Today I went to go see Olympics Judo (men and womens) at the Beijing Science and Technology University (see picture). Today's sky was not as cloudy/polluted as yesterday's (with even some blue sky here and there!), but it was so humid I finally gave in after 2 months and bought a 2 kuai fan. Everything seemed to run smoothly, at least from what I saw. They did only let us go through the detector one at a time, so a small line was forming, but it wasn't too painful. I got there almost 45 minutes ahead of time, so I don't know how smoothly it ran as it got closer to game time. There were tons of volunteers around to help out and I even saw one of the Chinese roommates that live at my campus volunteering there. He was really excited to see me and even gave me some bottled water.
Inside was air-conditioned, which was excellent. I am pretty sure I bought the last Judo ticket alloted to America through Co-sport because when I bought the ticket, they only let me buy 1 (they usually let you buy more) and I was also in the last row. Even after seeing all the delegations walk in yesterday at the Opening Ceremonies, it wasn't until I saw the Kazakhstan judoka come out that I was reminded that this is the OLYMPICS! There are athletes and fans here from literally all over the world -- when that hit me I got goosebumps. Just sitting around me were Austrian, French, Hungarian, Mongolian, Japanese, and of course, Chinese people. It was so fun to see little pockets of people around the stadium erupt in chants as their athlete came out to face off.
I had never seen Judo before, but the more I watched, the more I understood and came to enjoy watching it. I still got a little bored after watching round after round and not fully understanding what each move means, so I talked to the Chinese people around me. It is definitely a strange feeling to feel more comfortable talking to Chinese people now. Even with something as simple as asking the time, I know a Chinese person will understand me, but I can never be sure if the other visitors around me speak English. It also gives me another chance to practice my Chinese and strike up a conversation.My article that I wrote for the UA News: it connects Chinese culture and the Olympics
http://www.snponline.com/articles/2008/08/09/upper_arlington_news/news/ua%20beijing
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