Opening Ceremonies were, I’m told, a rousing success. Granted it took a couple of hours to get home for most, that’s to be expected with a stadium crowd of 90,000 or so, and who knows how many people on the streets just watching the fireworks and lights. I spent the night in the Austrian House with some friends getting pleasurably drunk on free wine and eating free catering. Danke, meinen freunden.
And, apparently, the road race is always the first day of the Olympics. Fortunately for me, I did not have a massive briefcase sans wheels to lug up a hill like I did in Athens, and our apartment inaccessible by taxi. In fact, I was able to just stroll down the street, munching on an apple.
Pin trading remains slightly elusive. Few people on the streets have pins, which is aggravating, but plenty of volunteers around the venues sport lanyards with the small pieces of metal judiciously applied. And, in the discount markets of Yashow and Silk Market, workers go ga-ga at the sight of a tie full of pins. They practically assault you in their desire to see the pins up close. In fact, I’m pretty sure I had a few stolen by some of the overzealous workers who simply neglected to ask when taking a pin off of my tie. Alas.
The Chinese, as it turns out, are a curious bunch. In Athens I was responsible for garnering tickets by holding up a sign that said, “Student Needs Tickets Please,” and looking miserable. The number of tickets I had just handed to me was, and remains, astounding. I’ve managed it once here, getting into Artistic Gymnastics because a Chinese woman’s husband couldn’t make it, so she brought me along with her and her daughter. Unfortunately, standing for two and a half hours in the drizzling, or pouring, rain, did not generate enough pity to get me a free ticket to the USA vs. China basketball game that same night. I was, however, interviewed no less than 6 times, offered 4 or 5 rain jackets, one of which I finally accepted, and brought under the maternal wing of a grandmotherly old Chinese woman who, presumably, was telling the crowd that came and went what my story was. She didn’t really get it that I didn’t want to stand under her umbrella. She definitely wasn’t Rhianna.
Overall, the Olympics seem to be genuinely working. I mean, there is still horrendous pollution, people vacillate between nice and stiffly informal, depending, and authorities either interpret the rules to the letter or ignore them completely. For instance, I was allowed to stand about 50 feet away from the entrance to the basketball venue, but not 5. I guess that makes sense; I mean, they just don’t want any “Free Tibet,” or signs of similar persuasion floating around.
Hey, maybe China can pull this off. Too bad the pollution is still bad.