It's been an amazing two weeks since the Olympics started. Here's what I've been up to.
Week 1, Tuesday: Went to see women's soccer, Canada vs. Sweden. Even though the match was sold out, the stands were only ¾ full. About 90% of the spectators were Chinese, who were like mercenary fans. I got the whole section chanting Jianada, Jiayou! (Let's go Canada!), but 5 minutes later a Swedish guy had them all chanting Ruidian, Jiayou! (Let's go Sweden!). Canada lost the match 2-1, and, thanks to the pollution and the cheering, I lost my voice.
Week 1, Saturday: My dad arrives and the good weather starts. Since Saturday, there's been 5 days of blue sky and 1 day of clouds and pollution. 5 clear days, more than there had been to that point all summer.
Week 2, Sunday: Watch the women's marathon in front of Tiananmen Square, which these days is occasionally closed, for some reason. Along the crowded sidewalks, we find a good seat on the road next to some proud Japanese fans, who have about a 3 meter buffer zone from the Chinese on either side of them.
Week 2, Monday: See the preliminaries of the women's ping pong. Skill level of the ping pong: very low. But it was worth it, even if it was just for the entertainment value
Week 2, Tuesday-Saturday: Track and field at the Bird's Nest every night. Where do I start? Seeing the stadium at night is even more impressive than on TV- the colors are amazingly vibrant. Tens of thousands of people fill the Olympic Green, which is very clean. At night, there's an amazing panorama of the red Bird's nest, the blue Water Cube, and some amazing new hotels that have just been built in the area.
The athletics events themselves were amazing, and probably the greatest sports events I've ever seen. I saw Usain Bolt break the world record in the 200 meters and tons more exciting finishes in other events. The lines to get food were ridiculously long (It was same catering company that the Skydome in Toronto uses, no wonder), but the experience was unforgettable.
I go home this afternoon. I'm looking forward to going home, but I'll definitely miss China a lot. The studying was arduous but worthwhile, and the cultural experiences were second to none. And I think I'll even miss the food, too.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Churches and volunteers
It rained this morning, which will hopefully help clear the pollution in the next few days. So, I decided to head off to the Beijing Capital Museum on the west side of town.
Unfortunately, the museum happened to be closed for "Olympic-related preparations", although I caught a glance of some swanky-looking foreign-ish officials walking out of the museum. So maybe they're just showing it off.
Close by the museum was Beijing's oldest Catholic church, built pre-Qing dynasty in the 1600s by an Italian. There, I ran into some more officials- it looked like the entire Phillipine Olympic delegation was attending mass there.
From walking around the streets for a few hours, it was cool to see the masses of volunteers, security guards, and traffic monitors. When I stopped by a volunteer tent to get Olympic maps and schedules, they swarmed me.
Also, my friends got coffee at McDonald's, where almost every seat was filled by local Chinese people, eyes glued to the TV watching a Chinese female gymnast. Hanging in the McDonald's were signs that said "McDonald's-let's go China, 24 hours/day"
Unfortunately, the museum happened to be closed for "Olympic-related preparations", although I caught a glance of some swanky-looking foreign-ish officials walking out of the museum. So maybe they're just showing it off.
Close by the museum was Beijing's oldest Catholic church, built pre-Qing dynasty in the 1600s by an Italian. There, I ran into some more officials- it looked like the entire Phillipine Olympic delegation was attending mass there.
From walking around the streets for a few hours, it was cool to see the masses of volunteers, security guards, and traffic monitors. When I stopped by a volunteer tent to get Olympic maps and schedules, they swarmed me.
Also, my friends got coffee at McDonald's, where almost every seat was filled by local Chinese people, eyes glued to the TV watching a Chinese female gymnast. Hanging in the McDonald's were signs that said "McDonald's-let's go China, 24 hours/day"
Friday, August 8, 2008
08-08-08
After watching the 2489214th former Yugoslavian/USSR member state's Olympic delegation parade through the Bird's nest stadium, I got fed up and headed out for a snack. The fast food joint's waiters and cooks were all clustered around a TV, watching the live telecast from the stadium.
The waitress sprinted to the counter to take my order. I paid and she hustled back to the TV. The cook got up and sprinted to the kitchen. 30 seconds later he was back watching the coverage, and I ate the world's fastest bowl of noodles.
Tonight I watched the opening ceremonies at my apartment, with a few Chinese friends and American students from my program. We sat around the TV drinking beer and enjoying the show. The Chinese guys brought snacks that included chicken feet, which I declined to eat.
I have one week left of Chinese class, after which my Dad arrives in Beijing. I don't have any tickets for the first week of events, but in the second week my Dad and I are going to see the women's volleyball semi's and the last four nights of track and field.
So hopefully I'll survive my final exams and make it through to root for Canada! Jiayou! (the main Chinese sports cheer, literally: add oil.)
The waitress sprinted to the counter to take my order. I paid and she hustled back to the TV. The cook got up and sprinted to the kitchen. 30 seconds later he was back watching the coverage, and I ate the world's fastest bowl of noodles.
Tonight I watched the opening ceremonies at my apartment, with a few Chinese friends and American students from my program. We sat around the TV drinking beer and enjoying the show. The Chinese guys brought snacks that included chicken feet, which I declined to eat.
I have one week left of Chinese class, after which my Dad arrives in Beijing. I don't have any tickets for the first week of events, but in the second week my Dad and I are going to see the women's volleyball semi's and the last four nights of track and field.
So hopefully I'll survive my final exams and make it through to root for Canada! Jiayou! (the main Chinese sports cheer, literally: add oil.)
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Pickup basketball - East/West cultural differences
Though I like to joke about it with Chinese kids, being Canadian does not make me Steve Nash's cousin. And I'll never forget that day in the countryside when I asked a crowd of kids who their favorite basketball player was- the loudest in the group, not even knowing I was Canadian, shouted "Steve Nash!"
I applaud that rural villages understanding of NBA stars. What I didn't expect to encounter in Beijing were some fairly large differences in the way that friends casually play pick-up basketball.
Today, I got my first sunburn in Beijing. I was shooting around on my own, and ended up joining a game of Chinese highschoolers.
I'm not very good at basketball, but in high school I played it often with my friends during lunch break everyday. Not being a great shooter, I'd be responsible for rebounding, playing tough defense, and occasionally throwing up a goofy hook shot for comic relief.
On those Canadian courts, we kept score. There was an unspoken rule that the best players should shoot the most. We worked up a sweat playing defense, and each team would often pass the ball around before taking the "perfect" opportunity. Like the Toronto Maple Leafs power play.
In contrast, the average possession in a Chinese friendly pickup game lasts about 3 seconds- someone gets the ball, and drives towards the hoop, and tries to make some acrobatic move. The defense is lackadaisical. Everyone tries to make behind the back passes.
When I'd set up to take a 3 pointer back in Canada, a defender would immediately charge towards me with his arms up and leap to block my shot. In China, no one even bothered to defend my, nor any one else's outside shots. They looked at me like I was funny for doing so.
I missed the hypercompetitiveness of playing basketball in Canada, but I also liked the laid-back feel, and the freedom to take more risks and chances to set up sensational plays.
Although, the best part of Chinese basketball are the 70 year olds who've abandoned Tai Chi for the hoops game. When I lived in the dorms, sometimes I'd wake up to the pit pats and clangs of a lao beijing ren shooting six-footers, over and over, at 5:30am.
(edited for lackadaisical spelling)
I applaud that rural villages understanding of NBA stars. What I didn't expect to encounter in Beijing were some fairly large differences in the way that friends casually play pick-up basketball.
Today, I got my first sunburn in Beijing. I was shooting around on my own, and ended up joining a game of Chinese highschoolers.
I'm not very good at basketball, but in high school I played it often with my friends during lunch break everyday. Not being a great shooter, I'd be responsible for rebounding, playing tough defense, and occasionally throwing up a goofy hook shot for comic relief.
On those Canadian courts, we kept score. There was an unspoken rule that the best players should shoot the most. We worked up a sweat playing defense, and each team would often pass the ball around before taking the "perfect" opportunity. Like the Toronto Maple Leafs power play.
In contrast, the average possession in a Chinese friendly pickup game lasts about 3 seconds- someone gets the ball, and drives towards the hoop, and tries to make some acrobatic move. The defense is lackadaisical. Everyone tries to make behind the back passes.
When I'd set up to take a 3 pointer back in Canada, a defender would immediately charge towards me with his arms up and leap to block my shot. In China, no one even bothered to defend my, nor any one else's outside shots. They looked at me like I was funny for doing so.
I missed the hypercompetitiveness of playing basketball in Canada, but I also liked the laid-back feel, and the freedom to take more risks and chances to set up sensational plays.
Although, the best part of Chinese basketball are the 70 year olds who've abandoned Tai Chi for the hoops game. When I lived in the dorms, sometimes I'd wake up to the pit pats and clangs of a lao beijing ren shooting six-footers, over and over, at 5:30am.
(edited for lackadaisical spelling)
Friday, August 1, 2008
Real Beijing, you can't hide from me
Since July 23, the Beijing government has been restricting car traffic and temporarily closing nearby factories. It was supposed to be the final step in the long process of turning Beijing into a pollution-free, 1st world by the start of the Olympics, or at least making the city seem modern for a period of time.
Unfortunately, in the four days following the restrictions, the pollution was as worse as ever. There was one clear day, and it's been terrible ever since, although there are clear skies this morning.
Beijing's obsessed with modernizing the city in skin-deep, cosmetic ways. First, there are the ostentatious flower displays that I've written about before, which this week got even more ostentatious. Now, there are 3-foot tall bell-shaped faux-wooden flower pots filled with tons of soil.
As well, though I haven't seen it myself, but the New York Times reports that the police are erecting barriers in front of "unsightly" storefronts near tourist sites. (link)
I don't think it's rash of me to say that these special Olympic reforms probably won't influence the city much more strongly than the usual economic growth that's been steadily modernizing the city.
Because even though it's pretty now, real Beijing is still there. It's probably harder to find than it was 3 or 4 years ago, when I'm told that locals regularly spat on the floor every minute or so, during meals at restaurants.
Every time I walk from my apartment to school, I pass a couple of shacks- one of them sells fruit and vegetables, and in the identical shack opposite to it is where the family who runs the shack lives. They have two little boys(yes, a lot of people get around the one-child policy here, either they don't register a kid, or they pay a fine).
The 5-year old is fully-clothed 25% of the time, pantsless 25% of the time, and fully naked about 50%, or every other time I pass the shack. In full view of his parents, brothers, and all of the workers and students commuting to and from my apartment.
Three days ago, he popped a squat on the dirt next to the sidewalk, and, also in full view of parents and passers-by, appeared to be preparing to defecate. Despite the cultural significance of observing this event, I was unsure of the manners in stopping to confirm that this kid was doing the unthinkable, and walked by.
On my way to class this morning, he was at it again, and I can now confirm that the naked kid takes dumps in public and in full view of his parents.
Beijing can announce as many policies and erect as many walls as it wants. And foreign tourists will probably hardly notice between Beijing and other modern cities. But the culture/charm/weirdness of Beijing is still there: Beijingers still spit, even-numbered cars drive on wrong days (come on Beijing government, drivers barely obey traffic lights as it is), and naked kids still take dumps in public.
Unfortunately, in the four days following the restrictions, the pollution was as worse as ever. There was one clear day, and it's been terrible ever since, although there are clear skies this morning.
Beijing's obsessed with modernizing the city in skin-deep, cosmetic ways. First, there are the ostentatious flower displays that I've written about before, which this week got even more ostentatious. Now, there are 3-foot tall bell-shaped faux-wooden flower pots filled with tons of soil.
As well, though I haven't seen it myself, but the New York Times reports that the police are erecting barriers in front of "unsightly" storefronts near tourist sites. (link)
I don't think it's rash of me to say that these special Olympic reforms probably won't influence the city much more strongly than the usual economic growth that's been steadily modernizing the city.
Because even though it's pretty now, real Beijing is still there. It's probably harder to find than it was 3 or 4 years ago, when I'm told that locals regularly spat on the floor every minute or so, during meals at restaurants.
Every time I walk from my apartment to school, I pass a couple of shacks- one of them sells fruit and vegetables, and in the identical shack opposite to it is where the family who runs the shack lives. They have two little boys(yes, a lot of people get around the one-child policy here, either they don't register a kid, or they pay a fine).
The 5-year old is fully-clothed 25% of the time, pantsless 25% of the time, and fully naked about 50%, or every other time I pass the shack. In full view of his parents, brothers, and all of the workers and students commuting to and from my apartment.
Three days ago, he popped a squat on the dirt next to the sidewalk, and, also in full view of parents and passers-by, appeared to be preparing to defecate. Despite the cultural significance of observing this event, I was unsure of the manners in stopping to confirm that this kid was doing the unthinkable, and walked by.
On my way to class this morning, he was at it again, and I can now confirm that the naked kid takes dumps in public and in full view of his parents.
Beijing can announce as many policies and erect as many walls as it wants. And foreign tourists will probably hardly notice between Beijing and other modern cities. But the culture/charm/weirdness of Beijing is still there: Beijingers still spit, even-numbered cars drive on wrong days (come on Beijing government, drivers barely obey traffic lights as it is), and naked kids still take dumps in public.
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