Event tickets!

I have tickets for beach volleyball and track & field!!! The two Chinese officials who flew to the US and conducted the quote-reporting test and debate that allowed US college students like myself to work at these Games have arranged for international volunteers to see the two events. Lucky for me, I have off work the day of beach volleyball. We haven't received information as to which matches we'll see. I don't know much about the favorite teams, rivalries, etc. of beach volleyball, but a few weeks ago I knew none of these about cycling either. Now I feel familiar with many aspects of the sport.

I don't believe I can attend the track & field events, as many important cycling events take place the evening of Aug. 16, the time our tickets would allow us into the Bird's Nest. But, who knows, maybe a stroke of luck will allow me to see the events of the night: women's 800m, 100m, javelin throw and shot put and the men's long jump, 100m and hurdles.

I would have loved the chance to go inside the Bird's Nest. I had hoped to watch the opening ceremony in it, but volunteers did not receive tickets to it. Instead I watched the ceremony from inside a restaurant that aired the NBC broadcast. The performances transfixed me(!), until waitresses kept walking in front of the screen and students from other universities kept getting up to go to the bathroom and walking in front of me. Oh well, I still saw most of the ceremony, and what I did see wowed me!. As Paul, the owner of the restaurant said, "No one can put on a show like the Chinese!"

The majority of the Purdue group and students from

the University of Delaware watching the ceremony