I was really lucky last night. When I arrived in Chicago, I found out that almost all of the flights to the east coast had been cancelled. Because the lady in Beijing hadn't rebooked me on another flight, the first flight I could get a ticket on didn't leave Chicago until 7pm Monday night. Sitting in Chicago until 7pm Monday night was the last thing I wanted to do, and with the storm coming there was no guarantee I would even get out then. My other option was to try to go standby on a flight to Newark. I went for it and luckily I was one of the 10 people who got on the flight. There were over 40 people on the standby list! That flight was one of the worst flights I have ever been on - there was major turbulence so people were getting sick and we had an old man with a medical emergency. None of that mattered though when I finally landed in Newark at 9:40 last night.
When I got off the plane I had to go to the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet and just sat there for a few minutes to take it in. I will never complain about a public bathroom again after being in China. By some miracle all of my bags also made it to Newark so once I got them my ride picked me up and we headed home. Because of the storm, it took forever to get home. I walked in my door at 1 am this morning, ate some wings then immediately crashed. It felt SO good to sleep in my own bed. I only slept until 7 this morning, I had to call my office to see if we were open and the plows in my lot were making a ton of noise. Good news was it is officially a snow day so I have the day to spend at home catching up on email (I have 275 emails in my work account!) and wash my smoky, stinky clothes.
I'm really glad to be home but what an amazing trip. I'm really lucky to have had an opportunity like this and I'm hopeful I get the opportunity to do tournaments like this again in the future. As I said in the beginning, when I started reffing never in a million years would I have imagined it would have taken me literally half way around the world. Thanks goes out again to everyone who has helped me along the way and to Stacey, Matt, Tara and Laura - I could not have had better travel partners for this experience. Having people from home there made things so much easier. I posted the last of the pictures on my website - www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. I still have a few videos to post but will get to that later. Enjoy the snow everyone!
Monday, March 2, 2009
The Trip Home
Written from the plane...
I've now been on the plane for about 5 hours from Beijing to Chicago. The morning started off pretty smooth - we checked out of the hotel and took a shuttle to the Harbin airport. There were 10 of us on the same flight and we were all able to check in and get through security with very few issues which is a miracle in itself. We got on a pretty big Air China flight to head to Beijing and realized that the entire Canadian mens and women's team, US men's team and a bunch of other athletes were on our flight. After the 2 hour flight to Beijing we had to get our bags and recheck them to our final destination. Thank God Matt was with us and has navigated this part of the Beijing airport before because if he hadn't been this process would have been much more painful. When we finally had our bags and got to the airline check in area we all split up.
Laura and I headed to the United counter to check into our flight. Again, thank God we were quick getting there because the entire US men's team was on our flight and it would have taken forever if we had to wait behind them. However, this is where the trouble started. I knew thing were running way to smoothly and something had to go wrong. I went up to the self check in and scanned my passport and the machine told me that my itinerary had been changed. I definitely didn't change it myself so I had to find an english speaking customer service agent - not the easiest thing in the world. I finally found a girl who spoke some english. She told me my flight to Philadelphia had been cancelled. At that point I wanted to cry, I just want to get home and it isn't like I can try to arrange to get on another flight or get a hotel room from Beijing. I asked her why and she said she didn't know. It was originally set up that my flight from Beijing would stop in Chicago for a few hours then I would get on the same plane and it would continue on to Philadelphia. I asked the flight attendents if they knew what was going on and they had no idea, a new crew was supposed to get on in Chicago. So as I sit here and type this I still have no idea if my flight was definitely cancelled and if I can get on another flight tonight or if I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow. To make things even more difficult I know they are calling for snow in Philly tonight. So I'm pretty much expecting to spend the night in Chicago and will be pleasantly surprised if I actually make it home tonight.
I'm already annoyed about my flight situation when this woman drops another bomb on me. When I flew over I had my backpack and my handbag as carry on items. When we got the rollerboards from the welcoming committee I decided to use that as a carry on with all of my souvineers and just put my handbag in my suitcase. Just 3 weeks ago I had this same amount of carry on baggage when I went to Vegas - an even bigger rollerboard and my backpack. I figured on a huge international flight what I had would be no issue...WRONG! The lady told me that my backpack doesn't count as a personal item, it could only be a purse. Both Laura and I were screwed. Our bags had just made weight (we checked at the hotel before we left) and I didn't have much room in either suitcase. I also wasn't about to check my rollerboard because I had some fragile stuff in there. So both of us had to go and stuff a few things in our rollerboards and try to stuff our backpacks in our suitcases. To make things more difficult for me was the fact that I don't know if I'll be able to get my bags in Chicago if my flight is indeed cancelled. I ended up taking the big Louie Vuitton handbag I bought and packed that with clean pair of underwear, socks and a t-shirt, some toiletries and my meds. I then stuffed my laptop, ipod and book in my rollerboard. I was able to shove my backpack and the rest of the stuff in it into my ref bag but of course now was was overweight. I think the woman saw how frustrated and pissed I was at that point because she didn't charge me for my extra weight thank goodness. I think that would have put me over the edge.
After we finally got checked in and went through security, Helen (leaving on Air Canada at the same time as Laura and I) met up with us and we went to try to hunt down Matt. I wanted to see if he had any connections with the Chicago airport hotels so I can get a room if necessary. We were able to find him before he boarded his flight and he gave me a phone number for one of the airport hotels. He also told me to talk with the US men's team trainer, who he is friendly with, if I do get stuck because some of them were in a hotel in Chicago tonight and they would help take care of me. I'm just hoping that it doesn't come down to that, at this point I just want to be home.
I'll write up another post later, either while I'm stuck in Chicago or hopefully from Philly. Back to the movies, only about 8 hours to go!
I've now been on the plane for about 5 hours from Beijing to Chicago. The morning started off pretty smooth - we checked out of the hotel and took a shuttle to the Harbin airport. There were 10 of us on the same flight and we were all able to check in and get through security with very few issues which is a miracle in itself. We got on a pretty big Air China flight to head to Beijing and realized that the entire Canadian mens and women's team, US men's team and a bunch of other athletes were on our flight. After the 2 hour flight to Beijing we had to get our bags and recheck them to our final destination. Thank God Matt was with us and has navigated this part of the Beijing airport before because if he hadn't been this process would have been much more painful. When we finally had our bags and got to the airline check in area we all split up.
Laura and I headed to the United counter to check into our flight. Again, thank God we were quick getting there because the entire US men's team was on our flight and it would have taken forever if we had to wait behind them. However, this is where the trouble started. I knew thing were running way to smoothly and something had to go wrong. I went up to the self check in and scanned my passport and the machine told me that my itinerary had been changed. I definitely didn't change it myself so I had to find an english speaking customer service agent - not the easiest thing in the world. I finally found a girl who spoke some english. She told me my flight to Philadelphia had been cancelled. At that point I wanted to cry, I just want to get home and it isn't like I can try to arrange to get on another flight or get a hotel room from Beijing. I asked her why and she said she didn't know. It was originally set up that my flight from Beijing would stop in Chicago for a few hours then I would get on the same plane and it would continue on to Philadelphia. I asked the flight attendents if they knew what was going on and they had no idea, a new crew was supposed to get on in Chicago. So as I sit here and type this I still have no idea if my flight was definitely cancelled and if I can get on another flight tonight or if I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow. To make things even more difficult I know they are calling for snow in Philly tonight. So I'm pretty much expecting to spend the night in Chicago and will be pleasantly surprised if I actually make it home tonight.
I'm already annoyed about my flight situation when this woman drops another bomb on me. When I flew over I had my backpack and my handbag as carry on items. When we got the rollerboards from the welcoming committee I decided to use that as a carry on with all of my souvineers and just put my handbag in my suitcase. Just 3 weeks ago I had this same amount of carry on baggage when I went to Vegas - an even bigger rollerboard and my backpack. I figured on a huge international flight what I had would be no issue...WRONG! The lady told me that my backpack doesn't count as a personal item, it could only be a purse. Both Laura and I were screwed. Our bags had just made weight (we checked at the hotel before we left) and I didn't have much room in either suitcase. I also wasn't about to check my rollerboard because I had some fragile stuff in there. So both of us had to go and stuff a few things in our rollerboards and try to stuff our backpacks in our suitcases. To make things more difficult for me was the fact that I don't know if I'll be able to get my bags in Chicago if my flight is indeed cancelled. I ended up taking the big Louie Vuitton handbag I bought and packed that with clean pair of underwear, socks and a t-shirt, some toiletries and my meds. I then stuffed my laptop, ipod and book in my rollerboard. I was able to shove my backpack and the rest of the stuff in it into my ref bag but of course now was was overweight. I think the woman saw how frustrated and pissed I was at that point because she didn't charge me for my extra weight thank goodness. I think that would have put me over the edge.
After we finally got checked in and went through security, Helen (leaving on Air Canada at the same time as Laura and I) met up with us and we went to try to hunt down Matt. I wanted to see if he had any connections with the Chicago airport hotels so I can get a room if necessary. We were able to find him before he boarded his flight and he gave me a phone number for one of the airport hotels. He also told me to talk with the US men's team trainer, who he is friendly with, if I do get stuck because some of them were in a hotel in Chicago tonight and they would help take care of me. I'm just hoping that it doesn't come down to that, at this point I just want to be home.
I'll write up another post later, either while I'm stuck in Chicago or hopefully from Philly. Back to the movies, only about 8 hours to go!
Last Day in China
Today was our last full day in Harbin. Now that the games are all finished for the girls we get to just hang out and take in our last full day in China. We all slept in late and missed breakfast. Not that it matters since breakfast in China is by far the most disappointing meal. We went to Wanda plaza once again so a few of the girls could pick up some last minute gifts and snacks for the plane ride home. After shopping we all piled in cabs and headed over to the girls rink where the men's final was being played. They moved the men's medal games to our arena since it seats twice as many people as the new arena they just built. Russia played Canada in a really exciting, physical game. Russia ended up winning 4-2, but the game was tied until the last 5 minutes. After the game we all piled in to the bus to head to the hotel to pack and get ready for dinner. All of the officials were invited to the closing ceremonies, but instead we decided to all go out together for a big night of eating and drinking. A few of the guys had found this Chinese barbeque that they said was awesome so we all decided to give it a try. This brings up one of my frustrations in China - being a woman. They do not treat women the same way Americans do. In China women are supposed to be subservient and listen to the men. The Chinese men would make things difficult when we tried to do things on our own. An example would be the cab rides - if we tried to point the driver down certain streets he would get very angry - there were several instances where we almost got kicked out of cabs for doing this. This cultural difference made it much more difficult for us girls to explore the city on our own and discover places like the barbeque.
Now that I'm done my rant about the cultural difference, back to the barbeque. There were about 30 of us seated at the longest table I have ever seen. As soon as we sat down they brought out several giant milkcrates - all of which were filled with huge (probably about 32 oz) bottles of Harbin beer. They handed one to everyone whether you asked for it or not and throughout dinner continued to bring you a fresh beer as soon as you finished yours. After the beer they started to bring out different food items on skewers. I'm not exactly who ordered everything but I do know I never even saw a menu, the food just started to come out. Some of it was identifiable and quite tasty - there were chicken wings and legs which were very good. Then there were other things that were identifiable and not meant to be eaten (silk worms on a stick, pigs heart) or things that were just plain not identifiable (hot dog looking things). It was interesting to say the least. Stacey had been out to many Chinese "mob dinners" throughout the two weeks so she had warned us that a big thing for the Chinese is to toast and they would do so every five minutes. She was right on the money on that one because every few minutes someone at the table would raise their glass and just say "hhhheeeeeyyyyyy" to which everyone else would raise their glass, repeat and take a drink. Good thing the glasses were tiny or we'd all have been on the floor. Some people were on the floor regardless of that.
The entire dinner, beer, food, service (no tipping in Chinese culture) only cost 1100 yuan, or about $175. I don't even think you could buy McDonalds for 30 people for that amount of money in the US, let alone dinner and drinks. The entire meal was paid for by the tick fund and we still had money to spare. The tick fund is similar to the cancer fundraiser we do at nationals - every time you fall or do something stupid you get a tick - a tick costs you 10 yuan. I only had to put in 40 yuan, which compared to most was pretty good. Some of the guys had 15 ticks!
After dinner a few people made a McDonalds run for those who hadn't eaten much at the restaurant. I had a thing of french fries. I honestly can't believe I ate McDonalds 3 times while in China. I don't think I've been to McDonalds that many times in the last two years. After food we all just hung out in the hotel and drank what was left of our beer stash. Some people had to catch their shuttle to the airport at 4:45am so we stayed up as late as we could for those people so they could crash on the plane. My shuttle was at 8:30 so I at least got a few hours of sleep. It was a great, really fun way to end an awesome trip. I have some new friends and memories that will last a lifetime.
I posted some pictures from dinner on my site (www.picasaweb.google.com). I'll update once from the plane and once I get home. Goodbye from China!
Now that I'm done my rant about the cultural difference, back to the barbeque. There were about 30 of us seated at the longest table I have ever seen. As soon as we sat down they brought out several giant milkcrates - all of which were filled with huge (probably about 32 oz) bottles of Harbin beer. They handed one to everyone whether you asked for it or not and throughout dinner continued to bring you a fresh beer as soon as you finished yours. After the beer they started to bring out different food items on skewers. I'm not exactly who ordered everything but I do know I never even saw a menu, the food just started to come out. Some of it was identifiable and quite tasty - there were chicken wings and legs which were very good. Then there were other things that were identifiable and not meant to be eaten (silk worms on a stick, pigs heart) or things that were just plain not identifiable (hot dog looking things). It was interesting to say the least. Stacey had been out to many Chinese "mob dinners" throughout the two weeks so she had warned us that a big thing for the Chinese is to toast and they would do so every five minutes. She was right on the money on that one because every few minutes someone at the table would raise their glass and just say "hhhheeeeeyyyyyy" to which everyone else would raise their glass, repeat and take a drink. Good thing the glasses were tiny or we'd all have been on the floor. Some people were on the floor regardless of that.
The entire dinner, beer, food, service (no tipping in Chinese culture) only cost 1100 yuan, or about $175. I don't even think you could buy McDonalds for 30 people for that amount of money in the US, let alone dinner and drinks. The entire meal was paid for by the tick fund and we still had money to spare. The tick fund is similar to the cancer fundraiser we do at nationals - every time you fall or do something stupid you get a tick - a tick costs you 10 yuan. I only had to put in 40 yuan, which compared to most was pretty good. Some of the guys had 15 ticks!
After dinner a few people made a McDonalds run for those who hadn't eaten much at the restaurant. I had a thing of french fries. I honestly can't believe I ate McDonalds 3 times while in China. I don't think I've been to McDonalds that many times in the last two years. After food we all just hung out in the hotel and drank what was left of our beer stash. Some people had to catch their shuttle to the airport at 4:45am so we stayed up as late as we could for those people so they could crash on the plane. My shuttle was at 8:30 so I at least got a few hours of sleep. It was a great, really fun way to end an awesome trip. I have some new friends and memories that will last a lifetime.
I posted some pictures from dinner on my site (www.picasaweb.google.com). I'll update once from the plane and once I get home. Goodbye from China!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Medal Games
I am writing yesterday's entry on Saturday morning instead of when I typically do it which is right before I go to bed. This is because both Kerri and France were leaving early this morning. We all stayed up drinking Harbin beer and just hanging out until about 3:00 this morning. We really had a great group of girls here, everyone has been really nice and we have had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get assigned to another IIHF event in the future and will get to see some of these girls again. As I have said before, this has been a learning experience, not only about Chinese culture but also about what life as a female official is like in Sweden, Finland, Canada and China.
Back to the day yesterday, it was the finals for the girls. I worked the bronze medal game - Slovakia vs Finland. It was a really exciting, back and forth game. Finland was up 3-1 with about 2 minutes left when Slovakia scored a beautiful, tic-tac-toe power play goal to bring them within one. They pressed hard the last minute of the game but couldn't tie it up so Finland ended up with the bronze medal. One thing I haven't really understood here is the coaches theory on pulling the goalie. Throughout the whole tournament, I think I have only seen it done once. Slovakia had possession deep in Finland's zone, I can not understand why on earth they wouldn't pull the goalie and try to get a goal, especially since they had just scored on the man advantage. The same thing happened when Finland was playing China the other night, they had a power play with a minute left when they were down by one but didn't pull the goalie. Makes no sense to me, but maybe that is why I'm a referee and not a coach. The final was China vs Canada and to nobodys surprise Canada won. I worked the last time these two played and it was pretty much a blow out (Canada won 8-1). This time it was a little closer (4-1) but Canada controlled the game for the most part, especially in the 3rd. The Chinese are much better than I expected and their coach seems good but they just aren't on the same level as Canada yet. However I think all of these teams (with the exception of maybe Great Britain) are getting better and if they keep developing they will eventually start to challenge the US and Canada more. That will be a great thing for women's hockey and it is exciting to watch the game develop and become so much more popular.
Today is my last full day in China. Part of me is excited to get back home but part of me is sad this experience is ending. It has been awesome and unforgettable. An experience like this makes all of the hard work and frustration worthwhile. Hopefully I've had a good enough tournament to get invited to another tournament in the future, although I don't think anywhere else in the world could compare to China. Matt, who has been all over the world, even said to us three Americans that if we can survive China we can survive anywhere. The plan for today is to run out to the one store so everyone can pick up a few last minute gifts for people from home then go to the gold medal game for the guys. Their game is at the girls rink because there is twice as much seating. Boy are they in for a treat when they see the facility we have been skating in all week. Gotta love skating with the fresh smell of piss in the hallways and exhaust/pollution/smoke over the ice. They are going to be so thankful they had all of their games in the brand new rink. Tonight everyone is going to some Chinese barbecue. I've also got to pack today, getting everything home is going to be an adventure. I didn't buy too many big things but I have to get home all of the clothing the gave us. That should be interesting.
I'll try to update one more time before I go home but if I don't get to it I'll certainly do so once I get home. I've put a bunch more pictures up on the website (www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate). I'm also going to try to steal Tara's camera at some point and take any good ones off of her camera so look for updates!
Back to the day yesterday, it was the finals for the girls. I worked the bronze medal game - Slovakia vs Finland. It was a really exciting, back and forth game. Finland was up 3-1 with about 2 minutes left when Slovakia scored a beautiful, tic-tac-toe power play goal to bring them within one. They pressed hard the last minute of the game but couldn't tie it up so Finland ended up with the bronze medal. One thing I haven't really understood here is the coaches theory on pulling the goalie. Throughout the whole tournament, I think I have only seen it done once. Slovakia had possession deep in Finland's zone, I can not understand why on earth they wouldn't pull the goalie and try to get a goal, especially since they had just scored on the man advantage. The same thing happened when Finland was playing China the other night, they had a power play with a minute left when they were down by one but didn't pull the goalie. Makes no sense to me, but maybe that is why I'm a referee and not a coach. The final was China vs Canada and to nobodys surprise Canada won. I worked the last time these two played and it was pretty much a blow out (Canada won 8-1). This time it was a little closer (4-1) but Canada controlled the game for the most part, especially in the 3rd. The Chinese are much better than I expected and their coach seems good but they just aren't on the same level as Canada yet. However I think all of these teams (with the exception of maybe Great Britain) are getting better and if they keep developing they will eventually start to challenge the US and Canada more. That will be a great thing for women's hockey and it is exciting to watch the game develop and become so much more popular.
Today is my last full day in China. Part of me is excited to get back home but part of me is sad this experience is ending. It has been awesome and unforgettable. An experience like this makes all of the hard work and frustration worthwhile. Hopefully I've had a good enough tournament to get invited to another tournament in the future, although I don't think anywhere else in the world could compare to China. Matt, who has been all over the world, even said to us three Americans that if we can survive China we can survive anywhere. The plan for today is to run out to the one store so everyone can pick up a few last minute gifts for people from home then go to the gold medal game for the guys. Their game is at the girls rink because there is twice as much seating. Boy are they in for a treat when they see the facility we have been skating in all week. Gotta love skating with the fresh smell of piss in the hallways and exhaust/pollution/smoke over the ice. They are going to be so thankful they had all of their games in the brand new rink. Tonight everyone is going to some Chinese barbecue. I've also got to pack today, getting everything home is going to be an adventure. I didn't buy too many big things but I have to get home all of the clothing the gave us. That should be interesting.
I'll try to update one more time before I go home but if I don't get to it I'll certainly do so once I get home. I've put a bunch more pictures up on the website (www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate). I'm also going to try to steal Tara's camera at some point and take any good ones off of her camera so look for updates!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
A boring day...
Nothing too exciting to report today. We slept late then got up and just hung around the hotel for awhile. Helen, Tara, Laura and I decided to pick up a few pizzas to take to the rink for everyone so we went to the Convention Center Mall before taking a taxi to the rink. We were at the rink pretty much all day today. I was off so I was just hanging out with everyone. Tomorrow are the finals. I got the bronze medal game - Finland vs Slovakia. I'm excited because I am working with the two French Canadians and I haven't seen Slovakia yet. Canada and China are in the gold medal game. I had that game in the preliminary round and Canada took it to the Chinese, hopefully tomorrow is more competitive.
I have learned a lot while I have been over here, however one of the things I wanted to mention was just how lucky the US officials are. The training and opportunities we have received through USA Hockey are awesome. At all of the USA Hockey events I have attended, the instructors and Matt always stress how lucky we are and how we get the best training in the world. And while I always believed them I guess I never really understood just how lucky we really are. Laura and I were discussing this last night, we often complain about how we are treated at home in different situations because we are female and how we have had to fight for respect. As frustrating as those situations can be, I am now realizing I am lucky I can even fight for respect, because some of these other girls can't do that. Hell, the girls from China have a tough time even getting equipment that is decent and fits. Some of us are trying to pool together some of our stuff to give them when we leave. Although it may not be new at least it is something - better than what they have now. If I am lucky enough to get another international tournament, I'm going to make sure I bring some of my old stuff to give to the other officials. You just don't realize just how lucky you are until you see what others are dealing with.
That's all I've got for today. Pictures are at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. Goodnight!
I have learned a lot while I have been over here, however one of the things I wanted to mention was just how lucky the US officials are. The training and opportunities we have received through USA Hockey are awesome. At all of the USA Hockey events I have attended, the instructors and Matt always stress how lucky we are and how we get the best training in the world. And while I always believed them I guess I never really understood just how lucky we really are. Laura and I were discussing this last night, we often complain about how we are treated at home in different situations because we are female and how we have had to fight for respect. As frustrating as those situations can be, I am now realizing I am lucky I can even fight for respect, because some of these other girls can't do that. Hell, the girls from China have a tough time even getting equipment that is decent and fits. Some of us are trying to pool together some of our stuff to give them when we leave. Although it may not be new at least it is something - better than what they have now. If I am lucky enough to get another international tournament, I'm going to make sure I bring some of my old stuff to give to the other officials. You just don't realize just how lucky you are until you see what others are dealing with.
That's all I've got for today. Pictures are at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. Goodnight!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Money Day!
Today was another day off for the ladies. We started off the day with a meeting. The meeting was supposed to be just the females but the men had also scheduled a meeting for the same time in the same room. We ended up just doing the meeting together, which was convenient since the 6 North Americans had to sing our song. We had the 2 French Canadians sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in English first. They had translated it into French for the 4 English speaking officials, however I think something was lost in translation, haha. Below is the French version of our song - for your amusement I have put our phonetic spelling as well:
Pet, Pet, Pet Encore (pet pet pet on-car)
Tranquilement dans mes pantalons (tran-kill-ma da me pantalone)
C'est chaud, c'est chaud, c'est chaud, c'est chaud (say show, say show, say show, say show)
Mais ca fait du bien (me saw-fe du bien)
Naturally we had a little bit of fun with this song and it really wasn't anything close to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We wanted to see if anyone would figure it out but nobody knows any French besides the Canadiens. What we really sang to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat was:
Fart, Fart, Fart again
Slowly in my pants
It's warm, it's warm, it's warm, it's warm
But it feels so good!
This creativity was courtesy of France and Helen (said Ellen - they don't use H's). We are obviously a very mature group. This brings up language a little more. We have all been trying to learn a few Chinese words here and there. They typical Chinese greeting is "ni how" so we say that pretty much everywhere we go. I guess this makes the Chinese assume we actually speak the language since most foreigners don't try to learn any Chinese so they immediately start spitting back Chinese in our faces, to which we calmly respond "ni how." This always makes them laugh.
Anyway, this was the meeting where we finally received our money. We were told we were 50 Euros a day that we are here, including travel days. For me that is 17 days or 850 Euros. They have been promising us the money the entire time we have been here but we had only seen about 2 days worth. I had exchanged a bunch of money at the airport so I was fine but some of the guys literally didn't have a yuan left and their atm/credit cards weren't working so they need cash. So finally, at the end of our meeting I swear what had to have been the Chinese mob came in with a suitcase full of cash and handed it out to all of us. It was pretty crazy.
After getting our money the girls decided to celebrate by going to McDonalds. Yes that is two days in a row I have eaten McDonalds. I don't think I have ever had McDonalds two days in a row at home. Even though the food tastes just like it does at home, ordering is a bit different. They have a picture menu where you can point to what you want. Seems easy enough, huh? Not so much. Helen wanted a big mac meal plus an additional burger. Instead, she got two big mac meals - both with large fries and large sodas. Similar stuff happened to others so we ended up with way more food than we wanted.
After McDonalds we went to the grocery store again. We needed beer and the others wanted to pick up a few things. This was Stacey's first visit so she was scarred for life when she saw a woman pick up a pepper, take a huge bite, decide she didn't like it and put it back in the bin. As I have said before, only in China...
We then headed to the men's rink to watch the US play Japan. This was a really important game for standings that the US had to win. It was a competitive game but they took way too many penalties and ended up losing 6-3 with an empty net goal. They are now relegated to the 7th place game.
Tonight we just hung out at the hotel, drank some Harbin beer and relaxed. While we have all had an amazing time, I think everyone is getting a little tired of China and will be happy to get home. Personally, I am missing my soft bed, american food, english speaking people who respect personal space and no smoking rules. This has been the trip of a lifetime but now that the end is near I'm looking forward to some of the comforts of home.
Supermarket pictures are finally posted at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. We also took video during one of our infamous cab rides today that I need to steal from Tara's camera. While it really doesn't do it justice, it will at least give you a glimpse of how crazy the drivers are here. Goodnight!
Pet, Pet, Pet Encore (pet pet pet on-car)
Tranquilement dans mes pantalons (tran-kill-ma da me pantalone)
C'est chaud, c'est chaud, c'est chaud, c'est chaud (say show, say show, say show, say show)
Mais ca fait du bien (me saw-fe du bien)
Naturally we had a little bit of fun with this song and it really wasn't anything close to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We wanted to see if anyone would figure it out but nobody knows any French besides the Canadiens. What we really sang to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat was:
Fart, Fart, Fart again
Slowly in my pants
It's warm, it's warm, it's warm, it's warm
But it feels so good!
This creativity was courtesy of France and Helen (said Ellen - they don't use H's). We are obviously a very mature group. This brings up language a little more. We have all been trying to learn a few Chinese words here and there. They typical Chinese greeting is "ni how" so we say that pretty much everywhere we go. I guess this makes the Chinese assume we actually speak the language since most foreigners don't try to learn any Chinese so they immediately start spitting back Chinese in our faces, to which we calmly respond "ni how." This always makes them laugh.
Anyway, this was the meeting where we finally received our money. We were told we were 50 Euros a day that we are here, including travel days. For me that is 17 days or 850 Euros. They have been promising us the money the entire time we have been here but we had only seen about 2 days worth. I had exchanged a bunch of money at the airport so I was fine but some of the guys literally didn't have a yuan left and their atm/credit cards weren't working so they need cash. So finally, at the end of our meeting I swear what had to have been the Chinese mob came in with a suitcase full of cash and handed it out to all of us. It was pretty crazy.
After getting our money the girls decided to celebrate by going to McDonalds. Yes that is two days in a row I have eaten McDonalds. I don't think I have ever had McDonalds two days in a row at home. Even though the food tastes just like it does at home, ordering is a bit different. They have a picture menu where you can point to what you want. Seems easy enough, huh? Not so much. Helen wanted a big mac meal plus an additional burger. Instead, she got two big mac meals - both with large fries and large sodas. Similar stuff happened to others so we ended up with way more food than we wanted.
After McDonalds we went to the grocery store again. We needed beer and the others wanted to pick up a few things. This was Stacey's first visit so she was scarred for life when she saw a woman pick up a pepper, take a huge bite, decide she didn't like it and put it back in the bin. As I have said before, only in China...
We then headed to the men's rink to watch the US play Japan. This was a really important game for standings that the US had to win. It was a competitive game but they took way too many penalties and ended up losing 6-3 with an empty net goal. They are now relegated to the 7th place game.
Tonight we just hung out at the hotel, drank some Harbin beer and relaxed. While we have all had an amazing time, I think everyone is getting a little tired of China and will be happy to get home. Personally, I am missing my soft bed, american food, english speaking people who respect personal space and no smoking rules. This has been the trip of a lifetime but now that the end is near I'm looking forward to some of the comforts of home.
Supermarket pictures are finally posted at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. We also took video during one of our infamous cab rides today that I need to steal from Tara's camera. While it really doesn't do it justice, it will at least give you a glimpse of how crazy the drivers are here. Goodnight!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Full Day of Games
Today it was back to work. After our day off we had a skate this morning. We did some relay races - North America vs the World. On the line was the losers have to sing a nursery rhyme in front of the group at our next meeting. Even though North America really won, Stacey cheated so North American's would have to sing. That is ok though, we came up with a great song to sing in both English and French (for the French Canadians). I can't put what it is on here though because some of the others might be reading this blog. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out, haha.
After our ice session Laura and I decided to go to Wanda Plaza. Wanda Plaza is a mall with a grocery store/wal-mart type store in the basement. We walked around the mall a little bit just to see what was there. I found a bunch of puma sneakers that were on sale for next to nothing but unfortunately they didn't have my size. We did stop in McDonalds though and treated ourselves to some french fries. They tasted just as good if not better here than they do in America. After McDonalds we went to buy a few things at the supermarket. The sanitary conditions at this supermarket in the meat and fish department are definitely not what they are in the U.S. Basically all of the meat and fish sit out unwrapped and people finger it until they decide which piece they want to buy. There was also some interesting meat products that you would never see in the U.S. - pigs heads, pigs feet, full chickens, etc. So gross. The positive of this trip though was I finally found the Diet Coke I have been craving.
After our mall trip we headed to the rink. When we got there the haze in the arena was especially thick. It must have been a bad day for pollution all around, the mall had a haze in it as well. It didn't matter much for me, I had China vs Great Britain. When you have a game with Great Britain, the puck pretty much stays in one end the entire time. China won 8-0 and I think Great Britain had a grand total of 3 shots for the entire game. Tomorrow we have the day off and then the semifinals are on Thursday. I'm not sure what the plan for tomorrow is yet, we might go see some of the other sporting events or go visit some sites in downtown Harbin.
I will be posting some pictures of the supermarket later tonight. Look at your own risk, haha. www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate
After our ice session Laura and I decided to go to Wanda Plaza. Wanda Plaza is a mall with a grocery store/wal-mart type store in the basement. We walked around the mall a little bit just to see what was there. I found a bunch of puma sneakers that were on sale for next to nothing but unfortunately they didn't have my size. We did stop in McDonalds though and treated ourselves to some french fries. They tasted just as good if not better here than they do in America. After McDonalds we went to buy a few things at the supermarket. The sanitary conditions at this supermarket in the meat and fish department are definitely not what they are in the U.S. Basically all of the meat and fish sit out unwrapped and people finger it until they decide which piece they want to buy. There was also some interesting meat products that you would never see in the U.S. - pigs heads, pigs feet, full chickens, etc. So gross. The positive of this trip though was I finally found the Diet Coke I have been craving.
After our mall trip we headed to the rink. When we got there the haze in the arena was especially thick. It must have been a bad day for pollution all around, the mall had a haze in it as well. It didn't matter much for me, I had China vs Great Britain. When you have a game with Great Britain, the puck pretty much stays in one end the entire time. China won 8-0 and I think Great Britain had a grand total of 3 shots for the entire game. Tomorrow we have the day off and then the semifinals are on Thursday. I'm not sure what the plan for tomorrow is yet, we might go see some of the other sporting events or go visit some sites in downtown Harbin.
I will be posting some pictures of the supermarket later tonight. Look at your own risk, haha. www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate
Monday, February 23, 2009
Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Today was our second day off. We had our meeting at 10:00, then a bunch of the girls decided to go to the flea market Laura and I went to yesterday. I hadn't purchased anything while we were there yesterday, I was too busy taking it all in and watching the guys bargain so I went with them today to pick up some stuff to bring home. When we all got there, the rest of the girls had the same reaction Laura and I did - shear and utter amazement. Words really cannot describe how crazy this place is. It is funny the way it works - all of the shopkeepers have a calculator that they punch the price in. You then take the calculator and punch in a counter offer. You basically get a thumbs up or down. If you walk away, often times they chase after you and agree to your price. One of the big things they sell is designer handbags, some real some fake. I saw this awesome Louie Vuitton bag that I am pretty sure is real - you could see the differences when you held it up next to a fake one and it has all of the authentic markings on it. When I asked the guy how much he pulled out his calculator and punched in 750 yuan, which is $115. Now in the US I know that would be a steal for a Louie bag but here in China that is an absurd amount of money - many people don't make that much in a week. I bargained hard with the guy and said 300 ($45) and he said no. I wasn't going to pay any more than that so I started to walk out. Meanwhile Tara and Stacey were discussing how I would never get it for that low. They walked out ahead of me and as I started to walk out the man grabbed me with his calculator and said ok. I just yelled to them "I got it" and they burst out laughing. So from then on I became the bargainer for the group - if someone needed something they got me to help them buy it. I ended up buying a bunch of stuff to take home but I'm not going to mention it here because then it wouldn't be a surprise. Just know that I bargained hard for everything and got really good deals on all the stuff I bought. I think pretty much everyone had a successful shopping trip and we all walked out with bags of stuff that we have to somehow fit in our suitcases.
We were scheduled to go to the Ice and Snow Festival at 5 so we were going to miss dinner. All of us have been craving western food so we decided to go to the Pizza Hut we found the other day. This was the nicest Pizza Hut I have ever been in - it looked like a real fancy restaurant. We ordered 4 "american specials" aka large pepperoni pizzas. It was fantastic - tasted just like it does at home. We all ate way too much but it was well worth it.
After Pizza Hut we headed back to the hotel to change into our red outfits. While they might not be the prettiest looking things they sure are warm and everyone decided to sport them tonight - even Stacey. Once we arrived we were all glad we had them, it was freezing out. The festival was unbelievable - it is ranked as one of the top ice festivals in the world and I can see why. The only thing I can compare it to is Disney World. They have these huge, building size sculptures that are lit up beautifully. There is even a restaurant made entirely of ice! There are also these huge slides made of ice that we could slide down. On the smaller ones you just slid on your butt or stomach but they had this one huge one where they gave you a sled. You lay on the sled luge style then the men working give you a big push so you go flying down it! At the bottom is this huge snow mound that you crash into and hit hard. Everyone who did it got snow all up their jackets and and down there shoes -not good when it is that cold out. They also had some other cool things there to play on as well - a lake type area with bikes with skates on them and little chairs where you use ski poles to propel yourself, in a way like sled hockey. Naturally the competitiveness in all of us came up when we were playing on this stuff and we had to race around the lake. The people watching must have thought we were a freak show - 10 western looking women in bright red jackets and pants flying around this ice surface. It was hysterical and so much fun. There was also a white fox you could hold and a camel from Mongolia that you could sit on and ride. Can't say I have ever sat on a camel before tonight...only in China!
After the Ice and Snow festival a few of us went to the rink to watch the US men play Russia. They got demolished but it was a very physical game that was fun to watch. The most interesting part of the night however wasn't the game itself but the cab rides to and from the rink. I thought the cab driver on the way there was just going to dump us on the side of the road after Stacey tried to give him directions multiple times. He definitely started to pull over at one point and I think the only thing that stopped him was that we wouldn't pay him if he just left us. On the way back we gave the driver the card with the hotel address in Chinese and he pulls a lighter out of his glove box and holds it next to the card to read it while he was driving in a tunnel. Again, only in China...
I posted a ton of pictures from the Ice and Snow Festival as well as pictures from around town. Check them out at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate.
We were scheduled to go to the Ice and Snow Festival at 5 so we were going to miss dinner. All of us have been craving western food so we decided to go to the Pizza Hut we found the other day. This was the nicest Pizza Hut I have ever been in - it looked like a real fancy restaurant. We ordered 4 "american specials" aka large pepperoni pizzas. It was fantastic - tasted just like it does at home. We all ate way too much but it was well worth it.
After Pizza Hut we headed back to the hotel to change into our red outfits. While they might not be the prettiest looking things they sure are warm and everyone decided to sport them tonight - even Stacey. Once we arrived we were all glad we had them, it was freezing out. The festival was unbelievable - it is ranked as one of the top ice festivals in the world and I can see why. The only thing I can compare it to is Disney World. They have these huge, building size sculptures that are lit up beautifully. There is even a restaurant made entirely of ice! There are also these huge slides made of ice that we could slide down. On the smaller ones you just slid on your butt or stomach but they had this one huge one where they gave you a sled. You lay on the sled luge style then the men working give you a big push so you go flying down it! At the bottom is this huge snow mound that you crash into and hit hard. Everyone who did it got snow all up their jackets and and down there shoes -not good when it is that cold out. They also had some other cool things there to play on as well - a lake type area with bikes with skates on them and little chairs where you use ski poles to propel yourself, in a way like sled hockey. Naturally the competitiveness in all of us came up when we were playing on this stuff and we had to race around the lake. The people watching must have thought we were a freak show - 10 western looking women in bright red jackets and pants flying around this ice surface. It was hysterical and so much fun. There was also a white fox you could hold and a camel from Mongolia that you could sit on and ride. Can't say I have ever sat on a camel before tonight...only in China!
After the Ice and Snow festival a few of us went to the rink to watch the US men play Russia. They got demolished but it was a very physical game that was fun to watch. The most interesting part of the night however wasn't the game itself but the cab rides to and from the rink. I thought the cab driver on the way there was just going to dump us on the side of the road after Stacey tried to give him directions multiple times. He definitely started to pull over at one point and I think the only thing that stopped him was that we wouldn't pay him if he just left us. On the way back we gave the driver the card with the hotel address in Chinese and he pulls a lighter out of his glove box and holds it next to the card to read it while he was driving in a tunnel. Again, only in China...
I posted a ton of pictures from the Ice and Snow Festival as well as pictures from around town. Check them out at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Flea Market fun!
The plan for this morning was to sleep in since we had no morning skates or meetings. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Around 8 am we heard loud gunshots. Laura and I jumped out of bed because it was literally so loud and close that we thought we were going to die. All I was thinking was oh my god, this is why they have metal detectors everywhere, there are lots of westerners here and this is a terrorist attack. They kept firing and we ran to the window to see what was going on. When we looked down at the street we saw a large crowd of people but still couldn't figure out what was going on. It finally stopped after about 5 minutes. Later on we found out it was cannons being fired for a wedding. Seems like a strange thing to do at a wedding to me but then again I don't always understand Chinese culture.
So after the cannon commotion we just relaxed for a bit but couldn't fall back asleep. Around 10:30 we caught up with a few of the guys who weren't working and decided to go to a flea market we had been told about. Since we had missed breakfast and were all starving we also figured we'd try this western restaurant that another group of guys had been to. Even though the restaurant had a Chinese name you knew it was western from the moment you walked in the door and saw everyone eating with forks. I still haven't mastered the chopsticks so I was thrilled to see that. We ordered a ton of food - french fries, onion rings, steaks, chicken wings, spaghetti...all sorts of good, non asian food. It was fantastic, exactly what I needed. I also got a soda while I was there. Even though they didn't have diet it still tasted absolutely amazing. I felt like I had just died and went to heaven. Between the 7 of us we ordered a ton of food yet in the end, our bill was only 602 yuan - or about $85. Since it was Mikael's (a referee from Sweden) birthday, we all covered his meal. So my lunch ended up costing me about $15, and let me tell you that was the best $15 I have spent so far while in China.
After lunch we headed over to Polo market. Think of the craziest flea market you have ever been to and multiply that by about 10 and you have a flea market in China. There were two separate buildings across the street from each other - the first one was 7 floors and the second one was 3 floors. Each floor seemed to have a general theme; sunglasses, watches, kids toys, handbags, etc. They have a ton of name brand stuff like oakley, ray ban, dior, louie vuitton, omega, rolex...now who knows if it was real or not (some stuff looked real, some looked fake) but everything was pretty cheap, especially if you bargained with the shop owners. I didn't buy anything today but I definitely looked at a ton of stuff. I knew we were going to have to bring the rest of the girls back there so I figured I'd do my buying then. I am trying to figure out good little gifts I can bring home for people so if you have any ideas or want something specific let me know :-).
After the flea market we headed back to the hotel and I went to the rink for the last game of the day, China vs Canada. When we got to the rink Great Britain was getting killed by Finland but Malin (ref from Sweden), who was supposed to be reffing the game was in the locker room. Apparently she got taken out really bad by two players and she had a nice little concussion. I felt bad for her, she was pretty messed up. Luckily, Team Canada was nice enough to have one of their doctors take care of her so she should be alright, but we'll see if she can skate again during this tournament. For the last game of the day, the Chinese fans packed the place again. They were treated to a good game for 2 periods. Unfortunately, in the 3rd China just couldn't keep up anymore and Canada blew the game open.
Tomorrow we have the day off and no icetime. We have a meeting at 10:00 and then the rest of the girls want to go shopping. Then the plan is to go to the ice and snow sculptures in the evening because they are all lit up. I posted a few pictures from today, just some of the girls and some of the flea market. www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. Goodnight!
So after the cannon commotion we just relaxed for a bit but couldn't fall back asleep. Around 10:30 we caught up with a few of the guys who weren't working and decided to go to a flea market we had been told about. Since we had missed breakfast and were all starving we also figured we'd try this western restaurant that another group of guys had been to. Even though the restaurant had a Chinese name you knew it was western from the moment you walked in the door and saw everyone eating with forks. I still haven't mastered the chopsticks so I was thrilled to see that. We ordered a ton of food - french fries, onion rings, steaks, chicken wings, spaghetti...all sorts of good, non asian food. It was fantastic, exactly what I needed. I also got a soda while I was there. Even though they didn't have diet it still tasted absolutely amazing. I felt like I had just died and went to heaven. Between the 7 of us we ordered a ton of food yet in the end, our bill was only 602 yuan - or about $85. Since it was Mikael's (a referee from Sweden) birthday, we all covered his meal. So my lunch ended up costing me about $15, and let me tell you that was the best $15 I have spent so far while in China.
After lunch we headed over to Polo market. Think of the craziest flea market you have ever been to and multiply that by about 10 and you have a flea market in China. There were two separate buildings across the street from each other - the first one was 7 floors and the second one was 3 floors. Each floor seemed to have a general theme; sunglasses, watches, kids toys, handbags, etc. They have a ton of name brand stuff like oakley, ray ban, dior, louie vuitton, omega, rolex...now who knows if it was real or not (some stuff looked real, some looked fake) but everything was pretty cheap, especially if you bargained with the shop owners. I didn't buy anything today but I definitely looked at a ton of stuff. I knew we were going to have to bring the rest of the girls back there so I figured I'd do my buying then. I am trying to figure out good little gifts I can bring home for people so if you have any ideas or want something specific let me know :-).
After the flea market we headed back to the hotel and I went to the rink for the last game of the day, China vs Canada. When we got to the rink Great Britain was getting killed by Finland but Malin (ref from Sweden), who was supposed to be reffing the game was in the locker room. Apparently she got taken out really bad by two players and she had a nice little concussion. I felt bad for her, she was pretty messed up. Luckily, Team Canada was nice enough to have one of their doctors take care of her so she should be alright, but we'll see if she can skate again during this tournament. For the last game of the day, the Chinese fans packed the place again. They were treated to a good game for 2 periods. Unfortunately, in the 3rd China just couldn't keep up anymore and Canada blew the game open.
Tomorrow we have the day off and no icetime. We have a meeting at 10:00 and then the rest of the girls want to go shopping. Then the plan is to go to the ice and snow sculptures in the evening because they are all lit up. I posted a few pictures from today, just some of the girls and some of the flea market. www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate. Goodnight!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Crazy Chinese Fans
Tonight I worked China vs Finland. It was a prime time game on a Saturday night so the arena was packed. I usually go for a run around the top of the arena then warm up and stretch up there but because so many people were getting to the rink early I had to go down to ice level behind the one nets. While I was doing my warm up there were flashbulbs going off left and right. All of the Chinese fans were taking pictures of me doing warm ups and stretches in my under armour with my ipod on. I felt like a celebrity.
We jumped on the ice just prior to the teams coming out to some awesome Chinese techno music. They don't play the typical arena/hockey songs here - it is all crazy Chinese techno. I think I have heard all the songs they play at least 10 times each. The other funny thing is the announcers. They say everything in Chinese first then in english, however the english isn't always correct. For example, when a penalty expires they say "China #12 penalty is over. China skating at full people." It is pretty funny. Once the game started though the Chinese fans were going nuts! They are super loud and get really into the game and scream whenever China carries the puck in the zone. The game itself was really exciting. China ended up wining 3-2. The last five minutes of the game were ridiculous. It was so loud that you could barely hear our whistles, let alone the gong at the end of the game. After the game we headed back to the hotel and ate. Then we all had a few Harbin beers and hung out. Harbin beer isn't bad and it is super cheap - like less than $3 for a 6 pack.
I'm getting ready to head to bed now. I'm off tomorrow but I think I have a trip to pizza hut and a mall in my future!
We jumped on the ice just prior to the teams coming out to some awesome Chinese techno music. They don't play the typical arena/hockey songs here - it is all crazy Chinese techno. I think I have heard all the songs they play at least 10 times each. The other funny thing is the announcers. They say everything in Chinese first then in english, however the english isn't always correct. For example, when a penalty expires they say "China #12 penalty is over. China skating at full people." It is pretty funny. Once the game started though the Chinese fans were going nuts! They are super loud and get really into the game and scream whenever China carries the puck in the zone. The game itself was really exciting. China ended up wining 3-2. The last five minutes of the game were ridiculous. It was so loud that you could barely hear our whistles, let alone the gong at the end of the game. After the game we headed back to the hotel and ate. Then we all had a few Harbin beers and hung out. Harbin beer isn't bad and it is super cheap - like less than $3 for a 6 pack.
I'm getting ready to head to bed now. I'm off tomorrow but I think I have a trip to pizza hut and a mall in my future!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Some General Observations
So now that I've been here for about a week I have some general observations:
-Nobody speaks any English. Even the translators, they speak only about 15 words of English. That makes things really tough.
-There is only one channel on the tv that has English, and it is only in english about 50% of the time. Lots of movies and music.
-The Chinese are very nice and would do anything for us. They grab my bag the minute I walk out of the elevator. You drop a fork or chopsticks in the dining room and they are there to pick it up before you can even blink.
-Women are not equal in Chinese culture.
-Americans and western looking people in general are like a circus act. Everywhere we go they grab us to take pictures. Regular camera, cell phone camera, doesn't matter. Some even try to be sneaky about it and pretend take pictures of themselves while we are standing in the background.
-It is obvious the Chinese don't follow the surgeon generals warning because everybody smokes. The rink, taxis, vans all reek of smoke. My clothes are starting to smell too, it is so gross.
-The pollution is pretty bad. Everyone who wears contacts has had to change them and my snot is a blackish color. I am on the 10th floor at our hotel and you can just see a haze over the city when you look out the window.
-It is essential to always carry toilet paper and purell in your pocket everywhere you go. Squatty pottys...enough said.
-They don't drink a lot of soda here. I haven't had a soda since Monday and I am dying for one. I can't tell you the last time I went more than a day without drinking a diet coke, let alone 5 days.
-The coffee is apparently like jet fuel.
-The crystal light packets I brought have also been a lifesaver. I've been drinking so much water as well since there isn't soda. We are all finding that we are retaining more water than usual and our ankles and feet our swollen. My feet have been cramping in my skates and Stacey said this morning her skates felt like they felt when she was pregnant.
-Everything is dirt cheap. A 15 minute cab ride is less than $2. The merchandise at the games is all under $10. In America a pen at a sports event is $10.
-It is COLD. Freezing cold. Tara has said it feels like home to her (Fairbanks, Alaska) with the exception of the wind.
-Drivers and pedestrians are crazy. They have no patience, I'm surprised more people aren't hit and killed on a regular basis. They use their horns here constantly.
-There is no such thing as personal space here. They get in your face, push to get on and off the elevator and are always in a rush.
-This is a test event for Harbin. They are planning to put in a bid for the winter olympics in either 2018 or 2022. There is no way they could host, they would need to pretty much domalish the city and start over. I feel like they are stuck in the 1960's.
Despite all of this, it has been an amazing experience so far. I'm having a great time and this will be something I never forget.
-Nobody speaks any English. Even the translators, they speak only about 15 words of English. That makes things really tough.
-There is only one channel on the tv that has English, and it is only in english about 50% of the time. Lots of movies and music.
-The Chinese are very nice and would do anything for us. They grab my bag the minute I walk out of the elevator. You drop a fork or chopsticks in the dining room and they are there to pick it up before you can even blink.
-Women are not equal in Chinese culture.
-Americans and western looking people in general are like a circus act. Everywhere we go they grab us to take pictures. Regular camera, cell phone camera, doesn't matter. Some even try to be sneaky about it and pretend take pictures of themselves while we are standing in the background.
-It is obvious the Chinese don't follow the surgeon generals warning because everybody smokes. The rink, taxis, vans all reek of smoke. My clothes are starting to smell too, it is so gross.
-The pollution is pretty bad. Everyone who wears contacts has had to change them and my snot is a blackish color. I am on the 10th floor at our hotel and you can just see a haze over the city when you look out the window.
-It is essential to always carry toilet paper and purell in your pocket everywhere you go. Squatty pottys...enough said.
-They don't drink a lot of soda here. I haven't had a soda since Monday and I am dying for one. I can't tell you the last time I went more than a day without drinking a diet coke, let alone 5 days.
-The coffee is apparently like jet fuel.
-The crystal light packets I brought have also been a lifesaver. I've been drinking so much water as well since there isn't soda. We are all finding that we are retaining more water than usual and our ankles and feet our swollen. My feet have been cramping in my skates and Stacey said this morning her skates felt like they felt when she was pregnant.
-Everything is dirt cheap. A 15 minute cab ride is less than $2. The merchandise at the games is all under $10. In America a pen at a sports event is $10.
-It is COLD. Freezing cold. Tara has said it feels like home to her (Fairbanks, Alaska) with the exception of the wind.
-Drivers and pedestrians are crazy. They have no patience, I'm surprised more people aren't hit and killed on a regular basis. They use their horns here constantly.
-There is no such thing as personal space here. They get in your face, push to get on and off the elevator and are always in a rush.
-This is a test event for Harbin. They are planning to put in a bid for the winter olympics in either 2018 or 2022. There is no way they could host, they would need to pretty much domalish the city and start over. I feel like they are stuck in the 1960's.
Despite all of this, it has been an amazing experience so far. I'm having a great time and this will be something I never forget.
Tiger Park!
Throughout the two weeks we are here, we have several days where we have no games or morning skates. Today was the first of those days. Despite having the day off, we were still really busy all day. We had a meeting this morning at 10:00 to go over some things with the group that have been occurring during the games. Then we all got lunch (which for me consisted of rice and noodles today) and at noon we gathered in the hotel lobby to go to tiger park. Tiger park is one of the things Meghan and Leah told me we HAD to do while in Harbin. It is a huge preserve about an hour outside of Harbin with over 700 lions, tigers and ligers.
Because part of tiger park is outside and it was -7 when we were leaving we all decided to break out the red clothing they gave us. So everyone (except Stacey because she is too cool for all of us) put on the shoes, ski pants, vest, parka and hat. That stuff is actually surprisingly good quality and kept us all pretty warm. We loaded into the vans and, like always when we travel by car, almost got into multiple accidents along the way. I think I'm starting to get used to that because I just don't think twice anymore when we come within centimeters of another car or person. On the way out to tiger park we drove by the ice and snow festival, which from a distance looked amazing. We are planning to go see that on our next day off. When we pulled in to tiger park we drove by all of these goofy looking cartoon tiger statues. This place, even though it is home to over 700 huge vicious animals, is made to feel like an amusement park. We all got in line to buy tickets and figure out what else we wanted to purchase. The crazy thing about tiger park is you have the option of purchasing live animals - cow, sheep, chicken, duck, etc. They will then drop the life animal in front of your bus for the tigers to eat. I go back and forth with how I feel about this - part of me thinks it is totally wrong but then the other part of me says they are going to eat anyway, I ought to take this opportunity to watch nature up close and personal. Well two of the guys who had tagged along with us decided that they wanted to get a cow. A cow costs 1500 yuan - that is a little over $200. They started a collection up amongst us girls and between all of us we gathered enough money to buy a cow. Unfortunately, when we went to actually purchase the thing the lady told us that they did not have any cows today. We're not sure we believe her because several of us could have sworn we heard a moo at one point but you just don't know - that is one of the problems with the language barrier. Instead we bought some other meats that they would feed to the tigers. After we all got our tickets we headed inside the little shop area to wait for our bus. Inside there was a big souvenir stand and a bunch of Chinese people. They all wanted to take their pictures with us. This is pretty common here. Many of these people have never seen any western looking people so we are somewhat of a circus act but this group was by far the most aggressive when it came to taking pictures. So while we waited for the bus our group had our pictures taken with at least 10 different Chinese people.
After waiting about 10 minutes, we were all told to go out and get on the bus. It was about the size of a small charter bus and held about 25 people. The windows had safety bars all around them but the could still slide open. We drove through the entrance gates and as soon as we pulled in you could see several tigers that were within 20 feet of our bus. The tigers are HUGE in person. You really can't appreciate how big and powerful they are if you just look at then in a zoo. Here you can see them in a somewhat natural habitat. The preserve was sectioned off into several parts, one with huge male tigers, one with females, one with ligers and one with lions. The first part we entered was the male tiger section. It was here that a Jeep that was completely covered with a cage (tires and all) pulled up with our meat to feed the tigers. The driver opened his door, even though the tigers were within 10 feet of the car, and threw out several meat carcasses we had bought. The tigers immediately jumped up and went after the stuff. It was crazy to see them just attack this meat. I honestly can't imagine what it would have been like had we been able to get the cow. After the feeding we headed to the next section. The sections are kept separate by several walls of chain link fence. As we exited the male tiger section, a tiger followed our bus and snuck into the empty section before we entered the female section. This obviously wasn't supposed to happen because the caged Jeep immediately drove in and started to try to chase the thing back into the original area so they could shut the gate. You could see all of the females on the other side of the fence starting to get excited as well so we couldn't enter until they got this other tiger back. They finally got him to his area and we continued through the different sections. It was so cool to be able to get that close to these huge, powerful animals. Some of them I could have reached out and touched with my hand they were so close to the bus.
After we finished the bus ride (took probably about 45 minutes) we went down this huge caged walkway that cuts straight down part of the preserve. Here, there was a lady selling big meat scraps on tongs that you could feed to the tigers for 10 yuan (about $1.20). As you hold it through the fence the tiger jumps up, pulls at it and eats the meat. It was so scary when you have this giant tiger lunging at you - all you are hoping is that that chain link fence is strong. You can feel how strong their jaws are as they literally rip this meat scrap right from your tongs. It was absolutely crazy. One of the guys took a few videos of him feeding the tigers, I'm going to post them on my picasaweb just so you can get an idea of what this was like because words can't really describe it.
Finally after we were done feeding the tigers we headed back for the vans and left to go back to the hotel. After we got back here we all changed and headed to the boys rink to watch Korea vs Slovakia. After a pretty exciting game (Slovakia won 4-2) we headed back to eat dinner. While on the way to tiger park we found that there is a Pizza Hut about 10 minutes from our hotel. We debated going there for dinner but it was so cold and we were all pretty tired so we decided to just go back and eat at the hotel. That was a wise choice because for the first time I actually went up and got seconds at dinner. They had this baked chicken and peppers that you put over rice that was amazing. We all hung out at the dinner table laughing and talking until they finally kicked us out around 9:15. Now I'm getting ready for bed, we have a morning skate tomorrow and I am then working the late game again. This time I have Finland vs China. It should be a good one, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Tiger park pictures are on my website - www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate
Because part of tiger park is outside and it was -7 when we were leaving we all decided to break out the red clothing they gave us. So everyone (except Stacey because she is too cool for all of us) put on the shoes, ski pants, vest, parka and hat. That stuff is actually surprisingly good quality and kept us all pretty warm. We loaded into the vans and, like always when we travel by car, almost got into multiple accidents along the way. I think I'm starting to get used to that because I just don't think twice anymore when we come within centimeters of another car or person. On the way out to tiger park we drove by the ice and snow festival, which from a distance looked amazing. We are planning to go see that on our next day off. When we pulled in to tiger park we drove by all of these goofy looking cartoon tiger statues. This place, even though it is home to over 700 huge vicious animals, is made to feel like an amusement park. We all got in line to buy tickets and figure out what else we wanted to purchase. The crazy thing about tiger park is you have the option of purchasing live animals - cow, sheep, chicken, duck, etc. They will then drop the life animal in front of your bus for the tigers to eat. I go back and forth with how I feel about this - part of me thinks it is totally wrong but then the other part of me says they are going to eat anyway, I ought to take this opportunity to watch nature up close and personal. Well two of the guys who had tagged along with us decided that they wanted to get a cow. A cow costs 1500 yuan - that is a little over $200. They started a collection up amongst us girls and between all of us we gathered enough money to buy a cow. Unfortunately, when we went to actually purchase the thing the lady told us that they did not have any cows today. We're not sure we believe her because several of us could have sworn we heard a moo at one point but you just don't know - that is one of the problems with the language barrier. Instead we bought some other meats that they would feed to the tigers. After we all got our tickets we headed inside the little shop area to wait for our bus. Inside there was a big souvenir stand and a bunch of Chinese people. They all wanted to take their pictures with us. This is pretty common here. Many of these people have never seen any western looking people so we are somewhat of a circus act but this group was by far the most aggressive when it came to taking pictures. So while we waited for the bus our group had our pictures taken with at least 10 different Chinese people.
After waiting about 10 minutes, we were all told to go out and get on the bus. It was about the size of a small charter bus and held about 25 people. The windows had safety bars all around them but the could still slide open. We drove through the entrance gates and as soon as we pulled in you could see several tigers that were within 20 feet of our bus. The tigers are HUGE in person. You really can't appreciate how big and powerful they are if you just look at then in a zoo. Here you can see them in a somewhat natural habitat. The preserve was sectioned off into several parts, one with huge male tigers, one with females, one with ligers and one with lions. The first part we entered was the male tiger section. It was here that a Jeep that was completely covered with a cage (tires and all) pulled up with our meat to feed the tigers. The driver opened his door, even though the tigers were within 10 feet of the car, and threw out several meat carcasses we had bought. The tigers immediately jumped up and went after the stuff. It was crazy to see them just attack this meat. I honestly can't imagine what it would have been like had we been able to get the cow. After the feeding we headed to the next section. The sections are kept separate by several walls of chain link fence. As we exited the male tiger section, a tiger followed our bus and snuck into the empty section before we entered the female section. This obviously wasn't supposed to happen because the caged Jeep immediately drove in and started to try to chase the thing back into the original area so they could shut the gate. You could see all of the females on the other side of the fence starting to get excited as well so we couldn't enter until they got this other tiger back. They finally got him to his area and we continued through the different sections. It was so cool to be able to get that close to these huge, powerful animals. Some of them I could have reached out and touched with my hand they were so close to the bus.
After we finished the bus ride (took probably about 45 minutes) we went down this huge caged walkway that cuts straight down part of the preserve. Here, there was a lady selling big meat scraps on tongs that you could feed to the tigers for 10 yuan (about $1.20). As you hold it through the fence the tiger jumps up, pulls at it and eats the meat. It was so scary when you have this giant tiger lunging at you - all you are hoping is that that chain link fence is strong. You can feel how strong their jaws are as they literally rip this meat scrap right from your tongs. It was absolutely crazy. One of the guys took a few videos of him feeding the tigers, I'm going to post them on my picasaweb just so you can get an idea of what this was like because words can't really describe it.
Finally after we were done feeding the tigers we headed back for the vans and left to go back to the hotel. After we got back here we all changed and headed to the boys rink to watch Korea vs Slovakia. After a pretty exciting game (Slovakia won 4-2) we headed back to eat dinner. While on the way to tiger park we found that there is a Pizza Hut about 10 minutes from our hotel. We debated going there for dinner but it was so cold and we were all pretty tired so we decided to just go back and eat at the hotel. That was a wise choice because for the first time I actually went up and got seconds at dinner. They had this baked chicken and peppers that you put over rice that was amazing. We all hung out at the dinner table laughing and talking until they finally kicked us out around 9:15. Now I'm getting ready for bed, we have a morning skate tomorrow and I am then working the late game again. This time I have Finland vs China. It should be a good one, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Tiger park pictures are on my website - www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Game Day #2
Today was the second day of games. The games started much later today because they didn't need to be finished in time for opening ceremonies. Laura was goal judging for the second game and I was skating the third game so we both took the opportunity to sleep in a little bit. Unfortunately, we both slept in a little too late and missed breakfast. After chilling in the room and relaxing, we went and grabbed lunch before having to catch the bus at 2:00 to go to the rink. Matt sat with us at lunch and we talked about some IIHF stuff. It was very interesting to talk with him about it and learn a little bit more about how the international stuff works.
The game Laura goal judged, China vs Japan, was super exciting. The arena was packed and the Chinese fans really get into it, especially when they play Japan. It is pretty obvious that China vs Japan is very similar to US vs Canada - both teams hate each other...a lot. The game went back and forth and Japan was up 2-1 with a minute to go but was a man down due to a penalty. With 20 seconds left, another penalty was called on Japan. During the delay, Japan covered the puck in the crease which is an automatic penalty shot. China missed the penalty shot but on the 2 man advantage (actually 3 because they pulled their goalie) they tied the game with 5 seconds left. The game went into overtime and then game winning shots, where Japan pulled out the win. It was a great game to watch and it was fun to see just how passionate the Chinese fans get when cheering for their team.
My game was also pretty exciting. I had Finland vs Canada. It was a back and forth game and was still 0-0 entering the 3rd period. At the start of the 3rd period, Finland got tired and lazy and started taking stupid penalties. Things quickly fell apart for them and the final score ended up being 5-0. After the game, we had to wait around at the rink until Stacey got out of the directors meeting. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 11:30 and none of us had any dinner. The hotel was nice enough to make some food for us and we all ate before heading up to our rooms. Tomorrow there are no games so we have the day off. We have a meeting in the morning then are going to Tiger Park in the afternoon. Tiger park is apparently like a six flags animal safari with lions, tigers and ligers. It should be pretty interesting, I know both Meg and Leah have said it was one of the coolest things they did while in Harbin.
I'll have some more pictures to post tomorrow, in the mean time I posted a ton of pictures and a few video clips of the opening ceremonies last night - www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate - Enjoy!
The game Laura goal judged, China vs Japan, was super exciting. The arena was packed and the Chinese fans really get into it, especially when they play Japan. It is pretty obvious that China vs Japan is very similar to US vs Canada - both teams hate each other...a lot. The game went back and forth and Japan was up 2-1 with a minute to go but was a man down due to a penalty. With 20 seconds left, another penalty was called on Japan. During the delay, Japan covered the puck in the crease which is an automatic penalty shot. China missed the penalty shot but on the 2 man advantage (actually 3 because they pulled their goalie) they tied the game with 5 seconds left. The game went into overtime and then game winning shots, where Japan pulled out the win. It was a great game to watch and it was fun to see just how passionate the Chinese fans get when cheering for their team.
My game was also pretty exciting. I had Finland vs Canada. It was a back and forth game and was still 0-0 entering the 3rd period. At the start of the 3rd period, Finland got tired and lazy and started taking stupid penalties. Things quickly fell apart for them and the final score ended up being 5-0. After the game, we had to wait around at the rink until Stacey got out of the directors meeting. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 11:30 and none of us had any dinner. The hotel was nice enough to make some food for us and we all ate before heading up to our rooms. Tomorrow there are no games so we have the day off. We have a meeting in the morning then are going to Tiger Park in the afternoon. Tiger park is apparently like a six flags animal safari with lions, tigers and ligers. It should be pretty interesting, I know both Meg and Leah have said it was one of the coolest things they did while in Harbin.
I'll have some more pictures to post tomorrow, in the mean time I posted a ton of pictures and a few video clips of the opening ceremonies last night - www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate - Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Game Day and Opening Ceremonies!
Today the games started. I was on the 1:00 game between Canada and Great Britain. The bus to get to the rink left at 11:00 so I was able to sleep in a little bit and take my time eating breakfast. Chinese breakfast is very similar to every other meal - no cereal or bagels or anything. I had a nutritious pre-game meal of an orange, 2 pieces of bacon, flower soup (kinda like wonton soup) and a piece of bread. When we got to the rink we had to go through the metal detectors and past a ton of security guards. I understand the security guards for an event like this but the metal detectors seem like a bit much. Anyway, once inside the rink we dumped our stuff in the ref room and explored a bit. The arena feels like what I imagine a big rink felt like at home 20 years ago. The nets are square, not rounded in the back. The zamboni lets off a ton of exhaust. The seating is all pretty old and the lighting isn't great. Half of the rink hallways are really hot and smell like urine. And there is the ever present smell of smoke/pollution/zamboni exhaust. However, all that said the ice was decent and our locker room wasn't bad (although the bathroom has a squatty potty). The craziest part of the rink though is what happens at the end of the periods. Instead of the typical buzzer or horn, it is a gong. Yes, a real live person banging a gong. I laugh every time I hear it. My game itself was really boring, Canada beat Britain 11-0. I think Britain got the puck out of their defensive zone about 4 times the entire game. Working with Ming was interesting as well, because of the language barrier between periods we made a rink with water bottles, purell and toilet paper to try and discuss some stuff. The other thing that was different is the clock counts up here instead of down. It is a little weird when you look up and think it should be close to the end of a period but in reality the clock says 17:00 minutes. Tomorrow I am working Finland vs Canada so that should be a much more exciting, evenly played game.
Tonight we attended the World University Games Opening Ceremonies. Think back to how amazing the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics were- now take that on a smaller scale and you have the opening ceremonies here. The Chinese really know how to do these types of events right. They took place inside (thank god because it is FREEZING) at the Harbin International Sports Center Gym which is a figure skating rink that seats probably about 12,000. The place was packed and they started off with an elaborate presentation of the Chinese colors. Then all of the countries participating and their athletes marched in. After a couple of speeches, some of which were in Chinese so I didn't understand a word, they had everyone take the athlete/judge/referee oath then it was time to light the torch. They handed the torch off to several people, the last of which ran the torch outside and handed to a guy who put it on top of a curling stone. He then slid the curling stone down tbe ice where it lit something else on fire and caused a big fire ball to shoot off about 50 yards into the big World University Games cauldron. The cauldron lit up and fireworks were shot off. It was so cool. Then they did a cultural performance inside that included singing, dancing, acrobatics, figure skating, some cirque de soleil moves and anything else you can think of. They had everything choreographed to a huge video screen and lights on the ice. They also had all sorts of different props, from making snow fall from the ceiling to having pianos on the ice and people play the violin while figure skating. The whole show lasted about 2 hours and was amazing, we were all sitting there with our jaws dropped for most of it. Because it was such a hot ticket to get all of our seats weren't together. I ended up sitting next to the IIHF representative Fredrick from Great Britain. He told me the only reason we got that seat was because is wife couldn't attend. I was joking around with him that by having me sit there he was cheating on her with a bloody american.
I have a ton of pictures to post from the opening ceremonies and will work on getting them up tomorrow. Time to pass out on my plywood (aka my bed). Good night!
Tonight we attended the World University Games Opening Ceremonies. Think back to how amazing the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics were- now take that on a smaller scale and you have the opening ceremonies here. The Chinese really know how to do these types of events right. They took place inside (thank god because it is FREEZING) at the Harbin International Sports Center Gym which is a figure skating rink that seats probably about 12,000. The place was packed and they started off with an elaborate presentation of the Chinese colors. Then all of the countries participating and their athletes marched in. After a couple of speeches, some of which were in Chinese so I didn't understand a word, they had everyone take the athlete/judge/referee oath then it was time to light the torch. They handed the torch off to several people, the last of which ran the torch outside and handed to a guy who put it on top of a curling stone. He then slid the curling stone down tbe ice where it lit something else on fire and caused a big fire ball to shoot off about 50 yards into the big World University Games cauldron. The cauldron lit up and fireworks were shot off. It was so cool. Then they did a cultural performance inside that included singing, dancing, acrobatics, figure skating, some cirque de soleil moves and anything else you can think of. They had everything choreographed to a huge video screen and lights on the ice. They also had all sorts of different props, from making snow fall from the ceiling to having pianos on the ice and people play the violin while figure skating. The whole show lasted about 2 hours and was amazing, we were all sitting there with our jaws dropped for most of it. Because it was such a hot ticket to get all of our seats weren't together. I ended up sitting next to the IIHF representative Fredrick from Great Britain. He told me the only reason we got that seat was because is wife couldn't attend. I was joking around with him that by having me sit there he was cheating on her with a bloody american.
I have a ton of pictures to post from the opening ceremonies and will work on getting them up tomorrow. Time to pass out on my plywood (aka my bed). Good night!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Day 2 in Harbin
After my first nights sleep on my bed that feels like a piece of plywood, we got up this morning and met for breakfast. Not a fan of the Chinese breakfast - all I ended up eating was an apple and a piece of cinnamon bread that wasn't very good. After breakfast all of the male and female officials got on a bus to go to the men's rink for a morning skate. The men are playing their games at a brand new rink that was just finished last week and the women are playing at the older, bigger arena. They gave us a tour of the facility when we arrived - it is obvious they are very proud of this building. There are actually two sheets in the arena, but the strange thing is they are one on top of the other. The zamboni actually uses an elevator to move up and down to each ice surface. The other strange thing about this rink the lower level rink has no glass, just netting at the ends. After our tour of the facility we all went on the ice for a 45 minute skate. It felt so good to skate and get my legs under me after all of the travel. The only thing that sucked about the skate was despite the fact that this rink is only 2 weeks old the air still reeked of smoke and we were all feeling it as we skated. Definitely not something I'm used to. After our skate, we all came back to the hotel for lunch and then had our big meeting. In the meeting we covered the typical stuff - rules, procedures, etc. We also got our assignments for the first day. I am working Great Britain vs Canada with a girl from China and a Finn. The girl from China speaks no english so that should be interesting.
After the meeting was over we decided to venture out into Harbin for a little bit and do some shopping. We ended up at some mall about 10 minutes from our hotel. The mall was really different in that it was organized by category. For example, all of the shoe stores were at one end, all of the sporting goods type stores were at another end, all of the women's boutique type stores were together - very different from all of the malls at home. The stuff was all pretty cheap compared to what we would see at home as well, for example a pair of shoes in the Nike store were only about $55 when at home they would probably be around $90 in the US. I didn't buy anything, mainly because I am going to have enough trouble bringing home all of the stuff they gave us in addition to my own stuff.
Speaking of stuff, man did this tournament ever hook us up. Apparently the World University Games are a bigger deal than I originally thought. Basically it is an Olympics for athletes that are attending a University, so for example, all of the women's hockey players are attending school somewhere, whether it be in their home country or they are playing for a US school. The Chinese are really treating this like the Olympics; the Chinese president is attending the opening ceremonies tomorrow night, most of the events are televised, and all of the events, including women's hockey, are apparently sold out. I'll believe it when I see it, but that will be pretty cool working in a full arena that seats 5,500 people. The other thing that makes this very Olympic like is the amount of stuff they gave us. Late last night right before we were about to go to bed we got a knock on our door from the welcoming committee. They gave us each this nice wheeled bag and told us it was a gift on behalf of the all of the different groups involved with the games. Laura and I thanked them as they left and then we both opened our bags. Inside there was sunglasses, a winter hat, gloves, ski pants, a winter coat, a vest and a pair of insulated shoes. All of the stuff is this Qiaodan brand - the logo looks distinctly familiar to the Jordan logo. But it is all really nice, good quality stuff - how I am going to get it all home is another story. Stacey said this swag was almost as nice as what they got at the Olympics in Salt Lake.
The other thing that was great about today was we got to know some of the other officials. On the girls side there are 3 from the US, 3 from Canada, 3 from Finland, 1 from Sweden and 2 from China. On the men's side there are 3 from the US, 3 from Canada, 3 from Finland, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Belgium, and 3 from China. I ate dinner tonight with a few of the Finns, Canadians, and one of the Swedes. My favorite part of dinner was when we were going over the pronunciation of everyones name. The one Finn is named Annsi and when he said it the french Canadian girl says "Annsi, kinda like Beyonce only without the be." We were all dying laughing and now will never forget Annsi's name.
I posted a bunch of pictures from yesterday and today on my site, feel free to check them out! www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate.
After the meeting was over we decided to venture out into Harbin for a little bit and do some shopping. We ended up at some mall about 10 minutes from our hotel. The mall was really different in that it was organized by category. For example, all of the shoe stores were at one end, all of the sporting goods type stores were at another end, all of the women's boutique type stores were together - very different from all of the malls at home. The stuff was all pretty cheap compared to what we would see at home as well, for example a pair of shoes in the Nike store were only about $55 when at home they would probably be around $90 in the US. I didn't buy anything, mainly because I am going to have enough trouble bringing home all of the stuff they gave us in addition to my own stuff.
Speaking of stuff, man did this tournament ever hook us up. Apparently the World University Games are a bigger deal than I originally thought. Basically it is an Olympics for athletes that are attending a University, so for example, all of the women's hockey players are attending school somewhere, whether it be in their home country or they are playing for a US school. The Chinese are really treating this like the Olympics; the Chinese president is attending the opening ceremonies tomorrow night, most of the events are televised, and all of the events, including women's hockey, are apparently sold out. I'll believe it when I see it, but that will be pretty cool working in a full arena that seats 5,500 people. The other thing that makes this very Olympic like is the amount of stuff they gave us. Late last night right before we were about to go to bed we got a knock on our door from the welcoming committee. They gave us each this nice wheeled bag and told us it was a gift on behalf of the all of the different groups involved with the games. Laura and I thanked them as they left and then we both opened our bags. Inside there was sunglasses, a winter hat, gloves, ski pants, a winter coat, a vest and a pair of insulated shoes. All of the stuff is this Qiaodan brand - the logo looks distinctly familiar to the Jordan logo. But it is all really nice, good quality stuff - how I am going to get it all home is another story. Stacey said this swag was almost as nice as what they got at the Olympics in Salt Lake.
The other thing that was great about today was we got to know some of the other officials. On the girls side there are 3 from the US, 3 from Canada, 3 from Finland, 1 from Sweden and 2 from China. On the men's side there are 3 from the US, 3 from Canada, 3 from Finland, 1 from Sweden, 1 from Belgium, and 3 from China. I ate dinner tonight with a few of the Finns, Canadians, and one of the Swedes. My favorite part of dinner was when we were going over the pronunciation of everyones name. The one Finn is named Annsi and when he said it the french Canadian girl says "Annsi, kinda like Beyonce only without the be." We were all dying laughing and now will never forget Annsi's name.
I posted a bunch of pictures from yesterday and today on my site, feel free to check them out! www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate.
Travel to Harbin
This morning Stacey, Laura and I had to fly to Harbin for the start of the tournament. We caught a cab from the hotel at 6:00 this morning to head to the Beijing airport. The cab ride was interesting - none of the cab drivers speak any english so you just have to hope that the hotel people told them where we needed to go and that they drop us off at the right place. If I haven't already mentioned it, the drivers in China are absolutely crazy. There are no traffic rules - they go where they want to go and pedestrians are expected to yield to cars. Stacey and I had to play frogger at the airport when the cab dropped her and my bags off on the far island, meaning we had to twice cross about 4 lanes of oncoming traffic. Once in the airport, we were able to check in for our flights and make it through security way easier than any of us were expecting. Although 90% of the people that work at the airport speak no english, they have signs in english all over the place from the olympics.
At 8:30 we boarded our Air China flight from Beijing to Harbin. This plane was awesome! The Chinese obviously have not followed the trend of american carriers charging you for everything. The seats in coach have lots of leg room and on this flight we had tvs in the back of every seat with free entertainment. The really interesting thing on these tvs was the "camera" channel. This was the feed of an actual live camera on the very front of the plane. You could see us move along the runway, take off and rise above the clouds. It was wild to watch us take off and land from that perspective.
After the short 2 hour flight we landed in Harbin. As soon as Stacey, Laura and I stepped off the jetway a Chinese woman grabbed me and asked if I was American and here for the Universiade. I answered yes and we then had 3 police officers surround us along with another airline employee. We were then escorted through the airport down to baggage. Stacey stopped to take a picture at one point and the police would not leave her side. Not sure why we got the special treatment - it was really strange. At baggage they asked us if we had the Universiade tags on our luggage. We must have missed that memo because we had no idea what they were talking about. I guess they were specially pulling anyones luggage involved with the games. Since we had no tags they actually made people move away from the baggage carousel and roped off a section for us to stand in and get our bags. Once we had our bags they took them to the van that would be transporting us to the hotel. This goes along with one of the cultural things I have noticed here - they do not let you do ANYTHING on your own. I honestly think if they could wipe your ass when you went to the bathroom they would. It is really bizarre.
We then loaded up the van and started to drive to the hotel. It is really really cold here and there is lots of snow, but that didn't seem to matter to our driver. We had to be going over 90mph at one point in this rickety old van. Stacey, Laura and I just kept looking at each other thinking "we are all going to die here." The driver would just lay on his horn if someone was in his way and god forbid anyone driving here actually stay in their lanes - I honestly don't even understand why they bother to paint lines on the road, they certainly don't use them. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the hotel, where the driver just pulled up on the curb right in front of the door. We walked in and had to go through metal detectors before checking in. At check in we had to fill out these ridiculous forms for the Chinese government with all our visa, passport, arrival and departure information. After all that we finally got to our rooms. Laura and I are roommates, which is awesome. The rooms are pretty small and bare bones, even though they say this is a 4 star hotel. The beds are as hard as a rock too...my back is going to be so bad after sleeping on these for two weeks. All of our meals are buffet style here at the hotel as well. They have mostly asian dishes, although tonight at dinner they did have french fries. Based on what I saw today I will be eating a lot of rice, noodles and dumplings these next two weeks.
We had our first meeting tonight as well, where we met some of the delegates from the IIHF and were officially welcomed. We were told that tomorrow we have a skate in the morning, which will be great to loosen up the legs from all of the travel. All in all today was busy but rather uneventful. I think the travel is finally catching up to me, both Laura and I are exhausted and plan on crashing really early tonight.
I was able to post the rest of my pictures from Beijing today on my website. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from today and some of some things in our hotel room which I'm sure many of you will find very amusing. Goodnight!
At 8:30 we boarded our Air China flight from Beijing to Harbin. This plane was awesome! The Chinese obviously have not followed the trend of american carriers charging you for everything. The seats in coach have lots of leg room and on this flight we had tvs in the back of every seat with free entertainment. The really interesting thing on these tvs was the "camera" channel. This was the feed of an actual live camera on the very front of the plane. You could see us move along the runway, take off and rise above the clouds. It was wild to watch us take off and land from that perspective.
After the short 2 hour flight we landed in Harbin. As soon as Stacey, Laura and I stepped off the jetway a Chinese woman grabbed me and asked if I was American and here for the Universiade. I answered yes and we then had 3 police officers surround us along with another airline employee. We were then escorted through the airport down to baggage. Stacey stopped to take a picture at one point and the police would not leave her side. Not sure why we got the special treatment - it was really strange. At baggage they asked us if we had the Universiade tags on our luggage. We must have missed that memo because we had no idea what they were talking about. I guess they were specially pulling anyones luggage involved with the games. Since we had no tags they actually made people move away from the baggage carousel and roped off a section for us to stand in and get our bags. Once we had our bags they took them to the van that would be transporting us to the hotel. This goes along with one of the cultural things I have noticed here - they do not let you do ANYTHING on your own. I honestly think if they could wipe your ass when you went to the bathroom they would. It is really bizarre.
We then loaded up the van and started to drive to the hotel. It is really really cold here and there is lots of snow, but that didn't seem to matter to our driver. We had to be going over 90mph at one point in this rickety old van. Stacey, Laura and I just kept looking at each other thinking "we are all going to die here." The driver would just lay on his horn if someone was in his way and god forbid anyone driving here actually stay in their lanes - I honestly don't even understand why they bother to paint lines on the road, they certainly don't use them. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the hotel, where the driver just pulled up on the curb right in front of the door. We walked in and had to go through metal detectors before checking in. At check in we had to fill out these ridiculous forms for the Chinese government with all our visa, passport, arrival and departure information. After all that we finally got to our rooms. Laura and I are roommates, which is awesome. The rooms are pretty small and bare bones, even though they say this is a 4 star hotel. The beds are as hard as a rock too...my back is going to be so bad after sleeping on these for two weeks. All of our meals are buffet style here at the hotel as well. They have mostly asian dishes, although tonight at dinner they did have french fries. Based on what I saw today I will be eating a lot of rice, noodles and dumplings these next two weeks.
We had our first meeting tonight as well, where we met some of the delegates from the IIHF and were officially welcomed. We were told that tomorrow we have a skate in the morning, which will be great to loosen up the legs from all of the travel. All in all today was busy but rather uneventful. I think the travel is finally catching up to me, both Laura and I are exhausted and plan on crashing really early tonight.
I was able to post the rest of my pictures from Beijing today on my website. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from today and some of some things in our hotel room which I'm sure many of you will find very amusing. Goodnight!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Day in Beijing
What a day! There really is no way this blog and the pictures (www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate) can do it justice - it was just an amazing experience. I'll start from the beginning, when Laura and I landed at 5:30 this morning in Beijing. After finally getting off of the plane we made our way through the new terminal of the Beijing Airport. It was massive. I know I said LA was huge the other night, but this terminal made LA look tiny! It was really simple to navigate though, most of the signs were in English. We made it through customs, exchanged currency, got our bags and met the limo driver all within an hour. At 7:00 we arrived at the JW Marriott. Stacey got in last night so she was already in the room. There we both took showers then grabbed some American style breakfast from the executive lounge - we got the hook up at the Marriott since Jay (Stacey's husband) is a platinum gold points member. After breakfast we went down to the lobby to meet our tour guide Richard. Richard works for the Chinese Ice Hockey Association and will also be in Harbin with us. Richard also brought his wife, Claire, along for the tour. With them and our driver Leo, we were going to see the Juyong Guan section of the Great Wall, the Ming Dynasty tombs, Forbidden City and Tianamen Square.
Our first stop of the day was the Juyong Guan section of the Great Wall. On the way out to the Wall we drove by the Birds Nest and the Olympic Water Cube, both of which look even cooler in person than they do on tv. It took about 45 minutes to get to this section, which is one of the less touristy sections. It was breathtaking - I definitely understand why it is one of the 7 Wonders of the World. The section we visited wound up and around the mountains. After we parked we started to hike the wall. We hiked up and around the mountain and back down the other side. The steps were all different sizes, some were really small and others were up to my knee. The mountain was really steep and if I had to guess I'd say we climbed about 2,000 steps. It was quite the workout to say the least. Along the way we stopped at the different guard houses and saw some temple relics. It really was just like you see in the history books. Words can't do it justice.
After the Wall we headed to the Ming Dynasty tombs. These included some secret garden type areas as well as an underground chamber. It was really neat, however I think we were all slightly jaded from the Great Wall. However, I think this is where we began to truly experience Chinese culture. It started while we were waiting in line for tickets and Claire offered us a Chinese fruit - not really sure what it was called. We were all very hesitant to take it but we also didn't want to look rude so we gave it a try. It basically looked like an orange tomato with a jelly type substance inside. You squeeze the fruit and the jelly comes out a hole in the top. It wasn't bad but certainly wasn't something I'd eat on a regular basis. However this was nothing compared to our experience in the bathroom. Now we had all been warned that you should try to use the bathroom at your hotel but after chugging a bottle of water after our hike it was inevitable that we were going to have to pee. We figured that because this was a major tourist attraction the bathrooms might be safe...WRONG! We all headed in to the room with our toilet paper and purell in hands and everything looked normal until we opened up the stall doors. Instead of your typical western style toilet, there was a small porcelain tub with a hole in the middle. Yes, we had to use squatty pottys. The smell was awful and toilet (if you can even call it that) was stained yellow. And to make things even worse, the Chinese plumbing system can't handle toilet paper so there is a trash can next to the toilet for you to throw your paper - and this trash can definitely isn't emptied very often. I think we were all scarred for life from this experience, however the scary part of all of this was this was just the beginning of our induction into Chinese culture.
After the tombs we headed to lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant. Now let me preface this with we had all discussed that we were going to be vegetarians while we were over here. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to plan. We were sat at a big round table with a lazy susan type center to rotate the family style type dishes around the table. Richard got a menu and just started ordering with the waitress - the only thing he asked us is if we liked duck and fish. Not that a menu would have really helped us anyway, the entire thing was in mandrin but at least we could have pointed to some of the pictures of things that looked good but Richard would have none of that. The first item comes out and it is duck feet. That's right, I said duck feet, complete with webbing and all. Stacey chickened out but Laura and I did have a small nibble and yes, they tasted as gross as they sound. We also were given a full chicken, complete with head sitting on the plate. There were a few good things we ate but needless to say, if we weren't already scarred from the squatty potty we were all now officially scarred for life.
After lunch we experienced some of the infamous Beijing traffic while on our way to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. We also all realized how spoiled we are living in areas where smoking is prohibited in most areas. Our driver smokes and by the time we got there my eyes felt terrible and both Stacey and Laura were ready to rip their contacts out of their eyes. Once we finally got to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, we walked around a little bit and took a few pictures and got out of there. It was neat, but most of the buildings looked the same and while it was impressive, it really couldn't measure up to the wall.
After Tiananmen Square we got a ride back to the hotel and have been here ever since just relaxing in the executive lounge. It is now 9:30 and since I haven't been in a bed since Thursday night I think it is time that I pass out. We have to be up and out of here really early tomorrow to catch our flight to Harbin.
I posted a bunch of pictures at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate - click on the China link.
Our first stop of the day was the Juyong Guan section of the Great Wall. On the way out to the Wall we drove by the Birds Nest and the Olympic Water Cube, both of which look even cooler in person than they do on tv. It took about 45 minutes to get to this section, which is one of the less touristy sections. It was breathtaking - I definitely understand why it is one of the 7 Wonders of the World. The section we visited wound up and around the mountains. After we parked we started to hike the wall. We hiked up and around the mountain and back down the other side. The steps were all different sizes, some were really small and others were up to my knee. The mountain was really steep and if I had to guess I'd say we climbed about 2,000 steps. It was quite the workout to say the least. Along the way we stopped at the different guard houses and saw some temple relics. It really was just like you see in the history books. Words can't do it justice.
After the Wall we headed to the Ming Dynasty tombs. These included some secret garden type areas as well as an underground chamber. It was really neat, however I think we were all slightly jaded from the Great Wall. However, I think this is where we began to truly experience Chinese culture. It started while we were waiting in line for tickets and Claire offered us a Chinese fruit - not really sure what it was called. We were all very hesitant to take it but we also didn't want to look rude so we gave it a try. It basically looked like an orange tomato with a jelly type substance inside. You squeeze the fruit and the jelly comes out a hole in the top. It wasn't bad but certainly wasn't something I'd eat on a regular basis. However this was nothing compared to our experience in the bathroom. Now we had all been warned that you should try to use the bathroom at your hotel but after chugging a bottle of water after our hike it was inevitable that we were going to have to pee. We figured that because this was a major tourist attraction the bathrooms might be safe...WRONG! We all headed in to the room with our toilet paper and purell in hands and everything looked normal until we opened up the stall doors. Instead of your typical western style toilet, there was a small porcelain tub with a hole in the middle. Yes, we had to use squatty pottys. The smell was awful and toilet (if you can even call it that) was stained yellow. And to make things even worse, the Chinese plumbing system can't handle toilet paper so there is a trash can next to the toilet for you to throw your paper - and this trash can definitely isn't emptied very often. I think we were all scarred for life from this experience, however the scary part of all of this was this was just the beginning of our induction into Chinese culture.
After the tombs we headed to lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant. Now let me preface this with we had all discussed that we were going to be vegetarians while we were over here. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to plan. We were sat at a big round table with a lazy susan type center to rotate the family style type dishes around the table. Richard got a menu and just started ordering with the waitress - the only thing he asked us is if we liked duck and fish. Not that a menu would have really helped us anyway, the entire thing was in mandrin but at least we could have pointed to some of the pictures of things that looked good but Richard would have none of that. The first item comes out and it is duck feet. That's right, I said duck feet, complete with webbing and all. Stacey chickened out but Laura and I did have a small nibble and yes, they tasted as gross as they sound. We also were given a full chicken, complete with head sitting on the plate. There were a few good things we ate but needless to say, if we weren't already scarred from the squatty potty we were all now officially scarred for life.
After lunch we experienced some of the infamous Beijing traffic while on our way to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. We also all realized how spoiled we are living in areas where smoking is prohibited in most areas. Our driver smokes and by the time we got there my eyes felt terrible and both Stacey and Laura were ready to rip their contacts out of their eyes. Once we finally got to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, we walked around a little bit and took a few pictures and got out of there. It was neat, but most of the buildings looked the same and while it was impressive, it really couldn't measure up to the wall.
After Tiananmen Square we got a ride back to the hotel and have been here ever since just relaxing in the executive lounge. It is now 9:30 and since I haven't been in a bed since Thursday night I think it is time that I pass out. We have to be up and out of here really early tomorrow to catch our flight to Harbin.
I posted a bunch of pictures at www.picasaweb.google.com/connolly.kate - click on the China link.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
On the Plane
This was written while I was on the plane...
So far the trip has gone along without a hitch, knock on wood. I worked on Friday until about 3:30 when I got a ride to the airport. Surprisingly, my flight out of Philly took off on time. It took us about 6 hours to get to LA - a little longer than usual because the winds were really strong. The flight was totally full and I was stuck in a middle seat, which I absolutely hate. The only good thing about that flight was that after the movie (which I didn't watch) they played several Grey's Anatomy episodes. They were several seasons back but it doesn't matter, I love that show and it helped make the flight go by a little quicker.
We landed in LA around 9:15 in terminal 8. For those of you who have never been to LAX, it is HUGE. And of course, my flight to Beijing was out of terminal 2 - all the way on the complete opposite side of the airport. The woman at the United desk told me to either take the shuttle all the way around the airport or I could walk out side and cut through the parking garages. I'm so glad I decided to walk outside, the fresh air felt so good. After I finally found my way over to terminal 2 I met up with Laura. She had gotten in on her flight from St. Louis about an hour before me. Both of us were starving at this point so we went through the international security checkpoint and decided to find some food by our gate. Little did we know though that terminal 2 is tiny! We were all excited to eat our last "american" meal before leaving and didn't have many options - basically it was Burger King or some weird Route 66 Grill. We went with the grill and ended up having probably the best tasting chicken fingers ever. While we were there we met some crazy people - 2 guys who had been stuck in the airport for 16 hours trying to get home to Minnesota and 3 crazy woman who were drunk and couldn't believe we were going to China to referee ice hockey. After eating we went over to the Air China gate to get ready to board. This is when it actually set in that we were going to China - the announcements were all in Chinese then repeated in broken English. The first time we heard it Laura and I looked at each other and just thought "what are we getting ourselves into." We finally boarded around 12:10 on this huge, double decker plane. As we were boarding the plane, they were handing out newspapers - all in Mandarin. Everything on the plane was in Mandarin, with the exception of about 3 pages of the complimentary magazine they have in the seats. Laura and I sat next to each other thank god, that way we could just laugh about how we didn't understand a single word they were saying when they were making the announcements. Finally we took off and almost immediately they served dinner - some type of beef/pork lo mein dish. I definitely avoided the mystery meat but the lo mein noodles weren't too bad. Afterwards I passed out for a bit, have read a bunch and am now typing this. We have been on the plane for 8 hours and I'm definitely starting to get a little stir crazy. We still have about 6 hours to go until we get to Beijing. At least there is a little more leg room on this flight than there is on your typical domestic flight, however the thing that sucks is there are no movies being played. Laura and I are going to attempt to watch a movie on my laptop, then try to get a little more sleep before we get to Beijing. As soon as we arrive we are getting a limo to the hotel to meet Stacey, where we are getting picked up to go on a tour out to the Great Wall. I just can't wait to get off of this plane, i've been sitting way too long. I'll never complain about flying out to Colorado again, this flight makes that seem like nothing.
So far the trip has gone along without a hitch, knock on wood. I worked on Friday until about 3:30 when I got a ride to the airport. Surprisingly, my flight out of Philly took off on time. It took us about 6 hours to get to LA - a little longer than usual because the winds were really strong. The flight was totally full and I was stuck in a middle seat, which I absolutely hate. The only good thing about that flight was that after the movie (which I didn't watch) they played several Grey's Anatomy episodes. They were several seasons back but it doesn't matter, I love that show and it helped make the flight go by a little quicker.
We landed in LA around 9:15 in terminal 8. For those of you who have never been to LAX, it is HUGE. And of course, my flight to Beijing was out of terminal 2 - all the way on the complete opposite side of the airport. The woman at the United desk told me to either take the shuttle all the way around the airport or I could walk out side and cut through the parking garages. I'm so glad I decided to walk outside, the fresh air felt so good. After I finally found my way over to terminal 2 I met up with Laura. She had gotten in on her flight from St. Louis about an hour before me. Both of us were starving at this point so we went through the international security checkpoint and decided to find some food by our gate. Little did we know though that terminal 2 is tiny! We were all excited to eat our last "american" meal before leaving and didn't have many options - basically it was Burger King or some weird Route 66 Grill. We went with the grill and ended up having probably the best tasting chicken fingers ever. While we were there we met some crazy people - 2 guys who had been stuck in the airport for 16 hours trying to get home to Minnesota and 3 crazy woman who were drunk and couldn't believe we were going to China to referee ice hockey. After eating we went over to the Air China gate to get ready to board. This is when it actually set in that we were going to China - the announcements were all in Chinese then repeated in broken English. The first time we heard it Laura and I looked at each other and just thought "what are we getting ourselves into." We finally boarded around 12:10 on this huge, double decker plane. As we were boarding the plane, they were handing out newspapers - all in Mandarin. Everything on the plane was in Mandarin, with the exception of about 3 pages of the complimentary magazine they have in the seats. Laura and I sat next to each other thank god, that way we could just laugh about how we didn't understand a single word they were saying when they were making the announcements. Finally we took off and almost immediately they served dinner - some type of beef/pork lo mein dish. I definitely avoided the mystery meat but the lo mein noodles weren't too bad. Afterwards I passed out for a bit, have read a bunch and am now typing this. We have been on the plane for 8 hours and I'm definitely starting to get a little stir crazy. We still have about 6 hours to go until we get to Beijing. At least there is a little more leg room on this flight than there is on your typical domestic flight, however the thing that sucks is there are no movies being played. Laura and I are going to attempt to watch a movie on my laptop, then try to get a little more sleep before we get to Beijing. As soon as we arrive we are getting a limo to the hotel to meet Stacey, where we are getting picked up to go on a tour out to the Great Wall. I just can't wait to get off of this plane, i've been sitting way too long. I'll never complain about flying out to Colorado again, this flight makes that seem like nothing.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I Hate Packing
It is now 2:00am and I finally finished packing. It doesn't matter if I'm going to the shore for the weekend or skiing for a week, I always overpack. This trip was next to impossible to pack for. Not only am I going to be away for 16 days but I also have to bring stuff like toilet paper and purell. And what makes me even more nervous is it isn't like a normal trip where if you forget something you just go to Target and buy it; if I forget something I'm pretty much screwed. Luckily my friends Meg and Leah have been to Harbin so they gave me a pretty comprehensive packing list. However, I have to admit, I am definitely nervous I am forgetting something important...
The other thing I always do when I fly is push the weight limit for baggage. Every single time I get to the airport I just pray when I put my bags on the scale that they either a) just make the cut or b) the person working the counter isn't paying close attention to the scale. I don't own a scale (I would just get depressed if I did) so in order to ensure that I don't get screwed at the airport this time I called my friend Kirstin at 10:00 to see if I could borrow her scale. Nothing like doing things at the last minute :-)
I finally think I'm ready and can go to bed. My flight is at 6:00pm tomorrow and I land in Beijing at 5:30am Sunday morning. I can't believe I leave for China in less than 24 hours!
Monday, February 9, 2009
My travel partners
I'm really lucky for many different reasons. Not only do I get to experience this trip with 3 other Americans, but they are 3 people who I am very good friends with. I figure I'd take a few minutes to "introduce" everyone to the people who I will be traveling with. I'm sure they will be mentioned many times in my entries and will be in a lot of my pictures.
Tara Leighton is from Fairbanks, Alaska. We met at regional camp in 2006 and she has been to just about every USA Hockey event I have participated in over the last few years. We even roomed together at Select camp and 4 Nations. We have become really good friends, even if I do rub it in her face that it isn't -20 degrees here and I get off of work when it snows! Hopefully one day I can get up to Alaska to visit her.
Laura Johnson is from Saint Louis, Missouri. I met Laura for the first time at girls nationals last year. We got to know each other really well in Lake Placid this summer when we were roommates for 10 days at Elite camp. She was also at 4 Nations with me this past fall where together we worked the most exciting game of my career - USA vs Canada (USA won after OT and a 6 round shoot out!). Laura will be on the same flight with me to Beijing. Unfortunately we can't play guitar hero on the plane like we did at elite camp and 4 Nations but I'm sure we will find ways to amuse ourselves!
Stacey Livingston is from Richmond, Virginia and is an IIHF supervisor. Stacey was an instructor at both my regional and select camps and supervised 4 Nations this past fall. Her husband is a die hard Penn State football fan so we get along well, haha! Stacey is one of those people who have helped me get to where I am now so I am thrilled to have her there to give me feedback - not only because she knows me but also because she speaks excellent English!
Matt Leaf, the director of USA Hockey officiating, will also be in Harbin supervising the men's tournament so I'm sure we will see him a bunch. I also know a few male American officials are going but I don't think I have ever met any of them.
Like I said before, I really got lucky on this one. I am traveling with a great group of people; I'm sure we are going to share lots of laughs throughout the trip!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
How this all came to be
As most of you know, I leave for China to officiate the World University Games on Friday. I've decided to keep a blog during the trip to help remember everything and to keep those at home informed about what is going on. This is my first attempt at a blog so I apologize if it sucks...most of you know that I am not the best writer in the world! If you have any questions or just want to get in touch please shoot me an email, I plan on checking it regularly. Please do not call or text me while I am gone, I don't want my cell phone bill to be through the roof and it is going to cost me about $2.50 a minute for every phone call I make or receive.
I figured I'd start off this blog with a little background on how this whole thing came to be. When I decided to start reffing about 5 years ago, I did it to earn a little extra cash. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day I would be an internationally licensed referee. I almost didn't even go back and get my certification my second season - I can't imagine how different my life would be if I hadn't dragged myself to the seminar that Saturday morning. Since then I've worked hard and I've also gotten lucky. Through USA Hockey I have had the opportunity to experience some great events - Chicago Showcase, Regional/Select/Elite camps, Nationals, Women's Holiday Camp in Lake Placid, and 4 Nations Cup are just a few of the highlights. And while all of these events have been a lot of fun and very memorable, I think the thing that I really appreciate most is the people I have met along the way. I have never met a better, more caring group of people in anything that I have ever been a part of. It truly is a fraternity; through officiating I have made some lifelong friends from all over the country - people who I know I could count on if I ever needed help. I'll never forget the outpouring of support for the 2 females diagnosed with breast cancer (http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/story.php?left_nav=0807&article=hockey-refs-cancer-0807&right_nav-normal). Things like that just show what a great group of people officials are and I'm proud to be associated with them. So with all of that said, as I sit here getting ready to take the trip of a lifetime to officiate the World University Games in China I just wanted to say thanks to all those who have helped me get here - family, friends, teammates, supervisors, summit people, fellow officials...without all of your support I would have never been given an opportunity like this. Now I just need to make the most of it and do my best. Enough of the sappy stuff, I've got to go shopping to get some essentials for the trip. More on that later...
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