Headed home
A post from Lizzy Tyler:
I’m sitting in the Seoul, Korea airport right now with a few other Asburians. I definitely never thought I’d spend this much time in Korea! We all had a 12 hour layover here (ah, the joys of saving money on plane tickets) so we ended up taking a bus to downtown Seoul. It was a lot of fun and amazing how many stores and restaurants were open at 4 in the morning! It’s been a nice last adventure, but I’ll be glad to get some sleep on the long flight (we stayed up all night to adjust to the time change).
The end of the Olympics went really well; I got some really positive feedback from my boss and a few of us took one last trip to the Great Wall. It was a fun time to look back on the trip and realize how incredible it was and how many once in a lifetime opportunities there were.
I’ll definitely miss Beijing and the Olympics, but I’m excited to see friends and family….and not eat so much rice:)
Struck!
So everything is beginning to wind down. The locals are selling fake Olympic gear to you in McDonald’s people are out and about shopping there last time here. It is pretty interesting.
I have done some cools things in the last few days. I was going shopping one day and ran into one of people I met at work and she told me how I could go shopping in the Olympic Village where all the athletes live. So, me and my friend Kristen ended up shopping at the Olympic Superstore within the village. I turned at one point to look over and realized I was standing next to about three of the girls from the Chinese Gymnastics team. It was really crazy there were tons of athletes and coaches in there. It is interesting though because in my job we are not allowed to really acknowledge athletes or get star-struck in their presence. So at some point you begin to forget that they are even athletes. Also, whenever you are at the markets the place is full of the athletes shopping and haggling with the store owners and everything. It is funny because I know back home it is hard to imagine that it is normal to be in the presence of these kind of athletes, but it really becomes part of your way of life here.
Speaking of being star-struck…I was at the market today with my friends Tim and Andy and we were the third floor standing right by the escalator thinking about what to do and we all look up to see a very familiar face staring at us from the descending escalator. My heart skipped a beat and I swear I stopped breathing for a minute, because there right in front of me was Vince Vaughn…for a minute I swore I was watching a movie I was only looking at a look-alike, but it was actually him. Tim would like me to point out that it was him who saw him first, and him who played off being cool, which he did he immediately stepped on the escalator to floor 1 and left me and Andy kind of bewildered. Then Andy and I went to step on and Vince stepped on with us. He shook Andy’s hand and patted me on the back. I was completely in shock. We rode down and told him we were working at the Olympics and it was our internship for school and then let him go on his way. Then we Tim, Andy, and I all looked at each other and then we just were like, did that happen. I am still not sure if what shocked me was that Vince was in China or that he was simply Vince Vaughn. I mean we were in a market where there are tons of athletes, but for real, what are the possibilities of an American A-list movie star who dated the same girl as Brad Pitt to be in this hot sweaty place. Kind of funny. I am still kind of weirded out by it.
Anyways, I am headed to catch dinner with people. We are not able to get to the Closing Ceremonies so we are all going to go have dinner somewhere fun and tour around Beijing some more. I will post again before I leave. Tomorrow I am headed to the Summer Palace and to a lake with all these restaurants and shops around it. It sounds pretty cool.
Still great
A post from Lizzy Tyler:
Everything is still going great over here on this side of the world! My venue has switched from gymnastics to handball, and I’m enjoying watching it but it’s a crazy sport. At the last few matches there were several players taken out on stretchers and lots of blood. Yeah, pretty different from gymnastics.
The last few work days have been pretty long (12+ hours) so I haven’t had that much time, but I did squeeze in a pretty awesome food experience. I ate hot pot, which is basically Chinese fondue. They brought out this huge copper pot thing which kind of looked like something from Aladdin and his magic genie. They put a bunch of spices and broth in it, threw in some meat, and voila!
Today we’re sort of taking it easy, and hitting a few markets for last minute gifts. I think we’re all becoming champs at bargaining, and we can talk them down to pretty cheap. It’s going to weird to come back to the states and actually pay the listed price!
HOME
A message from Megan Scott:
So, I have been really busy the last few days, which would explain why many of you have not heard from me. I got the day off because it is rainy and no one can do BMX in the rain I guess.
I have been not getting home sick, but there is something to be said about the amount of traveling I have done and how I am beginning to feel like I want some stability again. Even though I am here for another week or so. I still feel unsettled because I still have to stop in LA then go back to school and I am beginning to just want some consistency and see people from home. Do not get me wrong though, I love it Beijing, I am having tons of fun, but there is this feeling all the time in the pit of my stomach where I want to smell fried food and fresh air, to walk on uncrowded street, to see hills and SUV’s, to drive a car, to know what is REALLY happening in the world, to just be in a familiar place. I am sure we can all relate. Actually I know we can. Last night I went out with a few girls and they all were dying to get burgers at TGI Fridays. I have yet to adjust to the funny smells in the subway and at restaurants. In other words this is not home. So, each night I have been coming home, I listen to this song by Michael Buble that probably best describes this all.
I think the part that gets me is:
“Another Aeroplane, another sunny place, I’m lucky, I know, but I wanna go home…And I’m surrounded by a million people I still feel all alone…I miss you, you know.”
Anyways, there is my sentimental part of my post, but I thought I needed to share what all this feels like as well on top of what we experience at work. It is important for you guys to know that it is not all fun and exciting all the time. We still miss you all back home.
But getting back to what I have been up to. I have been working a lot. I have made good friends with a lot of the crews. The French men are friendly people and so are the Netherlands. I have tons of pins from about every broadcaster that has been at my venue. They say I am a nice American girl…I am not sure what that means, but I figure it is fine if I get pins. I have become good friends with this older gentlemen who is actually one of the best cycling commentators in the world, names Phil Liggett. He works for Channel Seven news here at the Olympics, but kind of hops all over. He is from England. We met at the Velodrome and then always ended up on the same bus so we got to know each other very well from our long almost hour bus ride to the Velodrome and back everyday. It is nice to have company on those long rides. A lot of other Asburians work with other Asburians here, but I am typically alone, which is the case of quite a few as well. But I am sure they would all tell you the same, that every once and a while it is nice to have company.
Work has been great, I have been working a guy from EBU (European Broadcast Union) because there had been complaints that crews were not getting their interviews at the Velodrome so he came to check it out the same day I started working down in the Mixed Zone and he has just kind of stuck around. Our area for the Broadcasting Crews to get interviews with athletes is EXTREMELY small and we bring through almost 40 crews so it is a very intense system of organization that my and the manager had come up with. I have dealt with some extremely angry crews, and for being a person who lacks assertiveness, I definitely have learned how to be. I hold my ground against cameramen who are twice my size. I have dealt with photographers who I had to kick out because they missed the cut off for the Medal Ceremony photographer entrance and tried to take photos in the Mixed Zone, which is not allowed and they were persistent about it. I have definitely learned how to not back down against anyone. Granted it helps since most of them won’t ever see me again. I will say that these are guys do a good job of pushing buttons and the limits to get what they want and need. I have been rather impressed.
I switched to BMX yesterday and this is an outdoor venue. It was extremely exhausting because I was there from 7 AM and then did not get back to my room till about 3 PM and the heat was just killer. Even four big bottles of water did not relieve me from a headache. BMX is a shorter event. Each of the men and women went through individually twice and got times (which range between 35 seconds or so) and then they put them into finals groups and then continue to narrow until they get the medal race. It is cool. I do not get to see much of the event because I stand behind all the broadcasters wanting interviews so they kind of block the view, but I still enjoy the energy of the DJ and everything. Plus the venue is beautifully done. I was rather impressed.
So since I got off at a decent hour yesterday, I went back to the market with Kristen and Brittany to pick up some stuff. I haggled for some good prices and we had a few good laughs. When I first went through the markets, the shop tenants kind of freaked me out, but the more I go the more used to it I get. So, last night when they would grab me and be like “Lady do you need purse?” I would respond, “Do you need a purse?” and they just don’t know how respond or just throw them random questions. It may be rude, I am not sure but it stops them from hassling you. Also, we noticed that many of them know about 3-4 other languages. They were speaking to the Spain Athletes in perfect Spanish. Yeah, that place was swarming with athletes, and no Maggie I did not see Michael Phelps yet. I mean he calls me to hang out, but our schedules just don’t mesh well you know? Haha.
After we got done with the market, we went to an Acrobatic shot, but the thing that was the hardest was getting there. We circled the place about three times before getting a taxi and he drove us there and it was two blocks away from where we were. Haha. I am telling you when the map is all in characters and words you can’t say and your directions are in a different language it definitely makes it a little bit challenging. But the show was amazing and some how we ended up right up front. The things these kids can do was just amazing. They fit 12 people on a bike. It was just spectacular.
I have the day off today and I believe that I am going to dinner with some people and Dr. Owens tonight, which should be fun. I am looking forward to trying another restaurant. There are such cool places to go and eat and hang out at around here. So many cool allyways with hidden treasures and such. It would take forever to really touch this city and so you know it well.
I will write more later. I think I write really long posts, so I will try and post tonight or tomorrow night. Miss you all!
Switching Venues, Same Handball
Well today marked our last day at the Olympic Sports Gymnasium, it also marked the day we had to say goodbye to some of our friends. I only have 6 more days in China, which is sad. This trip has been amazing experience for myself and all of the Asbury students. Everyone has been loving getting to know people and sharing our experiences with others.
The most exciting thing about today at work was the fact that it was the first day of the quarterfinals of the women’s matches. The games were close and had a lot of emotion in them. It was great to see the players working so hard to achieve their goal of winning the gold. My coworkers and I are really getting into the sport, and I think we are really going to miss watching it when we get back to the states. I guess I always have college football to fall back on….
Speaking of watching other sports, the other day my friends and I were walking down the Olympic Green and a golf cart came right past us and we look up and there in the back was Lebron James and Kobe Byrant! It was crazy to see them that close just driving around the green. I gave me the chills again (which I get a lot here) that I am actually at the Olympics, watching the best athletes in the world compete, while the whole world holds it’s breath.
Only one week left!
I can’t believe that a week from today I’ll be flying back to KY–we were talking the other night about how we feel pretty settled here. There are still so many times when I can’t believe I’m here, because it’s been such an amazing experience. Everyday I get to meet people from all over the world, and it’s crazy how many big wig broadcasters you meet just on the bus!
At my venue (artistic gymnastics), things have been pretty crazy lately because there have been apparatus finals, which have been really intense and tons of press and broadcasters. Even though things are busy, I still get to watch some of the event from great views!
Yesterday I went to the foreigners’ church in Beijing, and it was amazing. It was a mandarin and English service, so that was definitely the first time I’ve sung a praise song in Chinese! They had a guest speaker who won a gold medal in track and field about twenty years ago, and her testimony was incredible. It was a great reminder that God is the one who provides opportunities and we have a responsibility to witness through our love and hard work.
I’m still getting to see a lot of Asbury people, which has been great. There are about 7 of us who have meals together at our venue, and 4 of us work closely together. And then there’s the random hang out, like the other night when I bumped into some friends on the way to my room and we were all starving. So went to this 24 hour noodle place at midnight and decided that it’s like the Waffle House of China.
As seen on TV…
A message from Lizzy Tyler:
People keep asking if they can find me on TV, and if they were watching the Today Show a couple days ago they would have seen me and a few other Asburians! A group of us went out to their set that’s across the street from the Bird’s Nest; we got to be in the background several times, and I even got an autographed script from Matt Lauer (I guess it makes me a nerd that I’m so excited about that). Work is still going well; it was cool seeing the Chinese gymnastic men’s and women’s teams win—the National Indoor Stadium was packed and they were all going crazy. Right now I’m watching some Chinese MTV, which is a fun game (trying to figure out what they’re singing about, that is).
Two Weeks In Beijing
Well, its now been two weeks that I have been in Beijing and everyday I am still amazed at the people, places, and sights that I am experiencing. My favorite part of the Olympics is meeting so many people from so many places. At my venue (Team Handball) there are at least 6 different countries represented in the broadcasters that we work with, American, Chinese, Greek, Danish, English and Italian. Most of the crew I work with are Danish, and are really fun to joke with. Our Broadcast Logistics Manager is from Greece and I decided to give her a hug every morning. At first I think she was scared but now she hunts me down the moment I get to the compound to get her hug. She is so sweet and is so much fun to get to know.
Work is interesting and exciting, even though there is a lot of sitting. My position is Audio Assistant for the Team Handball Venue. Most people the the states have no idea what Team handball is, and it is too late for me (and too early for you) for me to explain it, but if you want to learn about here is the Wikipedia article on it:
As an audio assistant I am responsible for all of the stationary microphones on the field of play as well as holding a boom pole mic during time outs. (There are 1 per team per half) Other than running on to the court a few times each game I sit and enjoy the matches. There are 4 audio assistants at my venue so we trade off shifts, so I will see about have of the games which totals to 42 games over 14 days that I will see from court side. The other Asbury students that I work with (Will Adams ‘08 & Brittany Beck ‘08) and myself are really getting into the sport and probably are the biggest fans from the states here. We really enjoy watching the players from the different countries compete and are starting to track there performances and different teams’ standings. There are only 3 more days until the quarterfinals begin and we are really excited to see who will make it. In 5 days we will switch venues and move into the National Indoor Stadium, which currently is hosting Gymnastics. In less than 24 hours teams will remove the handball court from our venue and move it about a mile down the road and install it into the stadium while we setup microphones and cameras for the semi-finals and the gold medal matches.
The ironic thing about meeting so many people you begin to realized how small the world is. The other day I was at one of the local markets with other Asbury students and I thought I saw someone I recognized from home in the next shop over, I thought to myself’,” There is now way someone from Michigan is from is here.” But I was pretty sure I knew them, so I walked into the shop and sure enough it was a girl I had worked with at a summer job over a year ago! She was in Beijing visiting her brother and going to the games. We had a huge laugh over the situation because we hadn’t seen each other in over a year!
During our time off Will, Brittany and I have been shopping around town and exploring the Olympic areas. tonight we walked the Olympic Green. It’s huge!! We joke that we are on the China diet of Chopsticks and walking. The Olympic Green here in Beijing is home to many competition venues, shops, and sponsor exhibitions. The unique aspect of the Green is that is was built to be enjoyed at night. Everything has lights and colors and projectors of all kinds. My personal favorites are the LED lit sidewalks and the “Light Trees”, which are lamp poles which have solar panels on top and LED’s and spotlights on bottom.
Right now I am sitting in the Main Press Center in the Internet lounge for Broadcasters and Journalists. We have free access to computers and internet, which makes it a great place for meeting up with fellow Asbury students who have varying work schedules.
Well its getting close to midnight here in Beijing and I don’t have to be at work until 5 PM tomorrow so I am going to go back to my apartment to sleep in! I hope you are all enjoying the Olympics back in the States.
The Velodrome
While working at the Olympics. I will be at three different venues. I start today at 1:30 at the Veldrome and then will head over to the BMX and then to the Mountain Biking Trail.
Yesterday I went to the Velodrome for training for my position and it was so interesting. I had never seen or watched Indoor Cycling. It is EXTREMELY cool. Inside there is a giant wooden track that looks similar to a small NASCAR track. the bikers where helmets that make them look like Dinosaurs, which is really cool. Their bikes are no wider than maybe two inches other than the seat and handle-bars. They were riding around yesterday and at points I swear they are going near 60-70 MPH and when they go around the curve they are almost 90 degrees parallel to the floor. It is unbelievable, but the most insane part is how close they are behind one another. I am sure there is no more than two feet between the two riders. Maybe even less and in some of their training the front rider in a line of four will go up the ramp slow down some and the back rider will slow down in the line leaving space and the front rider will drop in. It is insane and they are still going at top speeds. I have never seen anything like it.
Anyways, I am very excited to see the heats today live and only feet away from the athletes.
I have the most gorgeous ride to work though. I have to go to the MPC/IBC area (which takes almost half an hour) then I have to find my bus which leaves every half hour so I have to time my arrival to the stop. Once I get on the bus it is another 45 minutes till I get to my venue. But I cannot complain. I checked the map the other day and found out what I was driving past. These gorgeous hills are all around me and then there are these huge temples on top with beautiful towers and everything. It is unbelievable. At the same time at the base of all these temples are some very poor living situations, which actually was good to see because within Beijing there is very little of this that is able to be seen by the general public.
My favorite part of my venue is that right across the road there is this old theme park and they have a structure that looks identical to the Epcot ball in Disney World except it is MUCH smaller. I told my other co-workers who are other Beijing University students about this and they thought it was very interesting and had no idea. They LOVE hearing about America and ask great questions about our culture. Like for instance they wanted to know if we ride bikes. I told them we did for fun and they did not seem to understand they wondered if we rode them to the grocery store and I had to explain that our best mode of transportation is in a car. They seemed baffled by that idea, because everyone here either has a bike, take the subway, or take a taxi. Can you imagine taking home groceries for the whole week on a Subway crowded full of people? I know it seems so unreal. Anyways, I am sure I will have more stories after today, but I believe the LONG blog should be being posted soon, I had to send it to the school directly and the PR department is posting it, which is how I think I will have to do this from now on. So it may take a day or two, but stay faithful to checking the blog. There will be other students posting soon as well, and most of them I am spending time with so their experiences are similar to mine.
Wish me luck today!
A Complete Update
Hey guys!
Okay so I am sitting in the Media Building writing this because it is easier than using my Ipod Touch to get type everything out on. So I will start at the beginning.
Day 1: I had the longest day ever flying into Beijing because I stopped in Tokyo for a few hours and then was in Seoul for 14 hours. Thankfully Jessie Thomas (a former Asbury College admissions counselor) came and hung out with me. It made it a lot better. Also the opening ceremonies were on. Even though they were in Korean it was still amazing to watch. Once I left Seoul in the morning, I took another hour and a half flight to Beijing where then I was greeted and taken to International Broadcast Center to catch another bus to my housing. The housing we have is awesome. I am not with all the other Asburians, but Jane McDougall and I are roomies and are having a blast. We both had time off before we started work so we have been sight seeing, but I will get that later. Anyways, the first day and night were rough and I was beyond excited when my friends Ben, Phil, Vosburg, and some other came and found me. I think I remember crying at the sight of someone I knew. But I had finally made it to China and it still had not hit me. I think my favorite memory from that day was walking in to a KFC there by my housing and being alone and the only blonde person within the room. I swear everyone was staring at me. It was such a strange feeling.
Day 2: I went with a couple friends into Beijing and finally got a chance to begin to understand the subway system. We went to this market called Ya Show! as soon as we walked in the door the people grabbed us and wanted us to sign a book and they gave us chopsticks and a nice bag for shopping. This market is a Giant indoor market with tons of vendors selling Prada bags, Spyder jackets, local souvenirs and so on. When you walk past their store they grab at you and I found my credential became almost dangerous. They would grab at it to see if I had any pins, which I quickly learned to put in my bag when an older lady tried to take them. (The pins are all official Olympics pins that you trade. Similar to Disney World). I ended up bargaining for some cool tea sets, Ugg boots, and scarves. It is so easy to spend money here, because you can bargain them down pretty low, but it takes some serious skill. They do Oscar-worthy performances to get you to think you are ripping them off, which is most likely not true at all. Later that day I went to a local restaurant that is similar to Fazoli’s in the sense that is fast food but not really fast at the same time. Except this is traditional Chinese, which is EXTREMELY good and cheap, which is always good. The meal comes to about 19 RMB, which is about $3. That includes everything for the meal. Everything is an experience here. We have been referring to being in China to be like a video game, because there are all these challenges and you can never go back in exits you came out, you have to find another way. You have to talk to the right people to get the right directions and so on and so forth. It is always an adventure everyday here. This was also the day I was no longer alone in my nice apartment.
Day 3: Jane and I made the excursion to go and visit our professor who works here in the International Broadcast Center. He took us on a tour throughout to show us everything and where to get food in here and everything. Then afterwards we decided to go out to see the Olympic Green, which is right next door. We began at the sponsor buildings, like Adidas, Samsung, and Coke. Each of which was like a showcase of what they are doing here at the Olympics. It is like being in Disney. We went into the Coke building and they called it the Shuang Experience, which we still are not sure what that means, but it was…well I think the best word would be…Over-Stimulating. It was so cool. Then things all came together when we saw the Olympic Torch…yeah the real thing!!! I am still in shock. We stood right outside of the Bird’s Nest (National Stadium) and saw the flame and everything. Then right across from that is the Giant Water Cube, which is probably the coolest thing I have EVER seen. It is Gorgeous at night as well. I cannot even describe it in words. I will try to upload some photos to show you. I think that is about when all of it began to come together. There are so many OH My Gosh moments all the time. After all that we headed for lunch at the Olympic Green McDonald’s and ate by a Goldfish pond…it was very cool. Then we headed up to the Beijing Superstore to buy anything and everything Olympics. It was unbelievable what they had there. Some of you have some Beijing souvenirs coming to you. Later we headed back to the IBC and ran into our professor again who asked us if we wouldn’t mind taking a grad from Asbury with us to the markets. So, we went with him to find her. Come to find out she works for a slow motion company that is working with NBC. So we are standing outside of the NBC offices and everything. So she comes out and then says she needs to go to the NBC compound. She takes us through and we end up seeing all the equipment she works on and then she took us into one of the trailers where a live show was being directed and there was an NBC Producer and Director there. I about died. It was such a cool opportunity to see that kind of TV happening for real right in front of you. Then we left and went to the subway station, where we decided we were going to head down to the Silk market. Right as we got out on the street. These two Chinese girls came up to us and asked us if we would like to come see there art because they had a gallery of other students work. We have found out that Chinese are very good at enticing tourists. It is a wonderful art. Well, Kristen the girl with us had not been to the markets and neither had Jane so when we walked in I right away recognized the paintings and everything from the markets and knew they were reproductions, but Kristen ended up buying some stuff. But it was the most interesting thing to see how good they were at making you believe that they were really trying to sell student art work. They did a great job at it. We then went through the markets and ran into a vendor there who had seen George W. there buying a suit in the market because it is so cheap to get an awesome suit around here. Once we finished at the market we came back and had dinner and went to bed…it was an exhausting day.
Day 4 (aka Today): Jane and I had decided we would go to the Great Wall, which we had no idea how hard that would actually be to do. So we found out that we had to go to the Subway and take a Subway down toward the Forbidden City and then take a Bus that we later once we were on it took us about 45 minutes outside of Beijing and then we caught a taxi that drove for another 30 minutes or so, it was quite the adventure just to get there. It was so worth it though. The great wall was unbelievably gorgeous and probably the best workout I have ever had. There are points where you climb steps and when you turn around the steps seem to have disappeared because the incline is so steep. The view is breathtaking and worth every step you climb. Once we reached the top we began to climb back down and we realized that we were not sure how to get back. We had never been this far outside the city and Jane had never really traveled around in other countries. So I am very calm about the situation because I know that there is always a way to get back, but like I said it is like a video game for us here. One quest after another. haha. So we are walking around asking all these Taxis if they can drive us and they are like no no no because they are private. After about half an hour of asking all these random taxis we keep finding and being continually rejected, we see this mini-bus come rolling in next to the car we just asked and out pops two Americans so we ask them if there driver can take us back to the bus stop for bus 916 and the guy said, “ooo yes,” and he is about my age and he turns to the taxi driver and proceeds in perfect Chinese to tell him what we want. It was such an awesome thing. I mean what are the chances of that. Anyways, we then played the guessing game on which stop was ours because no one on the bus speaks English, but thankfully I know enough Chinese to get by. It is such an experience trying to get around not knowing the language much. Once we got back there we caught the Subway and got back to our housing, then we ran up and got our stuff so that we could go back to the green and meet some other Asburians to go stand at the Today show set. When we got down there there were not that many people so we got a good spot and made some signs. We then waited there and we were the first people that Al Roker came to when they started the show. We met him and talked to him. Then we moved over by the food and there we made a connection with a guy who was holding the light and found out that he actually worked with us for the HD truck we just built at Asbury so he gave us all these limited edition NBC pins. He then made sure we would be on the show again. Sure enough over walked Ann Curry and talked with us for a minute, then Matt Lower came over and gave one of the girls a script that was signed and everything, and I got a photo with Meredith. It was definitely one of the coolest things. It was just crazy.
Anyways, that is what I have been up to. Tomorrow. I am headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Then later we are going to try one more time to be on the Today show so if you are up between 7 and 11 we will be there at the set. Most likely at the earlier time. Then on the 14th I head out to my venue and begin work. It so surreal sometimes to think I am doing all this. This whole experience just blows my mind sometimes. I cannot believe it is happening.
Look for another post soon!