Susan Jackson

A little background on all this. I just finished my master’s in writing and publishing from Emerson College. This Olympic experience is courtesy of Emerson being selected to send students to work for the Olympic News Service. You can read more about it here, and if that is enough info for you, you can enjoy the photos below of our dorm at the International Center of the Communication University of China (CUC). Note to those with an upcoming bathroom remodel: the shower set-up is extremely efficient for maintaining toilet cleanliness.

CUC is located just outside Beijing’s fifth ring. The city is built on a grid, with important places like Tiananmen Square and Mao’s mausoleum on points of the main access. The concentric circles of the ring roads surround the axis. Being outside the fifth ring puts CUC in the “countryside” of Beijing, though it still is technically the city, and very much an urban area. Think of it like Tufts University in relation to Boston.

As you can see, our dorm rooms are very nice, but almost deceivingly so. While walking to dinner off campus last night, a group of us got a peek into a regular dorm and it was far barer than our accommodation. Once out of the campus gate, we came across a staggering amount of transition. For every storefront on our side of the road, there were three abandoned buildings in the midst of refurbishment, most housing squatters. Assimilating to our new environment, none of us mentioned the varying smells of human waste and construction chemicals.

All of us are very interested to see if these projects will wrap up and transform the area by August 8, the start of the Games, which appears to be the goal. It would be a massive turnaround, but I’m sure there are areas in far worse condition.

We had our first meeting with the ONS yesterday afternoon and learned a bit more about our assignments. It seems I’ll be an assistant in the press conference area of the cycling venue and will ensure the area “runs smoothly.” To me, this sounds a lot like “make sure you clean up all the empty water bottles in between conferences,” but you know what? I’m going to clean up empty water bottles like no one has ever cleaned up empty water bottles before. We’ll have a better idea of what is really going on when we begin in a few days.

Alex, our ONS manager, asked my classmate Christy and I to start work early, on the fifteenth. Our first assignment is to help the local volunteers with their English. Seeing as we know barely enough Mandarin to put us in the “survival” category, this should be interesting. But, it is flattering that he asked us to help.

He also brought us out for a terrific meal last night where we met a few Chinese student volunteers from CUC who will work with us at the cycling venue. Over spicy Sichuan fish, black fungus, and a bunch of other mysterious yet delicious foods, we shared stories and language. Alex was very interested in learning English tongue-twisters and we all had a good laugh over his rendition of “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck…”

Bob, another ONS volunteer working with us, is apparently quite a good guy to know. When I asked the group where I should go to buy a cell phone, he whipped one out of his bag, charger and all, and told me I could borrow it until I could get one of my own. I explained that language-wise, I’m not ready to haggle yet, so Bob also offered to take me to the electronics market and do the haggling for me. Alex even admitted that for matters such as this, Bob is his first call as he always manages to get the best price.

Apparently, Bob is also quite the karaoke singer, and just opened a tea shop to which he invited all of us. Should be a good time!

Jet lag is the coolest. I’ve never been so chipper after hearing the alarm clock sound at 3:30 a.m.! No, I’m being serious. A group of us thought we’d take advantage of our body clocks being out of whack by making an early-morning trip to see the flag-raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square. On the way, we hit our first “I sure wish I could understand what you’re saying. Here, let me point to a picture in a book” situation when we came across the night security guards at the Communication University of China (CUC) where we are staying.

The daily flag-raising and lowering ceremonies are a point of national pride, and thousands of people gather to watch. We seemed to be the only foreigners in the crowd as the national anthem played and up went the colors.

Though it technically was dawn, the permanent haze of pollution I’ve been hearing so much about obscured any glorious sunrise that usually rewards pre-dawn revelers. In fact, I’ve heard that a day you can see the sun is a good day, which today does happen to be, though it still just looks cloudy out. Let’s hope that seasonal affective disorder knows the difference between smog and winter.

Check out the clip of a military run through the square.

Two flights and 13+ hours of traveling later, and I’m in Beijing! The leg to China started out much like a typical day on the couch with Anthony would—with a full line-up of Discovery Channel favorites from “Deadliest Catch” to “Everything You Need to Know: Fireworks.” On top of that, I heard a couple of French pilots chatting over the “From the Flight Deck” radio station about landing in Montreal. I picked up on this with my extensive knowledge of the French language, having remembered such vocabulary as “zero” and “Montreal” from high school language courses. It doesn’t get much more exciting.

But, an uneventful flight is a good flight. We arrived on schedule in Beijing and made our way through its massive new airport. Like a true tourist, I began snapping pictures almost immediately. In my defense, however, it is quite a cool building.

After settling in at the Communication University of China, where we are enjoying A/C and Western-style bathrooms (woo!) a group of us sat down to a feast of rice, dumplings, fish (with all the bones), chicken (with a few of the bones) and tea (with no bones, but many twigs). The whole shebang only cost the equivalent of about $2 USD per person. I could get used to that (but would need more time with the bone thing.)

Highlight of the day: A friend discovered and purchased Bruce Lee shampoo. If you have ever heard me say, “My hair is kickin’ like Bruce Lee, it’s a banner day for us, my friend.

UPDATE: Sorry, folks. That is actually Jackie Chan.

Commence the adventure! Tomorrow morning I board a plane bound for Beijing, China, by way of Washington D.C. For the next two months or so, I’ll be working at the Laoshan Cycling venue as a volunteer for the Olympic News Service (ONS). I’m not sure what my day-to-day gig will be yet, but I hope it doesn’t involve the question, “one or two sugars?”

Laoshan is home to mountain biking, the velodrome, and making its Olympic debut, BMX racing.

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