Beijing Olympics

Hey Everyone,

The theme of this lengthy blog is the letter "F". Mainly, Fans, Flags, and Food. Other words such as: Fun, Fat, Food Poisoning, Funky Smell, Felons, Flynn, Ferry, Fight, and Fuwa, are also sprinkled throughout this email. ("Fuwa" being the Chinese word for the Olympic Mascots....of course).

If you don't know, I don't like being in the same place as thousands of other people. I'm not a big fan of crowds. I'm not claustrophobic, I just don't like elbowing little kids in the face accidently because some mass of people shoved me forward just to get on a bus. So with my lack of affinity for crowds, I reluctantly decided to go to the Beijing Olympics. With a billion people already in China, I wasn't so excited to be there for such a huge event. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Before my girlfriend (Yuning) and I boarded our boat for China I was starting to realize that the Olympics just might be a lot of fun. Yes, I said boat. Ship is probably a better word, with ferry actually being the correct term. We looked at the airplane costs to fly to Beijing and taking a ferry was 80% cheaper. Yes, we saved 80% on the ticket price to take a two day boat ferry to China from Japan. But what we saved in money we gained in time. 2 hour flight versus a 2 day cruise. The ferry wasn't all that bad if you viewed it as part of the vacation. I actually had time to read a Vince Flynn book from cover to cover. But if you viewed the ferry simply as transportation (as Yuning did) you would get bored quickly. The ferry did have 2 restaurants, 1 bar with karaoke, 1 ping-pong table, and 40 illegal dvd's from China for you to watch on your TV. We shared a room with two Mongolians. In our room was a TV, a sofa, 4 beds and a large window....and also a rather strong funky smell. Apparently Japanese Kimuchi (spicy cabbage) is better than Mongolian kimuchi and the container that our roommates had wanted to bring back exploded in their suitcase in the room. Kimunchi shrapnel everywhere! So for two days it smelled a little funky. I did enjoy the boat however, it didn't rock much, no one got sick and the illegal dvd's made me laugh.

What I didn't laugh at was when we got to Shanghai and the Chinese police stormed (ok... quickly boarded) our ferry because there were 4 felons on board who were being deported back to China. These 4 guys stuck out like a sore thumb on the boat and I pegged them as a bit odd right away. They looked like felons. But they wondered around the boat and drank at the bar for two days creeping everyone out. But the cruise ship staff (ooops, ferry staff) didn't tell us who they were until we got to Shanghai.

So we made it to the port of Shanghai which unlike most large city airports was right in the heart of downtown Shanghai. We met up with some of Yuning's relatives in Shanghai. I don't know if it is Chinese Culture or just my girlfriend's family, but they like to eat, and they like to make you eat. I learned this last time in China. Prior to this trip my girlfriend and I dieted. I lost 3kg in anticipation of this trip. Long story short, I ended the trip gaining 4kg. So only +1kg in my eyes. Seriously, I like to eat but this was almost torture. Maybe that is Chinese torture. I remember having a spoonful of soup in my mouth, my other hand holding a pair of bamboo chopsticks desperately grabbing some dumpling....only to be ordered by her grandma to "EAT" whatever the other food she was pointing at. It is physically impossible to eat 3 things at once. Even that Japanese hot-dog guy Kobayashi couldn't have kept up with the pace I was on for 2 weeks straight. One day, thankfully away from the relatives, neither of us ate breakfast nor lunch due to our enlarged tummies.

After 4 days in Shanghai and all the food ever cooked in the city, we boarded a night train for Beijing. The train was great with it's bar and restaurant and sleeper beds. It would have been cooler if I didn't have food poisoning and the bathroom were those european style ones....you know the ones.

We arrived in Beijing and immediately had breakfast, much to my dismay. Out of all the Chinese words I know, "eat" is the one that strikes the most fear in me.

I must say, the difference between the last time I was in Beijing and this time was monumental. Every taxi in Beijing was replaced with new ones. Each train in the subways were replaced with new trains with tvs in them to watch the olympics while you zipped around the city. Chinese government ministers had gone through Tian'amen Square picking up cigarette butts. The stoic Chinese Army guards actually responded to you when you said "Ni Hao" to them. The government spent almost a billion dollars on tree and flower plantings to green up the city. It was completely different then the last time. People had been directed not to spit on the streets (a nasty, hopefully former, habit of Beijingers....Beijingites...Beijingese?)

Wow this blog is getting long, but stay with me people!

The next day Yuning and I headed off for the 2008 Olympics. In my USA shirt and flag I boarded a bus to get to the Olympic rowing stadium to go to watch a St. John's Johnnie compete in the 8 man regatta. On the sardine-packed bus, some woman yelled (in chinese) "Don't touch me" with a Chinese man quickly replying "I'm not trying to, it was an accident". Then a verbal onslaught began. The two going at each other. At that time, Yuning said "Don't be so annoying, you are making China look bad". One person clapped and the man shut up, but woman kept pushing the argument. After 10 minutes of her yelling on a bus where we were all sandwiched together, another person had enough and shouted "Get off the bus". The woman shot up in the air and snapped "Who said get off the bus?" Immediately responding were 10 strangers who in unison proclaimed "We all said get off the bus" after which the whole bus, sans the annoying woman, erupted into applause. It was something so fun to witness and something that would never happen in Japan.

We got to the rowing stadium only to have it canceled due to rain. The following day we went and the sun was intense and the sky a deep blue. The weather was great. I found the USA rowing coach and told him to tell the SJU alum that there was another Johnnie in the crowd cheering for him. He politely obliged. The Johnnie went on to get a bronze medal in the 8 man rowing event. Rowing was done, off to Track and Field for day. We had a day ticket to the Bird's Nest. Walking into the Olympic park was amazing. I was blown away and being dressed from head to toe in USA and China apparel I was beginning to get caught up in the olympic spirit. We watched the 100m, 800m and lots of field events. Our seats were up high but cleverly found our way down to the lower level! The stadium was even more amazing in person. It is huge and well designed. The Chinese were so friendly. I was cheering for China and yelling in Chinese to support their athletes. The Chinese around me were so happy to hear me support them and be decked out in USA stuff, they more than 20 people literally lined up to take a picture with me. The friendliness of the Chinese all throughout Beijing was real, it was everywhere.

After Track and Field we wondered around the Olympic park. We looked for athletes and took pictures with them. We looked at the various culture tents that taught people about the 42 different cultures in China. 42 different dialects, 42 different traditional clothes. If you saw the opening ceremony you saw 42 children carrying the olympic flag, they were representing the 42 unique cultures in China.

At night we walked around the outside of the basketball and baseball stadiums. Each stadium was so unique and actually I took more pictures of the buildings than the events we went too! We ended the night by going to swimming in the Water Cube. Save the best for last! That was so amazing simply to enter the building. The funny thing is that we didn't actually buy tickets to the Water Cube. Online prior to the Olympics they were like $300 each so we opted to skip it. When we got to Beijing and saw the Cube, we felt we HAD to get in there and see the inside. a spur of the moment idea came to me as 2 old dutch woman (according to their shirts and face painting they were dutch) came out of the Cube. I asked them that since they just walked out of the Cube, theoretically they could turn around and walk back in. They said "yes". So I asked them if they were going to do that later in the evening. They said "No" and gave us their tickets and told us to enjoy and not to forget to support the dutch swimmers. I kept my promise upon finding our/their seats INSIDE the Water Cube, seats that for us were FREE!

The Olympics was truly something I will never forget. I will forget seeing the Chinese Army missile launchers next to each stadium to shoot down terrorists planes, but I will never forget the beauty of Beijing, the friendliness of it's people, the fun of being with Yuning in her hometown supporting China and being proud to cheer for the USA, China and even Japan (although cheering for those 3 countries really confused the people in the seats next to us!).

I recommend getting to any future Olympic games.

I made an online gallery of my Beijing / Shanghai pics. Check them out at http://gallery.me.com/mtstaffa/100058 (or click on the title of this article!

So that was a really long blog and for those that are still reading....thanks!

Until next time!