Travel, Relationships, and The New Twenty

As a little diversion from my Olympic “reporting,” I thought I’d share some incredible menu translations that Lacey and I copied down from the menu of “Mao Jia” (Mao’s House) restaurant in Shenzhen, a city outside Hong Kong where we were unexpectedly forced to spend a night during our travels, thanks to Typhoon Kammuri.  Here they are, in no particular order:

•  Flavor Saliva Chicken
• Moo Cow Entrails
• The Real Taste Drunk Fried Fish
• The Pig Tail is SuccessivelyHigh
• Palace Chicken, Bull’s Penis, Soft-Shell Turtle
• Black Bean Steams Intestines
• The Gluttonous Rice Flutters the Fragrant Bone
• Western Hunan Bandit Pig Liver
• Unwearied Effort However Inch Bone
• The Green Pepper Fries the Diesel Oil
• A Chicken (this last complete with a blurry photograph of a plucked, cooked chicken, and nothing else)

Tuesday, August 19
The Event: Women’s Volleyball Quarterfinal
The Competitors: China vs. Russia, USA vs. Italy
The Venue: Capital Gymnasium, an older stadium very close to where we’re staying, which has been nicely remodeled for the Olympics.

What we knew: We had cheered on as the US Women’s team came from behind to beat China in the preliminaries, so we already knew the names of some players on both teams, and had nicknames for several others.

How we prepared:  We were really looking forward to rooting for both the US and China, so when we got off the bus we immediately purchased a small Chinese flag to go with our American one.  Then we saw people painting faces outside the venue, so we each got a Chinese flag on one cheek, and I got a US flag on the other.  Supporting both countries got us lots of good attention, and we made some new friends for the US in the process.

What happened: It’s almost 2 a.m. here, and at 6:30 a.m. we leave for a day at the Great Wall, so not much time for all the details.  Both games were amazing in their own way.  Even though China won the first game three sets to none, each set was incredibly close, and the tension and quality of play were constantly high: monster spikes and blocks were parried over and over again with unlikely digs and saves.  Although we sat near a crew of screaming Russians, the Chinese fans gave us the biggest thrill, as their team kept finding ways to win each set and the packed auditorium went more and more nuts.  The last point was deafening.  It was exactly what a world-class sporting event should be!

In the second game, the US started slow and didn’t seem to have it together, dropping two of the first three sets and never really finding a rhythm.  But in the fourth set, led by Logan Tom, Kim Willoughby, Kim Glass (who we nicknamed “Naomi Campbell”), and vicious server Lindsey Berg,  our team built a big lead and held onto it, to the screaming delight of the US fans who now seemed to make up over half the people remaining in the two-thirds empty auditorium.  Our own flag was waving for most of the fourth set, and in the fifth we almost never dropped it into our laps, jubilant as the US came out even stronger and roared to victory.  It was an incredible night for both our teams!

Also of note: Some women’s volleyball players are HUGE.  I mean really, really gigantic.  Especially the Russians.  Also, volleyball is way more fun to watch than I ever could have imagined.  And I can’t wait to get home and find some people to play with.

So if you only have tickets to five Olympic events, where do you watch all the other ones?  Before the Games started, I didn’t spend much time thinking about how we’d watch all those events that we didn’t have tickets to.  Turns out I was right not to worry.  Here are some of the events we’ve caught outside the stands, and the often unexpected places we’ve watched them from:

1. Opening Ceremonies: Although we weren’t even in China for the opening ceremonies, we got to watch a nice, long chunk of boring country parades, plus the entire finale, from the courtyard bar of our hostel in Siem Reap, Cambodia (the town near Angkor Wat).  We watched with two Brits who were also staying at our hostel, plus a delightful older Cambodian man who giggled almost every time a new country emerged to parade around the track.
2. Michael Phelps, Gold Medal Number ?:  After taking the (extremely comfortable) overnight train from Bangkok to Krabi, we just missed the hourly boat to our beach destination and were stuck in the small oceanside pavilion that served as an open-air terminal.  Not to worry; the TV mounted to the ceiling of the pavilion was showing the Olympics, and smack in the middle of our forty-five minute wait, Michael Phelps appeared, swam, set a world record and won a gold medal, looking no more excited than we were to be waiting for the next boat.
3. Women’s Volleyball, U.S. vs. China: We caught the first set of this match on the shuttle into town from Beijing Capital Airport the evening we returned, then finished watching the satisfying victory in a bar where we met our friend Sarah, still sporting our backpacks (shoved under the table) and our sandy socks.
4. Too Many Events to be Named: We’ve spent quite a bit of our time in Beijing so far shuttling from place to place, but does this mean we’ve missed out on a lot of Olympic action?  Of course not.  Every bus and subway car in town is showing live, almost commercial-free feeds of Olympic events.  We’ve caught everything from badminton to softball to wrestling while sitting in the molded plastic seats of comfortably air-conditioned train cars or breezy buses.  And when nothing’s happening, there are always endless highlight reels to entertain.  One caveat: if China is competing, in anything (and they usually are), you can bet that’s what you’ll see.  The only notable exception to this rule has been, happily, Michael Phelps!
5. Basketball, China vs. Greece: Yesterday we watched an Olympic event in perhaps the most unlikely place yet: the Summer Palace!  This UNESCO World Heritage site was not somewhere we expected to see any Olympics — let alone a television — but as we approached the famous 17-arch bridge, its flagstones worn down by emperors and its balustrades lined with ancient dragon sculptures, what did we see but a giant television?  Dozens of Chinese tourists lined the steps of the pavilion opposite the television, glued to the screen.  We sat down with them as the Chinese team mounted a hopeful comeback, then fell back again and finally lost.  But even though China’s loss was inevitable well before it became official, the team’s Summer Palace fans stayed with them to the bitter end.

Event Notes

First, the good news: tonight we head out to watch what promise to be two great quarterfinal matches in Women’s Volleyball.  Best of all, we get to see the U.S. again!  If you’re able to tune in, look for us with our flag draped over our shoulders as China takes on Russia and the U.S. plays Italy.  We have new respect for volleyball after witnessing the U.S. play China last weekend; we knew it was fun to play, but it’s also a really fun sport to watch!

The bad news is that China’s biggest loss this week is also ours; we had tickets to watch the Men’s 110-meter hurdles finals, featuring national hero and Athens 2004 gold medalist Liu Xiang.  In case you hadn’t heard, an injury that has been bothering him all spring became too much in warmups yesterday, and he is now a scratch from the competition.  We may not be as disappointed as the Chinese (one fan is quoted by the New York Times as saying: “This is such a disgrace for China . . . both the media and Liu Xiang himself should take the responsibility”), but we’re still kind of bummed.  And in case we get sick or decide at the last minute not to go, we can now forget about the 1,000-2,000% markup we could have received by selling our tickets at the gate.

In all seriousness, though, Liu Xiang’s withdrawal is a truly major disappointment for the Chinese people, who had to watch their only track and field medalist ever hobble away without ever running a race in his own country’s Olympics. Most of all it must be devastating for Liu Xiang, who has very literally given most of his life (it’s what Olympic athletes here do) for this moment. Our hearts are with him.

And for us, the news is not all bad: the Men’s 400-meter finals (at the same track event on Thursday) looks to be a battle between two Americans, Jeremy Wariner and  LaShawnMerritt. ESPN says: “Entering the Games, they owned all 10 of the world’s best 2008 times in this event and both won their first-round heats Monday. They should be there together at the wire in the final Thursday.”  So look for us waving our flag in the nosebleed section once again!!

Sunday, August 17
The Event: Gymnastics - Men’s Floor Finals, Women’s Vault Finals, Men’s Pommel Horse Finals, and Women’s Floor Finals
The Competitors: There were no US men in the floor finals, but the vault and pommel horse each featured one American, and the women’s floor exercise had two.  Every event had one or two Chinese competitors, and Russia, Romania, Germany and several other countries were also represented at least once.
The Venue: National Indoor Stadium is one of the new stadiums, located on the Olympic Green right next to the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest.  Although not as famous as its neighbors (more on them when we visit later in the week), it’s a beautiful stadium with a curving, winglike roof, and even though our seats were relatively high up, we had a great view of all the action.

What we knew: Very little.  I guess we had read that the US women disappointed in the Team All-Around competition, but we were still ready to go all out from the stands.

How we prepared:  We tracked down Beijing’s only flag store to pick up the largest version of the Stars and Stripes permissible at Olympic venues, plus a smaller pennant to wave around.  Also, when we realized we were sitting near several other young Americans, we conspired to form a cheering section loud enough to get noticed by the cameras and/or athletes far below.

What happened: This was an awesome event!  There was something really personal about the individual performances, especially with the women, who showed a lot of emotion.  After Zou Kai of China easily won gold in the men’s floor exercise, things got more interesting in the women’s vault.  Alicia Sacramone of the US started out in the lead (thanks to our raucous cheering), only to be passed by the powerful Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei, who nevertheless was clearly vulnerable after a bad landing on her second vault.  A Russian gymnast looked to pass her with two great vaults, but after mysterious deliberations by the judges she was disqualified on an apparent technicality, which we all booed.  The severe-looking German with the unpronounceable name who came next kept things interesting, though, landing two great vaults and splitting a huge grin after the second one.  It turns out this is her fifth Olympics; she stopped seeming so severe when we realized that she must be almost forty.  She also couldn’t stop grinning from that point on through the medal ceremony, except when she was comforting younger gymnasts after bad landings.  She became one of our favorites on the night, and looked to win gold until the last gymnast, from North Korea, landed two flawed-looking vaults that were still enough for first place (was this questionable judging, we wondered, or just admittedly ill-informed spectating?).

The men’s pommel horse was also fun; the Chinese all-around winner Wei Yang got an enormous ovation, and although he didn’t place, the other Chinese gymnast in the event, Xiao Qin, ended up winning gold with a performance that must have been technically perfect, since it wasn’t otherwise very exciting.  The American in the event got our hearts racing with a spectacular routine, twisting his legs upside-down as much as rightside-up, but he fell just before his dismount and this destroyed his score — otherwise he must have been on track for an easy gold.  We made sure he heard our support from the nosebleed section anyway.  But the best part of this event was the young, eager-looking Briton who performed well enough for bronze, and showed no restraint in looking like it was the best thing that had ever happened in his life.  The Croatian who placed second was also thrilled; seeing these young athletes so overjoyed was a definite highlight of the competition.

The last event was the women’s floor, also the first with two Americans.  Our cheering section responded well, flag-waving and chanting “USA” loud enough to get a wave from Shawn Johnson as she walked out with the other gymnasts, even though we were way up in the top deck.  She performed first and almost perfectly, finishing with one of those tiny girl giant smiles that can make women’s gymnasts so endearing.  Her lead held up through solid performances by Chinese, Brazilian and Russian gymnasts, marred only by small missteps that nevertheless kept them back.  One of the final performances came from Nastia Liukin, the other American, who, according to the Russian guy behind me, was favored to win.  Her performance was incredible to watch — much more fluid and beautiful than any of the others — but one bad landing put her just behind Shawn in the standings.  One other gymnast failed to catch up, and then the final gymnast, from Romania, stepped onto the floor and delivered another near-flawless routine that just edged out Shawn’s score.  Although she dropped the Americans into silver and bronze, watching the Romanian’s unabashed tears on the podium as the flags were raised was enough for us to feel good about the whole thing.

Also of note: After the floor exercise and medal ceremony we were feeling so much love for our US gymnasts that we made our way down to where Shawn and Nastia were giving interviews to international press.  We managed to catch their attention from the stands between interviews for just long enough to grin stupidly and wave our flag at them.  I think they really appreciated the sentiment.