Susan Jackson

Crysty, Janis, and I were interviewed for Chinese television today at the BMX course. Check out the video for our confused reactions to translated questions.

I believe it will take a little while to load, so go ahead and boil an egg while you wait. Maybe two.

UPDATE: Someone asked what else, besides crashing scooters, we’ve been doing at the velodrome. The answer is, so far, not too much. Official training for all volunteers begins next week, so this week was about getting to know our new “Chinese family,” finding our way around the building, taking Chinese lessons, and getting a few quick overviews of how the whole operation will run during games time.

While the scooting is certainly fun, it has some competition for the title of “coolest part of our job” to this point. In a practice I can only hope U.S. companies embrace, napping is perfectly acceptable as an after-lunch activity. When I first walked into our office and saw a girl catching a few Zs with her head down on a table, I thought, “Busted!” But our managers actually encourage a quick nap if we “need a rest,” a phrase we hear form them quite a lot. In their experiences, lunch breaks tend to last for 90 minutes, so there is plenty of time to snooze.

The day of our TV interview, we caught a nap and had some extensive scooter time, complete with photo shoots at scenic points around the venue. Our manager Alex acted as creative director, setting up the bikes and our poses. Then, we called it a day.

At the moment, it seems everyone’s primary concern is that we have fun and build relationships. As several of only 200–300 overseas volunteers (there are roughly 70,000 Chinese volunteers), we’re a bit of a novelty and people are very excited to show us a good time. We’re happy to cooperate.

Work at the cycling cluster commenced this week, and what should I start with? We could revisit why Bob is the man, the fact that next to the venue there is a Disney knock-off amusement park complete with a 1/3-size Epcot ball, or the story about me crashing an electric scooter into a building and a security desk at the same time. While you mull over those choices, why don’t I just get right into the crashing-into-bagillion-dollar-velodrome story?

Since the venue has different facilities for mountain biking, BMX, and the indoor events, we have access to some sweet Olympic-branded electric scooters to zip from place to place. Alex led us on a ride from the velodrome up to the BMX course (the downhill on the way back is great for getting around the engine restrictor) and rode his scooter right through the door to park it in our office. I attempted to follow but accidentally goosed the throttle and flew into—not through—the doorway, with a skid into the security guard’s desk to finish it up. And of course, the guy was sitting there. The table torpedoed back into him and though I was screaming “Oh my god!!! I’m sorry!” he never said a word to me. Just smiled. Crysty, my classmate and venue partner, erupted in hysterical nervous laughter behind me. Some samaritan helped me pick the bike up and I sheepishly wheeled it to the office. Inexplicably, no one really noticed, but Bob did inquire “Soosan, did you injure yourself?” Just my pride, Bob. Just my pride.

Fortunately, I didn’t injure the velodrome either. The impressive UFO-style structure took four years to complete and can hold 6,000 spectators. On our first day, we saw members of the Chinese cycling team taking practice laps with the aid of a pacing motorcycle. The banked sides of the bowl-shaped track sit at 47 degrees. It is mind-boggling that a bicycle, motorized or otherwise, can stay upright against that steepness. Though I’m told that the Chinese cycling team isn’t the most competitive, the quadzilla legs I saw cruising past me looked like they meant business.

I got a little choked up about the whole scenario. I’ve always been completely inspired by the true spirit of the Olympics. The majority of Olympic athletes don’t train so hard and sacrifice so much for money or glory—they do it for the love of sport and competition. To be near that is amazing, and I’m so happy I can be even a small part of it, water bottle cleaner or not.

Check out a video of our first look at the velodrome from the infield.

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!

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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