medal. They are all so down to earth and excited to have won. The US men's gymnastics team which took bronze came for just a little bit. Raj told me that they can't drink until after the Olympics since they are still being monitored for drugs until the end. This rule only applies to certain sports with gymnastics being one of them. That is a shame. I hope my luck continues and I can get back into Club Bud tonight, but I am feeling rather sick and may need to take the night off.

The other night, I became really sick from dinner. I ended up in an all Chinese speaking restaurant with absolutely no foreigners. I sat down at a table by myself and ordered fish. No tables were open and so an older woman joined my table. I shared my fish with her because there was just too much fish for just me, and because I thought it tasted awful; bland and buttery and a bone even lodged itself into the back of my throat. I really could not eat anymore, but stuck around at the table to talk to this woman. She didn't speak any English and I spoke no Mandarin and so we just hand gestured a lot. She picked up some Chinese wine and offered me some. The wine here is like 60% proof and so I had a hard time drinking it. She kept insisting I take more and cheer her every time and so I sipped just a tiny bit and clanked glasses. Then, her food came and she insisted that I eat some. I tried a little of the rubbery meat and I promptly wanted to throw up. I'm not sure what it was, but she kept pushing me to eat more and so I faked eating a little more. She didn't feel that I had eaten enough and so she forced fed me an entire piece of this rubbery object into my mouth with her chopsticks. I really almost threw up on the table, but when she turned her head just slightly, I spit it all out into my napkin. I had to leave at that point. I tried to pay the bill for both of us, but she caught on to what I was doing and wouldn't have it. She ended up paying and taking my phone number to keep in touch. I'm not sure how since we can only communicate through hand gestures. Off I went, and then threw up back at my hostel, which thankfully was just down the road. Lovely night indeed.




I am still seeing a ton of Olympic events although, I show up rather late if they are in the morning. I saw half of my judo event because I became bored watching the sport. I think the point is to get the other person on their back. 3 hours and I had had enough. I enjoyed watching the US Men's indoor volleyball team beat China. They are fantastic and so strategic in their plays faking out China as to who was spiking and where. I hope they win gold. The US women's softball team conquered the Netherlands and the game ended early. I also watched the US women's soccer team beat Japan in an exciting game. Those Japanese women are aggressive and just never give up. I hope they take bronze and I look forward to seeing US play in the finals this week. Yesterday, I watched the Chinese favorite 110 m hurdle guy limp off the field. Thousands of Chinese paid exorbitant amounts of money to watch him in the finals and are now sadly disappointed he won't compete. In weightlifting, I watched China, with his anime hair, take gold. The judges disqualified one of his lifts, but he responded with an unbelievable third lift to excite the crowd. I surprisingly enjoyed watching weightlifting and I just wanted each athlete to lift the 400lbs plus off the ground. One athlete became lightheaded after a lift and face planted onto the ground. He got up on his own and continued to compete.

Today, I watched as the Azerbaijain wrestling coach refused to shake hands with the American wrestler after the win and the Azerbaijan wrestler would not get up to shake hands with the American. The coach forced him up and then smacked his wrestler on the head several times. Such a display of poor sportsmanship. Tonight, I have US baseball and tomorrow handball, whatever that is.

Holland Heineken House and Olympic Events

For the most part, I have not seen many tourist sites. I did see the Forbidden City, but mainly I have spent my time trying to sell my extra tickets. I have been selling them at face value although I could make a killing selling them at a premium. For some reason, I feel bad doing this because I know that so many people want to see the Games and every event is sold out. Scalpers bought so many tickets for really cheap and have jacked up all the prices. They stand at the subways wheeling and dealing. Many people are just looking to exchange their tickets for other events and I have tried the same and the tickets are like baseball cards that are easily tradeable. And on occasion, I sometimes feel as though holding onto the large golden Olympic tickets is like holding onto Willy Wonka's Golden ticket. Each ticket is so precious and quite beautiful in it's orange and yellow colors. The most valuable are the swimming tickets which can go for $1000 even though they may have only cost $20.

So far, I have seen basketball and beach volleyball, both men's and women's, boxing and the gold medal round for women's archery. By the time, the Olympics are over, I will surely have OD'd on sporting events. Tickets are cheap so it's easy to see so many games. My boxing ticket last night only cost $5 when I bought it many months ago. If I don't continue selling off my tickets, I will have seen 25 events. I'm sure that I would not be able to do this for the London Olympics, which I hope to attend as well.

At the basketball games, I never knew that the athletes exchange gifts from their home country before the game begins. The refs even get a gift from both countries. What a lovely gesture. The best part is watching the games with the Chinese. They are fully into the Olympic spirit and cheer for everything. They have such a great enthusiasm, especially when China plays and those games are the most fun to watch.



Today, I watched China and Korea compete in women's archery. I inadvertently ended up in the South Korean cheering stands, which came equipped with their own cheerleader who blew a whistle and brought the entire stand cheering in Korean to various chants. On the opposite stand, the Chinese shouted back as loud as they could. I wasn't sure who to root for, but when I saw the Chinese woman, Juan Juan Zhang, shoot her arrows, I knew that she just had to win Gold; she was phenomenal. In a tight match, she won by a point to take gold and we all sang the Chinese national anthem.



In boxing, I watched Korea upset USA. The USA boxer was the favorite to win gold, but in a costly misjudgement, he didn't fight the last minute because he thought he was ahead and didn't need to. Sadly mistaken, and he lost.

I also watched beach volleyball, my favorite sport thus far. The crowd really gets into the event with the wave, American music, and Chinese bikini clad cheerleaders. Minus the cheerleaders, I felt like I was on Manhattan Beach rather than in Beijing. I brought my American flag and rooted on the women's USA volleyball team, which beat Cuba.



The other night, I discovered the Holland Heineken House. The Dutch set up a site for all the Dutch to gather and party and the Dutch do know how to party. Olympians, family members, and the entire Dutch community showed up in full force. Since the Aussie House didn't have much going on, the Aussies came together at the Holland House. I even had a chance for a photo op with the Australian Bronze Medal Winner of Canoe, Robin Bell, and I danced with the shirtless Australian boxing and judo Olympians. The Americans don't have a house camp most likely due to bomb threats, but everyone loves the Dutch and so I partied with them without the fear of a bombing. Hundreds gathered inside the beautiful Agricultural building while bands and Djs rocked the orange t-shirt filled house until 2am. I plan to return many times this week.

Random Missives

Watching the opening ceremonies with the locals made me want to be Chinese. I reveled in their pride and chanted with them when China appeared in the stadium. When the fireworks started, we all rushed outside to watch the sky light up above Tiananmen. We awed and ooed together and the sky in all it's glorious smog showed off its colors. What an amazing feeling to be a part of history. China had its coming out party and it went off with a blast. I could not be happier for this country and its people.

The people are so friendly, not counting the taxi drivers, and they go out of their way to help the foreigners. I often look lost and they try so hard to help me although it is in Chinese. They are considerably polite. I just hope the recent stabbing does not present such a negative view of this city and people. I feel so safe here. For the population of its size, Beijing has to be the safest city in the world. I feel safer here walking around at 2am then I would in any major city in the US. The Chinese are not violent in nature and their crimes would be scams more than anything. I do feel horrible for all the foreigners who lost tens of thousands of dollars in internet ticket scams. In the future, use only cosport.com to buy Olympic tickets. Anything else could be a regret.


Yesterday, within 5 minutes after leaving the confines of my air-conditioned apartment, I dripped sweat. The humidity is awful. To combat the heat, the men in the city wear wife beater t-shirts, or fold their shirts up to show their bellies or wear no shirt at all. Before leaving, NPR said that the Chinese government asked that men not wear their pajamas around the streets. I don't think many people listened because they are often wearing what could be cotton pj plaid shorts. Although the men lack any fashion sense, the women more than make up for it. The women are ultra fashionable and I am quite impressed with their style and attention to accessories. Their skirts could be a tad bit longer and somehow the women lack any leg muscles. They must not walk as much as I do.

Every day, I walk for miles around the city. I am tempted to rent a bike, but have resorted to the subways, buses and walking. Most everyone in the city bikes around because Beijing is so large, but I walk and my feet are swelling. To alleviate the pain, I went for a foot massage today. For $20, I received an hour massage just on my feet. My feet truly felt pampered after such an experience and I plan to give my back and shoulders a similar treat.

When I do take a taxi, I rely on having someone on the other end of my phone to tell the taxi driver where to go or I pick up business cards that can direct the taxi driver since none of them speak any English. And I definitely do not speak Mandarin. Mandarin is a difficult language to learn and I am impressed with the millions of Chinese who have immigrated to the US without knowing English. The characters and sounds are so different than English that I can't imagine just how difficult it must have been to set up new businesses in the US with the language barrier. Such a wonder.

My Rockstar Moment

For the opening ceremony day, I decided to dress up. I met David, an Aussie, who had his face painted and I could not help but follow his suit. Dave and I set off to wander the streets with our painted faces and in no time, we had created a mob scene. Dave even brought a fake torch and we started to chant "Go China" in Chinese. Everyone yelled with us and wanted to take our photo. I felt like a total rockstar! The police kept asking us to move because we kept creating a crowd and they didn't like that.

At one point, we stood on a platform and chanted “Go China”. Hundreds of Chinese joined in and chanted with us. I have never seen such a phenomenon. I even videotaped a bit, but unfortunately, Snowball can not translate my video. I will have to upload it another time. Upon seeing the police call us in, we left as the police van drove up to our site.


When we returned to the hostel, many others had joined us in the face paint. We had started a trend and the Brits made it even better with flags. Thankfully, Tom picked up an American flag for me while I was gone. When I put on the American flag, I suddenly felt like a superhero. We took our capes and hit the streets as a big superhero gang. We created an uproar and the Chinese loved it! We stopped for pictures along the way, and I realized this is what it must be like to be famous. Cameras could not stop capturing our photo and I almost went blind from all the flashes. Even the Americans wanted to take photos of me. We then went off in search of a place to watch the ceremony.




We did not have a real strategy of where we were going to watch the ceremony. We started at Tiananmen , and then headed to a park to see the ceremony on a big screen outside. After reaching the park, we decided to go back to Tiananmen where the action was suppose to be. Unfortunately, the police had quarantined the entire area and we could not get through. Hundreds of police lined the streets and moved the crowd farther and farther away from Tiananmen. We talked our way through a couple of police points, but eventually split up. The fireworks never happened when we thought they would and so we headed back. Cora, an American, and I had to convince the police to let us back across the police barricades to our hostel. We eventually convinced them and even received a personal police escort. We eventually met up with our friends and are watching the ceremony in the hostel. We will go out again after the ceremony and party it up with the millions of Chinese. The night is young.

Countdown to the Olympics

. Immediately upon arriving in Beijing, I sensed the Olympic excitement. Everywhere I turned, Olympic advertising floated throughout the newly built airport that just opened 3 months ago. Within 20 minutes, I had departed the plane, passed immigration, picked up my luggage and withdrawn money. That was the fastest I have ever made it through an airport. Congrats to the Chinese for accomplishing so much in their road to the Olympics. In fact, they are still building. At 10pm last night, I noticed many Chinese planting flowers in all the pots in the streets. At this point, China doesn't lack man power, but they do lack time. Construction continues with repainting everything white and in setting up TV screens, and in making the city pretty. Meanwhile, half the city wears volunteer Olympic t-shirts. Every street corner hosts a volunteer waiting to be useful. If they spoke English, I would find the volunteers useful, but instead I find myself lost in translation. I'm sure they are useful to the millions of camera carrying Chinese tourists who flood the streets. If I had claustrophobia issues, I might have problems being in this city because I think all of China has showed up in force.




Like me, they take photos of everything and in each photo, they hold up the peace sign. In following their lead, I did the same. The Olympics really are meant to symbolize peace and I will be interested to see how the protests afflict the Chinese government and their version of peace. The theme this year is "one world, one dream". As I look around, I believe this is China's dream to show the world how far they have come and who they really are. I am surrounded by Chinese National pride from the flag bearing kids to the grown men wearing I Love China shirts written in English to every shop displaying the Chinese flag outside. I, sadly, forgot to bring any American paraphernalia and so I bought a Chinese and Olympic flag to wave. Blasphemy, I'm sure.


When I look around the city, I see mainly smog. The skies are covered in haze and so it is difficult to see very far. To combat pollution, the Chinese government mandated that only license plates ending in even numbers can drive on even days and odd numbers on odd days. One lane is devoted strictly to the Olympics and so the traffic remains the same with the loss of a lane in every major street and highway. The government promises to keep the subways open 24 hrs during the opening ceremony day, but I get the feeling the government does whatever is most convenient for them and I am just waiting for a major shutdown due to ｐｒｏｔｅｓｔs.

Communism runs steep and sometimes I feel like I'm living in a Big Brother situation. The government is monitoring internet traffic along with cameras everywhere as I am told, but have not seen. Interestingly, if foreign residents do not register within 24 hrs with the police, the police show up. I'm staying with my friend Thomas for the first couple of weeks. When he failed to register after returning from a trip, the neighbors ratted on him and the police dropped by. I just found out that I am suppose to do same since I am in a residential neighborhood, and will try tomorrow. I think I have gotten away with it so far since I look Chinese.

The police are everywhere and I feel safe at night because of this. Although, I find them cumbersome. Today, when I tried to head to my future hostel for a tour to the Great Wall, I couldn't easily make it. The police had shut down the subways and all roads near Thomas' apartment around Tiananmen Square for the torch relay. I tried reasoning with the police, then I tried rushing the barricade and almost got arrested, then I tried blending in with the millions of Chinese lining up for the relay, but was ratted out, and then I tried to cab it across, but all the cab drivers refused to drive me. I thought about getting Thomas' bike and biking across, but finally got into a cab and had my hostel tell the cab driver how to get me across the barricade and to their hotel Thankfully, an hour and a half later, I made it just in time for my tour. In Guatemala, I gained a tremendous amount of patience just waiting for buses and taking the attitude that it is all about la experiencia. China is testing my patience and I am working hard to be patient with the Chinese government and the crowds. I just hope not to be deported.

By the way, I am not volunteering in China as I had hoped. The organization I had planned on working with, hands on disaster response www.hodr.org, just could not get past the bureaucracy in China to set up camp in the earthquake zone. So, instead I will just focus on the Olympics since I had set up this trip 10 months ago and 8 months before I figured out my year off. This trip was my birthday present to myself.