Sitting in the Bird's Nest

A nourishing breakfast of McDonald's began my day. Mmm...breakfast of Olympic gold medalists. I'm sure Phelps ate it before each race since McDonald's is an official sponsor. [Side note: the first lengthy sentence in Chinese that I understood was in connection to Phelps. Talking about the swimmer's amazing wins, my friend Tracey said to me, "wo bu xi huan ji rou tai dou nan ren"... translation... "I do not like men with very many muscles." I began cheering after I had slowly pieced together my 1st big sentence. Back to the story...]
...
My friend Phil (a fellow teacher) and I made our way from McDonald's to the baseball stadiums -- our stomachs quite content with the glorious fullness of American fast food. (I swear it tastes better overseas.) We made our way down into the Beijing underground and attempted to cram onto the subway. We had no plan beyond making our way to the baseball stadiums and hunting for the highly coveted tickets to the USA vs. Cuba game.
...
Although there was no ridiculous British guy trying to scalp tickets, we did run into an American who sold us tickets for only 3 times the face value. Appreciating the American discount, we reached into our wallets and bought 3 tickets (Ryan, another teacher and friend, was meeting us there). As we handed over the money, Phil said that we'd only make the deal if he took the Americans' money with him back to America. At that point we were both fed up with the fact that the Beijing Ticketmaster economy was booming while our own was fumbling. But we finally had tickets and so we made our way to the security checkpoint.
...
Security. A joke in China -- basically translated as a person who naps all day while the technology does its job. (Little do they know that x-ray machines must be monitored.) But the security at the Olympics was much better...too much better. Walking through the metal detector, all 3 of us beeped and had to be wanded. I think there's a setting marked "fail all".
...
Inside the stadium we snapped photos like tourists and then became as American as we could: we watched baseball and drank beer and cheered loudly for the game that most of the world doesn't play -- soaking in the American culture. (Hot dogs would have been added to that list but hot dog has another meaning in China...so we got ice cream instead.) Our seats were originally in the outfield behind this very large group in orange shirts and white hats. Ya know, China could have disguised them better...allow me to explain...China reserved tickets for Chinese people to fill stands and reduce the risk of a security threat. We're guessing that they didn't particularly understand or appreciate the sport which they were watching since they left before the 5th inning. As for us, we moved to the more lively section with the cheering fans...plus, better seats.
...
The game went into extra innings and the sun was burning down on us -- the fools who forgot sunscreen. Crammed onto the subway afterwards I felt as if I was going to throw up from the sun stroke, lack of oxygen in the underground sardine can, and stop-go motion of the train. I fought against it and made the long trek to the local Ticketmaster in search of Bird's Nest tickets. Phil made me a "sign" -- "I need tickets" with a bunch of criss-cross lines to communicate the type of tickets I wanted. It was looking hopeless. Nothing for less than 1500 kuai ($220) and it just went up and up from there. Then I saw the Americans. Hope has appeared! We began talking. They said that they couldn't attend tomorrow's events (in the Bird's Nest!) and they didn't want their tickets scalped; all they asked was that I would pay what they paid for the tickets -- 3 times the face value but still a good deal...only 600 kuai ($90) for REALLY good seats.
...
The next morning Phil and I were on the subway headed towards the famous line 8 which would take us to the Olympic Village and our seats inside the Bird's Nest. Ryan met us in the sea of people trying to get through the first wave of security check points. Like the rest of China, there was no line...just a clump of people shoving their way in a general direction like sand through a funnel. Initial ticket check point -- only a dozen or so went through at once. It was like being the only person at the airport check-in counter and having to go through all those back-and-forth ropes looking like an idiot. The "fail-all" switch had been turned off and, like usual in China, they were incredible overstaffed. (Well, how else are you going to employ 1.3 billion people?)
...
It took us nearly 40 min to get to our seats from that point, but it was worth it. My seat: 11th row, dead center, 100 M dash side -- incredible. It was the qualifying round for shot put, discus, men's speed walking (funniest thing I've ever seen) 10,000 M, and steeple chase, and women's high jump, 100 M dash, and 400 M. (Click on this post's title for photos.) It was an amazing thing to watch -- to see the world's best in one arena. I couldn't believe I was actually there. I was actually in a place that I had only seen from the nearby highway last fall and on TV. Wow.
...
And then there was the sun; beating down upon my charred shoulders and crisp, red face. I had remembered the sunscreen today. I looked up...trying to tell how much longer I had until I would be in the shade. The torch caught my eye and I said to myself, "we don't need anymore heat". Bottled water and ice cream were obtained quickly and in the concession line I met the sister-in-law of one of the American runners in the men's 10,000 M dash. I sat with her and her family (my previous seat was surrounded by Chinese people and it's more fun to cheer with fellow Americans). I met a few others from around the states and also so fun people from Australia -- we'd cheer for each other's country when they weren't directly competing. But I have to say that the most memorable person I met was on my way out of the stadium.
...
I hurried up the stairs trying to beat the rush out of the stadium at the conclusion of the final heat of the 400 M. The crowd forces me to stop about halfway up the steps. All of a sudden this arm comes around my waist. "Do I know you?!" I exclaim in my head. I look up and see a very tall, dark man -- you're not Chinese! The 3 stripes of blue, white, and red gave away his French heritage. He pointed straight ahead towards his friend who had a camera. We took a picture and then another with my camera. He didn't speak English but he, presumably, spoke some words of gratitude as he kissed me on the cheek like a true Frenchman.
...
What more is there to say after that? ... Nothing. The next day Phil and I left for Chongqing -- a short flight inland and then an hour drive to Beibei which was my home for 3 months last fall and will be my home for the next year. It's good to be back.