The first thing I need to tell you is the universal feelings of sympathy that are being expressed here for the death of Todd Bachman and the injury to his wife Barbara and their Chinese guide. Everyone is talking about it and everyone is being affected by it. Most people don’t feel threatened, but all the visitors I talked to feel a connection to the Bachmans, being strangers together in a foreign country. People are being more cautious and more aware of their surroundings. The Chinese people are obviously uncomfortable with the event and trying even harder to make us feel at home. Nobody expects this to happen again, but it has had a profound effect on us all and will be one of the enduring memories of the Olympic experience.
I had a day to tour around Beijing on Monday. It was a better day weather wise than Sunday so I took advantage of the opportunity to explore by taxi and on foot. One very obvious impression that I have is that the city is incredibly clean. You don’t see people throwing things out car windows and you don’t see paper cups or other garbage on the streets. This doesn’t look like an Olympic job clean-up either.
In spite of the Olympic hoopla many of the local people are still just carrying on their daily lives. There are a lot less cars on the roads than usual, but the bicycles are out in strength. And these guys use bicycles for all kinds of things, like delivering furniture and bottled water, even moving a bed!
I saw some of the second round tennis today. Again, the tennis center is amazing. I had tickets for center court. The seats are really steep so you feel close to the action and everyone has a great view. I also checked out some of the games at the two show courts and the smaller courts. They’re all beautiful facilities. I’ve never been to a major tennis tournament so I have to say that it was exciting to experience the whole vibe. I think that the finals will be more exciting than the early rounds but it was still a lot of fun.
The tennis center is at the northern part of the Olympic Green. From the northern gate it must be over a mile walk to center court. Jet lag still has a hold on me so the walk back to where I could get a taxi back to the hotel just about did me in. I am getting more used to the time change so in a few days I should be adjusted.
My next event is the softball on Thursday.
