Lai le! (I have arrived!)

Huanying! Welcome to my humble blog. I'll be attempting to post here regularly on my two and a half week stay in Beijing, relaying anecdotes and events as they transpire... hopefully most (but not all)of it is mundane enough to make it through those notorious Chinese censors!

Though I arrived in Beijing last night, the Olympics really started for me during the layover in Tokyo. Sitting down for a bite of tempura, I ran into the New Zealand Olympic swim team! I recognized them almost immediately-swimmers everywhere look similar. They were all excited about the Games and very gregarious. I met Lauren Boyle, who swims at Cal, for the the first time. Lauren and I have many mutual funs and I'm stoked to watch her tear it up on their 4x200 free relay. I also met a young man Daniel who is going to be leading off their 4x100 medley. They also relayed a neat story about how when a Kiwi team arrives at the Village, the rest of the already-arrived Kiwi contingent performs the Haka (a maori war dance) and the arriving team replies. Only then have they officially arrived.

I'm really jazzed for the Games to start. I'm writing from the US Ambassadors residence (the Randts) where I've organized a few more Olympic events to go watch. Here follows my Olympic event schedule:

Aug 10: swim finals  and prelims 

Aug 11: swim finals and prelims 

Aug 12: swim finals

Aug 13: possible swim finals

Aug 14: mens gymnastics all-around

Aug 16: water polo and baseball 

Aug 17: mens gymnastics vault, floor, horse

Aug 20: open water swim and track and field finals

Aug 21: beach volleyball and track and field finals

I've been truly fortunate to have been given these tickets at no or face value by close friends. My trip was rather hastily organized and I know many well-organized Olympic visitors who are not as well ticketed as I am. 

Though the games don't start for a couple days, I'm already having a blast. I'm staying in a fabulous guest room with a double bed at the apartment of Al Cortes, who works at the US Embassy here. Al's apartment is right near the SanLiTun district, which has many restaurants and bars and is a very central (socially) location. 

Beijing has changed vastly since the last time I've been here (5 odd years). Most of the changes have come in the past few months. I was taken from the airport in a cab which drove on the new Airport superhighway that only opened July 30th. Innovative architecture dots the skyline (I passed the CCTV integrated-skyscraper tower today). And a new subway has been put in place for the Olympics. Olympic volunteers sporting red armbands abound on the streets of Beijing to assist tourists and "keep peace". The cab driver also mentioned Beijing had seen an increase in police presence in the weeks leading up to the Olympics.

Tonight I have a quiz night with Paull Randt at a pub on the books and might go out for a few drinks with fellow PUCSDT members (Easton, Tillman, Gremban). I also may meet with Marcus Bach Armas, a great guy I met here at the Randt's residence who is actually Alex and Peter Vanderkaay's agent. Marcus and I took a tour of some of Beijing's Hutongs after a delectable Chinese lunch and some "Vegetable Spare Ribs" (you gotta love Mandarin translations) with the Randts. A year ago Marcus didn't know what IM stood for, now he's buddy buddy with all of Club Wolverine and knows more about the sport that any non-swimmer I know. I also received a formal invitation to the opening of the brand new US embassy here in Beijing. I'm very excited even though the opening is at 7am because they are offering free continental breakfast! Me eating delicious state department meals = our tax dollars at work! 

Well, I'm off!

Yi hou zai shuo!  (More to say later!)