Joy's Notes on the Beijing Olympics

My friend Joy, who I met in college, has lived in Beijing for the last few years and is fortunate enough to be there now during the Olympics. She's posting her experiences on her Facebook page and has kindly granted permission for them to be republished here. Thanks Joy :)

Where were you when the Beijing Olympics started?

by Joy Dickson Friday, August 8, 2008 at 12:23pm

By now most of you know that the number 8 is considered a very lucky number. So it is no surprise that I thought that today would be a special day for me. After all I am living in Beijing and the opening ceremonies of the Olympics were scheduled for today at 8pm.

My day was definitely memorable and eventful. It began with my morning walk around Workers Stadium. I actually had debated whether or not I was going to even go for a walk because the air was so bad today. Today of all days was supposed to be one of the best days for air quality because of the Olympics but the smog demons did not get the memo, despite all of the efforts that have been made to look good in front of company.

Anyway, as I am walking I notice a person passed out on the ground in front of one of the many night clubs near the stadium. Mind you it is 7am and it is sad to say this, but passed out folks on the sidewalk is quite common. But this one was a foreign male. Usually most people here keep on going but not today, a foreign male was passed out on the ground and the gawkers were beginning to gather. Something in me told me to stop to see if he was alright. And as soon as I stopped more folks stopped. Fortunately, one man had a phone and told me in his broken English "Police!Police".

For those of you that have never had baijo ( Chinese Moonshine), I can only imagine how much he had to drink because this guy was out cold. Folks came by to take pictures and the first cop car that we saw just drove by despite that fact that they had a clear view of what was going on. About 15 minutes later a cop car finally stopped and the first thing out of his mouth was, " Is this your friend?". I immediately, told him no and that I lived down the street.

The poor guy did not have any ID on him, his friends had left him and he did not even know where he was staying. Fortunately, he did have some money because the police officer refused to take him to where he was staying because he said, "he is up now and looks ok". And like most drunks, he just got up, got in a cab and drove off. No thank you or xie xie. Well at least he is ok, it could have been worse.

I spent the majority of my day packing, only to find out that the post office was closed. I forgot today was a "holiday". And, yes this does mean that I have made my decision about whether or not I will be staying in China. I have not bought my ticket yet, but as my friend says, "Beijing is so 2006" and it is time to come home. Tentatively my departure is August 31st.

Another interesting thing happened to me, several hosts from the various bars on bar street asked me if I wanted to come into eat. For those of you that have heard about the now infamous article that stated that the government told bars to not allow Blacks and Mongolians into their establishments, being solicited by these people can mean several things, one folks here still think I am Filipino (I can't even begin to tell you how often this happens), two, they are so desperate for business they will risk "defying the law" or three-the ban was a hoax( which is now the latest rumor spreading around).

Fast forward to 6pm and I attempt to find a place to watch the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, everywhere my friends and I went was too crowded. So we ended up back at my apartment. And I have to tell you that the only time I can recall ever seeing an opening ceremony was the 1996 Olympics. I watched it on TV with my mom and god parents in ATL.

All I can say is WOW and that I am happy that I was here to witness this historical event. China really out did themselves and I am proud of them. The lighting of the torch was awesome as well as the drummers at the very beginning.

Fortunately, for some of you, you will get to see the edited version and miss the uncut version that featured the view of someone's butt, the red shoes obsession one camera man had, Bush sitting back chillin' in the stands, Putin waiting to the very last minute to get up and acknowledge his country's athletes, other political officials doing undignified things, ( Hint: if you are a public official please remember you are on camera and that just when you are tempted scratch or pick something remember their is a camera man lurking around capturing your every move ),Athletes from various countries yapping away on their cellphones or the track and field star from the US, ( HInt: is last name is Gay) turning his hat to the side to look more "gangsta". I mean being singled out of the crowd because you are one of the best athletes in the world just wasn't enough for him.

I was glad to see that Iraq and Zimbabwe were allowed to participate, and that the US flag was carried in by a refugee from Darfur. I also enjoyed learning about countries that I have never heard of such as Chinese Taipei. I tried to find the guy from Ivory Coast, that I was lusting after while he was shopping at Yashow Mall but he was hard to pick out from the crowd. Hey it is not everyday you see an Olympic athlete that is so fine he looks like a chiseled piece of dark chocolate.

In general this was one of the best performances I have ever seen on TV. Hopefully it will be on youtube, so I can watch it again, because I did fall asleep after the US walked in and missed, Mexico, Italy and China walking in. But I did see the torch being lit. That was AWESOME. Well the fireworks have stopped so I am going to go to bed now.

ttyl,
joy;)