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.