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.