Kelsey vs. China: The great love affair

Over the past couple of days, I've spent countless hours bashing, blaming and belittling China and it's ways. I can't begin to explain how different of an experience it is to live and work in a foreign place than it is to visit a foreign place.

I have to admit that China was really starting to grow on me. The people as individuals are probably the most gentle, caring folks I've ever come in contact with. So many people have been genuinely interested in us. They want to know where we're from, what we do and why we're here. They want to be friends with us. They want to tell us about their hometowns and cultures and what they do. They want us to love them just as much as they love us.

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For example, the other day a girl named Yao who works with us saw Andrea reading "Atonement" at work. She picked up the book and made over it like it was a new puppy. Andrea, surprised by the interaction, offered to give Yao the book after reading it. Andrea had planned to leave the paperback here anyway to make more room in the suitcase.

The next day, Yao came into work just beaming. She pulled Andrea aside to give her a gift. It was a homemade, handwritten card that she crafted. It was addressed, "To Andrea, Xiang Mountain, Beijing, from Yao Qiong." Inside was a sleeve of handmade bookmarks with Chinese poetry written on each one. On the bottom of each, there was a leaf. Yao had walked around the night before and found the most beautiful leaves to decorate the bookmarks. She gave them all to Andrea as a thanks for the book.

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Once the Games started, my love affair with this place got a bit more rocky. Dealing day in and day out with the Chinese on a professional level was quite a test of my patience and sanity. There were times where I thought these Games would never even happen. There were other times when I considered not wearing my uniform so as to disassociate myself with the hoards of Chinese volunteers stopping athletes during training sessions for personal photo shoots and autographs on their accreditation cards. Once a Chinese volunteer, whose job was language service, stopped translating an athlete's quote in the middle of the sentence in order to bust out his camera and take a photo of another athlete that was passing by.

There was one Chinese FQR (exact same job as us) that would frequently skip out on work early, or show up late, or just not come at all because he just didn't feel like it. Then he got upset when our international manager screamed at him for his insolence. Before opening day, massive groups of Chinese staff and volunteers would find a comfortable bleacher seat in the velodrome to take naps all day long. It wasn't until an AP photographer published a photo of the great siesta that a stop was put to the laziness. Even so, they then continued to nap inside the walls of the office.

Each day, coming into the ONS office was an obstacle course of Blue Army members snoozing all over the place or watching TV. In addition, staff members and volunteers of the Olympic Games were supposed to be impartial during the competition. Regardless of your national affiliation or fanship toward a particular athlete, you are a professionally and morally inclined to control yourself. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult, especially in a sport where your country can't even compete with the big boys. OH NO, there was more clapping and yapping and slap-sticking for China by the volunteers than there was by the ticket-buying spectators! It still infuriates me.

The "Blue Army," as it came to be known, was the source of my insanity for two weeks during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

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So then there's us, the fifteen international volunteers who look upon the actions of the Chinese volunteers as totally embarrassing atrocities. We run around and sweat and curse and produce, getting more done in ten minutes than half of China does in a day.

The Chinese are great at doing exactly what the book and the schedule say and not getting strayed off course. However, when it boils right down to it, the plan usually sucks and the schedule doesn't work. For example, lunch at the velodrome was everyday from 11-1pm, and each department had a 20 minute shift. During competition, however, lunch occurred right in the middle of some of the most important races.

Or how about the pre-Games medal ceremony practice that occurred during the middle of a training session for a handful of nations? They blocked off the entrance to the athletes' ramp so no one could go up or down during the ceremony. This is perfectly fine during the actual medal ceremonies when the Games are on, but for PRACTICE they wouldn't allow athletes up from the locker area to the velodrome floor, thereby denying certain teams their right to train altogether. I'm sure you can imagine how happy the coaches and athletes were about that!

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But then we come home from work and start preparing to leave for good. As we say goodbye to each of the Chinese volunteers that became our good friends, my heart melts for them. Li Lihuang, our ONS buddy who actually never partook in any of these crazy activities that I mentioned above, brought me a gift this afternoon. He noticed I always doodled on my notepad, so he got me a set of watercolor pencils to "make better drawings." He also got Traci a movie DVD, and Jason got a Bible written in Chinese.

Li had really been paying close attention to each of us since we've known him. He is thoughtful and genuine and values our friendships deeply. Did we have a gift for him? No, but it didn't even matter. That wasn't the point. Li (and all the other Chinese friends) did this because we are important to them, and in their culture, you express those feelings out loud.

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So where does all this hemming and hawing and bitching and moaning get us? After seven weeks, it smashed me in the face. This is China's Grand Paradox. This is the love/hate idea. This is exactly why no one can figure this place out.

China and I have wrestled and battled and bruised each other. We have hugged and kissed and embraced at times. We have danced in the moonlight and cried in the rain. I have seen the dungeon, and I have seen the castle. China has been my worst nightmare and, in an instant, my greatest fairytale.

As the Olympics dwindle down and my new Boilermaker family starts to leave, I realize: China is the single greatest adventure I have ever embarked on, and I am humbled to have had the opportunity to experience it.

XOXO