Xin Qi Tian, Ba Yue 9

Sunday, August 9

The Olympics has started! Today, you could really feel it. I was working in transportation at the hotel, and it was another crazy day! We ran the schedule that is now going to be more of a normal day. We sent off buses to different venues, continuous shuttle buses to the Olympic Green and some shopping market buses.

At times, it would get pretty confusing and not running so well, but overall, especially for the first real day, it ran extremely smoothly.

Once I got off work, I went out to the Dirt Market, or the Antique Market as it is also known. It is this outdoors place where all the people from the country-side come into the city for the weekend to sell their goods. When you walk into the center of the market, its just all of these people with blankets laid out with their goods on it. You can find things like old coins, tea pots, jade pieces and jewery… and millions more antique things that you can’t even imagine.

Although it is called the Antique Market, though, its not all old things… some people just come to sell things that they have made… like wooden bowls and pottery. Here, there is just so much stuff to look at, that you can just walk up and down the rows and look at new and different things at each blanket.

One thing that was really shocking however, was in the center of the square, there was a huge flat-screen TV broadcasting the Olympic Games. I found this to be a really interesting mix between the old and modern China… but if you ignored the technological distractions, you could feel the strong link back to China’s past and the old, country-side customs.

Xin Qi Wu, Ba Yue 8

Friday, August 8

            Opening Ceremonies!!! The day is actually here… and it is crazy!!! Everybody in this whole program was so pumped up and ready to test our plans that have been practiced, revised, changed… and so much more.

For me, my day started at noon with a hotel transpo briefing. Even after going over what to do, when 13 greyhound buses came into our lot all at once, I knew that this day was going to be one that I will remember for forever!

In this plan, my job was to be the choke-point at the lobby door. I was supposed to take all the 450 guests and only let 50 out at a time for each bus. When the first guests started gathering, I knew that this was going to be a lot harder than it looked. The hardest part was trying to keep the guests happy and explain to them why they had to wait briefly in order to get on the bus.

Once all the buses were loaded, the guest were then taken to the Olympic Green where they could go to the hospitality tent in order to get refreshments and a few snacks. While I was here, we got news that our guests couldn’t get into the Bird’s Nest… or so we thought. So I was instructed to run up there and figure out what the deal was. I pulled another staff with me and we ran the ¾ of mile or so with all of our credentials flying around and the thick heat coating our bodies as they were just drenched in sweat. When we got up to the stadium, I talked to the entrance people and found out that they really weren’t using the real name policy… which is what we thought the problem was. But soon, we found out that it was just our lollipop people who couldn’t get their signs into the entrance out at the Olympic Green, not at the Bird’s Nest!

Despite running up there all for nothing, once we were there and slightly cooled off, we were glad that we came up early. Outside the stadium, all the people from the performances were gathering and preparing  for the amazing show.

Once we got into the stadium though, all the rushing and craziness we went through was so so worth it. The Opening Ceremonies was by far the best thing I have ever seen in my whole life! at times, I couldn’t even believe what I was watching, it seemed so unreal and inhuman. In each performance, there were just thousands of people doing the same, exact thing… and not one person messed up. Every little detail went together perfectly and flowed so well.

And the fans, of course, were some of the most energetic fans that you could imagine. Especially when the countries started coming out. First off, each big country, some group of fans would go crazy. And when USA came in, we went down to the front row and cheered on all the athletes that had worked so hard to get there… But when China came in, it was a totally different story. The whole stadium burst into yells and cheers. Everyone was waving china flags and yelling “Zhong Gou, Jia You”… which literally means “China, add fuel”. It was such a proud moment for the whole country… and after seeing the opening ceremonies, this country definitely has a reason to be proud!

Xin Qi Xin Qi Si, Ba Yue 7

Thursday, August 07

               One day!!! Tomorrow is opening!! I just can’t even believe it… it really is here. For over a year, I have listened to my mom talk about 8-8-08, yet, I never thought that it would actually come! Today was another crazy day… with guest arriving, a few departing, but most of all, just figuring out how everything is actually going to run. Most of the day, I worked with the hotel transportation day. it was pretty slow today, since we only had like 10 people arriving from the airport at a time, and one bus coming every half hour or so, but it was a nice way to ease into the routine that we will be facing every day for the next 20 days. Whenever a bus did evidently arrive, it was worth all the waiting. We got to go on, make a welcome speech, off load all the passengers, herd them up to the check-in, and mostly, just keep them happy during all of this. It was fun, just to finally have guests here on the program. We’ve all been preparing for this for so long, and for them to arrive and it run all smoothly was a huge relief.

Xin Qi San, Ba Yue 6

Wednesday, August 6

            Two days until Opening Ceremonies!!! And today, it is so much more apparent that the games are about to begin. Throughout our offices, everyone is just running around preparing their department for the arriving guests, going to meetings, briefing people, briefing some more people, and most of all, stressing out! People are literally running around and going crazy!

The first guests have already arrived, and they are some of the most VIP, so they are having to be catered to and taken out to dinner.

My job today was to just do random stuff for whoever was pretty much stressing out the most. I started in administration this morning and helped them collate some welcome packets and add the badges with the correct names on the outside. Then, we finally got some help from the transportation team… since they didn’t have much to do today… and so I moved on the opening and applying the logo to picture frames.

Around lunch time, I got drafted to another position. I had to make the Emergency Manual packets. Here, I copied, labled, hole punched, and put in all these papers to make a binder of what to do in all kinds of  situations of  an emergency.

After about three hours of this, I moved on to helping the food and beverage team. Here, I loaded some Visi Coke coolers, witnessed the ballroom transform and supervised some workers dealing will all of the 1400 cases of Vitamin Water that came in the night before.

Luckily, today started the first day of the staff food area. This way, we could all eat on the run, yet most people still could’t spare enough time to get in a get some food. Today, however also started our uniforms. Everywhere you look, everyone has on the same shirts, same pants and same, shoes. Its pretty cool when you are walking around a venue like this, but at the same time, whenever you are looking for someone, each person looks like the person that you want!

Another thing that really changed today was the level of security. Everywhere you go, you must be wearing your badge, and on every corner of the halls, the security men are standing there alert, just waiting for something to happen. If they can’t recognize you by name, they will even stop you and have a closer look at your badge. I guess when you have so much valuable décor, electronics, collateral and so much more, someone has to be looking out for it all!

One thing that really set the mood for the Olympics to start was the same, catchy song that was in the Shuang Center. At every digital signage board, that song is playing over and over again, and then people start huming it and then you start humming it… and that’s the end of the silence.

I guess with today, there is really no turning back for the Games… tomorrow the guests start arriving, the ballroom opens, the next day is Opening Ceremonies, and then there it goes… the Olympics is on its way once again!

Xin Qi Er, Ba Yue 5

Tuesday, August 5

Three days until Opening Ceremonies!!!! So exciting! Here, everywhere you look and everywhere you go, there is some reminisce of the Olympics coming to town.

Today, I went out in the city with the Guest Services team. Our job was to visit a variety of places to get a feeling for how they are and where they are located within the city. These places are the ones that they will suggest to the guest on where to go for their nightly excursions in the city. We set off at 9 o’clock in the morning to concur the city. We went from silk factories to markets to restaurants to clubs and all over again.

In this city of literally thousands of places to go, we narrowed it down about 20 vital places to visit, most of them being market places or restaurants. Each time we pulled up at a new site, all nine of us would hop out of the van, walk up to the place, check out the seating, environment, food, drinks, shops, availability… and the list went on. But after about the fifth site, we got the routine down and it was almost second nature.

We saw a variety to things, especially with the restaurants. With guests coming from cities all over the world, it had to be that way. Just one that really sticks out from the others was this place called Club Lan. It was something that you would never expect to see in the midst of China… even from the first time you stepped off the streets. In order to get up there, you went through an up-scale, fancy mall. This was such a shocker to begin with, since the Silk Market was right across the street… where everyone is yelling at you to buy their product and practically grabbing you into their stall. But once you got into the club, it was like crazy, but well-done decorations. There were tented private rooms and unique seating in each of the 7 rooms. French paintings lined all the walls and the celling. Despite these and all the other hectic decorations, the place seemed really well put together, yet, in each corner, you could discover something new and interesting. This club represented more of the ‘new’ Beijing that is arising throughout the city. All of the younger generation is now becoming more European and and more or less ‘forgetting’ about their traditional culture.

However, in the city, many traditional places still exist. We visited one called Din Tai Fung, which was a simple, non-decorated cafeteria-looking place. Yet, it served some of the best known steamed dumplings… and in the traditional way, just like they did years ago.

Going from Club Lan to Din Tai Fung was a real shocker. It represented the change between the young Chinese who are growing up in a pop-culture who are now replacing the traditional, older Chinese which its culture is know for. In ways, I find it sad to see their culture get covered up to be like all other American cities, but then again, its just like all the other cities rising up and changing to the modern world.

Xin Qi Yi, Ba Yue 4

Monday, August 4

Today I got to go out to the Olympic Green. The Olympic Green is where all the main stadiums and attractions are, including the hospitality tents. I went with the food and beverage team to have a look at all the hospitality tents and a tour of the showcasing centers for all of the Top Sponsors. It was crazy to see how a tent can be converted into a couple-million dollar project and turn out to look like a high quality, peaceful yet elegant lounge.  It was really cool just to be there.

This was one of the last opportunities to see the Olympic Green when there will not be thousands of people strolling through the numerous attractions in the green. While we were there, we saw a parade of people rehearsing for opening ceremonies, and let me say, it was amazing! It just proved how excited and ready the whole country was.

This was also apparent when we went to the showcasing areas. We stopped by the coke one to get a private tour. This was called the Shuang Center. Practically everything in this center was made from recycled materials, since Coke’s theme this year is “Live Positively”. As you walked through it, you got this sense of encouragement… everywhere you walked, there was the Coke theme song which is like upbeat, inspiring music. It was just crazy the ideas that they all came up with…. They all had their own special meaning; most of the them portraying to strive for a better world…Like the tree that had recycled flat bottle that the athletes signed. There was also a display of all the old coolers they had from way back when. My favorite part, though, was the second to last room or so. Here, there were like four-foot tall bottles that were all decorated in a different way. Each province in China got one bottle and got to decide how they wanted to decorate it. There were ones that had temples painted on them and scenery all the way this one that was all covered with small white balls. I just found it so interesting to see how every province portrayed their landscape and unique culture to the rest of the world… and, of course, what Coke decided to add in their showcasing center.

While walking around, we could also see the Bird’s Nest. This is where Opening Ceremonies is going to be held and throughout the games, the Track and Field events. Although the pictures of this structure are just fabulous, in person, it is just so entrancing. It’s interesting to think about how they actually got it all built and planned it out to look the way it does! Still, with four days till opening, you can see people working along the roof to make the stadium in the best shape it possible can be.

After walking through the Olympic Green, there is no doubt that this Olympics is going to be absolutely amazing! From the hospitality tents to the showcasing and the Birds Nest… and of course, Opening Ceremonies!

Xin Qi Tian, Ba Yue 3

Sunday, August 3

Today I got “drafted” to a different department. For the past few days, I have been working on the amenities team, but starting today, I am part of the transportation team as well.

This was their team’s first day of training, so I sat in on that. When I chose to help out in transportation, I thought that it would just be like holding a lollipop sign and telling the guest to go to the bus… but I quickly learned that this job is nowhere close to how easy it sounds! We had about three hours in the classroom of just going over the different sections of transportation and learning the overview of how everything works, yet, there was still so much to be learned about this department.

It was the simple stuff that I never even thought of that was so complicated. Things like how long to wait for the late people, how fast to walk when you are carrying a lollipop sign (you know, those signs that had a stick that people hold up for tour groups), what you need to check the buses for before they depart the hotel, what to do if you have a handicap person, when you tell who what when something is happening… and the list just goes on and on. But then again, if you are in charge of 70 staff, 15 buses and 400 guest all at the same time, I guess you would have to train everyone down to the last second on what to do every time a bus arrives or departs! I just found it so intriguing to see how much goes on behind the scenes for these operations. Even before the information is presented to the working staff, someone had to work months on it in order to master the plan!

So after the crazy ‘introduction’ to the transpo team, I found out what my specific role was going to be. Since I am still working for several other departments on this program while I am here, on the transpo team I am mostly just a person to help out where ever help I needed. I am going to stay with the hotel staff (there is the hotel staff, venue staff, and of course the airport staff within the transpo department) the whole time. At the hotel, the staff is in charge of getting the arriving guest off their bus, getting coolers on the bus, checking the drinks in the cooler, checking for the correct credentials, gathering the guests for the right venues or shuttles, leading them to the ready bus, getting them on the bus and departing it on time… and doing it all over and over again every 15 or so minutes! Despite the hectic roles in this department, I think that it will be a blast to interact in with the guests in this way… that is if I don’t melt in the heat before I witness the master plan complete its job!

Xin Qi Liu, Ba Yue Er

Saturday, August 2

This was a very crazy day, yet, nearly nothing interesting happened! I went out to the warehouse again, but this time it was with the local staff on the amenities team. With their help, the job was so much easier. On the amenities team, what we had to do was prepare everything for the first wave of guests which are arriving on August 6 and 7. In this wave, there are around 400 guests. Each and every one of them gets a little backpack when they chack in. Our job was to coallate the bags with two watches, one mens and one womens, a first aide kit, a visor, a hat, a photo album, and wind breakers for each guest and shirts. With 7 of us working on the team, and the help of a guy at the warehouse, we set up a factory line to complete the mission.

Once again, however, the job was nowhere near as easy as it sounds. First off, we had to inventory all of the items. Then, since last tiem I was at the warehouse we found out that watches came in separate boxes than the watch boxes, we opened eached watch and each box and put them in… all 800 of them! after about fifty of them tho, we all fell into a pattern of doing it and it just became a second nature!

Finally, we could start actually coallating the bags. for this one, we set up a factory line… and it was actually really interesting how much faster and easier this was than doing all the steps yourself. This, again, was like repitition that almost became second nature and the bags were flying out of production… yet, once again, when you are doing these in the hundreds, it is hard to complete the task in that quick of time. One altering factor in our productions was the heat. Being in Beijing in the middle of the summer with the humidity and heat, we were all dying from heat in this un-airconditioned warehouse. It only made it worse that were working our butts off to get the job done and out of there as fast as we could.

Just like everything in life, though, there is always a place to learn new things. I would have to say,I learned a lot of new vocab words in Chinese…. open the box, count the items, how may, wheres the pen to write the number, close the box, tape it up, box opener to cut the tape, put it over there… which I am sure will come in handy somewhere down the road in my life!

Xin Qi Wu, Ba Yue 1

Friday, August 1

            Today, the staff had a break between orientation and their first day of work. Two of the local girls that I had been working with the past few days offered to take me out to see the city with them. They were both 20 or so, yet, at times, I felt like I was even older than them.

Despite being half way around the world, we had found many similarities in our personalities and likes and dislikes. They decided to take me to this place in the city that was near Hou Hai, where I went with my dad. We went to a back street where there were some boutique like shops and food restaurants. One thing that is very different with their cultures is the kind of food that they have. The first thing they wanted me to try was this milk like yogurt thing with red bean in it. It tasted almost like yougurt with a slight jello texture with surgar and red beans. I would have to say, that for the $1 that it costed, I would not spend that again for whatever kind of food it was. After strolling, talking, shopping and taking pictures in the city back streets, we moved on for a hunt of Cho Tofu. They told me that I had to taste this to test the real Chinese in me. Most foreigners really don’t like it, but its pretty much fried tofu with this tick sauce that smells horrible, yet, surprisingly, tastes delicious. They treated me to a 50 cent bowl of it, and after that, I can see how people can be turned away from it by the smell. However, it did taste pretty good.

Another thing that they were determined to have me try, was the Jhe Jia Mien. This was a noodle dish that you got the toppings on the side and a thing of this pasty Chinese soysauce stuff. Then you dupped it all into the noodles… and let me say, it was delisious! I don’t know what it was about it, but it was better than all the other noodles ive had!

After eating and eating… and more eating, we ended up at the Drum Tower. This was an old tower built way back when that you could climb and look out over the whole city! It was actually sunny that day and you could see the blue sky and almost four or so miles(unlike a normal day of not even being able to see a mile)! Up here, we also watched the drum performance.

After this, they took me to a place where they hang out a lot. This was near the lake where I went with my dad, and it was called bar street. Here, we strolled through the bars on the lake side and found some of the older people in the city playing with this thing that looked like it could be a hacky sack… yet it was just metal disks with feathers attatched to it. I bought one and we tried it, but the older men definitely made it look easier than it really is.

While we did all this, i practiced my Chinese and we talked about how our lives were different from eachother… and one stuck out the most to me. In high school, most people study around 12 hours a night. 12 hours! That’s crazy! Due to this, their schools have no sports, and pretty much no one ever plays any. They were so amazed that I could swim for my school! This is definitely one thing that I could not live without. Especially living in Boulder, it would be so hard growing up and not knowing how to play sports!

After about five hours hanging out, talking, laughing, and many more things, my first day out with a Chinese local was a really good experience. I just liked seeing the cultural differences that took place when you traveled half way around the world. From simple things like what music they listen to, all the way to how their government influences them. Despite these changes, there is no doubt that people can still connect in some way in order to have a great day of fun!

Xin Qi Si, Qi Yue 31

Thursday, July 31

Today was staff orientation day. In order to run the program smoothly, there were about 150 local staff hired. Most of these people are in college here in Beijing and are nearly fluent in English and Chinese… or can at least understand English. From these staff, they are each assigned to one of the 30 different managers. Some of the managers get only one or so, while others, like the transportation team has aver 70 local staff!

With the staff orientation starting at 9, everyone was so surprised to find staff sitting in the lobby patiently waiting at 7! Everyone was just so excited to be there and working. This is only something that would happen in China… and it is directly reflected in the way they work as well… like when we were doing all the staff uniforms. This just made the job so much more fun too, because you could tell that every word that you said, they would just be so amazed by. Also, they would always do exactly what they are told to do… and this became quickly apparent.

Since the amenities staff came in eartly to work with the staff uniforms, they already proved this to us. After collating all the staff uniforms with them, we were in charge of distributing them. right after the orientation, all of the staff just swarmed the desk… not in any orderly fashion at all, just everyone yelling their name all at once! The only reassuring thing that this would all work out fine was their endless smiles. I have never seen anyone so happy to be at work… let alone 150 of them! it made all the work we put into the staff uniforms worth it.

After we handed them out and split up into our teams, it was so cute! A couple of them kept asking if they could wear their uniforms the very next day. Although uniforms don’t technically start until August 6, they were just so proud to be working with this program. It reminded me of how lucky we really are to be working for such a great program… and see how everything works at the Olympics behind the scenes! The only deciding thing to tell if they really are so proud of this job, however, is to see if on the 30^th day of this, they are still excited to put on the same shirt, same pants, same shoes as 149 other people and that they wore for the past 29 days!