Bracing the bows

Flash quote reporting makes me sweat. An FQR gathers information about an event and its competitors, elbows through journalists in the mixed zone to grab quotes from exhausted or elated athletes, sprints down a flight of stairs and through a hallway to the Press Operation Room, pounds on a keyboard in a fury of quote recording, sends the quotes to a database and .... collapses into a puddle of worn-out goo on the linoleum.

Oh, how I long for the days of feature writing! What comfort to relax with an interviewee over a drink of coffee, chat about music, share a few jokes--such luxury! Gone are those days. Now I must harness my inner bow thrower and snatch some soundbytes!

Strutting our sporty stuff

We got our uniforms!!! I'm in love with them. Expect many more flicks of uniform sporting.

Training proceeded well today. We met the paid staffers and cycling experts Amy and Ernst who we'll work with. They will help us FQRs think of questions to ask cyclists in the mixed zone and will answer any general questions we have about the events. We spent an hour or so searching athlete biographies and historical information about cycling on the online database INFO 2008. We tasted the box lunches that we will eat for lunch at the Veladrome every day. They seemed like a Chinese-food version of Lunchables. At least we receive a soft drink and three bottles of water to wash them down.

Since leaving the Veladrome at 3 p.m., we Purdue students have swapped stories, eaten dumplings and dessert in the cafeteria and shopped at the campus supermarket--a pretty normal laidback day.

Day Three in Shanghai

Last I left off, I planned to spend the evening at the boutique, restaurant, bar and club area called Xintiandi. The place impressed me. The shikumen ("stone gate") houses of the once-residential area had been restored and converted into classy wine bars, jazz lounges, beer gardens and more, each glowing with romantic lighting and echoing with laughter and conversation. Lauren and I first strolled through the alleys. The milling crowds consisted of many young Chinese, the males wearing designer clothes and popped collars, the females carrying handfuls of shopping bags. We had definitely chosen a favorite spot of the Shanghai well to do. We then stopped at a restaurant and wine bar called The Fountain for a bite of salad (poor college students like us couldn't afford a full meal!) and a bit of people watching. The crowd inside the restaurant included more foreigners and more thirty-something year olds. I watched two Caucasians force their way through an awkward date while Lauren observed an older man wearing a wedding ring flash her seductive looks. The night only become more intriguing and awkward. We moved location to a German beer garden. The host led us to the only available seats--two barstools at a table of middle-aged German men. We conversed (in English, though I was tempted to try my rusty German). The men eagerly talked about American politics and how different they look to insiders versus foreigners. They said Lauren and I were doing a great thing as journalists, living in a different country and learning different perspectives. As the conversation died down, I looked closer at the people in the beer garden: mostly middle-aged Caucasian businessmen surrounded by young Chinese women. Lauren and I left for our hotel.

Lauren at The Fountain

Day Two in Shanghai

My feet hurt. My blisters are turning into calluses. Lauren seems to have gangrene. Black street dirt covers her feet. What a day! The two of us walked ALL of Shanghai! Or so we like to tell ourselves. Our travels took us from our hotel through blocks of shops and food stands, alongside construction sites, through the Dragon Gate Mall outdoor shopping area, to a dumpling restaurant, across the river (in a ferry), to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower (we didn't go up because of Rule 1....

...gosh darn ragamuffin claus), to a gelato place in the Super Brand Mall, back to our hotel and finally to the hostel for wi fi borrowing. We still have one destination ahead of us-- Xintiandi, a hot area of restaurants, clubs and boutiques. But first, we need a break to rest and clean our feet!

Navigating a wilder side of China

Our first challenge in Shanghai involved finding a taxi. While I had written down in pinyin and Chinese every tourist attraction Lauren and I hoped to visit, I could not find a Chinese address for the hostel where we planned to stay, Mingtown Hikers' Hostel. I hoped we would find a driver that understood the written address, "450 Middle Jiangxi, Shanghai." No such luck. Lauren and I (conspicuous in our bright orange "I am volunteer" [sic] shirts and BOCOG name tags that we had worn in hopes that the ticket salespeople would smile upon Olympic helpers) thought we would have to run from taxi to taxi in search of an English-speaker. We're used to drawing strange looks from locals, but this situation promised only embarrassment for us until, hooray (!), a crossing guard took the written address and ran off to find a translator. Within minutes Lauren and I were rocketing down the Shanghai expressway. Rocketing barely begins to describe the drive. "This is so Grand Theft Auto," Lauren said to me. I could hardly make out her words due to temporary deafness from blaring horns. But off we flew through the city in a one-hour slalom to the finish line at 450 Middle Jiangxi.

Elation! We arrive at the hostel. Devastation. No rooms remain vacant. The friendly receptionist directs us to a hotel around the corner, which offers us a room for nearly the same price as the hostel. We accept and drag our tired bodies to our room. The door opens to a cute-looking room. But Lauren has her mind set on one thing, soft beds. She runs across the room, flings off her bags and pounces on her bed. Thud. More rock-hard mattresses, but we sob for only a few minutes. We have an entire city to see! After a quick change out of our neon orange, "Hey, I'm a tourist!"-screaming shirts, we head out to discover the "real China." Discover it we do.

cheers for two more cinderblock beds!

Nanjing Road, the main shopping strip

Compared to the mild-mannered, police-patrolled, landscaping-perfected Beijing, Shanghai looks like a nuthouse to us. Vendors try luring us down alleys, mopeds nearly mow down crowds of people, and two men--one wearing a curly, brown women's wig, the other sporting a few tennis racket bags (with no tennis rackets), follow us through the streets. Lauren and I dart into a bank and lose them before they can cause any trouble. Luckily, Lauren and I are occasional nuts, and we learn to blend in as much as we can for being camera-wielding Caucasians.

We make our first stop a diner then head to the river for a boat tour. We cruise for an hour, snapping pictures of the architecturally stunning buildings of Shanghai. Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Art Deco buildings line one side of the river (the popular Bund area), while on the other shore, shiny, modern skyscrapers soar overhead. After the tour, we ferry away from our hotel's area (the classical building side) to the modern coast. We search for free wi fi in the Super Brand Mall, but end up returning to our side of the river to borrow the hostel's internet.

classical architecture at the Bund

the Oriental Pearl Tower (left) stands above other modern buildings

Overall, we both had a positive experience in Shanghai. We discovered a side of China very different from the charming Beijing we have come to love and enjoyed the fascinating new side just as wholly.

Getting to Shanghai: A trying trek

Lauren and I have yet again embarked on a city-conquering adventure, this time to Shanghai! We just arrived at our lodging (a $15/night decent hotel) despite many hitches in our journey. Here's what has unfolded so far in our soon-to-be-grand tale:

Yesterday morning the two of us decided, "Let's go to Shanghai!" We rounded up three friends (Kelsey, Andrea, and Megan) who showed interest in traveling to the city and booked plane tickets-- "no problem!" Then hitch number one struck. Our ticket agency wanted more information about me: passport and credit card copies. Why me? The place offered no explanation. Soon Zizi, informed me that my credit card would not go through and that she had canceled my ticket. (I used the card 24 hours before the failed booking and 24 hours after with no isssues. Hmm.) So we decided to purchase my ticket through another girl's card She bought a ticket for herself easily, but when she tried to buy one for me, the place rejected her card. Zizi informed us of the rejection at 10:30 p.m. the night before our 7:30 a.m. flight. Kelsey and Lauren expressed their anger at the new situation--the two would have to travel alone. Not only had Zizi canceled my ticket, but she had accidently canceled Megan and Andrea's! Kelsey, fed up with the situation, wanted out of the trip, and Lauren did not want to travel on her own. We decided to wake up at 3:30 a.m. and try to purchase a ticket for me at the airport and cancel Kelsey's ticket. SUCCESS!! Kelsey received a refund and I snatched a ticket. Now Lauren and I are ready to tackle Shanghai!

Prepping for work, but first... Shanghai

Lauren, Megan, Kelsey, Andrea, and I all realized today that we need to cut back on our spending. China makes it so easy! Why not buy a $0.15 bottle of water? Just $1.50 for a taxi ride? Sure, let's do it! We've lived like tourists for the past few weeks, paying to see sites and buying souvenirs for family and friends back home. Now we're ready to work! (If only for the free lunches and the days full of activities for which we won't have to pay. Ah, I kid.) 

We toured our venue for the first time yesterday. The Laoshan Bicycle Cluster consists of a gorgeous indoor track, an outdoor BMX track, and a mountain biking path through the hills. We were lucky for the extensive tour of our venue. Some students working more popular events, like swimming, have less access to their venue's facilities.

But before we get to work, the five of us (before mentioned) decided to travel to Shanghai. We found a cheap flight (tickets cost much less through Chinese websites than English ones) to the city and plan to stay in a hostel. We can't wait to visit the city, which is the most populous in China, the world's largest port, and a magnet for international business. For now though, we're just spending the day at our dorm, planning the trip and hoping our ticket purchases and reservations go through!

Shanghai cityscape

Meet Canadian Traci

Yesterday I turned in my American citizenship and became Canadian! Well, not literally, but we've discovered in our haggling adventures here that the vendors here offer "Canadians" like myself prices nearly half that of the prices they offer Americans. So, from now on I might just introduce myself to vendors as Canadian Traci.

Touring hutongs and high rises

Lauren and I conquered Beijing. With only one day left before starting our jobs as FQRs, we ran around the city yesterday, seeing as many sites as we could manage. Our adventure began around 11:30 a.m., when we hopped on the subway to Tianamen Square. The last time we had visited the Forbidden City, we decided against buying tickets to enter. We just walked around the courtyard entrance. This time, we toured the entire palace. It consisted mostly of large, dimly-lit buildings in which the emperor used to lounge, sleep, and change his clothes, according to the English-language signs. The 91-degree weather prompted us to eat popsicles during the journey. Vendors sell ice cream on nearly every corner here, maybe because of the Olympics.

Upon exiting the Forbidden City, Lauren and I hiked to the top of a hilly park across the street from the palace. At the top we could see the entire Forbidden City, its gold rooftops gleaming in the sun, and a panoramic view of Beijing. We stayed on the hill for awhile, enjoying the cool breeze and inspiring view, but finally descended back into the heat of the city. We then decided to see a more intimate side of Beijing and take a rickshaw tour through a hutong.

The dichotomy of the place shocked us. Shacks butted up to mansions on every street. At one point, our tour guide showed us a crowded outdoor gathering area shared by twenty Chinese families (he said) and right down the street stood a large, new house he said a foreign family bought for a few million USD.

The heat and hiking piqued Lauren's and my appetite, so we then ventured to another hutong, one we had shopped at a few days ago. We ate at a Sichuan restaurant. I ordered beef, veggies, and beans wrapped in a taro leaf, and Lauren picked a pork meatball and soup. Everything tasted delicious. We finally got past our craving for Western food and began to again enjoy local food.

After a rest at the Sichuan restaurant, we took a taxi to the oldest pharmacy in China, or so we thought. Our taxi driver dropped us off across the intersection from the place and left us with unclear directions as to how to find the pharmacy. We wound up walking down the wrong road, and it was the best mistake we've made. We found ourselves strolling through the location of a hutong that had been demolished for the building of high rises. The Western media has focused much attention on the issue of the Chinese government forcing out families and razing hutongs. While I do believe the government's actions hurt families, I had a hard time not appreciating the new neighborhood. I've never seen more people in China outside visiting with friends, playing cards, singing, taking their kids to the playground, and exercising on the outdoor equipment found at most parks in the city. The visit wasn't a tour, it wasn't a scene forged to show off "Happy China" to foreigners, it was a real-life illustration of the progress Beijing has made.

Lauren and I both found ourselves saying, "You know, I could live here for more than seven weeks."

Critters in my stomach

Pictures may serve better than words in describing yesterday's feast at the Dong'anmen Night Market.

Vendors selling sugar-coated fruit kebobs, the most innocuous item of the evening

One of dozens of booths of doubtful delicacies

Me noshing on sea horse-- crispy with a decent, fried-something flavor

Sea cucumber stew

A man slicing tripe for tripe-and-veggie stew

One of my least favorite dishes of the evening-- all crunch and no flavor

"Possessed" (as Andrea said) with a craving for the unordinary, Lauren, Andrea, Kelsey, Jason, and I ravaged the Night Market, trying silk worms, sheep testicles, sheep penis, whole crab, sea urchin, bees, centipede, small and large scorpions, sea horse, eel, sea star, chicken hearts, octopus, black fungus, oyster, snake--almost every unusual dish offered. And we found some tasty bites!

I enjoyed most the octopus and small scorpions. The octopus wasn't an adventure--I'd order it at a restaurant back home--but the preparation at the Night Market (frying and seasoning with chile flakes) impressed me. The deliciousness of the small scorpions surprised me most! They tasted a bit like potato chips. The sea star and large scorpions I would not buy again. The sea star comes with its legs sliced off. A purple substance of dirt consistency fills the tough skin. I'm cringing right now just thinking about the fishy flavor and the bits of skin getting stuck in my teeth.... Ew.

Despite the few unappetizing flavors, we all would love to go back to the market! We had maybe more fun there than any other place in the city. When we left, we smuggled a kebob of silkworms through the subway to bring back to our dorm. The Purdue boys, too scared to join in our adventure, promised to eat something from the market only if Andrea (the picky eater of the group) tried it first. They didn't expect her to down almost all of the creatures the rest of us tried. When she proudly presented them with the silkworms, they cringed and whined and gagged, but finally each ate a worm. The girls won hands down in the adventurous eating contest.

A Mao morning

Lauren placed a yellow carnation at the foot of the towering statue. The stone figure of Mao Zedong looked down at her with an affable expression. She hurried back into the line of people shuffling through the mausoleum. The crowd that had at daybreak elbowed and shoved and shouted during the raising of the Chinese flag in Tianamen Square whispered only a few words as they approached the viewing room. 

As the people filtered toward the glass case, a glowing orange ruptured the darkness of the room. All eyes focused on Mao's face. It looked like a doll's with enough luminous, peachy makeup to plaster over 34 years of slow decomposition. Even his body seemed small and harmless. Who would expect that the figure once ruled the world's most populous country, instituted sweeping reforms, and instilled fear in many?

Viewing the body of Mao has thus-far been the highlight of my day.

Lauren, Jane, Alysha, Kelsey, Andrea, Jason, and I awoke at 3:30 this morning to experience the raising of the flag and playing of the Chinese national anthem in Tianamen Square at daybreak. After scaling a gate to exit our university and waking up a taxi driver who slept in the back seat of his cab, we sped to the scene of the ceremony. A few hundred people beat us. We jockeyed for positions with good views, but ended up watching the events unfold through the digital camera screens of people in front of us who filmed the tradition (enjoyable, but not worth the early wake up).

Afterward we wandered in search of breakfast food and diversions to kill time before the 8 a.m. opening of the Mao Mausoleum. We found diversions mostly in the form of the adorable Chinese puppies locals walked in the park!

By 8 a.m. we returned to the mausoleum for the viewing. We all felt glad we waited downtown to see Mao's preserved body, and glad that we can choose cremation for ourselves. :)

Intriguing trend no. 2

The Chinese love Friends. Though the government banned the show here for years, counterfeit DVDs and a government-approved version that lacked references to sex allowed Chinese citizens to get in on the Friends craze.

A few days ago, Megan and I chatted about an episode of Friends on the subway, the episode where Rachael tries to teach Monica how to use kitchen items as props when flirting with men. As I acted out Monica placing a cleaver against her skin and purring, "Oh, this blade, it's so cool on my skin," a young Chinese woman approached. With an eager smile she asked, "Is that Friends?!" She said she loved the show and owned all the episodes.

Yesterday, I had a similar experience. a young man struck up a conversation with me on the subway. He apologized for his bad English (it was actually darn good) and said he had learned much of it from watching Friends.

It seems I've found a handy new conversation starter for here!

In pursuit of homecooking

At the second and final session of headquarters training today, I learned more details about my job as a flash quote reporter. I will work at the volleyball venue for a few days before cycling starts, as long as the Organizing Committee can provide me with the additional credentials needed to enter the venue. When track cycling starts (one week into the Games), I will serve as a FQR for it until the Olympics ends. At each event, I will use my background knowledge about the sport (I better start learning about cycling!) to form specific and insightful questions to ask the athletes in the "mixed zone" (a designated press area) immediately after they compete. I will then transcribe these quotes into a database from which agencies such as AP, Reuters, NBC, BBC, etc. can draw quotes.

The ONS and Infostrada Sports (an organization that compiles sports data and biographies) staff who led the training also had us participate in team-building activities. They reminded us that though none of us will earn acclaim for our work here, we provide a crucial service to media outlets and will need to rely on each other to gather good quotes. To consummate our bonding, Leroy, Patrick, Chad, Krystyna (our manager), and I had to gather on stage (with a handful of other groups), tie our ankles together, and complete a synchronized jumping race across the stage. Second place for our group!

After training, we stopped for lunch at a pizza buffet. I decided to pass on the pizza and brave buying a yoghurt at a Chinese pantry. Three hours later, I still feel fine! Most of us have had only mild problems with the food and water here. Many of us have even had no issues with brushing our teeth with tap water. But we all crave Western food! The Chinese food we've had has tasted delicious for the most part, but we've had to "bolster" our diet with a few stops at McDonald's. Tonight those of us working cycling plan to eat dinner with our ONS manager, Krystyna from Australia. She found a supposedly-tasty place called Steak and Eggs that should satisfy our hankering for home cooking. We are classy!

Closer to competition

Soon I will receive my official Olympic credentials! I will have access to the cycling and volleyball venues and the press rooms inside. I learned this at today's Olympic News Service training session. All the international student volunteers met at a hotel conference center with the ONS staff. We learned that just nine hundred fifty-one people work for ONS at this Olympic Games. I am one of these 951 people out of the 70,000 Olympic volunteers selected from nearly 1.4 million applicants. I feel honored and lucky to work here!

After our meeting, Christina, Val, Megan, Kelsey, and I rode the subway to a shopping mall near Tianamen Square. We bought official Beijing Olympic merchandise. From what I've seen, the theme and characters this year (below) beat those of past Olympics.

I mean, check out the Atlanta Olympics' mascot:

Cuddly....?

Aside from those purchases, we bought little but spent much time checking out high-end stores and warehouses of trinkets alike. Fun!

The American Dream translated

At last, an afternoon to sit back and reflect on the time spent here! After five days of observing, experiencing, and reflecting, one thought keeps popping into my head:

China is remarkably similar to the US.

I have witnessed obvious cultural differences, have had trouble communicating, have been laughed at for doing things wrong, have been misquoted by a Chinese newspaper, have seen people behave in ways Americans rarely behave, and have observed traditions I cannot wait to adopt at home. Either in spite of or because of these experiences and observations, I succumb to the overwhelming feeling that the attitudes, values, and goals of the Chinese run parallel to those of the Americans.

The Chinese I have interacted with thus far take pride in their country and want others to "love China," as one Olympic organizer encouraged. But pride does not blind them. They recognize their country's flaws and want them to improve. One Chinese journalist I spoke with, Zheng Lu of China Daily, expressed appreciation for time she spent working in Canada. She said someday she hoped to move there. The people here do not fear change, even if their government favors tradition. They relish a chance for self and cultural improvement.

The driving goal of the Chinese seems to be to do better for themselves, their families, and their country. Is this not also the American dream?

A three-day tour

I am sitting in my room eating day-old pizza and overhearing people in the hallway imitate the Peking opera singing we saw tonight. Imagine the shrill hiss of a teapot amplified to the intensity of an ambulance siren. The hallway singers are screeching the notes impressively.

The last three days have passed in a whirlwind. I've been awake and moving from about 5:30 am to 10 pm each day. The Beijing Organizing Committee has taken us on tours of a sewage treatment plant, a rural town and temple, the Summer and Winter Palaces, the Ming Tomb, and the Great Wall.

rural town and temple

climbing up the Great Wall

More details to come once the pace of life settles

Beijing in a haze

I knew the moment I woke up I'd spend my day in a haze. The literal haze lingered outside my window, but the haze in my head was thicker. After spending the last four days in a rush of energy and excitement, I stepped back from the thrill of activity to simply observe Beijing. The result was me jotting the beginning of an article:

Beijing values facades.

In Tianamen Square, paper-thin mock edifices close off areas from visitors. Near our university, a stretch of buildings looks as if a tornado peeled off the fronts of each store. Swarms of workers attach fresh, shiny entrance ways to mask the leftover shells. Overseers stand at a distance, seeming to hunt for patches of imperfection that would need a swift covering.

Yet as I wrote these sentences, I knew my article itself would be a facade, an easy conclusion. Four days in a country makes no outsider informed enough to judge its values from something as simple as sprucing up for an event as widely viewed as the Olympics. What I value is the people who have shown us all touching hospitality.

Like today, the Olympic organizers treated us all to the most delicious Peking duck dinner!

I'll continue to look and appreciate.

Official uniforms and shopping adventures of pretty ladies

Today made me feel like a true Olympic volunteer. In the morning, we signed the official Beijing Olympic volunteer forms, met with our venue managers (I'll likely work the BMX biking event), and tried on our uniforms. The uniform trying-on confused us all. Sizes in China do not match US sizes at all. Most women here are tiny, and the sizes reflect it. Many in our group unhappily found themselves fitting into XXL or larger sized shirts and pants. But the excitement of learning about our schedule for the next week tempered the pain.The Beijing Organizing Committee has planned for us a three-day tour of the city. We will visit historical sites such as the Summer Palace, eat traditional meals like the famous Peking roast duck, and even attend a Chinese opera.

After our Olympic meeting many of us headed out for shopping at the Silk Market. We found ourselves adventuring through a maze of shoes, purses, and clothes, hearing chants of "pretty lady, come look" coming from each consumer-snaring booth of products. I didn't buy anything. I plan to move in for the kill once I hone my haggling skills.

The shopping excursion continued at the high end Oriental Mall near Tianamen Square. The mall's BMW Lifestyle store featuring Z4's surrounded by racks of designer clothes wowed me. The Black Sesame and Almond Blizzard from Dairy Queen also put a smile on my face.

Topics to look forward to: massages, sewage treatment, and Mao's body!

An all-American day

Yesterday was an all-American day in Beijing. We shopped at Walmart for a wide array of items we needed desperately and then went to Pizza Hut for dinner. But we don't believe we missed out on experiencing the culture for the day. Both places looked quite different from how they do in the US. And Pizza Hut here is an expensive and high class dining experience!

The arrival

Nie hao! I finally made it to Beijing! The flight from O'Hare to Shanghai gave Kelsey, Val, Jason, and I no trouble. We saw incredible views of Alaska, Siberia, and Japan. Our seven-hour layover in Shanghai hurt. Our troubles started when the four of us toppled over each other domino-style on the airport escalator, continued with the airport security not being able to find our names on the flight, and ended with a midnight taxi drive through sketchy city alleys. But we arrived at the International Center of the CUC and found our rooms cozy enough. Our bathrooms are so small you can shower while sitting on the toilet. Drawback or perk?

Today we all explored a bit of the city. We took the train to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, but the attractions were closed. Monday is the Chinese day of rest. However, many tourists still milled around the area. One Asian woman asked me (not in English) to let her take pictures of her children with me. I've always known I'm a dead ringer for Britney Spears ;)

Our internet connection is slow and spotty, but I hope to post daily. Miss you all at home!

the group at Tianamen Square

candy and food store

Intriguing theme No. 1...

China's toilet-themed restaurant

I'm thinking this should be at the top of my to-do list.

HERE I GO!!!!!! (Almost.)

Laoshan Velodrome

Ohmygoodness, four days left until China! I've almost completed my packing. My mom's provided me with more Wet Ones wipes, hand sanitizer, and stomach meds than I could ever imagine using, but I've really appreciated all the support she and my family have given as I prepare to head overseas.

At this point, I'm taking a very go-with-the-flow approach to the beginning of the trip. In past overseas trips I've taken, I've always found that the first few days tend to bring lots of surprises and unexpected hitches! I have, however, received a schedule of the first week's activities:

July 6--July 8
Group or individual arrives in CUC

July 9
09:30-10:30 am
An English Lecture on Beijing history & Custom
14:00
Meeting with Beijing Organizing Committee

July 10
Free activities

July 11-13
Beijing City Tour (Organized by Beijing Organizing Committee, but not decided yet)

July 14
Free Activities

July 15
Olympic opens, Venue training and service

Looking to be an interesting first week! I have a feeling though the real adventure will begin on July 15.... I met two people this summer who had simply attended past Olympics and said the experience topped anything they had ever done. I can't wait to get started on location at the Laoshan Velodrome!