Our Olympic Experience

The Olympics are over (sniff, sniff). Since this was the first time we have had the opportunity to watch the events from outside the US, it was really interesting to get a different perspective on everything. And of course, this being China, the Olympics were the topic of conversation all the time, everywhere we went. There were screens set up on the streets where people could watch the games and I even noticed that there were TV's on some local buses which were broadcasting it as well. The other day I got into a taxi and the driver was listening to a broadcast of swimming- play by play- or should I say stroke by stroke- of the events. I just couldn't imagine people in the US listening to swimming on the radio. My parents actually attended the opening ceremonies and a few of the events in Beijing. They couldn't get over the fact that every resident of Beijing was so excited and happy about the Olympics. From the street cleaners, taxi drivers, and sales clerks to the 100,000 volunteers- everyone had a smile on their face. And the most amazing story of all- my parents met a Chinese woman in Beijing who was 102 years old. She and her grandson had traveled 36 days (by bike) to get to Beijing for the Olympics. He rode the bike and she rode along in this makeshift wagon. You really can't make this stuff up folks!

I will tell you that in the past I had complained that American TV only focused on US athletes and only showed events that we did well in; however, I have to tell you that China was the same way. They didn't even show the final day of track and field (I have to assume that it was because there were no Chinese involved) yet 3 channels were broadcasting the bronze medal women's basketball game featuring China.
Sev and I were lucky enough to get tickets to both the women's semifinal soccer match (Brazil vs. Germany) and the men's bronze medal match (Brazil vs. Belgium). Even though the games we saw took place in Shanghai, it was still very cool to be at the Olympics. The security was crazy (armed guards everywhere, metal detectors, x-ray machines, etc). I had to laugh when I heard that before the Olympics, people were concerned about terrorism here in China. Give me a break- this is one country that no one is stupid enough to mess with and terrorism is the last thing we worry about here (you are a thousand times more likely to get accidentally spit on than attacked by someone).

A shot of me with BeiBei (one of the mascots)- cheesy but I couldn't resist!


The Shanghai Stadium Bronze medal game:


Ok, you have to look closely but note the armed security blocking the street (they are in the green uniforms):


A new meaning for "One World, One Dream":

Saving Face

I thought I would give everyone a cultural lesson today about a subject which will cause any foreigner in China a lot aggravation. This is the concept of "saving face". Saving face can be defined as basically not telling the entire truth (or flat out lying) in order to save yourself the embarrassment of admitting that either 1) you don't know the answer or 2) you think someone won't like the answer. If you don't know the answer, it is very common place here among the natives to just make something up that is totally incorrect. And if you think someone won't like the answer, you can also make up something you think they will like. In general, this causes a lot of grief for the average foreigner. I really can't say whether the Chinese play this little game amongst themselves but I am pretty sure they do.
Here is an example of a recent experience in saving face. My friend and I recently went to lunch in a new restaurant. We ordered our food and drinks. We promptly got our drinks and fell into a deep conversation without realizing the time. By the time we checked our watches, it had been over 35 minutes since we had ordered (VERY long by Chinese standards). I asked where our lunch was. The waitress replied "It's coming- please wait a moment". Ok, 5 more minutes went by and no food. Finally my friend got up and asked again where our food was. The waitress came over and rambled something in Chinese about waiting a short while (again). We decided to wait another 5 minutes since getting up and moving to a new restaurant seemed like it would take more time than just waiting (or so we thought). At this point (yes, another 5 minutes later) we asked to speak to the manager who spoke a little english. "Oh, our gas is broken so the cook has not been able to start preparing your lunch". Huh? Did they think that in the "short while" we were waiting they were going to repair the gas and manage to cook up an entire lunch? No, they thought that if they came and told us right away that their gas was broken, we would have a bad impression about the restaurant so they decided to save face by not telling us the real story until we finally pitched a fit. This is a very typical experience in China. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten in a taxi and had the driver tell me he knew where the address was only to go around in circles because he didn't know and he didn't want to loose face by admitting it. So if any of you get the opportunity to visit China, beware the answer that just doesn't seem right - chances are it probably isn't.

The start to year #2

Upon arrival to Shanghai, I looked out the window and thought "We are home". Weird. But strangely enough it does feel like to home to us now. Maybe because it's familiar now and we know what to expect for the most part. And since I often blog about negative things (mostly because it's more funny than the good stuff) I thought I'd note some recent positive developments here. First off, since we've been back, the skies have actually been blue and the air pollution has been a lot better than last year. And although still hot, it's much better than last year where we couldn't even go outside because the heat was unbearable. Next, it's pretty awesome to be in China right now during the Olympics. Everyone here is so proud of their country and the Olympics. I must admit that the opening ceremony (which we watched on live TV) was amazing! The streets were totally empty during the ceremony becasue everyone was inside watching - quite a feat in a city of 22 million! And Sev and I managed to score tickets to some of the Olympic soccer games here in Shanghai next week (the US teams are playing in a different city so we won't get to see them).
When I was back in the US this year, people kept asking me "So, do you like living in China?". At the end of day, I don't love it here but it is certainly livable and it's been an experience we will never forget. Having said that, and because it just wouldn't be like me to not have a typical China story, here's the latest reminder that we aren't in the US anymore. Our apartment complex has a fantastic pool and we have been taking the kids almost everyday for a swim. Yesterday, Sev and I noted quite a few Chinese babies (under 18 months old) without swim diapers on under their suits. Now, these parents may argue that their kids are potty trained but even I get the urge to go when I hit the water and you can't tell me that these babies are not putting the "p" in pool. I thought about saying something to the parents but in reality, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink and nothing I can say in my lousy chinese is going to make them put a diaper on their kid. And so it goes in China...