Final Days

A few friends and I were able to visit Al-Jazeera's Beijing office on Friday due to an invite from the family friend who works there. The office is basically an extended apartment in the diplomatic compound as they do most of their reporting on location in Beijing and the surrounding areas. They have an equipment storage room, editing room, and a main room with desks for all the journalists. They are able to send out their pieces through some hi-tech satellite which was explained to me but yet I wasn't fully able to understand. We were also able to meet some of the other journalists who work there for both the broadcast and online sections. The friend answered mine and my friend's questions about difficulties working here with the various limitations that exist. 

The most recent news story that broke was about the two old ladies who were going to be sent for re-education camps for protesting against the government, and the family friend did a piece on it which you can check out on YouTube. I was able to view it a few days ago, but now it says the video is no longer available, but I'm not sure if that is just here in China or anywhere. I've watched Al-Jazeera English through YouTube for a while, and I would highly recommend it as they have really compelling topics not necessarily found in mainstream media.

We then headed back to Steak and Eggs, an American style diner I had to been to once before. It provided some welcome relief for a celiac to the sometimes perilous soy sauce covered Chinese food! 

After lunch I headed by myself to the Ancient Observatory which had been recommended by a friend. The ancient instruments are quite beautiful as pieces of art in themselves even if you don't fully understand how they functioned or what they were used for. There were some OK English explanations of how Chinese and Western astronomers exchanged information for the benefit of mutual understanding as early as the 15th century. The observatory is one of the oldest in the world and was still functioning until around 1920. Several instruments sit outside atop a replica of the old observatory building providing some historical perspective right next to a modern main freeway with cars rushing by.

Afterwards I went to meet my room mate at the Olympic Green again so we could walk around some more and get up close to some of the buildings for photos. I hadn't been lucky with pin trading so far, so imagine my surprise at the entrance to, in and at the exit of the subway that I was accosted by people wanting to trade pins - I think I got some good ones! Back on the Green we took photos of the Bird's Nest, broadcast tower and Water Cube which are all amazing buildings in themselves without knowing what's inside of them. We got to stay until dusk and saw the Bird's Nest and Water Cube change colors. I then went with my friend Kelly to a place called Lush, a student cafe with a laid back vibe in the Wudaoku area up north of Renmin. It was open mic night so a few people, including the owner, had their go at the mic - let's just say some were better than others. I had a salad and some chili which was really good, I hadn't had a salad in a while because they just don't serve it at many Chinese restaurants. 

On Sunday we went out to celebrate the closing ceremony at Tun Bar with drinks and dancing we some of the staff from the various venues where we worked out. Since yesterday I've been sick with a cold which is not the best timing! So just taking it easy getting well and doing the packing that has to be done before we leave in two days...

This will probably be one of my last posts before we leave on Thursday, I will upload some more photos today so check them out. Its been a crazy trip with its ups and downs, joys and frustrations, but I am definitely ready to come home. Looking forward to seeing some friendly faces soon! 

Green with Envy

Yesterday we went on a tour of the Olympic Green with some of our tennis photo staff group and bosses. I have to admit that when I heard that we were going on a tour I thought they meant a guided tour by some Olympic volunteer or staff member and go inside some of the venues such as the Water Cube and Bird's Nest, but it turned out just to be our bosses showing us around to places they had already visited on the Green. These included a set of huts that were dedicated to different regions and cities in China called China Story. I do not recall the name of city the first hut was dedicated to, but it had several exhibits. First was a  man carving wooden sculptures with toads which are known as auspicious animals in East Asia, and then one creating pictures with large stamps with multiple colors. A woman was also embroidering in a special manner that allowed each side of the cloth to have different colors, which in her case were reflective threads that highlighted different aspects of a cat on each side. Lastly a man was creating sculptures of a phoenix and dragon using melted sugar. The second hut we visited was dedicated to Shanghai and included a variety of stringed instruments. The Olympic Super Store turned out to be our last stop on the tour because of the long lines we had to wait in to get inside. This place had any and everything Olympic that you could ever want, and consequently it was absolute mayhem -  it was like they were giving the stuff away for free! I did some final Olympic themed shopping, including some more pins as I was hoping they would encourage some more pin trading. More on that later... Our final stop was the McDonald's on the Green as were in a slight rush to get to an acrobat performance later that evening so we had to eat on the go. I tried to exchange my Mizzou pin, but it seemed liked every single McDonald's employee already had one! 

We ended up being able to take a direct bus from the Olympic Green to the Poly Theater where the performance was. The tickets were free and courtesy of BOCOG. Every act, from the contortionists, jugglers, and tumblers to acrobats had a sense of whimsy about it. It was a feast of colors and tricks played on the eyes to create a bizzare fantasy world. Some of the acts were very similar to those I had seen at the show at Mizzou this winter, but overall more spectacular and over the top in terms of technology and tricks done. 

(Home) Court Advantage

This past weekend was such as rush as we were in the throes of the tennis finals.
On Saturday my first match was two Russians, Dementieva vs. Zvonareva, who were competing for a chance to in the gold medal match. Besides Li Na, the Chinese favorite female player, the Russians were the only ones left in the semifinals. Li got knocked out by Dinara, the other Russian player, so it was guaranteed Russia vs. Russia in the golds, and my game determined which player it would be. I had heard about Zvonereva's temper tantrums with the umpire, so I was rooting for the more humble Dementieva to win. She had also played on my court before and seemed like a confident, mild mannered player who put in a lot of hard work and reaped the benefits. She did pull off a win which meant she would face her fellow countrywomen in the women's singles finals and be guaranteed at least a silver.
My following match determined which team got the men's doubles bronze - the American Bryan brothers or the French Llodra and Clement. I was excited as there was a medal match on my court and I wanted to see the top ranked US men's doubles team play. During the match the Bryan brothers were really chummy with each other and kept on offering up words of encouragement. There wasn't much of a U.S. fan presence, but one fan got some Chinese people to chant "Jing Guo USA," or let's go USA. There were also some "Go Stanfords" as the two studied there during the late 90's. At the end of the game when the Bryan brothers won they jumped up and hugged each other in midair. I believe a few of their family members were there as the brothers kept on pointing up towards them as if saying "this is for you." I did sneak in some pictures, which technically I was not supposed to do, but I tried to do it discreetly.
The final match on my court that day brings me to the other type of "court" I reference in my blog title. Since the Spanish women's doubles team was playing the Chinese, some of the royal court of Spain showed up at my court to watch the game. Queen Sophia was there watching with her son Prince Felipe and his wife Princess Letizia well as a large entourage at the head of the court. Sophia and her brother were Olympic athletes themselves in the 196o Games for the Greek sailing team, and Felipe followed in her footsteps and was a Olympic athlete himself at the Barcelona Games also as a member of Spain's sailing team. A member of Spanish tennis royalty, Nadal, also showed up for a short period to cheer on his countrywomen but left pretty quickly.
Due to the national colors of the two countries competing, the stands were a sea of red and yellow. The Chinese fans were the loudest I've ever heard them - when the Spanish fans would try to cheer, the Chinese ones would soon overpower them with boos or "Jing Guos" for their own players. The umpire had to tell the fans to be quiet many times during the game so the point could be played! I have to give the Spanish fans credit though for being so persistent. The game came down to a tie break which the Spanish one, and then and only then were the Chinese silent and the Spanish ecstatic! The Spanish players threw out some of their gear to fans in the stands after the game.
After that was over I went back to the Media area and caught the last minutes of the Federer/Wawrinka doubles game against Sweden and then was asked to help during the medal's ceremony for men's doubles. I helped clear the area by the court door of photographers so the flags and the girls carrying the medals and flowers could get through easily. I was also able to take a few photos from my position near the door which was quite neat.
The Chinese duo, which I have dubbed the Chengdu Two since they are both from that region famous for its pandas, played for the bronze medal the following afternoon at a game I watched from the photo positions in the stands. We were asked to be there by our boss as they were expecting a lot of spectators who might try to take photo position seats meant for photographers only. They did not have the same large amount of fans as before, but enough were cheering them on and went crazy when they won against the Ukrainian team. The fans went even more nuts when the Chinese players threw their gear into the stands as well as some tennis balls used in the games.
When we got back to the Media section we were asked to help out with the rest of the medal ceremonies that day which were women's singles, women's doubles and men's singles. The women's singles one was crazy as I was helping double check photo vest numbers against a list we had of photographer's allowed on the field of play near the medal stand. There were lots of photographers too who didn't seem to understand that they had to go into the moat for photos as the court entrance had to be clear. Some photographers got there too late and were not able to get past the security guards blocking the court entrance door and got really rude. This was not normal for me to see as most of the photographers I dealt with didn't make my job difficult. The Russian's dominated all three medals for women's singles which I'm sure made them proud.
After that medal ceremony it was time for the big game: Nadal vs. Gonzalez. I hadn't gotten to watch a game from the stands so I went up to the photo positions area and sat in one of those seats for the majority of the game. It was very neat to see the packed stadium and watch the game in real time without having to pay an arm and a leg for it! There wasn't really any trouble until a man jumped into one of the photo position seats that was not a photographer. Three volunteers including myself asked him to leave, but he all gave us gruff about why the seats were empty and why they weren't being used. I realized I had missed a call from my boss, so I went outside the court to call him back and asked what he wanted. I told him about the guy who would not leave the seat and eventually he said just to leave him there. I think he thought we had more power than we really did! I therefore unfortunately did not see the last point in the third set of the game because I couldn't get back into the court until the point was played. I did see Nadal's jubilant reaction however, and rushed back down to the Media area so I could see the medal's ceremony up close. Unfortunately I didn't get to stand on the court for the woman's doubles ceremony with the Williams sisters because security was blocking me, but I did get to see most of it through the doors. I did get through though to see the men's medal ceremony and got some neat pictures. After Nadal won his gold and was walking around the court, he thought he had to exit through the door I was near, and so therefore tried to rush through the crowd of staff and volunteers near the door. One of the managers called him back to say he had to finish his victory lap around the court first. Another near brush with Nadal!
After the medalists left the court the staff and volunteers rushed the court to get final pictures in the court and on the medal stands. We all got group photos with other members of our photo staff from Tsinghua University who also gave us signed t-shirts with their names and a university pin. I will definitely miss some of the students as they were so kind and helpful to us during our time here. It was a unique opportunity to meet some Chinese students and understand their point of view on modern China. It was bittersweet to say goodbye because in some ways we were glad the competition was over but at the same time we were sad because had all become friends in this unique time and place.
I can't believe after months and months of waiting this experience is unfortunately over. I am looking forward to coming back stateside but will miss all the excitement we've had here!

Starstruck (well, almost)

Note: this post was first written yesterday and then today.
I've been trying to unload the 150 Mizzou Centenial pins given to each of us, mostly to the other volunteers in my venue. But today I got my first one in return from a UPI photographer. Pins are a big deal at Olympics as they are easy to carry and show off how many international friends you've made. According to my sources and the NY Times article, the best place to exchange pins is by the Main Press Center, so I will most likely head over there next week and see what my Mizzou pins can get me.
The craziness that should start with the final rounds of matches is currently on delay because of the rain. My fellow volunteers and photographers are anxiously waiting in the photo workroom for the clouds to clear. On the TV screen I can see a few dedicated fans holding out with their umbrellas and ponchos for any chance that they might see a match played today. We'll see, I'm not holding my breath.
You've probably heard by now that Federer and both of the Williams sisters are out of singles medal contention. Serena played the Russian Dementieva on my court after the rain delay ended at about 8pm. It was quite an operation to see the mass of people needed to dry the court out for the game. First they used giant squeeges to absorb the excess water, followed by towels which volunteers would stamp on in unison and lift up to do the next segment and repeat over and over again for the whole court. Finally they used what looked like snow blowers but with heat for the final drying of the court. Each player won one game so they had to go into a third game. Serena played strong at first then seemed to get a bit tired. Dementieva came back strong and won that last game. Right at the end of that game my friend on center court texted me that Federer had lost to James Blake which I at first had a hard time believing, but was later confirmed by other volunteers.
The next game was between Djokovic and Monfils, a young French player who although ranked in the 40s had played well enough so far to get to this quaterfinal match. He and Djokovic like Serena and Dementieva seemed evenly matched which again led to the need for a third game. The French had one animated fan who at one point got a whole section of Chinese fans to chant "Allez Gael," the French player's first name. Djokovic threw a few tantrums, but at the end of the match which he won all seemed well as he and his opponent embraced in a friendly hug.
By this time it was already 1 am and we were supposed to play a third game between Safina and Jankovic, but then it started misting. Jankovic made a fuss about it and it was decided that all the matches being played should be cancelled. Frankly I was relieved as I was so tired anyway!
When we got back to the photo manager's office, it was time for some of the players' press conferences. We were excited to see Nadal just down the hall from our office. A few moments later I was about to leave the room when Federer pased right in front of me, and then just as we were about to leave I was about to cross the hall when my friend had to literally pull me out of Nadal's way. Some near brushes with greatness! We didn't get back to our hotel until 3 am because the bus we needed to take was so full we couldn't get on until a second one arrived.
Some finals matches are being played tomorrow, so I am very excited!

When It Rains It Pours

And so the case is in Beijing. Everybody here has said that this summer has been unusually wet, I wonder why ;)... So the first day of competition was rained out. They were able to get a few matches in before it really started pouring. The match on our court started but had to be put on rain delay twice before they cancelled all games for the day so we got to leave early. Our bosses warned us that it would mean more games for Monday as they had to keep to a certain schedule to be done by the following Sunday. So, while only three games were scheduled for my court today, we ended up having four which lasted until about 12:30 am.
The first game on my court during my shift was Andy Murray and a player named Lu Yen-Hsun from Taiwan. Murray is ranked 6th in the world and the other player 74th, so it was expected to be an easy win for Murray. But, let me tell you, the Taiwan guy gave him a run for his money. One player would have an advantage point, but then lose it and the other player would have advantage which seemed to go on forever. The Taiwan guy eventually won after an over two hour game and was definitely the hero of the night - the screams and cheers were very loud! Later in the doubles game my room mate told me he got hit the face by a ball by his opponent and didn't seem all too ready to acknowledge the opponent's apology, so I guess he maybe was still quite upset.
Then, of course, very exciting, Federer and his doubles partner Wawrinka played the duo from Italy. I played my part when I picked up two balls that got hit into my moat and gave them to the ball boy - no, unfortunately I was not able to keep one as a souvenir! At the end of the game, which Federer and co. won quite easily, the fans went crazy when Federer threw his wristbands into the crowd. The fans were absolutely rabid to touch him or to have something touched by this man who is considered a tennis god.
I then got to watch the number one woman's player Jankovic from Serbia play an invited player from Zimbabwe, Cara Black who used to be the number one woman's doubles player. Both players had their own vocal cheering squads, the Serbs' louder than the Zimbabweans,' but definitely present. Some family member of Black's kept on shouting "Let's go bub" or "sug" which was quite cute. The underdogs need all the support they can get! While Black gave a good effort, in the end Jankovic won.
I was all ready to pack up and go, but then we got word that another game was to be played on our court. Now you have to understand I'd been sitting for the most part of 7 hours, with about 45 minutes for dinner and brief breaks between matches. I was so ready to go sleep, but then a game between an Estonian and Czech player was announced to take place, so I had to go back and sit for another hour or so. The extra game was because the rain had delayed many games that needed to be played in order to finish the schedule on time. I finally got to leave with my two fellow Missouri photo volunteers just after midnight. It was absolutely pouring when we walked back from our bus to the hotel and with me forgetting my poncho at the venue got absolutely soaked!
I began the third day of competition with a game between Djokovic, the number three ranked player, and Schuettler from Germany. I narrowly missed a ball to my head that was hit by Djokovic into my moat, but other than that not much excitement as Djokovic won within two sets quite easily. He threw a piece of his clothing into the crowd as well and the crowd went berserk.
The next match between Davydenko of Russia, ranked 4th in the world, and Mathieu of France, ranked in the 30's, was a surprise as well. Mathieu won two sets to one, and really fought for it so the happiness he showed at the win seemed genuine. It's games like these and the Taiwanese-British ones that are most exciting to watch as the lower ranked players really have to fight for a win, and fight for it they do. For the fans however the most excitement comes with these top ranked players and any Chinese players, as it did for Li Na in the next game on my court.
Li Na is ranked in the 40's in the world, but I don't think it really mattered at all to the hundreds of Chinese fans that came to watch her last night. The court was absolutely packed with spectators who were very vocal in their support, so much so that they had to be told to be quiet during the point by the umpire more than once. There was an announcement to please show support for both players, which some did when Morita, her Japanese opponent, earned a point, but it was a lot more subdued than the support shown for Li Na. She is definitely the darling of the Chinese tennis fans' eye. Morita made her earn her win, but Li Na pulled through with a win for China.
The ball boys had a new title during this match: bug retrievers. Yes, I say retrievers because they had to retrieve many an insect that landed on the court during this and the following games. Li Na seemed quite frightened by one that got in her way of serving. The insects were predominantly giant green grasshopper looking things that look like they could blend in with any bright green leaves. They were quite slippery little buggers when the boys tried to catch them, but eventually they got the idea to envelop them in towels and then dispose of them in the trash. In my moat I get a plethora of insects ranging from moths to beetles to wasps, its quite the menagerie!
The last match was between Hantuchova and Husarova of Slovakia and Yan and Zheng for China. Both of these doubles teams came with impressive credentials and were well matched for each other as the game had to be played to tie break with one team gaining advantage and the other team then getting it back. This tie break lasted for a long time, making the game almost two hours in length with the Chinese making a final wins that brought many cheers of congratulations from the Chinese fans. For the results to this and other matches, check out this web site. I am a photo assistant for any game on Court 1 after 5pm.
I also noted two new additions to the court that day. The first were cheerleaders who seemed require to cheer equally for both sides. About twenty Chinese girls dressed in navy would cheer for both players, even for Morita against Li Na, but when it got to the Chinese women's doubles they forgot their duties and clearly showed allegiance to the Chinese players. The second were seat fillers all dressed in the same China t-shirts. Read this New York Times article for more info, all I can say is that it is true. I'm not quite sure why they brought in Chinese seat fillers for such popular games with Chinese players in them, but they indeed were there. We finally left at around 1 am because all of our games went later than expected. It is nice to have night games as they are cooler, but then we have to wait for our games to finish at all hours of the night!
More to come later, we'll see who is on my court tomorrow.

It's a Family Affair

Sorry I've been lax in writing this blog, but as I've said my computer crashed on Thursday, and I'm now relying on the kindness of my friends to borrow computers to write this blog. So thanks to Gretchen for tonight's update!
The national pride in China surrounding the Olympic hopefuls is like nothing I've ever seen. The best comparison I can give is what it was like when the Red Sox won the World Series to give you an idea of what it's like. I think its both for national pride but also because they want to finally beat the U.S. in overall medal count. Ever since the Olympic competitions began this morning all of the photo volunteers in my venue were anxiously following their country's medal count. According to CCTV, they have won two golds so far, with one in women's weightlifting that I know for sure.
I hope some of you got the chance to watch the Opening Ceremonies. We watched in our hotel room and thought it was quite amazing, especially all of the technology they used. We were able to glimpse a reflection of some of the fireworks from the Bird's Nest on some of the nearby skyscrapers. We stayed up to see the U.S. team parade through, but went to bed before the torch was lit as we had a 5:30 wake up call. We did see a replay though, and if you haven't seen it I won't spoil the surprise, but you have to check it out. I found out today that Li Ning, the man who lit the torch, used to be a big gymnastics star here and started his namesake company which has become the Nike of China.
While most of our fellow volunteers thought the ceremony was a fitting opening and something of which the Chinese could be proud, one girl said she thought it was rather boring. She said there were too many group numbers and not enough individual ones for variety. She also commented that the chosen Olympic song lacked a chorus and thus was too monotone with not enough key changes.
Tennis competition begins tomorrow, and Nadal and partner will supposedly be on my court. And the excitement continues...

The time has come, my friends...

I am sitting in the comfort of my own room watching the Olympic pre-show on TV.I say safety because I decided I do not want to risk being trampled by a mob of spectators, protesters or policemen at one of the public viewing places here (like Tiannamen Square or Wangfujing). We went out earlier today, and there was enough of a stampede with the throngs of people on the subway to help me make my decision.I also feel that since I am lucky enough to have my place in this historical moment I won't be missing too much.
I experienced some excitement myself on Wednesday but not with quite the same size group of people. 17 of the world's top 20 tennis players will be competing at the Olympics, and I got to see the top two play. Well, practice, but it felt more intimate because most of the stadiums' seats were empty except for those filled by eager volunteers. I admit I was a bit starstruck to be somewhat up close and personal with Federer and Nadal, me in the moat and them on the court. All I can say is wow. Just, wow. I can't really discuss what happened, but wow should cover it for now. I also got to watch Ana Ivancovic,a rather recent number 1, Lleyton Hewitt, a number 1 in 2001, and the Swedes practice from the moat. We did have some issues with unruly photographers and others who were not supposed to be in the moat, but overall it was an amazing day. Later that evening I had a great dinner with a college friend and her friends at Paper, a Malaysian restaurant to top off one of my best days here so far.
And then yesterday my computer crashed, so I'm writing all of this from my Blackberry. I can still check e-mail, but with this and the tennis competition coming up I won't be as communicative this next week, but please do stay in touch!