This week in photos

I haven't had time to post about all of the things I've done this past week, but perhaps these photos I've captured do a better job of letting you know what I've seen.

People worshipping at the Lama Temple

Students sit inside a historic building at the Art District

A woman sits in front of a train outside the art district

Our professor displays her patriotism before the Gold medal softball game between Japan and the USA

A group of us stands in front of the Olympic rings, displayed near the U.S. House

Lauren and I do our best imitations of two prominent cyclists (who shall remain nameless)

Saved for a rainy day

Although things on my blog have come to a temporary halt, things in China have not. We've been pretty busy these past few days as track cycling wrapped up (with the Brits dominating the competition) and now BMX has begun.

Kelsey and I sit at the press conference where Chris HOY (GBR) talks about winning three Gold medals. To his right is Jason KENNY (GBR), who took second place in the Men's Individual Sprint. In my opinion, Hoy was the one of the most articulate and genuine athletes I flash quoted -- and he was definitely touched by his Olympic success. He teared up during all three medal ceremonies.

The problem with BMX, however, is that the most miniscule amount of rain makes the outdoor track too dangerous for the riders. Thus, today's early rounds were canceled and scheduled to resume tomorrow. I can't say we were too bummed, as none of us wanted to stand out in the rain. So we hopped on the subway and made trip to the Silk Market to buy some final souvenirs before our trip expires.

BMX Course

Megan and me at the BMX course

Other than the number of hours we have been working, not much has changed at the office. There are, of course, athletes around every corner. Our job requires us to be aggressive with interviewing and approaching the competitors, so there's no time or space to be starstruck. Still, it's pretty crazy that we're surrounded by the best in the world, people who have been training their entire lives for an event that lasts only moments.

Tonight I am taking some time to pack up some of my things, do some laundry, and catch up with my blogs. Back home everyone is gearing up for school to start, so I've been kind of distracted planning for the semester. It's strange to think I'll be leaving within the week. Part of me is excited to return to America, but another part of me worries I haven't sucked up enough of this country; I feel like I've been here forever, but the time has gone so fast.

Track cycling kicks off

The first day of track cycling allowed me to witness firsthand an Olympic record and a Gold medal performance by the Great Britain Men's Sprint team.

The team, anchored by favorite Chris Hoy, dominated competition, topping qualifying and then toppling long-time rival France to win its first gold medal in the Men's Team Sprint.

The United States qualified for the final spot in the first round after Poland was relegated by the race jury for deliberately riding on the blue band during the race in initial qualifying. Everyone I quoted from the U.S. said he was happy to qualify after the first round, though they were all disappointed they didn't perform better. Unfortunately, track cycling is not one of the U.S.'s strong sports, but it is growing. I think we'll make up for it with BMX.

Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins set an Olympic record with 4:15.031 during qualifying to better the previous high of 4:15.165 he set at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The strong ride by the three-time world champion is promising for his bid to become the first cyclist to repeat as Men's Individual Pursuit gold medalist in Olympic Games history.

Aside from the excitement I felt at watching the events and interviewing the athletes post-qualifying rounds and final competitions, we all felt a bit dismayed at the mayhem in the mixed zone. I expected the mass of journalists, but the size of the mixed zone changed at the last minute, which was inconvenient for us. On top of that, some of the BOCOG officials limited the number of ONS volunteers who could be in the mixed zone to three, which puts some obvious obstacles in our way, especially after medal events. If there are four athletes in the mixed zone, for example, three ONS reporters cannot gather quotes from everyone, which means journalists who are unable to get down from the tribunes in time may not get the quotes they need to file stories.

Our managers are doing their best to work out the kinks for us and I expect things to be better today. We also have something to look forward to tonight because we are going to the Bird's Nest to see one of the track events. We don't get off work until 9 or 10 p.m., so we're able to see only the last event, but most people are just excited to see the inside of the venue.

Track cycling trivia

Here is a list of interesting numbers of the upcoming cycling track competition at the Beijing Olympic Games.

6,000 - Spectator capacity at the Laoshan Velodrome, which is venue for track cycling at the Beijing Games.

198 - Height in centimeters of Jens Mouris of the Netherlands, the tallest rider in track cycling at the Beijing Games.

102 - Weight in kilograms of Carsten Bergemann of Germany, the heaviest track cycling rider at the Beijing Games.

57 - Medals won by France, the most by any National Olympic Committee (NOC) in the track cycling competition.

48 - Streak in years (1920-1968) in which Italy won at least one medal in the men's team pursuit at every Olympic Games.

43 - Age of Juan Esteban Curuchet of Argentina, the oldest rider in the track cycling competition at the Beijing Games.

22 - Number of Olympic sprint events held in the history of the men's track cycling competition.

21 - Medals won by the United States in 1904 in track cycling, the most by a single NOC at a single Olympic Games.

18 - Age of American Taylor Phinney, the youngest rider in the track cycling competition at the Beijing Games.

6 - Total medals won by American Burton Downing, the most by any rider in track cycling.

4 - Gold medals won by American Marcus Hurley, the most by any rider in track cycling.

3 - Gold medals won by France's Felicia Ballanger, the most by any female rider in track cycling.

2 - Total medals won by China in the track cycling competition at Olympic Games.

In case you were wondering ...

This is what our lunch at the venue looks like every day. The rice is consistent and the other dishes tend to vary. This is also the average amount left in each of our trays at the end of our lunch hour, minus the girthy bananas and oranges that are green.

The art of pin trading

Pictured above is my BOCOG accreditation, which is similar to my life in that it is marked primarily by my country, my school and now my trip to China. I have acquired these bits of flair hoping to participate in a popular game conventionally known as pin trading. Based on the amount of interest invested in this game, the International Olympic Committe may want to consider adding it as an Olympic sport for London 2012; I've already encountered several individuals with the potential to be gold medallists.

As you can see from my lanyard, I'm not yet an expert. The majority of the pins (with the exception of the Dutch shoes) were picked out and paid for by me, which somewhat defeats the purpose of the trade. But you have to start somewhere, and what better place than at the Olympics, surrounded by people from every country imaginable? The other day, for example, Lauren ran into some Americans who had pins coming out of their ears. This is their 12th Olympics, after all ...

I am most proud of my Dutch shoes, given to me by one of the officials from the Netherlands' cycling team. I'm looking forward to collecting additional bits and pieces from all over the globe so that my pass will reflect my appreciation for the diverse environment I'm experiencing.

Changing the perception of Americans, one cab driver at a time

I mentioned a few posts ago some of the stereotypes that many Chinese seem to have about Americans. These include the idea that we are rude, lazy, overweight and fond of McDonald's. Although some (or maybe all) of these characteristics may be attributed to certain individuals, I have made it my personal mission to diffuse some of these pre-conceived notions; I want to prove to the Chinese that I come from a country full of thoughtful and genuine people, contrary to some of the "bad apples" they may have encountered in Beijing.

The trouble with my plan, however, is that few Chinese men and women understand enough of my English (or Manderin, for that matter) to appreciate my attempts at making friends.

But I have found a select group of people who are open to my mangled and modified forms of communication, and they're patient with my butchered pronunciations of words that make me sound like I have several dozen marbles in my mouth.


I'm talking about the taxi drivers of Beijing, who recently have been donning yellow suits for uniformity during the Olympics. Typically the members of our group try to avoid the taxi system, simply because we are able to take the subway for free with our Olympic accreditation. But there isn't much difference in price between the $3 cab ride and the free subway, although the comfort of a cab ride most of the time is enough to persuade me toward the latter.

A typical interaction between cab driver and myself begins with me trying to pronounce the name of the university where we are staying; I'm proud to say the number of times the phrase "Chuang mei dash wei" has successfully navigated us home has improved dramatically. Once we are on the road, the driver and I (I prefer to sit in the front seat) start to exchange the minimal words we know of each other's languages.

"Welcome to Beijing tax," he says.

"Ni hao (hello)," I say. "Xie xie (thank you)."

"Welcome to Beijing tax," he says, this time with more enthusiasm and a laugh."

"Mei Gua (American)," I say. "Olympics? Ting bu dong (I don't understand). Ni hao. Xie xie. Chuang mei dash wei. Xi men (West gate)."

"Xi men," he corrects. "Welcome to Beijing."

Then, after a series of hand signals pointing left, right and around the corner, the driver turns the radio on, which is usually playing Peking Opera, Chinese soap radio or really bad pop American music (the least desirable of the three options).

I am unsure how these taxi drivers perceive me; perhaps they think I am a silly American woman, although they seem interested in my BOCOG pass and my muddled attempts at discussion. But the other day I had a breakthrough that made me feel like at least one cab driver in the hundreds of thousands that roam the city had a very positive experience with someone from the States.

All I did was give him a pin, at the end of the cab ride, which displayed a shining American flag that I saw glittering in his hand even after I exited his car. It cost me a dollar at the Silk Market, but the smile on his face couldn't be bought. I don't know what he'll do with the pin, but I hope he sees it as a token of my appreciation for his country, and for welcoming me and my friends into his cab and taking us home.