I arrive at the velodrome yesterday delightfully surprised that I have once again been placed in the broadcast mixed zone. Regardless of the evil Pinky and her entourage, I really enjoy the broadcast zone. There really wasn't much for us to change, except to get closer when we are trying to hear what the athletes are saying to the sportscaster. I really need to take a picture of this for you all. Let me try to describe it. When you see any athlete interviewed on tv, it looks like it is the athlete, anchor, and the camera man. In actuality, it is those three, one or two people like me standing DIRECTLY behind the sportscaster and crouching below the camera, and to each side there are about 10 or 12 more cameras fighting for the next interview. It is pure madness. That doesn't even give it justice. I'll try to take a picture today, hopefully I won't get caught.
Yesterdays events were Men's Pursuit, Women's Pursuit, Points Race, and Keirin. I'll describe the new ones to you.
Keirin: Riders race two and half laps sprint after riding for five behind a motorized pacer (derny). Similar to riding behind a pace car in racing. The derny starts at 30km and gradually increases speed to 50 km/hour, before dropping off. (Many of us have a life goal of riding the derny some day.)
Points Race: Riders race 160 laps (men) and 100 laps (women). Every 10 laps a sprint race is held, those finishing in first, second, third and fourth receive 5, 3, 2, 1 points respectively. If a rider laps the crowd 20 points are awarded, if a rider is lapped by the crowd 20 points are taken away. The winner is the person who has the most points.
So women's qualifying once again proved that Great Britain is the team to beat here. The Gold/Silver race is between two British women, so no matter what they will take one-two. By the way, the final racers are determined by their times in the semi-finals. The fastest two riders will race for Gold and Silver, while the other two race for Bronze. The bronze medal racers have no chance of receiving anything other than the Bronze, even if both their times are faster than the riders in the other race. So the British will be taking home at least two more medals today.
The day starts with more Men's Pursuit qualifications. Poor Taylor Phinney rode four seconds slower today, playing him 8th at the end of the day. Not horrible for your first Olympics. All the favorites and expected winners moved on as they were supposed to, there were no big upsets. When the women raced Hammer (USA) started out in front but gradually through out the race fell back and ended up almost 2 seconds behind the winner of her race. It wasn't America's day.
The Keirin heats began immediately after the Pursuit qualifications. It was decided that we make a 5 yuan wager to see who would make the medal podium. None of us did well because one of the favorites, Theo Bos was involved in a crash during the end of one of his runs. We all had him on the podium, essentially we each only had one person up there. Other than the crash things went pretty much according to plan. In each heat there were 6 riders out there and the top two move on. Then there are repechages; the best way I can describe these is that they are ride in races. Four cyclists go out and the top person from each heat works his way back into the race. There is probably more behind it, but that is the way I understood it yesterday. The Keirin went on and off all afternoon, ending with Great Britain sending two people to the medal podium.
I really enjoyed watching the points race. It is a long race, about 40 minutes and the leader changes constantly for the first half and then it starts to level off. The USA rider, Bobby Lea started off strong but then left the race and ended up not finishing. I have no clue what happened to him but he was one of two to not finish. Again we had made our guesses on who would win, NONE of mine were in the top three, however, I did get two of the top five. The medalists were Spain, Germany, and G. Britain. (BARF!) All three were very emotional after the race. In the press conference the Spanish and British men discussed how cycling training really takes a toll on family life, the Spanish man even went as far as saying that after the 19th he would no longer participate in competitive cycling. I really liked the Spanish guy. He didn't speak much, if any, English, but what was translated to us was much deeper than most of the cyclists give you. Even the British guy was pretty insightful.
Yesterday's press conferences were nothing short of a disaster. They were all running late, not to the fault of anyone in charge of the P.C. but because the events were running late. One of them started out casual and turned into the p.c. and then had athletes walking in and out. Even athletes from different events up on the stand at the same time. The Gold medalist from one of the races never showed. Pure Chaos.
An update on Pinky, today she adorned lace and see through white pants. I am starting to think she needs a stylist, and quickly. Pinky however, was nothing compared to her new friend Witchy. Witchy is a Canadian woman that looks like a witch. She is skin and bones, almost to the point where she looks sickly. She has long black hair with grey highlights (she is not at the age where her hair should be LONGER than mine.) The back of her legs are apparently unshaven and she thinks she is the new moderator of the broadcast zone. Amy and I walk up behind Pinky in an attempt to double team the athlete that might be coming down and Witchy butts in saying "Only one of you should scribe." THANK YOU! I didn't knooow you were just promoted to Broadcast Manager. Where did (insert name here because I forgot it) go? Oh speaking of what's his face, he had the most retarded analogy EVER today. The Eurosport guys, my favorite, were gravitating over into two EMPTY slots because well, they were empty. Terd butt comes over and asks them to move because and I quote "This is televised live and the people who have these spots know where their spot is. If they see you in their spot it is kind of like you walking into your hotel room and finding another person in your bed." I kid you not my friends. I swear I am going to write a book about the ridiculous things that happened here and everyone is going to think I made it up because they are so out there. But from now on, watch out for those people who come into your hotel room and try to steal your bed. (HUGE EYE ROLL!!!)
Anyway, we now have Pinky and Witchy to deal with. As either Traci or Andrea or Lauren put it, Witchy is the kid on the playground who just got invited to play by the cool kids and now has to act like them in order to fit in. So true. She was fine yesterday, but apparently she banded together with Pinky in an attempt to destroy all hopes of us FQRs.
At the end of the day, the Brits send five people to the podium, Spain one, New Zealand one, Germany one, and I cannot remember the other person who won. America did nothing at all, the only real disappointment was Sarah Hammer. She should have been in the Bronze medal race tomorrow. We have a few more chances for track cycling medals, but the only one expected to actually achieve a medal is Jenny Reed. Hopefully she will avenge the Americans for at least one race.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
pinky part II...
I wish I had had more time yesterday. I was in the blogging groove and now I seem to have lost my rhythm of yesterday's blog.
Once the medal ceremony ended yesterday the athletes traveled through the broadcast mixed zone. Bringing me within reaching distance of the medals, as I previously mentioned. I can't tell you how hard it is to be listening to a Frenchman ramble off some answer in French and all the while not just stick your hand out there for one little touch. There were times where I almost had to physically restrain myself. Anyway, while in the broadcast zone Pinky and her friends all asked similar questions, and most of the athletes give the typical canned, cliche answers. Heck, if I had just won an Olympic medal I would not have the cognitive ability to flesh out something new and profound. I would most definitely default to the boring "I am very happy. I have worked very hard for this." But when you are trying to get something fresh and genuine, while fighting feverishly to defend yourself against Pinky's pointy elbows there is a different mind set. The worst part of this whole thing is that the Germans and French are only speaking in German and French, which means us language challenged people have not written anything down about the Bronze or Silver medals. AWESOME.
We rush downstairs to meet the 10 min deadline. (i.e. we have ten minutes from the time the medal ceremony ends to get in all the flash quotes. It's really not as bad as it seems, especially because nothing EVER seems to be running on time.) Soon after the Press Conference starts so we jump on over there, but not before we have a run in with the local volunteers trying to deny us access. (Friday was consumed by BOCOC and domestic volunteers telling us "no.") Krystyna got on that and all was good in flash quoting world again.
The press conference was no different than the rest of the day, chaotic. Although, I do have to say, it was much better than the test runs. During the test runs they had domestic volunteers doing the translations and we were concerned that would be the "professional translations" they kept speaking of. They did in fact have qualified translators, so that part went quite well. The room was full of British journalists trying to have a one-on-one with the three Brits who had just won the Gold. Nothing we being asked of the Silver and Bronze medalists. Traci had to step in and ask a question to her best friends, the Germans. I felt really bad because when the Brits decided to leave most of the journalists left, some in the middle of a response from the Germans. I realize this happens all the time, but their answers and moment were just as important as the stupid Brits who think they own the cycling world. (I'm not really a fan of the British team or their press agent who anxiously hovers over every interview just waiting for some one to say something that she needs to fix or retract. ANNOYING.)
The Women's and Men's Pursuit qualifications were nothing too riveting. Both USA cyclists, Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer qualified, but by no means were they exceptional. Those races became more exciting the second day when there was more competition.
Since nothing was running on time we didn't get out of there until almost 9:30. It had been decided a few days ago we would go out with our managers after work that day to the Holland House. During the Olympics each country sets up it's own house to host the athletes and visitors. Being media we are allowed to go to any of the houses and apparently Holland House is the best one. By the time we ate and met up with Amy it was decently late, it was still a blast. Maybe we'll go back when we have more time. Who knows.
The first day was generally how any first day of an event goes. Things were being changed on the fly, new rules were being made, and nothing seemed to go according to plan. We had significant trouble with BOCOG trying to keep people out of the mixed zone. They "hired" us to do this job and Friday they were trying to prevent us from doing it. They wanted only two people in there to interview anywhere from 3 to 9 athletes. That's not going to work. But, as we have done this entire trip, we rolled with the punches and did what we could. I have to say, if there is one thing I have really learned while in China it's adaptability and flexibility. If I wrote about all the times we had to just go with the flow I would be writing until the next Olympics.
Once the medal ceremony ended yesterday the athletes traveled through the broadcast mixed zone. Bringing me within reaching distance of the medals, as I previously mentioned. I can't tell you how hard it is to be listening to a Frenchman ramble off some answer in French and all the while not just stick your hand out there for one little touch. There were times where I almost had to physically restrain myself. Anyway, while in the broadcast zone Pinky and her friends all asked similar questions, and most of the athletes give the typical canned, cliche answers. Heck, if I had just won an Olympic medal I would not have the cognitive ability to flesh out something new and profound. I would most definitely default to the boring "I am very happy. I have worked very hard for this." But when you are trying to get something fresh and genuine, while fighting feverishly to defend yourself against Pinky's pointy elbows there is a different mind set. The worst part of this whole thing is that the Germans and French are only speaking in German and French, which means us language challenged people have not written anything down about the Bronze or Silver medals. AWESOME.
We rush downstairs to meet the 10 min deadline. (i.e. we have ten minutes from the time the medal ceremony ends to get in all the flash quotes. It's really not as bad as it seems, especially because nothing EVER seems to be running on time.) Soon after the Press Conference starts so we jump on over there, but not before we have a run in with the local volunteers trying to deny us access. (Friday was consumed by BOCOC and domestic volunteers telling us "no.") Krystyna got on that and all was good in flash quoting world again.
The press conference was no different than the rest of the day, chaotic. Although, I do have to say, it was much better than the test runs. During the test runs they had domestic volunteers doing the translations and we were concerned that would be the "professional translations" they kept speaking of. They did in fact have qualified translators, so that part went quite well. The room was full of British journalists trying to have a one-on-one with the three Brits who had just won the Gold. Nothing we being asked of the Silver and Bronze medalists. Traci had to step in and ask a question to her best friends, the Germans. I felt really bad because when the Brits decided to leave most of the journalists left, some in the middle of a response from the Germans. I realize this happens all the time, but their answers and moment were just as important as the stupid Brits who think they own the cycling world. (I'm not really a fan of the British team or their press agent who anxiously hovers over every interview just waiting for some one to say something that she needs to fix or retract. ANNOYING.)
The Women's and Men's Pursuit qualifications were nothing too riveting. Both USA cyclists, Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer qualified, but by no means were they exceptional. Those races became more exciting the second day when there was more competition.
Since nothing was running on time we didn't get out of there until almost 9:30. It had been decided a few days ago we would go out with our managers after work that day to the Holland House. During the Olympics each country sets up it's own house to host the athletes and visitors. Being media we are allowed to go to any of the houses and apparently Holland House is the best one. By the time we ate and met up with Amy it was decently late, it was still a blast. Maybe we'll go back when we have more time. Who knows.
The first day was generally how any first day of an event goes. Things were being changed on the fly, new rules were being made, and nothing seemed to go according to plan. We had significant trouble with BOCOG trying to keep people out of the mixed zone. They "hired" us to do this job and Friday they were trying to prevent us from doing it. They wanted only two people in there to interview anywhere from 3 to 9 athletes. That's not going to work. But, as we have done this entire trip, we rolled with the punches and did what we could. I have to say, if there is one thing I have really learned while in China it's adaptability and flexibility. If I wrote about all the times we had to just go with the flow I would be writing until the next Olympics.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Gold medals within reach...
Olympic News:
- Liukin was spectacular in the Women's All-Around Yesterday, taking Gold. Johnson, who did nothing less than her normal was hurt by her bar routine and took Silver.
- Phelps is 6/6 (and as I am writing this 7/7 with his closest win yet .01 seconds!!) I am starting to get bored of him.
- We surpassed China yesterday in medal count and we are currently a comfortable 7 medals up. We still have a lot of ground to make up in the Gold medal count.
- Right now I am watching Men's speed walking; it is the funniest thing I have ever seen. This is a sad excuse for an Olympic Event.
Let's talk about how I was less than an arm's reach away from three Olympic Gold medals yesterday AND three Olympic Silver medals. All I wanted to do was reach out my little hand for a touch. Just a touch. I wouldn't take it. I would even put hand sanitizer on before touching it! But given the fact that I have to act professional, I begrudgenly restrained myself. I am sure by the end of these two weeks I will be just as used to Gold medals as Phelps. RIIGHT.
I didn't have to be at the Velodrome until 3:00 yesterday because events didn't start until 4:30. I spent the morning doing what I do best. Sitting in my bed watching the Olympics. Because the medal ceremony was so late for the gymnastics I had to rush to get ready because we now have a shuttle!!! While I cherished my long, sweaty rides, playing running of the dragon, and fighting for a seat, I my happy to be done with the subway.
When we got to the Velodrome I got a little camera happy, we all know I am not a camera happy person. I couldn't help myself. Plus it was a rare blue sky day so I had to take advantage. I was the stinky kid yesterday. Not by choice or lack of proper bathing. I pulled the smelly ONS bib out of the pile. It reeked. By the end of the day my shirt smelled enough that people started to think it actually might be me. We hid the bib to ensure that no one else would have to suffer the same shame and humiliation I did.
Shortly after arrival we are assigned our positions, mine being the broadcast zone. I was pretty excited about this placement, until I met Pinky. Amy took the three of us up there to get in the good graces of the broadcasting people. They are even more touchy than the journalists so you really have to butter them up. The EuroSport people were awesome. They warned us most of their interviews would be in German and French but were more than willing to translate if need be. Then there was Pinky. BBC Sports. Amy walks up, introduces herself and Pinky goes, "I know who you people are. I have dealt with you before. Stay out of the shot and if you get in the way I may ask you to move. Don't take it personally." We all take a few steps back at that response. However, Pinky proceeds to stare me down for a few seconds. I guess in an attempt to break me. Then she says, "I may get a little snippy and I have pointy elbows so watch out." At that we completely walk away. Pinky does not belong there for numerous reasons. Let me lay them out for you.
- She is too old to be a women's sportscaster.
- She is NOT cute.
- She is wearing a pink polo with a white and pink skirt, hence the beloved nickname Pinky.
- Her collar was popped. MAJOR NO!
- PLUS she is wearing her accreditation pass around her waste like a huge TOOL!
The main problem with Pinky is that we can't avoid her. The way her camera is setup makes it really difficult to get to the Australian Channel 7, CCTV, French or Germany. All of which are important groups of people that some one needs to be standing by. At one point she even tried to stop us from going through because she didn't want us to possibly move in front of the camera. So the number one rule of broadcasting zone is...don't piss off Pinky.
I get the lucky first stab at being by Pinky. The plan was to move past her before the races start and then freely move beyond that point. Wrong-o. I get over there and I am sandwiched in between her camera and some French guy's camera. I catch Amy's eye and tell her this isn't going to work. She comes over only to get another dose of Pinky. "I am not doing any interviews right now and I can't have people standing here in my line of sight." Uhh ok. What broadcasting school did you go to that you can't learn how to ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS! Stupid woman. We walk away from her and decide we will deal with Pinky only when it is completely necessary.
Before I can tell you about the events for the day it would probably be beneficial to explain them. Otherwise these are just words that mean absolutely NOTHING. There were only two events yesterday, Men's Team Sprint and Men's & Women's Individual Pursuit.
Men's Team Sprint: This is a team of three cyclists. Each lead for a lap and then break off for the next cyclist to take the lead. Basically the entire race lasts about 45 seconds, and that seems to be a slow time. There are two teams out on the track each starting on opposite sides.
Individual Pursuit: With this event the object is to try and catch the other person. Two people are on the track, again positioned on opposite sides. The race is about 4 min 25 seconds, the length is 4 km for men and 3 km for women. Recording the fastest time or catching the other rider determines the winner.
If you really are looking to understand these I would go to youtube and try to find a video. It is hard to visualize unless you see it. So the only medal event yesterday was Men's Team Sprint. We had a crash on the very first race, boy does that look painful. The US team qualified for semi-finals, but didn't make it to the medal races. FYI eight teams qualify for semi's and then four move on to the two medal races. At that point the teams with the two best times in semi's compete for Gold and Silver and the other two compete for Bronze and the disdained, oh so close, fourth place. The qualifying races for Team Sprint are nothing to really write home about. They weren't OVERLY exciting, but the finals were SO EXCITING! The Bronze medal race was between Germany and Australia. We had a hard time choosing who to root for, but given that we are impartial we didn't really root for anyone. Ha. Traci and I decided we had to go with our blood, Germany. We love our new Aussie friends, but it's blood. Plus I interviewed one of the guys and he is just the nicest person ever!!! RIGHT CHOICE! They won in the last lap. The Aussie's were leading the entire time but in the last lap the German's over took them. They were so excited and crying. I love when athletes cry. I know it sound cheesy but it is so genuine. I have watched these guys practice for the last few weeks. I have talked to them about their expectations and to see them succeed it really gut wrenching. Tangent. The Brits and Frenchmen (the favorites) raced for Gold and Silver. Now that was exciting. The Brits had a World Record time in the qualifying race, surpassing the three time World Champion French team. Honestly, we didn't care who won because the Brits wouldn't talk to us for the last week and the French are the French. I know I'm not a nice person. I have come to terms with that. The Brits pull off a semi-upset, but given that they were predicted to win Silver, it wasn't all that shocking.
After the Brits did a couple victory laps, took their photos, and hugged their families the medal ceremony started. While the athletes were in doping control a color guard of Chinese sorts brings out the flags. I was impressed to see they treat each flag with the same reverence given to theirs. The flags were placed on the bar and held there until it was time to raise them. Then we saw the beautiful Chinese women bring out the flowers and medals. We were particularly proud of them because we have watched them go from water bottle laps in the velodrome to real medals and flowers. Oh so grown up. Anyway, despite the fact that it wasn't the USA there was still a certain excitement being there.
I really want to write more and I have pictures to post, however, I have to leave for work in 45 minutes and I have yet to shower. So when I arrive home tonight I will give you the rest of this blog post, complete with photos, and a rundown on today's Pinky interactions!! Haha. I just realized that I will probably get this done before you even have the opportunity to see the first blog!
Friday, August 15, 2008
food coma...
Yesterday I boycotted all Olympic coverage. It was my best attempt to stick it to the man. Actually, there really wasn't anything of interest on. The men did not stand a chance in Men's All-Around, Phelps did not swim until night time and they don't show any night swimming, plus it was only a qualifying race, and I would have watched Women's Softball, however, it poured here yesterday so all our door events were postponed. Given that it was raining I did not want to leave the safety of my dorm. So I watched Grey's Anatomy. Great day!
It eventually stopped raining yesterday, which cooled things off quite a bit. I actually wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt last night. I never thought I would be so excited to wear jeans! Kelsey and Phil were on a mission to get everyone to go eat Italian food. We went to Annie's, now given my Italian food snobbery, I was VERY skeptical of an Italian place called Annie's. Even if it had been Anna's I would have been less hesitant. Anyway, the menu is plopped down in front of us and I lose all rational thinking. Do I want a Caprice salad? Or traditional Spaghetti? Or Risotto? I didn't know what to look at first. Thankfully I had my trusty food sidekick Andrea there with me to pull off a traditional Megan/Andrea dinner. Seeing as we both are kind of picky we choose two meals and in true Chinese, and Italian, fashion we share the meals. Last night we settled on Spinach Ravioli and Fettichini Alfredo! OH DEAR LORD! I was in food heaven. The spinach ravioli was in a creamy white sauce, with a spinach dough and probably the best thing I have eaten in my entire life. Andrea inhaled her half before I could even graze over my half of the Alfredo. The Alfredo was Alfredo, but the best stinking Alfredo in the entire world! Seeing as my food baby, Brunhilda, was starting to show I couldn't even bare to finish the Alfredo (the spinach ravioli was LOOONG gone). Then came dessert. Now I don't normally get dessert but there was this little voice in my head, no not my conscience, it was Laura Shu telling me to do it. She kept saying, "Remember that time in Rome when we ate our Easter dinner and we got tiramasu and you loved it. Do it again. This is like Easter, but not at all." So Laura made me do it. I got tiramasu and nearly went into a food coma it was so good. It was little individually made cakes with the lady fingers completely drenched. I dare say it was BETTER than Italy. Now you are probably wondering what a meal like this would cost me. $15, maybe $20 bucks. OOOOH contrare my little friends. It was only $9.00. NINE! For this glorious feast!!! I guess I was wrong about the name of the restaurant. Annie knows her Italian!
Oh it gets better. Next store is Cindy Lous, or Lucy Lou, something to that nature. An American grocery store. No where in Italy did they have these groceries (at least not to my knowledge). So after eating ourselves into food comas we decide to further the damage and go check out the store. Seeing as we only have 11 days left (TEARRRR) we were all really glad we didn't find this place sooner because we would be a few dollars poorer and about 600 pounds heavier. All the American goods you could dream of were in here, at premium price of course. Ranch ran you $6.00 a bottle, a box of cereal $7.50. They had Ritter sport, snack packs, diet cherry 7-up (which we don't think you can even find back in the USA) lunch meat, cheese, and the list goes on. (I think I am hungry.) Like I said, we have been here almost 6 weeks already and survived so none of us went crazy, just a few essentials, granola bars and gummy worms. I got 'shrooms her salt and vinegar chips she has been dying for.
Given all that I have written about today, food, it was brought up last night at the dinner table that our lives are run by food. After pondering that for a moment I couldn't help but agree. Each day we live for (and sometimes dread) our next meal. What new place will we find? What mysterious food will be in the box lunch today? The funny thing is, as soon as we finish one meal we are instantly discussing the next one. Typically it is in regards to a craving we have or regrets about not getting a certain item on the menu. Half of our energy goes into the next meal. It is so bad we have already started to discuss the infamous first meal back after being abroad. I don't even remember what mine was from Italy, maybe a cheeseburger, who knows. Traci is set on a huge slab of meat. I am still pondering all the possibilities, ribs, veal parm, a HUGE salad. The possibilities are endless. But like I said, we are consumed by food.
I am not sure there is any Olympic news to bring you. Maybe if I wasn't boycotting the tv (which will end today because Phelps is swimming and Lukin and Johnson are competiting in all around) I would know more. Actually, I just looked it up and I don't know if we got many medals yesterday. Swimming severely suffered without Phelps out there to energize his teammates and there were only 15 medal ceremonies yesterday, the third lowest amount in all 18 days. Like I have already said 500 times, today starts competition in the Velodrome. Added bonus, we now have a SHUTTLE! No more subway and sweating! I can look like a human! The French are HEAVILY favored to win, but the Germans pulled a huge upset last Olympics and are hoping to do the same here. Other favorites include Great Britain and the Netherlands. I am so overly excited and nervous at the same time. It's an excited nervousness. This is the culmination of everything I have worked for, including the essays way back when. I probably won't get to talk to the athletes one-on-one anymore because all the reporters are now here, but who cares!!! I hope some cycling is on, it actually is really exciting!
I will try to take photos, but the rules are not to take them while the event is happening, it ruins our credibility. We have already had issues with the domestic volunteers running up to cyclists asking for autographs. It just looks really bad! So I can't promise original photos, but I can promise that I will steal them from any website I can find!
BYEEEE!
It eventually stopped raining yesterday, which cooled things off quite a bit. I actually wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt last night. I never thought I would be so excited to wear jeans! Kelsey and Phil were on a mission to get everyone to go eat Italian food. We went to Annie's, now given my Italian food snobbery, I was VERY skeptical of an Italian place called Annie's. Even if it had been Anna's I would have been less hesitant. Anyway, the menu is plopped down in front of us and I lose all rational thinking. Do I want a Caprice salad? Or traditional Spaghetti? Or Risotto? I didn't know what to look at first. Thankfully I had my trusty food sidekick Andrea there with me to pull off a traditional Megan/Andrea dinner. Seeing as we both are kind of picky we choose two meals and in true Chinese, and Italian, fashion we share the meals. Last night we settled on Spinach Ravioli and Fettichini Alfredo! OH DEAR LORD! I was in food heaven. The spinach ravioli was in a creamy white sauce, with a spinach dough and probably the best thing I have eaten in my entire life. Andrea inhaled her half before I could even graze over my half of the Alfredo. The Alfredo was Alfredo, but the best stinking Alfredo in the entire world! Seeing as my food baby, Brunhilda, was starting to show I couldn't even bare to finish the Alfredo (the spinach ravioli was LOOONG gone). Then came dessert. Now I don't normally get dessert but there was this little voice in my head, no not my conscience, it was Laura Shu telling me to do it. She kept saying, "Remember that time in Rome when we ate our Easter dinner and we got tiramasu and you loved it. Do it again. This is like Easter, but not at all." So Laura made me do it. I got tiramasu and nearly went into a food coma it was so good. It was little individually made cakes with the lady fingers completely drenched. I dare say it was BETTER than Italy. Now you are probably wondering what a meal like this would cost me. $15, maybe $20 bucks. OOOOH contrare my little friends. It was only $9.00. NINE! For this glorious feast!!! I guess I was wrong about the name of the restaurant. Annie knows her Italian!
Oh it gets better. Next store is Cindy Lous, or Lucy Lou, something to that nature. An American grocery store. No where in Italy did they have these groceries (at least not to my knowledge). So after eating ourselves into food comas we decide to further the damage and go check out the store. Seeing as we only have 11 days left (TEARRRR) we were all really glad we didn't find this place sooner because we would be a few dollars poorer and about 600 pounds heavier. All the American goods you could dream of were in here, at premium price of course. Ranch ran you $6.00 a bottle, a box of cereal $7.50. They had Ritter sport, snack packs, diet cherry 7-up (which we don't think you can even find back in the USA) lunch meat, cheese, and the list goes on. (I think I am hungry.) Like I said, we have been here almost 6 weeks already and survived so none of us went crazy, just a few essentials, granola bars and gummy worms. I got 'shrooms her salt and vinegar chips she has been dying for.
Given all that I have written about today, food, it was brought up last night at the dinner table that our lives are run by food. After pondering that for a moment I couldn't help but agree. Each day we live for (and sometimes dread) our next meal. What new place will we find? What mysterious food will be in the box lunch today? The funny thing is, as soon as we finish one meal we are instantly discussing the next one. Typically it is in regards to a craving we have or regrets about not getting a certain item on the menu. Half of our energy goes into the next meal. It is so bad we have already started to discuss the infamous first meal back after being abroad. I don't even remember what mine was from Italy, maybe a cheeseburger, who knows. Traci is set on a huge slab of meat. I am still pondering all the possibilities, ribs, veal parm, a HUGE salad. The possibilities are endless. But like I said, we are consumed by food.
I am not sure there is any Olympic news to bring you. Maybe if I wasn't boycotting the tv (which will end today because Phelps is swimming and Lukin and Johnson are competiting in all around) I would know more. Actually, I just looked it up and I don't know if we got many medals yesterday. Swimming severely suffered without Phelps out there to energize his teammates and there were only 15 medal ceremonies yesterday, the third lowest amount in all 18 days. Like I have already said 500 times, today starts competition in the Velodrome. Added bonus, we now have a SHUTTLE! No more subway and sweating! I can look like a human! The French are HEAVILY favored to win, but the Germans pulled a huge upset last Olympics and are hoping to do the same here. Other favorites include Great Britain and the Netherlands. I am so overly excited and nervous at the same time. It's an excited nervousness. This is the culmination of everything I have worked for, including the essays way back when. I probably won't get to talk to the athletes one-on-one anymore because all the reporters are now here, but who cares!!! I hope some cycling is on, it actually is really exciting!
I will try to take photos, but the rules are not to take them while the event is happening, it ruins our credibility. We have already had issues with the domestic volunteers running up to cyclists asking for autographs. It just looks really bad! So I can't promise original photos, but I can promise that I will steal them from any website I can find!
BYEEEE!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
confusion and frustration...
Olympic News:
- Phelps as you know, is now 5/5. Once again breaking two world records, absolutely obliterating the previous 4 x 200 Free Relay. Not to mention finishing almost seven seconds before the rest of the pack. This now makes him the winningest Olympian EVER. I posed this question today...can one ever get sick of winning Olympic medals?
- The USA Women's Gymnastics team fell as little short today. Falling being the keyword. Sacramone once again crushed under pressure and for the first time EVER I saw Shawn Johnson make a mistake by stepping out of bounds. It's ok, silver is prettier anyway.
- France won its first wresting Gold medal in 84 years. That is almost as bad as not winning a World Series in 100, Cubs still win there.
- USA got some cycling medals today!! Kristen Armstrong got a Gold medal in the Women's Time Trial, I missed it because it was nap time, but I heard that she was pretty emotional. In the Men's Time Trial Levi Leipheimer came in third. Good day!
I had another day off today, that was good because my favorite event in the Olympics was on. GYMNASTICS. As you will see we started out pretty solid, but pressure got to some of the girls towards the end. I was actually pretty disappointed in them. They had it in reach and all they had to do was do what they do best, the floor. The floor exercise scores were INCREDIBLY low, for both teams, but man Sacramone. She just crumbles under pressure.
In my continuous attempts to bring you something exciting I have decided today I would blog about my top three China frustrations.
1. Staring. I have a new pet peeve. Staring. It might have always bothered me, but it has pushed me to the brink of insanity this last week. Here's the deal. I have spoken to you of the subway. We do our thing, LIKE EVERYONE else and the Chinese people look at us like we are nuts. When we actually get a seat on the train people glare at us as if we were stealing a child or something ridiculous. When we eat people gawk like we are rabid animals that have meandered in for a feast. Then there are the times I will look up and some one will just be staring. I will stare back for a good 5 or 10 seconds but that does nothing. It is just getting really old. I know I sound hateful, but the fact of the matter is, I am. Not only is it really awkward but it is rude. I believe I read some where that it isn't rude here but it isn't like we are novelty anymore. People from all over the world have been flooding in here for the last two weeks; we aren't the freaking circus. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Ok now I will take a more rational approach to this. I realize we are a bit of a novelty. It's not often this many westerners are in Beijing, let alone traveling the subways and shopping in the malls. Additionally, I realize that things that are wrong in one culture are perfectly acceptable in another. So to a certain extent I can understand the fascination and the staring. The thing I least understand is how they aren't weirded out when I stare back. I can only stare back for so long before my eyes dart away because I feel awkward. The whole thing baffles me.
2. No USA Olympics coverage. I don't even know where to start with this one because it frustrates me so incredibly much. Each morning I check the Olympic schedule. First going to swimming to see what Phelps is up to for the day, what records he will break, then I look at the other events to see if there is anything I like. Of course there are. Softball, basketball (some days), the list goes on. However, I have learned not to expect to see anything USA unless we are competing against China and even then if we are doing well it will be blocked out. Like yesterday when Nastia Lukin got a 16.8 on the bars and it was not shown because she performed better than all the Chinese girls. The only thing that is always on is the swimming finals each morning. I don't think they could skip that given that all the swimmers are breaking records and such. But even at the end of that they don't show interviews from anyone other than the Chinese people who didn't win anything. Instead of showing any USA events they replay the little 14 or 15 year old winning the 48kg weight lifting or replay a basketball game that China already lost. I honestly do not understand the reasoning behind it. It is not like the Chinese people are going to see an American race or game and start cheering for the USA. I have seen more shooting and weight lifting that I have ever cared to. And if you want to talk about how shooting is the most pitiful excuse of an Olympic event, I am all ears. Anyway, I have no rational approach on this one.
3. Spitting. Originally Mom said I couldn't write about this, but given the fact that the Today Show did a special segment on it Mom approved the blog topic. For those of you who don't know it is perfectly acceptable to spit on the road here, or anywhere for that matter. We will be walking down the road or sitting in our rooms and suddenly we'll hear it. A loud throat hawk. Disgusting? You bet! Why am I sharing these details with you? Because I want you to experience all the joy I do on a daily basis. Then the person disposes it by any means necessary. When this happens we all search for the culprit because at home that is just not heard of. Upon exchanging looks the Chinese person typically looks at us like "What's the problem?" and we give them the "That is super disgusting" look. (As I speak I can hear the men across the hall clearing their lungs. It's precious.) According to my mom, there is a job that requires a person to go around and clean up spit after other people. Then if they catch some one spitting they hand them a card that says "Please be more responsible." It is just SUPER gross and typically makes me want to throw up. I am sure you're glad I shared.
So those are my three frustrations. I really needed to vent about them so I hope you don't think I am completely horrible. I am trying to take a rational, objective approach but sometimes I cannot see the light. It is my last and final day off. Competition starts tomorrow, the first medal is Men's Team Sprint. The French are heavily favored to win so that should be exciting and fun. There is a Frenchman who is at his 5th and final Olympics. I am just all around excited for tomorrow and the next week. I can't believe I only have 12 days left here. It feels like just yesterday I was at 12 days to go, bouncing off the walls of the office driving Carol and David crazy! (I know you two are so excited to see me in a few short weeks!!!!)
Now I am off to find something exciting to eat for lunch!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
surprises lurk around every corner...
The lady on the subway changed. She used to be a little Chinese lady that wore mismatched clothes and tiny slippers. Each stop she would come on the loud speaker and say "Da next esstation is Guomao. Please prepare for your arrival" Last Friday this new woman surprised us. She sounded all western and instead of a cute Chinese lady she is a white woman wearing the trendiest clothes. In her perfect English she says "The next station is, GUOmao. Please get ready to get off." I don't like her. I miss our old lady. I want the Chinese woman back.
And remember how I told you I was going to give you the Olympic facts of the day. Well apparently that was a computer lie. There have been no more facts since Friday. Therefore, I will continue to bring the Olympic news for the day but sadly no more facts. Unless I for some strange reason find myself in desperate need of something to do.
So first and foremost, let me bring you the Olympic news of today. I am going to assume that you already know what happened on Sunday and Monday.
Olympic News:
But as we watch we slowly see Lezak creep in. With 10 meters left it seems impossible, no impractical, that this man might pull off the race of his life. Everyone in the office was going crazy. I stopped dictating flash quotes, Amy and Krystyna (Aussies) we screaming along side us. My heart stopped for that split second where we didn't know who won. Then you saw Michael Phelps' Hulk impersonation. One of those iconic Olympic moments. An emotional image that will appear with the countless other impossibles. My heart was racing, which leaves me to believe that those actually involved in the race were near eruption. After all the talk from the French about how they would crush the USA, blah blah blah, it was great to see them less than a blink away from winning. Karma, it comes biting back. This race was the ultimate "the thrill of victory. The agony of defeat" moment. (Anyone with a newspaper from Tuesday with Phelps plastered on the front, please keep it for me!)
Yesterday afternoon I interviewed Taylor Phinney, the 18 year old American cyclist who's parents were Olympic medalists. He was very chatty for an 18 year old boy and gave Andrea and me a lot of great quotes. When we finally left the velodrome yesterday it was well past our normal feeding time. There is an Outback by the mall so a couple of us relished in the thought of a Bloomin' Onion. Andrea and Lauren tried to go the other day but were declined because they didn't have the proper accreditation. We tried to get it, but we were declined. Apparently to dine at the fancy Outback Steakhouse you must have a reservation within the hotel or know people who are staying there. What? As Lauren put it, "it isn't the Ritz Carlton." The Asian volunteer got very snippy with us, (some one should warn him about hungry American girls) but we were too exhausted and hungry to fight. Seriously! Outback. Fancy. HA.
We didn't get home until late last night so we just watched team USA crush China. Again. Two nights in a row. I think the final score was 100-something to 50. Nice job girls. I started to work on an article about Taylor Phinney and that pretty much brought me to midnight.
If you are wondering about the weekend, I did what I normally do at home when it is Olympic time. I sat in my bed (at home it would be a couch) and watched as many Olympic events I could take in. They say it is impossible to get tickets, it is all sold out (even though the stadiums are not full) so we have to resort to comfy option B...my bed. Since there are so many CCTV channels I was able to soak up a lot of quality Olympic time. It was the best weekend of my life.
In other news, we received toilet paper, paper towels, ANND soap at the velodrome this weekend. It was like Christmas come early. They promised there would be paper and soap products come Olympic time and boy did they deliver. I don't know what we did to deserve it. (Side note: never in a million years did I think I would blog about the excitement involved with receiving a new roll of toilet paper.) Midst the bathroom hubbub some actual exciting news came early Sunday morning. Jane received some events tickets for us! YEAHAAHAH! A bunch of people went to beach volleyball Monday morning but I was scheduled to work. Not willing to give up my Taylor Phinney interview I decided to pass. But the BIGGEER news... Saturday we have tickets to go to the athletics events at the Bird's Nest!!! The only problem is we have three medal events that day. It has been decided that after we are finished we are going to haul it up there, get a view from the inside, take our pictures, and see whatever we can. I'll take whatever I can get. I am also considering waking up early tomorrow morning to see if there is any way in the world I can get tickets to the Women's Gymnastics All-Around finals. I doubt it, but it's worth a shot. If not, back to the bed!
That's all for now! Ciao ciao!
And remember how I told you I was going to give you the Olympic facts of the day. Well apparently that was a computer lie. There have been no more facts since Friday. Therefore, I will continue to bring the Olympic news for the day but sadly no more facts. Unless I for some strange reason find myself in desperate need of something to do.
So first and foremost, let me bring you the Olympic news of today. I am going to assume that you already know what happened on Sunday and Monday.
Olympic News:
- Phelps is 3 for 3, and yet again broke another World Record.
- the USA ALMOST swept the swimming events today. We got first in 3 of 4 (each of those three had two US medalists) and a Silver in the last one. Pretty decent day.
- the men's gymnastics team received bronze
- the Chinese have yet again come closer to sweeping the diving events, they have won all three Gold medals thus far but there are still five events left.
- in a rare podium appearance Mexico won a bronze in diving, that was cute.
But as we watch we slowly see Lezak creep in. With 10 meters left it seems impossible, no impractical, that this man might pull off the race of his life. Everyone in the office was going crazy. I stopped dictating flash quotes, Amy and Krystyna (Aussies) we screaming along side us. My heart stopped for that split second where we didn't know who won. Then you saw Michael Phelps' Hulk impersonation. One of those iconic Olympic moments. An emotional image that will appear with the countless other impossibles. My heart was racing, which leaves me to believe that those actually involved in the race were near eruption. After all the talk from the French about how they would crush the USA, blah blah blah, it was great to see them less than a blink away from winning. Karma, it comes biting back. This race was the ultimate "the thrill of victory. The agony of defeat" moment. (Anyone with a newspaper from Tuesday with Phelps plastered on the front, please keep it for me!)
Yesterday afternoon I interviewed Taylor Phinney, the 18 year old American cyclist who's parents were Olympic medalists. He was very chatty for an 18 year old boy and gave Andrea and me a lot of great quotes. When we finally left the velodrome yesterday it was well past our normal feeding time. There is an Outback by the mall so a couple of us relished in the thought of a Bloomin' Onion. Andrea and Lauren tried to go the other day but were declined because they didn't have the proper accreditation. We tried to get it, but we were declined. Apparently to dine at the fancy Outback Steakhouse you must have a reservation within the hotel or know people who are staying there. What? As Lauren put it, "it isn't the Ritz Carlton." The Asian volunteer got very snippy with us, (some one should warn him about hungry American girls) but we were too exhausted and hungry to fight. Seriously! Outback. Fancy. HA.
We didn't get home until late last night so we just watched team USA crush China. Again. Two nights in a row. I think the final score was 100-something to 50. Nice job girls. I started to work on an article about Taylor Phinney and that pretty much brought me to midnight.
If you are wondering about the weekend, I did what I normally do at home when it is Olympic time. I sat in my bed (at home it would be a couch) and watched as many Olympic events I could take in. They say it is impossible to get tickets, it is all sold out (even though the stadiums are not full) so we have to resort to comfy option B...my bed. Since there are so many CCTV channels I was able to soak up a lot of quality Olympic time. It was the best weekend of my life.
In other news, we received toilet paper, paper towels, ANND soap at the velodrome this weekend. It was like Christmas come early. They promised there would be paper and soap products come Olympic time and boy did they deliver. I don't know what we did to deserve it. (Side note: never in a million years did I think I would blog about the excitement involved with receiving a new roll of toilet paper.) Midst the bathroom hubbub some actual exciting news came early Sunday morning. Jane received some events tickets for us! YEAHAAHAH! A bunch of people went to beach volleyball Monday morning but I was scheduled to work. Not willing to give up my Taylor Phinney interview I decided to pass. But the BIGGEER news... Saturday we have tickets to go to the athletics events at the Bird's Nest!!! The only problem is we have three medal events that day. It has been decided that after we are finished we are going to haul it up there, get a view from the inside, take our pictures, and see whatever we can. I'll take whatever I can get. I am also considering waking up early tomorrow morning to see if there is any way in the world I can get tickets to the Women's Gymnastics All-Around finals. I doubt it, but it's worth a shot. If not, back to the bed!
That's all for now! Ciao ciao!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
let the games begin...
Olympics by the Numbers:
$20,000,000,000 on Opening Ceremony (still need credible source)
7,000,000 tickets sold
91,000 seats in the Bird's Nest
80,000 square meters = size of the Water Cube
21,600 journalists
17,000 seats in the Water Cube
10,694 athletes
2,924 judges and referees
2001 the year the Beijing was awarded the Olympics
906 medals awarded
302 medal events
37 venues
18 days of competition
12 new venues
6 co-host cities
Ok, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I found all this information. INFO 2008, the program we use to get biographies on the athletes, provided me with these fun facts. Each day they are going to have information like this, I will provide you with the numbers each day.
These were the daily fun facts:
- 12,738 medals have been awarded in the Olympics
- no individual has won more than 9 Gold medals
- YAO Ming (CHN) is tallest athlete at the Beijing Olympics
Daily Olympic News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XbIZqg4v7w It is my new favorite song and I am feverishly learning all the words so I can sing it at all holidays, birthdays, football games, basically anytime more than one person is in attendance.
I have some videos to show you, however it takes over an hour to upload so I will work on that tomorrow. Swimming finally came on so I am going to watch that. BYE!
$20,000,000,000 on Opening Ceremony (still need credible source)
7,000,000 tickets sold
91,000 seats in the Bird's Nest
80,000 square meters = size of the Water Cube
21,600 journalists
17,000 seats in the Water Cube
10,694 athletes
2,924 judges and referees
2001 the year the Beijing was awarded the Olympics
906 medals awarded
302 medal events
37 venues
18 days of competition
12 new venues
6 co-host cities
Ok, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I found all this information. INFO 2008, the program we use to get biographies on the athletes, provided me with these fun facts. Each day they are going to have information like this, I will provide you with the numbers each day.
These were the daily fun facts:
- 12,738 medals have been awarded in the Olympics
- no individual has won more than 9 Gold medals
- YAO Ming (CHN) is tallest athlete at the Beijing Olympics
Daily Olympic News:
- the first medal given at the Beijing 2008 Olympics was given to Katerina Emmons, who broke a World Record in shooting.
- Michael Phelps beat the Olympic Record during his qualifying race today...without his lzr suit
- the USA Women's Fencing Team swept the medals
- because of the above fact the USA is leading in medals
- the USA Women's Soccer Team beat Japan
- as of right now the Women's Basketball Team is winning their opening match
As I mentioned this morning I had today off so Andrea and I did one last run to the Silk Market. It actually wasn't that bad; I feel as though I mastered the system. I still don't want to come home to set prices and price tags. Blah.
I already told most of you in an email, I was not the tourist killed today in Beijing. I want to qualify that with the fact that it is INCREDIBLY safe here. Regardless what you might hear back at home, I have never once felt threatened nor have I taken any of the precautions to guard my money or objects like I did in Europe. If you read the articles you will see that any attacks on a foreigner carry a far worse penalty than if on a Chinese person. DO NOT WORRY. Things are very safe here, especially when we are at the Velodrome. This was an isolated incident that is very out of character for most of the Asian population.
Right now we are trying to find one CCTV channel that is playing the swimming qualifying races from today. I already know all the results because I sat here with live update. Apparently rewatching the tiny Chinese girl win the Gold for the 48kg weight lift is far more important than watching Michael Phelps achieve an Olympic Record in the 400m Individual Medley.
I hope I have redeemed myself for the error in judgement to not post photos. I also encourage you all to watch this videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XbIZqg4v7w It is my new favorite song and I am feverishly learning all the words so I can sing it at all holidays, birthdays, football games, basically anytime more than one person is in attendance.
I have some videos to show you, however it takes over an hour to upload so I will work on that tomorrow. Swimming finally came on so I am going to watch that. BYE!
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