"Ok guys make sure you study your ONS guide books as well as your articles about water polo, 'cause we are going to have our first test tomorrow."  With those words, Gigi the international ONS Manager, released the the international flash quote reporters for the day (7 members in the group are IC flash quote reporters).  We all left the Yingdong Natatorium wondering what we were in for on Thursday morning.  Would we be overwhelmed with questions about water polo rules and regulations for hours on end, or would we have to type the perfect flash quote into the system without breaking a sweat?  No one knew, but we all knew that we needed to study. 

As we walked into the ONS office on Thursday morning, many of the volunteers had their notebooks out and were reviewing material from the first three days of training.  Gigi walked into the office a few minutes past 11 a.m., followed closely by Russel (ONS Sports Information Specialist) and Kirk (ONS Reporter).  All three looked very serious, which made the situation look even worse for the group of volunteer sitting in front of them.  "Ok guys, today as you know we will have our first test," Gigi said.  The room remained silent.  "But first, we will be correcting your flash quotes from the day before.  Once we are done with that, we will have lunch.  To wrap up the day we will give out your examination," she continued.   There are few things more frustrating to students who are anticipating a test, than to delay the exam until the very last item of the day.  We all moaned a little bit, hoping that we could finish the test and move on with the rest of the day, but to our dismay, the opposite was going to happen.

Lunch rolled around and still no one knew what to expect from the test.  We headed back from the dining hall at around 12:40 p.m. ready to take the first (and hopefully last) test in China.  We sat down and awaited the arrival of Gigi from the dining hall.  As she walked in the room the drums began playing in my head.  It was like one of those movies where you know something is going to happen, but you don't know when.  Well this was the opposite.  I knew when it was going to happen, I just didn't know WHAT was going to happen.  "Ok guys, the test that Kirk, Russel and I came up with is a little bit more like a game."  With those words, one big sigh of relief lifted from all the volunteers.  Gigi continued on with the rules of the "test/game."  The object was to literally run around the arena searching for clues the supervisors had hidden, tracking down important information and coming up with the most accurate stats.  The team that completed their test the fastest and most accurately, would be crowned the winner.

In the end, the game made perfect sense.  When the Olympics are in full swing, everyone in the ONS is going to be running around like chickens with their head's cut off.  We are all going to be thinking about six different things that need to get done, but we still need to perform our duties in an accurate manner.  After about an hour of running around the building, my team came in second.  I will mention however that the results are unofficial at this point because the tests are still being graded by Gigi, Russel and Kirk tonight, so things are still up in the air pending the final scores.

All-in-all the test was a great way to get to know the people and the building we are going to be working in for the next month.  Everyone went home, not only relieved that there was no test, but with a smile on their face and sweat on their shirt.  ONS training has been nothing but fun so far and I look forward to learning more about the sport and players in the coming days.   

    We learned the most important thing about taking flash quotes from an athlete pretty quickly.  During our first practice, I came back from interviewing Kirk, our ONS reporter who was playing the part of the athlete, and went to enter the quotes into the system thinking I had done a good job and gotten some useful quotes.  Then Kirk told us we had forgotten to find out one key piece of information.  We didn't ask who he was, so we didn't know the athlete's name, and thus our quotes were useless.  Kirk had no name tag or anything that I could use to identify him, which the athletes will have at the games, but even then it can still sometimes be hard to identify an athlete.  Therefore, the first question we may need to ask could be pretty awkward.  What's your name? 

    The rest of training has been going really well.  I'm working with a great group of people, and the things I was most nervous about screwing up turned out to be very simple.  ONS reports have a very particular style they have to be written in, and I was worried I would make a lot of mistakes.  Luckily, the system we enter the quotes into does this for me so I don't need to even think about it.  Reports are also edited after I submit them.  The hardest part so far has been keeping my pen moving fast enough to get most of what the people are saying.  

    We received our uniforms yesterday, which are very bright blue and white shirts with pants that can zip off in the middle and become shorts.  We got 3 shirts and 2 pants, a hat, a jacket, and shoes.  We were also given a water bottle and a fanny pack.  Though not very fashionable, the uniforms do make it easy to quickly identify Olympic volunteers, and I did kind of need a new pair of shoes, as my mother has been telling me to get new ones for over a year now.

    Tomorrow we have a test to see how well we know the process of taking flash quotes and entering them into the system.  I'll be studying our training books tonight, and hopefully I'll do well. 

Not much else to report on the water polo front.  Sherry did a pretty good job summing it up, which is the post before mine.

But right now all the water polo flash quote reporters are reviewing the handbook they gave us with everything we need to know about the sport including all of the rules.  I think I have a pretty good grasp on the basics, but I have a feeling once I start watching a few games my knowledge of the sport will grow even more.

The intense training starts Monday...lets do it.

    Yesterday, the Ithaca College Water Polo Reporters received an email from our managers regarding our training schedule. As some of you may know, we haven’t started training yet and will do so on Monday. I can’t wait to learn more about the sport and how to flash quote report this event. 

    I am still in complete, ecstatic shock that I am in Beijing right now working with about 300 other students from around the world for the Olympics! I never imagined I would be spending a summer in Beijing in the first place, let alone be working for the Olympics. As a journalism major, I have had the typical daydream of one day reporting a major event and getting special media access that others won’t get. Just the mere fact of knowing I’ll be getting exclusive access tocertain Olympics venues and free public transportation is simply awesome. 

    On Monday the managers (Nina and Gigi), Water Polo specialist (Russell), and Water Polo reporter (Kirk) will offer us an overview of the sport, going over rules andalso what we should expect everyday while working. Gigi, Russell, and Kirk said that we MIGHT have some hands on training. You know what this means, right?? Play Water Polo! I think this is an excellent idea, this way I’ll really get  the sport if I start to play it. I hope we will get to do this.

     I really like everyone in my ONS group. They are all so friendly, fun, and sweet. It’s been great since the managers felt that the best way for us to get to know each other better was to have a karaoke night for everyone in the group. This turned out to be extremely enjoyable and different from the American version of Karaoke. It was held in a medium sized private room, with coffee tables of food and drinks, large television screens, and big plush sofas for everyone to sit andrelax on. We quickly bonded during our Karaoke party. Work starts on Monday and I’m really looking forward to working with everyone else to make this Olympics the best possible.

 -Sherry S.

    Today a few friends and I toured the Forbidden City, which was originally built in the 1400s and was the home of the emperor.  One of my friends knows a person who lives in Beijing who planned out a whole day for us and was able to arrange for a driver, which was really helpful because it made getting from one place to another much easier.  We spent about three hours at the Forbidden City, but only saw about a third of the whole area.  Most of the other sections were closed to the public, but it's amazing how big it is.  Instead of having a tour guide show us around the city, we rented a device that gave us an audio guide.  It looked kind of like a remote control, but it had an earpiece attached to it.  We couldn't figure out exactly how it worked, but the device knew where we were, and gave us a lot of interesting historical information about the buildings we passed.  Most of the buildings are made of wood, so fire has destroyed parts of the city multiple times throughout history, but the city was always rebuilt exactly the way it had been before.  There were a lot of very elaborate decorations, and I took plenty of photos.

    After we finished walking around the Forbidden City, we went to the Beijing DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant. We were kind of intimidated when the menu they handed was about the size of an encyclopedia.  Every choice on the enormous menu was accompanied by a picture of the dish.  We ordered the duck, a chicken dish, and some Chinese ribs.  Everything looked exactly the same as it did in the picture, which I've never seen happen before.  The entire duck, including the head, was brought out and carved up in front of us, but we all agreed that it was even better than the duck we had earlier in the trip, which we had heard was the best duck in all of Beijing.  One of the waitresses demonstrated how to properly eat the duck, which consists of taking a very soft and thin wrap, then dipping the duck in a sauce and putting it in the wrap with some vegetables and garlic.  Also, one way to eat the skin of the duck is to cover it in sugar before you eat it, which was also delicious.

    From lunch we went to an antique mall.  It is set up the same as the silk and pearl markets, with lots of little shops in one building, but the vendors were the complete opposite of the people who would stop at nothing to sell us something at the silk market.  Everything was very nice, and very expensive.  While it was fun to window shop, I think the sales people knew that I had no where near enough money to buy most of the things they were selling.  I did get a few cheaper things to give as gifts when I get home.

    Everyone from Ithaca had dinner together tonight to welcome another of our professors who has just arrived, and say goodbye to one who is leaving tomorrow.  It was a good dinner that featured duck again, but those of us who had it for lunch didn't mind.  Tomorrow all remaining tickets to Olympic events go on sale to the public, so some people might go try to buy some.  The problem is that in order to purchase tickets you have to be a Chinese citizen, so we would have to find someone to buy the tickets for us.  We also heard that people have been lining up for over a day to get these tickets, so we think it will probably be easier to just buy tickets on eBay.  I will probably try to get tickets to tennis and any event in the Bird's Nest, just so I can get inside that building.  

Finally, we got the chance to visit the venue for water polo, which is Yingdong Natatorium of National Olympic Sports Center. It is located in Olympic Sports Center where is closed to Bird Nest and Water Cube. Yingdong Natatorium is used for Water Polo and Modern Pentathlon (swimming) Olympic competitions, and Training (swimming) for Paralympics competitions. With a capacity of 4,852 seats and floor area of 44,635 square meters, Yingdong Natatorium not only can meet the requirements of Beijing Olympics, but also the rising demands of the Beijing residents for physical exercise. The natatorium is the result of renovation featuring the idea of sustainable development, application of state-of-the-art materials to protect the environment and maximum use of natural ventilation and lighting. It has set an example of resources-saving, solid waste treatment, protection against electronic interference and the use of new products to avoid ozone depleting substances.

We met our manager and supervisor after our tour of the natatorium. We got one Chinese ONS Manager, Nina Tang, and one national ONS Manager, Giulianan Grillo who comes from Italy, and one Chinese Pigeonhole Supervisor, Emily Liu. As our first official meeting, they introduced other Chinese teammates who are as the runners during the competition. We are paired up to introduce ourselves to each other. Being surprised, our first “homework” is that hanging out for KTV (Karaoke). We can tell how nice of our managers and supervisors are. Our training will start until July 28^th. During these few days, we can do some research of water polo and get used to travel around Beijing without taking the taxi. I am looking forward having fun with our teammate for KTV next week.

So, not much has happened with water polo yet.  We have basically just been given a free week at the beginning to research and understand the sport before we have to work everyday of the Olympics. 

We met with our group a few days ago and did the usual introduction drills.  Everyone partnered up, talked for a few minutes, and then had to introduce their partner to everyone else.  That was an alright way to meet everyone, but I am really looking forward to tonight.  Our managers are taking us all out to sing a little karaoke.  It should definitely be funny and hopefully help everyone to get comfortable with the others.  I’m especially excited because Lee has been talking about singing some Shania Twain.  Hopefully we will be able to get some great videos of tonight to share with everyone. :)

With the Water Poloers not beginning training until the 28th, other groups have dubbed our group "lucky" because we have so much time off.  To those groups I say HAH....NOT SO FAST!!!!  During our first meeting with Gi-Gi (ONS International Water Polo Manager) and Nina (ONS Chinese Water Polo Manager), we were given Water Polo instructional books which contained rules, essays, schedules, and competition formats for the Olympics.  So while me might not be officially in the office training, we are still busting our butts to get mentally ready for the 2008 games.

After reading through the rules, it is clear that just like any other sport, Water Polo has little intricacies that make it difficult to understand.  Most of us in the Water Polo group have never played or watched the sport before, but we all know how exciting Olympic Water Polo will be once we are sitting pool side.

Although the studying and memorizing of the rules isn't the most exciting part of the day, it is definitely the most important aspect of our training because without this knowledge, we will not be able to cover the sport to the fullest extent.  I am really excited to learn about a sport that is hugely popular in Europe and other countries around the world and begin to train with our SIS (Sports Information Specialist) and ONS reporter, before the games get underway.

10 days off might seem like a cake walk for some of the other groups but us Water Poloers will still be in our office (our dorm room) plugging away at the new material and preparing ourselves for the upcoming games!

Yesterday we finallly saw the venue where we water poloers will be working during the Olympics.  It was actually pretty cool to say we're working in a place where so many eyes will be watching.  As for the venue, we will be interviewing athletes in a mixed zone or the press room, which is where athletes and coaches meet with the press to discuss the latest match.  Then as we gather quotes, we make the 10 second walk to the ONS room where we enter the quotes into the system for all journalists to see and use.  Once the athlete or coach we are interviewing is finished talking, we only have 10 minutes for it to be in the system.

We lucky reporters also get the premium seats to sit and watch the match.  Obviously there are no seats pool side, but we get seats on the first level right in the middle of the pool to watch everything.  I feel pretty priveleged to be given this opportunity to get premium seats to a popular event while interviewing top-flight athletes.

But in my opinion one of the greatest, if not the greatest part about the whole Olympics is meeting so many different people from different backgrounds.  Our manager in charge of all of us is from Rome, another water polo reporter is Russian, our Sports Information Specialist is Australian, and our runners reign from China.  In matter of fact, our runners were teaching us some form of hackey sack, where we are in a circle and have to kick it around a different kind of ball to each other in the air.  I gave it a shot and pretty much sucked, but it was fun to try something our Chinese peers love so much.

We don't resume training for a little over a week, but our ONS Manager is organzing a night out including kareoke.  I figure that should be a fun way to get to know each other and to make our bosses not seem so much like bosses, but friends.  However, I asked one of our Chinese friends if there was American music at Chinese kareokes, and she replied "yes, Avril Lavigne"...so i might be in trouble.  Until next time, gumbai.

    The "death by PowerPoint" continued today, with a session this morning on how to work together as a team.  It actually wasn't as bad as yesterday, since we did several team building exercises, like getting in order from youngest to oldest without talking and working together to solve a riddle.  We also learned a little bit more about the information system that will be available to us soon.  I'm really glad we will have this system, because it sounds like it will be an invaluable tool to prepare for the games.  We will need to know the athletes well enough to identify them by sight, and the system has information available on every athlete.

    Our training was cut short today, since many of the supervisors had other duties they had to attend to.  With a free afternoon, we decided to go as a group to Wal Mart, which does actually exist here in Beijing.  The store has three levels, with the first being a grocery store, the second has electronics and appliances, and the third floor has clothing and other odds and ends.  My first stop was on the first floor, where I hoped to find peanut butter and jelly, which I've been searching for this whole trip but couldn't find.  It took about five minutes of looking around to find Skippy peanut butter, strawberry jam, 2 loaves of bread, and a knife to make the sandwiches.  I also bought bananas, a pair of shoes, and laundry detergent.  All together, it cost me about twenty dollars in American money.

    We went from Wal Mart to another university in Beijing, and there we met one of the countries best painters, who is working on a piece for the Olympic games.  We got to watch him as he worked on the painting, using his brush and ink to make an elaborate pine tree.  We also learned a little bit about calligraphy, including what our names look like in Chinese characters.  One of the men who works there was kind enough to paint the names of everyone in our group on a large sheet of paper, which we hope to display at Ithaca College when we get back. We also met the dean of the school, who presented us with a painting and a book to take back to IC as well.  

     Tomorrow we go to our venue for the first time to get familiar with the area.  I'm not sure if we will begin to practice the process of taking and entering flash quotes, but I'm pretty excited to finally get to work. 

When I discovered in late spring that I was going to be reporting the Beijing Olympics Water Polo event, I definitely felt more fortunate and excited than ever. In high school I was on the Varsity Swim team and I will forever remember having to endure those long, exhausting practices every night (and even morning sometimes!). However, I have always enjoyed swimming for the leisure and cardiovascular benefits it brings. So when I found out I got to report Water Polo, I was really looking forward to it.

Many people seem to associate swimming with being an individual event. It is in some ways, but if you’re playing water polo, it’s definitely a team sport. There’s a lot of contact, considerable strength, and constant movement taking place during a long game. Water Polo is also extremely difficult to play because it involves many different skills such as swimming, treading water, and ball handling. Before coming to China, I decided to research more about water polo’s history and the usual teams that would be considered the top competitors for the sport. The results were interesting. Some of the teams competing for gold this summer included Hungary, Spain, Greece, China, and Croatia. I also learned that the U.S.A. water polo teams for both men and women were on the list, and the women’s team is a top Olympics competitor. In fact, the U.S.A. women’s team is ranked number one in the world. They just held a 12-6 victory over the number two ranked Australia women’s team on July 8th.

It’s great to know that as a Chinese-American, I’ll be able to embrace my Chinese culture by working as a flash quotes reporter at the BEIJING Olympics of all Olympics and by simply applying my Chinese language skills to daily life. But I’ll also get a bit of America right here in China with the strong presence of the American Water Polo teams at the Olympics. Well, today is just a part of the first week of my long and wonderful Beijing Olympics journey so far. In a couple of days we will be having our first training sessions at the Mengxi Hotel to learn more about flash quote reporting and water polo. So stay tuned for more updates!

-Sherry Shen ('11)