If only things went according to plan

I had planned to write you this brilliant note about how I battled hard in the trenches for softball tickets and finally found admission to the gold medal game. I had planned to tell the predictable yet awe-inspiring tale of how the USA won the last ever Olympic gold medal in softball tonight with me as a witness. I had had big plans.

BUT that wasn't exactly how things shook out. Yes, I fought off every obstacle in the book to ensure myself a seat at THE game. Yes, I met a Canadian former international gymnastics judge on the subway who judged competition at the Sydney Olympics before retiring. Yes, I also met a beer vendor named Mao who pointed me in the right direction for my ticket sale. I also encountered a man named Cookies and two British women decked out in Team USA gear. Yes, I scalped four tickets for ¥500 apiece from a BOCOG employee with an infinity pass. But NO, not all things went along with my agenda.

The United States won the silver medal in softball this evening, snapping a more than 20-game Olympic undefeated streak. Japan prevailed to win the gold medal, and I was not a happy American.

BUT soon I realized, because I have been equipped with the ability to adapt to changing situations, that it is absolutely better for the sport of softball that the Japanese won tonight. While my heart shatters to think of the USA losing, it also recognizes a good opportunity.

The USA has won every game since the Sydney 2000 Olympics. They've won three of four Olympic golds. They have been the heavy, heavy favorite in each game they've played since the Atlanta 1996 Games. Tonight's match was about so much more than gold medals. Tonight's match was a defining point for softball on the international level. Tonight said, "Softball deserves to be an Olympic event, and damned you for thinking otherwise." The game proved that nothing ever goes "according to plan," and sometimes that's better off in the long run.

This is one of the greatest things I have learned in the time I've spent in China. It's also one of the greatest hypocrisies of Chinese culture. In a place where nothing is ever "according to plan," things are never done outside of "by the book." Working in China has made me realize that no one here thinks outside the box. Not one person can adapt to surroundings and go with the flow. The Chinese people I have worked with the past six weeks cannot even deal with the fact that China is the most consistently inconsistent place in the world. China doesn't even deal with it's own inconsistency, it just continues to go with "the plan," which often times leaves us all looking completely ignorant and without credibility.

Six more days.

XOXO