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Aug.1, 2008
My aunt took me having a traditional Chinese meal. here is what I have, you would be amazed how much I ate this morning: one bowl of green bean rice soup, tea egg, two steaming bun with special veggies, small pickled dikong dish, and a cup of fresh grounded soy drink.
It is only about 5 minutes walking from her place to U.S. house in Beijing Worker Stadium around 3rd ring. Oh, it is so lovely walking here, the street is so wide. How wides is it? On the road, two way lanes, just for one side, three section, one section, for bikers, bigger than one lane, one section for taxi drivers pick up and drop off passengers, then one large car section with 5 lanes, please double this for the entire road. To pass the intersection is fun. There are traffic controllers around to make sure that you are following the rule. Please be nice and careful here. As they are the people who previous did not follow the traffic rule and sent here for their mistakes. If you cross the road and made the same mistake, you could potentially stand there and watch the traffic!! You won't believe me what else I did in this 5 minutes walk, I stop by the convenient W.S. by the street. It looks so cool. You know, the public bathroom is never a good experience. Here I got too curious, when I open the door, goodness, it is wonderful! It reminds me of the rental outside bathroom I saw couple years ago at a friend's wedding by her parent's backyard. It is totally same as that one.
With my USOC Facebook, I managed myself to get into the worker stadium with minor attention. But I could not go any further. I saw a few others, like me, standing around waiting for USOC official to pick us up. With a long introduction, each team introduce each other by sing everyone's name through nursery song. The top director Jerry welcomed us. She read "Amazing Awaits", which made me very touched. Here is the content:
Amazing Awaits... Good luck and best wishes to all athletes!
amazing awaits
where we least expect it,
or after training for it all our lives.
it awaits in 1500 meters,
in two-hundredths of a second,
in our courageous first steps,
and with our every last breath.
it awaits on the shoulders of our teammates,
in the footsteps of our heroes,
when we shatter records,
and our spirits prove unbreakable.
amazing awaits
when a small-town playground takes us
to the world's stage,
and when that distance is measured in effort.
when hope makes us hopefuls,
and bravery carries us on her back.
it awaits when we cross finish lines,
and when the journey has just begun.
when we come from nothing, from nowhere,
over hurdles, over mountains.
amazing awaits in our Olympians,
in all Americans,
in the honor of victory
and the glory of pursuit.
it awaits when we work hard enough,
want badly enough,
and refuse to say we've had enough
with a nation behind us,
with a world before us,
and within us all...
www.amazingawaits.org
We toured U.S. House which only open to U.S. athletes, sponsors and USOC, and some media. The idea of U.S. House is to let U.S. team have a peaceful place, let USOC and sponsors focus helping to let the Games go smoothly, prepare for 2016 Chicago Olympic campaign and allow people to purchase some stuff(clothes, etc.). It is very restrict-access area. A day pass could cost $150! Each floor staff explains their function and expectations to us. I have to say that I love the whole design. By 3rd floor, the unique furniture design by someone(sorry, do not remember the name) from Michigan, ye, go Michigan!! I love the color contrast here. Ye, I have to mention the restroom door, copy the design from traditional Chinese house door, two piece, connect by thick movable wood, with background red and black. It is way too much like a piece of Art everywhere, even in the restroom. Then, we went to Hilton Beijing, the headquarter of USOC. This new remodeled hotel is seriously using every possible Chinese element in their architecture, design and decoration. By the way, the fourth floor is rented by entire Sweden team. There are 2 entire floors for USOC, where I will work mainly there. When we finished all the visits and training, we were assigned to have scavengers hunt. see, the fun time just began! (Later I have to create a new post just for my entire team, they are amazing, everyone could tell you many incredible things/talents of their lives.)
Each team is 3 persons, one USOC staff included. We need to finish 10 tasks in 6 hours, just like "Amazing Grace". Stephenie(USOC staff), Thomas and I are in a team. I read through the list of location and decided not to follow the order on the paper. Since there is no rule on that, I'd rather to get those tasks done efficiently. We need to travel as far North end to Bird Nest where the Olympic Opening Ceremony will be, far South end to the Temple of Heaven. If you could check out the Beijing Map, we are talking about some serious distance here.
First, we went to U.S. new embassy, to figure out how many stories they have and which is the highest stories. Actually it is a rather hard question, first, U.S. embassy is very protective and was built with certain illusion if you watch from outside. (Later, we found out several of team members either worked there before or live inside! no wonder their answers are way too accurate). Second, the people working by embassy are so NOT nice. Even the rest teammates felt annoyed by people's response and their rude attitude. We had a same conclusion: please do not take these people as correct image of American people!
Then we got in taxi to Bird Nest. After reading and hearing so much about this place, I finally can take a look. We need to take a picture in front of Bird Nest then get a business card from Crown Hotel. A good thing is we have USOC credential, which allow us to travel around and get into the special lane only for Olympic teams.
We got in taxi, all the way down to Temple of Heaven to find out the price of series tickets. It is so pretty here.
We were asked to go to silk/pearl market to bargain for the item within 100 RMB.
here is the market we went, next to temple of Heaven.
We had a blast, even ridiculous, got two scarfs and one shirt. During the shopping time, we met NBC news team, chatting our trip, each group working progress and sharing the fun time in Beijing. They were surprised that we even have energy to do those crazy things now! After shopping, we need food and took pictures as requirements. xixi, everything we spent, need receipt to approve. Since USOC gave us 500RMB, we need to budget the trip. The food is great, and we were tired, need this break. At the dinner place, we met a group of Sweden pilots. This is Beijing, I have to remind myself not to surprise for who I meet everyday. They fly the athletes flights and brag about their team. I said "Go USA!", they response that I should be careful if I ever want to visit their country! Then I said "Go China!", they eyes wide-opened, said "how many countries are you belonging to?" We laughed hard. Thomas is senior Prinston student, quite a shy guy. This is Stephenie's first trip in Beijing, somehow I became their tour guide!! They were sort of letting me to take in charge.
Then we need to take a subway to Tian-an-men square, remember, bring the subway ticket stub, which became the hardest task! As Beijing gets all new subway system, the ticket you purchase, you will need to return by touching the automatic machine, part for recycling, part for track the volume. Eventually we use our USOC credential, getting a free ticket to prove our trip. If you ever travel to Beijing, please plan at least one week here, too many things to look.
(I have to go to bed, tomorrow is my only Sunday off. I will go to my most favorite place in Beijing -- Great Wall. I need to catch up my sleep, blog later! have to admit, really do not have much time to keep blog, but I will try my best here)
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