Bird’s Nest

It’s been a whirlwind of a day (or two?) here in Beijing. I’ve been up completely around the clock, and now I’m ready to catch my breath.

It started with the trampoline qualifying round on Saturday. It was interesting… The group I was with definitely didn’t understand the rules, but we had a good time creating our own interpretations and scoring. Unfortunately, it didn’t match with the judges and none of our “uniform winners” advanced to the next round.

From there, we had lunch at the McDonald’s at the Olympic Green. McDonald’s is a worldwide partner of the Beijing Games, and so we have lots of coupons for free meals. It’s hard to pass up at the Games… especially when the alternative is China’s version of the hot dog… They have an interesting ordering system where they use hand held machines – sort of like the UPS guys have for capturing delivery signatures. At McDonald’s, the machines output a ticket that you take to the register to pay. And then you move to another line to pick up your order. Which would all be very efficient if the Chinese adhered to waiting in lines. It’s chaos.

I took the subway home from the Olympic Green and stopped by a nail salon on the way back. Ahh… You can get extremely good service here for very little money. I had girls working on my hands and feet at the same time – the royal treatment. All for just $20 USD – and that was considered an expensive salon. (I think I’m worth it.)

From there it was directly to work for a late night of fencing and shooting medal celebrations. One of our shooting athletes was awarded the Bronze post-event because the person who scored into third place tested positive for drugs. They presented the medal to him at USA House, and then he presented an “Order of Ekos” medal to his coach. The “Order of Ekos” is new to the US team this year – it’s an award that athletes who medal can present to a coach or supporter. The medals are given out during the “Managing Victory” celebrations at USA House.

Sunday morning I was up bright and early to leave for the women’s marathon by 6am. I took a cab to the Bird’s Nest where security was very tight and very slow, and made it into my seat with just two minutes to spare.

It was an awesome race – a lot of upsets and surprises. The silver and bronze contest was really tough. The video is rough, but you can watch it here:

I was able to watch the entire race on the big screens at the Bird’s Nest until the finish. I was seated just before the 42km mark (the marathon is 42.165 kilometers) and had a great view of the final stretches.

During the race, there were Chinese “cultural” performances going on in the stadium. At one point, they played a Green Day song and all of the Americans (and the Canadian) that I was with started to sing. The Chinese thought this was hilarious and started videotaping and taking pictures like we were rock stars. Photos of the race are on Flickr here.

From there I went to the Summer Palace, which is northwest of the Bird’s Nest and just outside of Beijing. It was built by the Jin dynasty in the 1700s and includes gardens, a lake and dozens of buildings in various architectural styles.

Inside the buildings you could see relics of the original palace – mostly furniture and artwork. To be honest, I think a lot of the significance was lost on me since signage was almost entirely in Chinese. Photos from the Summer Palace are on Flickr here.

From there, I went directly to USA House. I went in a few hours early so another team member could go to the men’s tennis match.

Work was long, but exciting. Michael Phelps and Dara were in the house – although I didn’t see them. Not that I’ve been very good at recognizing people…

Last night I talked to Venus and Serena Williams and helped them shop in the store for quite awhile without realizing it. I didn’t catch on until the US Wrestling team started swarming them for autographs. Duh.

I was similarly stupid yesterday – I talked with Michelle Kwan about Olympic pins for about 10 minutes and never realized who she was.

So, I definitely have no problem not acting starstruck … I don’t recognize anyone! We’ve also had Kerri Strug, David Schwimmer and some girl from Grey’s Anatomy in the house recently.

After work I had passes to Club Bud – a night club where celebrities and Olympians can go. There were tons of people wearing Olympic medals and Opening Ceremonies garb. I didn’t tour the entire club, but it’s set up for different themes based on the Chinese elements of nature. One room – I’m assuming “water” – even had a swimming pool. Of course, I didn’t have my camera.

So today, I’m taking it easy… I slept in a little and then went to a yoga class. I found a really great yoga studio in my neighborhood. It has classes in both English and Chinese, although I slept past all of the English classes today. I decided to try out the Chinese version and really enjoyed it. I didn’t understand a single word said during the entire class, but it worked out okay.

Now, it’s time to do laundry and recuperate. It should be another big night in the house…

Awesome morning here in Beijing! I attended the finals of the Women’s Gymnastics Team competition.

The top eight teams competed – but really, it was a match between China and the US. We medaled – I won’t spoil this and tell you where we ranked.

Ticket holders can take public transportation to the Games for free. I took the subway and made it in just under an hour and a half with all of the crowds and security measures.

My seats were great… I was FIVE seats down from Mary Lou Retton. Seriously. She had on a pink shirt (so did I!) and she has perfect teeth. And she’s an itsy bitsy, teeny tiny little thing.

I didn’t get my picture taken with her – lots and lots of people were approaching her for photos and autographs and I didn’t want to bother her also. I’m sure she’ll be at USA House for medal ceremonies and parties throughout the week.

If you’re watching the event on NBC, I was sitting in the section 120, which faces the uneven bars. I sat in the aisle seat of rows 24 and 25 – depending on the timing. I moved at one point.

The roof of the National Indoor Stadium is supposed to resemble an open fan. (I don’t see it.) It seats 20,000 people and is located just north of the “Water Cube” (the National Aquatics Center) where swimming events take place. (And where Michael Phelps has earned his fifth Gold medal in this games, to-date.)

It was a packed event, although the US didn’t have a strong (or loud?) fan base in the house. The Chinese really dominated the National Indoor Stadium – they were deafening at times.

After the event I grabbed some shots of the Water Cube, Bird’s Nest and Olympic Green … Now, “Green” might be purely symbolic or otherwise up for interpretation. Myself, I might call it Olympic “Concrete.” Anyway… those photos are on Flickr here.

I’ll be attending the Women’s Marathon in the Bird’s Nest on Sunday, and am anxious to see the inside.

It’s been such an exciting morning, I’m not sure what to do next. I have quite a few things still on my list, including the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, the art district and the Swiss House (for chocolate and champagne)… Chinese massages, pedicures and hair washes have also been recommended.

What to do?

I found these pics on a photo-sharing site and wanted to pass them along. See the contrast between the artists’ depictions of the Bird’s Nest and the actual air quality in Beijing earlier today.

And, keep in mind that this is with 50% less traffic on roadways and one month without construction or factory work.

Rendition of the Bird's Nest where Opening Ceremonies occured in Beijing

Photo of the Bird's Nest taken one hour before the Opening Ceremonies

Chinese citizens - mostly elderly - practice Tai Chi or dance in public spaces during the cooler morning hours.

Today was the first day of volunteer orientation. It was a long day – just over 12 hours of training plus a 30-minute commute by foot each way.

During the morning walk to work, we passed many public squares where dozens of Chinese people were meeting to exercise.

For orientation, we began with introductions and then took tours of USA House and the Hilton HQ operations to learn about their various parts and functions.

USA House is huge – three stories plus a basement level, ground-level terrace and a Budweiser party deck on the roof. It’s surrounded by a moat on three sides and guarded by very serious Chinese security. The place was bustling with activity – installations and set-up are still in progress and must be completed by the soft opening on Monday.

We stayed way out of the way… We went on a six-hour scavenger hunt.

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