The Best Paralympic Volunteer Position EVER

When I first went to register my credential, the BOCOG people told me that I wasn’t going to get a uniform because I wasn’t an official volunteer. My credential said “ke ren” (“guest”). Shoulders sagged a little, Oh, so I’m not a real volunteer… Little did I know that I actually had the coolest volunteer position ever.

I was the translator for a group of American VIP (sponsors of the US Paralympic Team). There were two waves of VIP, each in China for less than 5 days. My job was to communicate with our bus driver, make meal reservations, and assist if anything else came up along the way.

I got to accompany the VIP group everywhere: sports events, sightseeing, fancy meals. We had really long days (up to 17 hours a day), but all fun stuff. My work felt pretty minimal, as my supervisor had done great prep work, and the venues were stock full of helpful Chinese volunteers with English skills.

I got the sweetest credential (access to all games and Family and Friends Lounges, even on my days off). Our seats were always prime. My supervisors were really cool and answered all my questions about game rules and Paralympic history. So I learned a lot too.

Games I watched: ( * = favorites)

• Opening and Closing Ceremonies
• Swimming
• Track and Field
• Sitting Volleyball*
• Wheelchair Basketball*
• Wheelchair Rugby*
• Wheelchair Tennis
• Cycling
• Goal Ball

We got special entrance into the Athlete’s Village and ate lunch with some US athletes. The cafeteria was huge and had a huge array of international foods. We met the Chinese athlete who lit the cauldron here!

Throughout the games, I had a great room at the Hilton, headquarters of the USOC and the accommodations for our VIP groups. Ah, such a step up over my dorm bed in my hutong hostel. And although I didn’t get the blue and white volunteer uniform, I got gear. It felt like Christmas!

That’s enough bragging for a whole year. In short, it was an awesome experience. And now I want to find out more about where to watch adaptive sports back home, especially sit volleyball, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.

KTV

KTV in Asia varies a bit from karaoke in the West. In the US, one mounts a stage in a bar, mic in hand, to belt out (or not) one’s favorite tunes to an audience of strangers (and hopefully some friends). In China, the KTV experience involves renting, by the hour, a private room with a group of friends. The room is usually furnished with comfty sofas, a coffee table and a huge flat-screen TV. In control of an enormous remote control (with button commands all in Chinese characters), one has the power to enter one’s own song selections.

The KTV room has the effect of a flashy living room, complete with glass walls, mood lighting, and often a disco ball. Just press the staff call button if you desire to make a pricey drink order. Correct me if I’m wrong, but from my observation, one thing that doesn’t appear to differ between Karaoke East and West is the odd selection of video footage rolling behind the song lyrics.

Olympics Opening Ceremony

Elina (Russian classmate) and I watched the opening ceremony performances on a big screen TV on the sports field of Beijing University of Science and Technology. There were sites at various parks in the city that were set up for public viewing. We sat on the grassy field in a sea of black-haired heads. Campus is not too far from the Olympic Village, so you could even see a tiny bit of the fireworks from the field.

In the artistic performances, I was impressed by the juxtaposition between traditional Chinese culture and modern day technology.

We grabbed coconut pies and cheeseburgers to go from McDonalds because it was the only open restaurant in the area (24 hours, man) as today was an official public holiday. It was full of people gathered to watch the ceremony on the wall-mounted flat-screen TV. Armed with dinner and MccyD’s Olympic paper fans, we headed back to the dormitory to watch the parade of athletes on smaller screens in our rooms.

I won’t go into the details here now, but I want to say that I support the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And I agree with G.W. Bush's stance (how many times will these words ever be typed from my fingers?) on China and the Olympics: boycotting the Beijing Olympics would be an "affront to the Chinese people". Of course we could debate about this. But in short, one of my greatest lasting impressions throughout my travels, has been the difference between nations and their peoples as we know them through our foreign policies (and cultural stereotypes) and the actual people from those countries in their true human form with hopes and dreams and fears like ours. Okay, I'll stop there for now...

I have a tickets for Olympics baseball and wrestling later in the month. I’m looking forward to seeing things from inside the stadium!

p.s. I don't eat much McDonalds back home in the US, but McD's has the greatest chicken sandwiches in China--made with real chicken meat, sometimes even dark meat--yum!

Studying Chinese at BLCU

Right: my Chinese class
Far Right: a building on campus
Below: my dorm room

July 1, 2008

Hello Friends and Loved Ones,

I’m nestled on the soft, red faux-suede fabric of a new IKEA L-shaped sofa, at the P. LOFT Youth Hostel. It’s a new establishment in a Hutong neighborhood, still largely under construction as the owners prepare for the Olympics next month.

It’s overcast and drizzling outside, but I’m cozy inside, resumes, electronic accessories, calendar, books, pens sprawled across coffee table, couch and floor in a spacious corner of the rec room.

And ah! My spaghetti bologniese has just arrived. Tonight I needed that something special that only Chinese Italian food can give ya, for that extra emotional comfort.

As I pour over NGO, school and housing related websites, I go through tissues like crazy. It’s a cold, agitated by pollution. Or pollution aggravated by a cold. Tomorrow I’m supposed to finish registration for my upcoming Chinese language course.

Meet the Fuwa

I’d like to introduce you to my new friends, the Fuwa.

Bei bei – the Fish – carries the blessing of prosperity

Jing jing – the Panda – …happiness

Huan huan – the Olympic Flame – …passion

Ying ying – the Tibetan Antelope – …health

Ni ni – the Sparrow – …good luck

The Fuwa are the five mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In traditional Chinese style, each mascot’s designs hold symbolic meanings on many levels, from their animal types and headdresses to the meaning of the phrase formed when you combine their names. “Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni” translates to “Welcome to Beijing”. You can read more about the Fuwa in detail here if you so desire.

I didn’t think that I liked them at first—the Fuwa. There are FIVE! What excess, I thought. What blatant maximization of paraphernalia products for profit! Children won’t be satisfied with just one plush stuffed Huan huan doll. They’ll need ALL FIVE—the collector’s set. They’re milking consumers for all they’ve got, I judged.

Yesterday, as I wandered through the Official Flagship Store of the Beijing Olympics, I saw Fuwa backpacks and pen sets, Fuwa commemorative coins and pins, Fuwa USB flash drives and cell phone tassels, Fuwa travel coffee mugs, Fuwa antique-style porcelain ware...

Suddenly I found myself cost comparing Fuwa decal stickers. As a saleswoman approached, I backed away from the glass display case. I’d better google these Fuwa folk, I decided. I’ve got to find out more about who I’m dealing with here. Exiting the store, I was strangely drawn to pet the soft-looking fur of a four-foot plush Jing jing.

So I did a little cyber research, and… It’s not that I’ve totally rejected my previous theory, but I’ve decided that I don’t mind this particular exploitation quite so much.

I’ll admit it. Those cute little faces got to me. Not that I hadn’t seen them before, but I didn’t let myself look that closely before. To learn their names and about how each tiny aspect of their appearance and character was drawn from things China—traditionally and modernly China.

So the Fuwa are a spectacular marketing ploy (yes, I’m being dramatic), but they’re magical too (or maybe, “and so” they’re magical). What they represent inspires hope and dreams in children and adults the world around. And that’s special.

Above all else, the heart of the Fuwa mission is supposed to be seeking “to unite the world in peace and friendship through the Olympic spirit”.

And who's not for that?

Thoughts on Consumerism

I realize that paraphernalia and marketing is not a new or innately bad aspect of large-scale events. And the truth is that most of us want the cutesy characters and the colorful souvenirs, so we can take home a piece of something great. But you gotta admit that it feeds into the cycle of short-term fads and frenzies in consumerist societies.

Maybe fads aren’t bad in themselves—they can be lots of fun—but they don’t often do us any good in the realm of long-term happiness. They can leave us always wanting more, looking for the next thing, discontent with what we have. Fads do, however, tend to bring in the big bucks for certain business industries, particularly each time the product changes.

Consumerism in China is younger than it is in the United States. The Chinese middle-class is growing fast. People here are buying cars, not because they need them, but because it’s the first time they’ve been able to afford them and they’re excited about that. It’s like when you get your first raise (at work or in allowance), and now you want to upgrade to an iPhone like your friend Jim has. Except you haven’t even owned a cell phone before; maybe you’ve only ever used the local public payphone.

If Jim told you that you shouldn’t get an iPhone because it was bad for the environment or because you should learn from his mistakes and not spend so much energy on superficial commodities, it would p*** you off. Who is Jim to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do?! He already has an iPhone. But one out of five people on this earth are Chinese people. That’s a lot of iPhones. (And by iPhones, I mean cars.) That’s a lot of gas; that’s a lot of pollution.

So what do we do? We make friends. And we work together. We practice what we preach, and we try to eliminate our hypocrisies. If we must play the older sibling, we should do so by being a good role model. But we should remember that we don’t always know what’s best and that others don’t necessarily need to follow in our footsteps as we expect.