Qingdao - Day 2 of Sailing

August 10th

Today was the first day of my normal shift – approx 1-9pm

Since breakfast seems to be the only meal that is edible (and free) – I have to make sure I get up in time for it (only served until 10a)

I went to the gym and got a jog in on the treadmill. I was pretty confused as the speed and distance just didn’t seem accurate… oh yah… they are in KPH and KM. Duh!

After my work out, I took a taxi (to save time) to a mall called Justco. It is relatively close to the hotel, I just didn’t have a lot of time. Well – the traffic was a nightmare, so I could have walked faster after all. Oh well.

The malls are strange as they seem to be all one big mall. There are no actual stores – just areas for the different brands. And when you want to buy something, you show a salesperson, who then rights up a ticket. You then walk (sometimes far) to a cashier, where you pay and she stamps the ticket. Then you go back to the area where you found your item and wait for them to give it to you. Oh my!

The other thing is that you don’t get bags. So you have to remember to bring your own. It is actually a good idea because they force you into recycling. (They will sell you a bag of course)

I decided to walk back to the hotel since the taxi line was forever long.

I happened upon another mall that is right next to my hotel - Sunshine World. I didn’t know it was there because it is a mall inside of another building. Lots of malls - just hard to figure out they are actually there.

Anyway – this mall was much nicer and had higher end merchandise.

There was a Coach store, so of course, I checked out the prices on the purses and wallets I already have .... and.... more expensive here! (damn!)

I did find a grocery store in the basement which was very nice. Kind of like a high end Whole Foods. I walked around and they have a lot of imported items, so I have a feeling that I will be back!

While there, nature called. I found a bathroom. I went straight for the disabled stall as those are typically Western toilets. However, when there is TP available – it is out in the hallway. So you have to really plan ahead for how much TP you are going to require. This can be a challenge.

Thank God it was a Western toilet – cuz if I would have had to squat, it would of not ended in a good way.

Thankfully, I had the proper amount of TP and again, I was so thankful for the Western toilet!

I shopped a little more and then headed back to the hotel.

Got ready for work and headed off on my bike.
Here are some of the sites as I enter the compound (it’s kind of hard to ride and take photos at same time- plus - they don't want us to take photos - but adds to the challenge!)

It doesnt really show in this photo - but cars & bikes have to zig zag thru this maze so you can't bust thru the checkpoint.

This is the point where you get out of your car (or off your bike) and hand it over to the military dude. It is inspected and photos are taken of it. The people go thru a line where our credentials are scanned and then we go thru metal detectors.

This is right after you get your "vehicle" back. Immediately to the right is the tank and the guys with the guns. I shared a photo of that back on August 6th. That is a photo you have to definitely sneak. If you look closely, you can see a guy in the distance in the middle of the street. They are every few hundred feet. They just stand there with a little suitcase. They are motionless and won't look at you. I am curious about what is in that suitcase - but I don't think I will stop to ask.

I worked for about 4 hours and then headed back.

I met up with Christina for dinner. We went to a place she picked at another hotel. It of course had a buffet – but neither of us had it. We both ordered steaks. Mine was ok – but was fattier than I like and super rare.

Later in the evening, almost the entire crew met in the hotel lobby bar to watch USA vs China basketball game. We kinda took over the bar – the servers were freaking out.


They don’t let you start a tab here. Actually, no bar in the past 3 weeks have allowed a tab. They want the money right away. Can be a pain when you a planning to stay for a while. And it literally takes like 4 servers and 10 minutes to get even a draft beer. But I guess that is why everyone in the country has a job. It can be mind boggling at times.

Qingdao - Day 1 of Sailing

August 9th

Had to be to work at 10a today. It was the first day of sailing, so things were a touch more hectic.

There were a few delays due to lack of wind. But it eventually got underway.

Basically, I can’t do much of my work until the sailing is over. So I sit around most of the time – waiting.

I left the compound a little after 7.

When I was returning, most everyone was on their way out for the evening. The Opening Ceremonies for Qingdao were happening a couple blocks from the hotel – but not until around 8:30 or so.

I really didn’t feel like going out.

I went over to the Carrefour again. God I hate that place (even more than I hate Wal Mart)
I got a few office supplies because I am sick on not having so much as a stapler in our office.

I also got a little fan for my hotel room because it gets really hot at times. Plus I am having issues with my laundry drying.

I send out all my normal laundry to be done. But I refuse to send out my underwear and bras – I don’t know who else’s undies are being mixed with mine! So I wash them in the bathroom sink and hang them around the room to dry. Since it is so freaking humid – it takes over 2 days to dry. So basically, they are musty smelling before they are dry.

So I got a fan for about $7 USD and now things are magically drying!
Plus, it makes my room much cooler.

When I got back from the Carrefour, I discovered that my fridge had stopped working. There was a puddle in the bottom and everything was warm. I decided to deal with it after dinner.

I ate at the hotel bar. The “burger” had been suggested by one of the editors in my department. He also is a little picky when it comes to food – and is from Italy – so has to have good taste, right?

So I had the “Classic Beef Burger” – when I ordered a “cheeseburger” – they didn’t know what I meant. I pointed to it on the menu and the server said – “oh Classic Beef Burger”. Apparently they memorize the menu names and have no concept of what it actually is.

Anyway, I also ordered the Tsingtao Beer & Onion soup.

After about 40 minutes, it arrived. The burger was about 1 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter. Very rare. It did taste and feel like hamburger, so I was relived. However, the way they marinated it – I could tell – I would be burping this one up for the next week! So I ate almost half.

The soup – well it was like boiled onions with a pound of rosemary mixed in. Plus it came in this HUGE bowl. There was like 4 cups of it!

I also ordered Orange Juice & Vodka. They don’t get the concept that you want them mixed together. It takes a lot of miming to get them to put the 2 ingredients into the same glass.

I got a bucket of ice before leaving the bar because there is not an ice machine to get your own. I wanted some to add to the warm wine in my room.

So upon returning to the room, I decided to deal with the refrigerator situation. I decided to put the ice bucket in the fridge to help cool it down since everything was now baking in it.

I called the manager on duty – as I have learned it is the only extension that speaks English. They sent a housekeeper to my room (who didn’t speak English). After a lot of miming, I gave up and sat down at my desk as she stood in the doorway saying something. I just kept saying “Xie Xie” (thank you) and she eventually left.

30 seconds later, the phone rang. The manager on duty told me “the refrigerator is not broken - -please understand it is not intended to keep ice frozen.”
AGHHH!!
I tried to explain that I knew that and that I only put the ice in there as an effort to cool it down. That didn’t translate well. She said something in Mandarin that I assumed was curse words about a stupid American woman.

30 minutes passed and I had given up…. Then the doorbell rang. Opened the door and there were 2 ladies standing outside with a new fridge!

In the meantime I had done some laundry which is EXTREMELY frustrating! The sink takes literally 5 minutes to drain. Do I buy my own Drain-o or attempt to get them to fix?

Sorry - no photos of today :(

Qingdao - Set Day

August 8th

Had to be in at 10 again today.

I rode my new bike with a couple of other guys as I wasn’t exactly sure how to get to work. My padlock thingy kept getting caught in the pedals – so that was fun.
The ride isn’t so bad – except for the weaving in and out of traffic part. It's kinda scary at first, but you get the hang of it quickly. I highly doubt I would of tried this in Beijing though!

I tested the machine a couple times and then went to lunch. Again, terrible (lunch).

After lunch, I had to do a “Name Scrub” – which means comparing the names in the graphics interface to the list of names supplied by the athletes. The names in the interface where entered months ago – and there are of course typos and errors when they were entered since some countries put your family name before your given name.

Anyway – there are 400 athletes participating in sailing – so with the help of Christina – this took about 2.5 hours. Take into consideration, there are very few names like "John Smith" - so it makes you go blind after awhile.

Left the venue around 2pm.

At 2:30 – I met some of the guys in the lobby to go visit the Tsingtao beer factory. Thanks to our Olympic credentials, we got in for free.




It was the typical beer factory tour – the history of the factory, etc.


I learned that they even ship Tsingtao beer to the U.S. although the label is slightly different


Here we are getting a sample

Nic - Ben - Billy - “Z”



We each had our photo taken and they printed our our photos on a beer label and put it on a bottle of beer for 20 Yuan (about $3USD)



The photos of the factory itself didn’t turn out very well.

They have this strange room called the “Drunk Room” – it is crazy!
My photo of Ben didn’t come out so well since we were both moving


But here is one of “Z”


After we drank a few pitchers of beer and bought souvenirs, we returned to the hotel. Made our plans to meet to go somewhere to watch opening ceremonies.
It was determined there was a beach side hotel that was going to have big screen TVs outside showing Opening Ceremonies.

I grabbed a taxi with “Z” and Christina. We got to the Sea View Hotel around 7:30.


Since there were about 30 people that needed taxi’s, it took an eternity for everyone to arrive. Plus, the Opening Ceremonies made today kind of like a national holiday - so not as many cab drivers worked as usual.



The 3 of us found an outside buffet and decided to eat there. We didn’t find the big screen TVs – but there were plenty of TVs in the area we found.

The buffet was very nice and it was definitely a 5-star hotel. Christina and I struggled at finding something to eat because all of the meat and seafood was raw and then they cooked it for you.

Some of the highlights were:
Mutton Bunch
Mutton Chops (“What is mutton anyway?”)
Cattle Stomach
Deer Chop
Taiwan Style Baked Intestines
Cicada
Chicken Neck
Much Gout Fish (huh?)


And believe me - that was just some of the more strange. There were easily 75 options on the raw meat/seafood section.

Anyway – we found some nice slices of boneless pork chops and each had several.
They were actually really good – however – they felt like they rubbed them in dirt before grilling. Otherwise – tasty!

The Opening Ceremonies were fabulous! It was even more entertaining because there was a table of locals sitting next to us. So watching them react was really cool.

About an hour into our dinner, they locals came to our table and welcomed us to their town & country. They shared beer with us and wanted us to share a toast with them.


As soon as we accepted the beer, one of the ladies told Christina and I it was local tradition to chug the beer if we accepted it. So of course we did!

Then we went to find the rest of our crew who were at the beach bar.
It was a very nice outside bar where pretty much our entire crew was.

Here is one of the tables:


Soon after Team USA came out, Christina and I took a taxi back to the hotel and called it a night.

Qingdao – Set Day

August 7th

Had a great sleep!

Each day we have breakfast at the hotel buffet. It has both Chinese and Western fare. Trying to explain that I want scrambled eggs with onions & peppers is challenging. Sometimes I end up with everything in it, sometimes nothing.

The fruit is all pretty crappy. Which is disappointing because I was able to get it while on the tour portion of the trip

We can take the B.O.B. bus but it leaves pretty early. So most people walk or ride bikes to the venue. The walk is maybe about a mile or so, but it is blazing hot in our uniforms!

Today I walked – had to be in at 10a.

I checked out my machine again today and did a few tests with it.

Then I had lunch – which is pretty crappy. They have a blend of Chinese & Western, however, the Western dishes are bizarre – spaghetti with marinara and tuna?

After lunch, I helped Billy cut out photos from the tourist guides (of the sites around Qingdao) and he posted them around our office to make it more appealing.

Then I walked the length of the breakwater – which is basically this really long spectator pier they build to allow the spectators to be closer to the main race course.


There is a lighthouse at the end.

It was so unbelievably hot! I have no idea how the camera guys can survive in this heat!

I walked back to the hotel around 3pm with Chistina – she is from Greece. She is here as the tech support person for the graphics machines. Anyway, we decided to go to Carrefour at 4:30 so I could buy a bike.

She showed me an underground sidewalk to get across the street to the Carrefour. Ahhh! You don’t have to risk your life to get there afterall!

I spent about $60 USD on my “ride”.

I will leave it behind for one of the hotel employees or their children when I depart.

We all will - there is probably 60 new bikes to be donated.

At the hotel, there is a special bike parking section in the garage underneath.

Later, we met up and went to dinner with several of our co-workers. We went to an Italian place – which was really good considering we are in China!

After dinner, I went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Trying to catch up....

Sorry I am a few days behind again.
Even though I write the posts daily in Word - it takes over an hour to post each entry with photos. The photos upload 5 at a time and then I have to drag/drop to where I want them.... basically, a pain in the ass and very time consuming!

Beijing > Qingdao

August 6th

Woke up and still felt terrible. Showered, got ready and went back to bed for 20 minutes. Am really starting to get concerned since I have now had migraine over 24 hours. I don’t think I have ever had one for this length of time. I do not want to go to a Chinese hospital – so I am gonna try to keep going as long as possible.

The driver was waiting for me at 7 and got me to the airport in no time at all. As soon as I found the proper check in counter, I was again, whisked away like a rock star, to baggage check in, security, etc. Was also once again, escorted to the first class lounge.


Once settled, I finally started to feel human again. Slowly a croissant and OJ. I napped a little and then ate some more. I think I have FINALLY gotten rid of the migraine!!!

After a while, I British guy came up to me and said, “Can I know you?”
I said, “Do you know me, no, you don’t”. I then realized he was asking if he could across from me. So I said, yes.

He is a sailing official of some sort that now lives in Australia. So we chatted a while and then were escorted to our gate.

He offered for me to sit in first class with him and I declined – just felt a little strange. Besides that, I completely passed out once I sat down.

Once I found baggage claim there was someone there waiting to take me to my bus. The drive to the hotel was about 45 minutes.

Got to the hotel and got all checked in. The hotel is not as nice as it is in the photos on the website, but it will do just fine.


Called my LVM (Logistics Venue Manager) and asked to send a car over for Lili and I.

Upon arriving to the marina, we had to get out of the car and walk thru the security checkpoint, while the military inspected the car. On the other side of the checkpoint, where we waited for the car – a tank greeted us.


We got to our compound and checked things out. It is pretty interesting.


There is a TV truck, which I was not expecting since it took a lot of effort to ship it here (from BBC).

Here are a few shots from inside the truck:

Graphics are outboarded to it’s own office (I am not in there though)

Lili’s area

Data & Timing (I think)

3-D Animations – note they are using Alienware computers

I am located in the Logging & Editing office.

We do not do any live shows from this department. We take in video from the 4 courses that are not broadcast live, and produce highlight packages for those races.

Anyway, after checking stuff out, I went back to the hotel.

Then went across the street to the Carrefour. It is basically, the Chinese version of Wal Mart. Wow! It was a freaking zoo! Quite overwhelming at first. I spent about an hour there trying to figure out where everything is located. I quickly learned to not go near the meat department. The smell is indescribable and the sites are horrifying. Yes, this is normal to them – but not for me!

(not even covered!)

And there was one other section of the meat department I did not photograph. I am pretty sure Madison, Rizon, Bison &n Allie will thank me for that.

Anyway, I picked up some Tide, snacks, water, beer, etc.

There is no crosswalk in front of the hotel – so you risk your life just getting to the Carrefour!

Everyone was meeting around 8pm to go out – but it took me until after 8 to get unpacked and settled. So I decided to stay in – I was pooped!

I just ate at the place in the hotel lobby. It was average.

Beijing - Training

August 5th

Today was an unplanned day off. I have a raging migraine. I guess I should be thankful that I do not have to work after all.

I have spent most the day updating the blog, writing post cards and catching up on email.

This is one of the worst migraines I have ever had.

In the late afternoon, I went over to the IBC because my transfer to the airport for Wednesday still has not been straightened out. It took awhile, but the driver is now confirmed to pick me up at 7a.

I hadn’t really eaten much in over 24 hours (other than cucumber dinner last nite). Even though the migraine has made me nauseous, I know I have to eat something. So I walked over to the MPC where there is a McDonald’s. I force fed myself half of a cheeseburger. I don’t eat McDonald’s burgers – so I have no clue if it tasted the same as they do in the States.

There were many moments while at the IBC & MPC that I thought I was going to pass out from the pain in my head.

Got back to the hotel and rested for an hour. The pain subsided so I got up and worked on packing. It came back after about 15 minutes.

Eventually went to bed. Have to get up at 4:45a.

Beijing – Training

August 4th

Made it over to the IBC about 45 minutes early. Wandered around a little – it’s huge!


Around 9:30, I was able to find someone holding a “graphics training” sign, so I approached her. Eventually they took all of us to the graphics department and split us up into our sports. This is when I met Lili – the other graphics op that will be doing sailing with me.

We off to another room with our trainer, Renee, who is from New Zealand.
I had read over the graphics manual the night before, so I was somewhat familiar with the system. About 15 minutes into training, I realized she was over half way thru the manual. I started to wonder what the hell we were going to do for the next 2 days!

So yes, Lili and I learned the Agile in about 45 minutes. Apparently, it comes simple to us because of several factors – mainly that we both do ESPN shows, for the part most challenging in the world. Other countries do no produce sports on the same level as the United States. So pretty much all American operators have no issues with learning the systems used by the host broadcasters for any of the Games. Since the host broadcasters use freelancers from all over the world, they have to keep it simple so everyone can learn it quickly.

Lili and I had lunch and wandered around some more. Did a short review in the afternoon and then went to logistics to follow up on our transportation to the airport on Wednesday. We also wandered around the Main Press Center where we got some interesting books about Beijing and saw all the amenities we would be missing out on since we are not staying in Beijing (gym, free massages, etc)

It was concluded that there was no need for us to come for the 2nd day of training, so now we have tomorrow off!

As we were leaving, we snapped a few shots of the MPC (Main Press Center)

and some of the Olympic Village






*note the sun in top right



Here are some close ups on the sun.





That evening, Lili’s friend Derek, an operator from Canada showed us around Beijing. He is also working for B.O.B. (Beijing Olympic Broadcasting) as a graphics manager.
We had a most interesting taxi ride across town. Lots of giggles!
The driver dropped us off at the wrong place so we ended up walking for about an hour before finding our restaurant. I believe we were in the same Hutong I had visited on my tour last week.

Anyway, we finally found the place – “Source”.


It was nice and of course I didn’t eat much. A few bites of chicken, because it finally came out to us as a sliced breast – so it actually resembled chicken!

Some cucumber soup (boiled cucumbers with chives), cucumbers with garlic & soy sauce. Then they had these mini taco shell looking things that we were supposed to eat duck in. Nope, not me. I had cucumber strips and soy sauce in them! For dessert, I had watermelon.

Then we took a taxi to this lake area where there are tons of bars. We rented a little boat, bought some beers and floated around the lake for a while.






Nic - Derek - Lili


After that, we took a taxi back to the hotel. Again an interesting ride because Derek knew more about the roads than the driver did.

On a side note – mom made it back to Columbus. She had a horrible experience. Since she got to the airport so early (8:30a), United wouldn’t allow her to check in until after 1pm. So she had to sit in the lobby of the ticket area for hours. Then, once she finally got on her plane, that is when it was delayed. So she sat on the runway for an extra 3 hours – on the plane for a total of 17 hours! She made the later flight to Columbus from Chicago and Dave got her back to my house safe & sound.

Shanghai > Beijing

August 3rd

Mom went with the rest of the tour group to the international airport this morning at 7:30.
I left at 8:30a with the local tour guide, Wendy, to go to the domestic airport.

Mom’s flight wasn’t until 3:55pm, so she had a long day ahead of her.

My flight to Beijing was at 12:30. However, Wendy, got me to the airport at 9am so he switched me to an earlier flight. He explained to me that since I was working the Olympics, I was a VIP. A representative from China Air whisked me away to a special security checkpoint with no line. She then escorted me to the First Class lounge – which is basically a small version of a Crown Room or Red Carpet Club. She told me to sit there and she would be back at 10:30a.

So sure enough, at 10:30 she came back and escorted me to my gate, where she took me to the front of the line, then put me on the plane. Once on board, an English speaking flight attendant, who had paperwork on me, told me to please call for her if I needed anything during the flight.

It was kind of bizarre to be treated so well by an airline?!

Was served a meal, which, I of course didn’t eat – well I did have a couple bites of watermelon.


They had the TV monitors on the backs of the seats in front of you, with the normal options of movies, music or TV shows. But the super cool feature was a camera that was mounted on the bottom of the plane! Based on the perspective, I believe it was somewhere under the nose of the plane.

Anyway – totally awesome! Unfortunately, the “fog” was thick and I didn’t see much until we were approaching the runway – but still so cool to see the runway, etc. Of course I didn’t think to take a photo until pulling into the gate (duh!)


Things were going really good since I was now in Beijing about 3 hours earlier than originally scheduled.

Since I was flying domestically this time into Beijing, the wait for luggage was much shorter. I then checked in with the Olympic people and was sent to a bus area. There are tons of Olympic people there to assist you, even though they have learned English, there is still quite a barrier. I truly had no clue if I was on the correct bus or not – but hoped for the best.

I arrived at a hotel that was basically a secure compound with nothing near it (as far as restaurants, etc). Upon walking in, I realized that I wasn’t in a normal hotel – it is very evident that this is 100% government owned. It is very sterile and institution-like.

Don’t get me wrong, it is very nice, it just doesn’t have the feel of a normal hotel. I feel very watched here.

I got a little settled and then ventured out in a taxi to the Traders Hotel, where we stayed while on the tour. I had stored a piece of luggage there.

Since my new hotel had few amenities and a limited menu, I went to the supermarket at the mall by Traders to get some snacks and drinks.

Went back to Traders and ….. they still had my bag! Ahh – I am so relieved! This has been a huge stress for me over the past week.

Ventured back across town to my new hotel and still am amazed at taxi prices - I spent a total of 1 hour and it only cost me about $12 USD!

Got settled and went down to the Olympic help desk to figure out which bus I needed to take in the morning to training. The girls at the desk try really hard – but there is still quite a barrier. I was not sure what time I was supposed to leave to get to the IBC (International Broadcast Center) in time. On the map it only looked a few miles away – but I didn’t want to be late, so I planned on leaving 1 hour before I was to be at training.

Mom and I have run out of TP many times on this trip. When housekeeping gives you a fresh roll, it is only about half the size of a normal roll. So we have often times found ourselves "without a square to spare".

There are never irons in the rooms here. Since my clothes have been in a duffle bag for almost 2 weeks, I decided I needed to iron a few things. I found 2 housekeeping girls in the hallway and spent about 5 minutes miming ironing to them - they had no idea what I was asking for. So I went back to my room and got this cool fold up chart of little pictures/icons of just about anything you would need to ask for while traveling in a foreign country (my friend Christine told me about this thing). I took the chart back to the girls and pointed to the iron - it still took them a few minutes to figure it out. At this point, I decided not to ask for more TP as I didn't want to cause an international incident while miming the use of toilet paper.

I got online around 7pm and discovered that mom’s flight out of Shanghai took off almost 3 hours late - which meant she would miss her connection in Chicago. I felt really bad because I knew she must have had a hell of day… considering I had rock star service and was already settled in Beijing and she had just gotten in the air about 15 minutes ago.

I called United and got a not so nice person. I eventually got mom re-booked on a later flight out of Chicago and into Columbus. Emailed Dave and gave him the heads up since now he was gonna have to pick her up around midnight.

Crawled into bed around 10pm. Oh yah, something I haven’t mentioned…. all the hotel rooms here have 2 twin beds. Which worked out well for mom and I… but I am so ready for a king bed! Most of the beds are also very hard. Which I realize is good for your back – but what I would give right now for the Westin Heavenly Bed!

Anyway – this bed … well I am not sure there is even a mattress under the sheets. And one of the pillows is like a sack of beans. Seriously – I would love to open it up and see if they are pinto or navy ?