Day 8

Late night in old Beijing. Feet up. Air conditioning on.

The “Joel and Jim’s Excellent Olympic Swim Saga” took a turn for the better today. Yesterday we moved into new ‘digs’ across the road from the Olympic Venues. New is the right word as we’ve been told the building is less than 2 months old and it may be that no one has stayed in our room yet. It has saved us considerable time and considerable money (that’s all good huh?). It turns out that the hotels and such are not as full as anticipated and the prices are dropping. There are still rooms available at reasonable prices. Of course, the price is still very high relative to the average salary of the Chinese. This chance will not come again for the local businesses and thus the hotels and such are getting what they can while they can. We are spending half what we spent previously and we have no taxi rides to suffer though (or pay for!) It is about a 20 minute walk to the pool from here! Hurray, hurray!

We are quickly getting to know people here. It is difficult not to be noticed when traveling in a country of predominantly black hair and brown eyes. Few Chinese have the distinguishing characteristics of blue eyes and six foot some odd inches ( and even fewer have grey hair). Jim and I are not easily missed here, in just about any crowd. But I sense almost no animosity at all from everyone we talk to. Most seem to want to talk to us. Most are surprised we are from the US which is a little odd. I am guessing that we are the first Americans most of them have ever met. I am not quite sure what they expect. Jim and I are pretty average American guys, right? They almost all state that they wish to some day be able to come to the USA to visit. The USA remains the land of opportunity for the world. Many also admit that they love America but “do not respect our current government”. They separate their feelings about the American people from that of the US policy makers---which says a lot, I think. It is something that we as a nation of the people and by the people must always remember. And we must make sure our actions towards the peoples of other nations are appropriate in kind.
It is obvious that many, many people in Beijing spent long hours preparing for these games. Nearly everyone we have met has studied English in an effort to be able to assist visitors to the BOG. I wonder if we would do the same if the shoe were on the other foot? Almost universally, the people here apologize for their poor English. Jim likes to point out that their poor English is much better than our Chinese. I know three words so far… but there is no way for me to attempt to spell them. In short, I can say ‘hello, thank you and cheers’. That’s it. And their writing? Wow. There are supposedly more than 3000 symbols in the Chinese language and in effect there is no alphabet, as we know it. That explains to some degree the order of the march of athletes during the opening ceremony. It is so complicated that the Chinese often argue about the meaning of the writing on signs and ‘points of interest.’ Apparently to make things more complicated, there are modern symbols mixed with ancient symbols and they are at times mixed together. At least that is how it was explained to me. Or should I say how I understood what was told to me.

Beijing is comprised of “circles” or “rings.” I think I understand that there are now five rings…. Sound familiar? The first ring surrounds the “Forbidden City.” This is the area in which the Emperors and Empresses lived and common people were not allowed entrance. Hence, forbidden.

The next ring was essentially an ancient moat around the center of Beijing formed by several rivers. Most of this ring no longer exists for the most part. The third ring was comprised of a great wall similar to what is generally thought of as “the Great Wall.” It was many hundreds of years old, made out of cut stone block and brick, and about thirty feet tall. It was supposed to keep invaders out, but with a laugh, most Chinese will tell you it did little to protect Beijing. Again and again and again. In fact, a woman told me today that when the Chinese people heard about the Bush plan to build a wall to stop the Mexicans from crossing the southern border they find it funny! We need to learn more from the Chinese they say. In essence, they say – “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I guess that thought is common in all languages.

The fourth ring is new and is a great highway not unlike I-465 around Indianapolis. And now, to accommodate the Olympic Games and Beijing’s modernization (adoption of the automobile) there is a fifth ring as well. Five rings. Olympics. Olympic rings… get it?

Back to the saga. We were doing our best to convince a taxi driver to take us back to our original hotel. It took the combined efforts of five police officers and multiple safety patrol people to flag one down. But the hotel was so far out of town that no driver would take us. Three Chinese women walked by and one stopped suddenly, turned, pointed to me and said in English “you are from the Midwest!”

In short order she told the officers what to do (sounded more like ‘where to go’ if you catch my drift) and stopped a cab giving perfect directions and everyone a lecture to boot! She proceeded to give me her name (Fran) phone number, email and local address, and told us to call if we had any further problems. “ Oh, by the way” she said “I live in Chicago. I have been to Bloomington many times. My mother lives here in Beijing and we (her and her two boys) are visiting Beijing for the summer.”

In return, Jim called and offered to buy her lunch to thank her for her help. Just as we were doing so (bad wandering fish!) … we found out we had extra tickets for the swimming events for tonight. We gave them to her, picked up her two boys and zipped to the venue. Most surprising of all… both boys are on an age group swim club in the USA. They both were treated for asthma at a young age and their doctor advised swimming as an activity that would be great for them. How is that for coincidence? Can you imagine going to the Olympic Games as a seven year old and sitting next to Coach Steen? It is still an amazing experience for me at the tender age of 55. They wont soon forget it. Neither will I.

Tomorrow, our luck runs out. We have no tickets for the morning swim finals. It will give us an opportunity though, to go into parts of the city we haven’t seen and embrace the real Beijing. This is a big, big city and there is much to see. We are hoping to visit one of the “Courtyard neighborhoods” named by UNESCO as world heritage sites. These areas are nearly a thousand years old and rapidly being leveled as a means to allow for modernization. It is our hope to walk these areas and immerse ourselves in something other than chlorine. I also hope to visit the Temple of Heaven and maybe eat some Peking duck for lunch.

Now.. how bout some thoughts on swimming? Natalie Coughlin is a technician when it comes to starts and turns. If you are going to copy someone, she is the one to copy. She didn’t out-swim the competition. But she did ‘out-finesse’ the competition. Coventry is having a great week. If there was such a thing… she should be in line for the female swimmer of the 2008 games. She needs to study Natalie’s start and turns!

Peirsol. He is as loose as they come. But don’t bet against him when the gun goes off. He is one heck of a competitor. Wow. And what a great strategy. He put himself into the finals with just enough effort to get in. When it counts… set a world record and take home the gold. You gotta love him. The USA went one two in this event with a Russian and Australian tying for third. How unusual is that?

The swimming venue is packed and remains the hottest ticket in town. Everyone is envious of the fact that we haven’t missed a session yet. Rumor has it I could pay for my trip by selling one ticket. No way. Not gonna happen. Nope.

When you walk through the venue you see recognizable faces and more or less walking swimming history. Alexander Popoff, Gary Hall Jr, Sabir Mohammad, Jenny Thompson, Summer Sanders, Janet Evans, and many, many more. It is a swim junkie’s ultimate dream come true. I will be doing the dishes for a decade in return for Nan allowing me to come. But don’t tell her I said so.

Did I mention that the sky was blue today and the humidity under control? Yes, today was a great day! A great day in my life.