We're Home!

We left Beijing on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 3:45 pm. After a 12 hour flight we arrived in Newark on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 pm. Crossing the dateline sure messes with my time frame. We got through customs and caught our plane to Houston. I know that was a weird scheduling thing, but it got us home 3 hours earlier. We rented a hotel in Houston and got about 6 hours of stretch out time. I got some good sleep in those 6 hours. We boarded our plane to Denver at 7:30 am and were in Denver 9:15 am. Our luggage followed us all the way.

We are now in Torrington. I am feeling a little tingly after going through all those time zones but we should reset our internal clocks with a good night's rest.

I have lots of thoughts about my first Paralympic Competition and maybe I will share those thoughts soon - when my brain doesn't feel mushy. Keep checking back. I hope to have some of the pictures up too.

4th Place Finish

What an exciting race it was! The guys knocked 3 seconds off their morning's time. We are so proud of them. It has been an exhausting day. The seating in the Cube is general seating - so fans have to arrive 2 hours early to get seats together. It has become a race as soon as the gates open. I think it should be a new event in Paralympic competition - the fan dash. Greece decided they wanted our seats and it got a little crazy but we finally figured it all out in the end.

Gotta pack - going home tomorrow! Glad the coverage was good.

First place Seed!

USA's 4X50 Medley Relay - 20 point was this morning. The four men who swam it were awesome and they will be the same 4 tonight. Lantz Lamback S7 swam the lead leg of backstroke, Dave SB4 swam the Breaststroke leg, Roy Perkins - S5 swam the butterfly and Joe McCartney S4 swam the last freestyle leg. Those fans in the stands who are in the know told us that our team could go faster tonight. Also there are a couple of teams that will have faster swimmers in the relay tonight. Our team's time was 2.46:40. Whoohoo - we were rocking the stands with that one.

We also have a 4X100 - 34 point relay tonight. I think we are seeded 4th for that one. We have several swimmers going to finals so it will be an exciting way to end 9 days of swimming.

Jerrica and I didn't eat bugs but we saw them. About the time I was ready to dare her to do so the stands closed down. Good timing on my part, eh? Zack and Jerrica have hoofed all over this town seeing more than you can imagine. We have seen enough to feel like we have been in China. We have haggled at flea markets with a bazaar type feel. We have haggled in the "discount" markets. After a while that gets annoying - if you make eye contact with any of them, they grab your arm and drag you in. They will not let go until you buy something - unless you are Zack. He got blocked into one spot - I'm not sure how long but he refused to buy, they finally let him go. I usually cave because I do want something and the more I look the more tired I became. I think I got some deals but after awhile, I just wished they'd give me a fair price and let me go on my way.

We tried to find a street fair yesterday. These next few days are "happy mid-autumn" Festival. We got lost and turned around. Finally grabbed a cab that would drop me off to finish up shopping and then take Tom back to the apartment. As I was leaving the market to go home, I looked for my paper that tells the driver where to go. I couldn't find it. There are volunteer stands all over Beijing. Most of these folks speak enough English to confuse things. However, they very much want to help. My new best friends did finally figure out where I wanted to go and wrote down the directions. It was a piece of cake after that.

We all went out to try Peking Duck last night. Probably the swankiest restaurant I've been in since we've been here. The duck is served family style and the duck is 198 RMB then with all the condiments - we threw a couple more beers on top of that. I think the bill came to 425 RMB with tip. that's about $65. It was a lovely meal. Zack did a terrific job ordering it for us. He had it when he was in Beijing before so he was the expert among us.

Our plane leaves here at 3:45 on the 16th. We arrive in Denver the 17th. By the time you wake up, you should know how our men did with their Relay. It should be very very exciting.

Change of Plans

Hurricane Ike has closed the Houston Airport which is how we were supposed to get home. It will probably be up and running but rerouting has been a nightmare for Continental, I imagine. Anyway we elected to stay a couple of days extra, rather than spend days in an airport. We'll get to see Dave's relay race on Monday, too.

Today has been a low key day. Dave came over and spent some time with us. We did find a coffee shop not far from the Paralympic Village. So we went there and got our coffee fix then rolled on over to the Village. We didn't get to go in but we did get to see some of the courtyards and buildings.

I think tonight is bug night. Zack and Jerrica found where they are - they only come out at night, after dark. Yeah, makes you feel kind of squeamish doesn't it? So maybe tonight is the night we dare each other to eat something exotic. We haven't gotten TD yet - after tonight it might be another story. Imodium is good for TD - there's a hint for what I am talking about.

Tomorrow night is Peking Duck night. We might try to get into wheelchair Rugby - of "Murder Ball" fame. Dave did sit next Mark Zupan one of the Rugby athletes at opening ceremonies. It would be fun to watch USA play but it's pretty popular - we might have to "settle" for any team.

100 Breast SB4

Dave finished 9th in his event - just missed finals by .05 seconds. RATS! I think I got it on video and will download and try to set it up here. He did knock off another 3 seconds of his best time though. I don't know how tired the athletes are but being a fan is taking a toll. We have to race to our spots for the finals - everybody thinks the Americans have the best spot and so do we. The Chinese have a high regard for those who can swipe a spot from someone else. It doesn't matter whether it is while walking, driving, or finding a seat in a venue. They start learning spatial relations early here.

While we were in the Temple of Heaven, a little boy was riding a bike with training wheels. He must have been about 3. He was weaving in out of people who were walking along the sidewalk and missing their toes by inches. He never hit anybody though. Now imagine that little kid as a taxi driver 30 years later. Somehow these folks just know how to squeeze into tiny spaces and yet I haven't seen any road rage, or foul tempers. It just is. So if they can swipe a good seat from a Yank, there are congratulations all around. On the other hand if we are bold in refusing them the seat, they are okay with that, too.

So today we went to the MacDonalds on the Green. A real American MacDonalds. The Chinese love MacDonalds, I think there were about 10 million of them standing in line and 5 more million milling around outside waiting to get in. I maneuvered my way into line and Tom was supposed to find a table for us. No luck, they were too sneaky getting in under him. We went upstairs and there were items on two chairs and an empty table. We just moved the items, sat down and ignored the people who picked up their items. They didn't say anything - we were pretty quick and when the rest of their family came in we were done and they got their table back. I took a picture of the millions of Chinese ordering MacDonalds. I'll post it later.

Kinda tired - hope to get some more stuff written before we leave on Sunday. David said he will be in the Medley Relay on Monday - alas, we will be home by then unless Hurricane Ike changes our plans.

Relay!

Tonight was the 4 x 50 freestyle relay. Dave swam the second leg and was in second place when he did the exchange. We ended up fourth - it should be on Universal Sports since it was a final. It took a long time for the results to come up - looked like a DQ was in the making. AND China's time did not go up right away. We held our breath. It was a DQ but not China or anybody that would have moved up but the DQ wasn't charged to the USA either. We thought Dave looked good doing the freestyle. After tomorrow he will have done all the strokes at least once. It's his big day tomorrow. Cheer loudly! I know it might be midnight for you all but cheer in your dreams! After all the theme here is ONE WORLD ONE DREAM.

The awards ceremony touched me tonight. One of the men who is blind got a bronze. I think he was from Canada. The metals are very stunning and they have braille on them, too. This young man fingered the bronze quite awhile - reading the braille then a smile broke out. That made me gulp a few times. How proud he was to get that medal. This was the award ceremony for the S11 which are those who are totally blind. Can you imagine diving into a pool of water - not knowing when you are going to hit or where? I know they do it all the time so it probably isn't that remarkable to them but it certainly is to me.

Our team is still doing very well. We went 1-2 in some events. Keep it up USA!

Jerrica, Zack and I went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City today. We had to do it quickly so we could get back to the Water Cube. We also saw some events in the Bird Nest - wheelchair racing. I could get to be a fan of that. As we were wandering around Tianamen Square, I asked Zack if he could ask someone to take a picture of all of us. He said sure and pointed to some people and said he bet they spoke English. They did! They were from Alabama so like a well trained Auburn Fan, I hollered "War Eagle!". They responded louder (but there were 3 of them) "Roll Tide!" They took our picture anyway. It turns out that their son is a wheelchair racer. Small world isn't it?

Thanks Alabama for taking our picture and good luck to your son. and brother.

It's been found

Beijing has a population of 15 million people. Tom lost his phone in the taxi. God is good - the next person in that taxi was an American. He was able to call David who called us. We will be getting the phone in a few days. Hooray! We think it's pretty remarkable that in a population of 15 million, the right person got on that taxi!

Along with telling us the news that Tom's phone was found, Dave told us he would be swimming a relay tomorrow night. Now we have to scrounge tickets - wish us well. Bedtime here. Yawn! Goodnight.

Dropped 3

Today was 50 M butterfly. Dave was in lane one again - so we got to see him up close on the Jumbotron again. He dropped 3 seconds from his best time. Alas, he missed making the final by tenths of a second. He was 9th and finals are like regular swimming - top 8. We saw him afterwards. He was still pretty happy, then the Chinese saw him and started asking him if it was okay to take a picture. He did that for awhile - one lady wanted us in there, too. Kinda funny.

We rode the subway over to the Summer Palace. It was a very cool place - both in location and temperature. We think we lost Tom's cell phone there. I have a message into our landlord to see if he can call over there and maybe recover it for us.

So the highs and lows of Wednesday in Beijing.

Chinese TV

Two blogs in one day! We have been vegging around the apartment today. Thus, we have had the TV on quite a bit. There are several channels here in Beijing covering the Paralympics. If we aren't seeing it live, we are seeing recaps nearly all day long. We know they are educating us about each sport and about how the classification system works. Unfortunately, it is in Chinese and Zack isn't translating for us. They talk too fast or something. We have scrolled through the tv menu hoping we could find an English subtitle or something - no luck there. Regardless it is great seeing the events we can't attend. Our swimmers are doing an awesome job. GO USA! Make your move, DAVO!

We Are Real Men!

Chairman Mao stated that only real men climb the Great Wall of China. We did that on Sunday. Some climbed further than others but length does not seem to be a factor. When Jerrica and Zack came down - their legs were visibly shaking. It was good tour day. It started with rain but it affected us very little.

We saw Jade factories and learned about Jade - real and fake. If I give you Jade it will probably be fake so be prepared for that! The medals for the Olympic Games and Paralympic games are from Chinese Jade. The gold medal has Jadeite which is the best quality Jade and the hardest - only diamonds can cut it. The other medals have green jade but still high quality. Supposedly this is the first time the medals have been something other than just metal.

We also went to a cloisonne factory. Very intricate work which was invented by the Chinese a long time ago. It is enamel on Copper - vases, bracelets, whatever can be made with copper.

We ate at a real Chinese restaurant - family style - while the food looked a little unusual, it all tasted wonderful. The funniest looking thing had many "legs" on it - it was deep fried and breaded so I thought I could try that at least once. It was some kind of fish because I hit a few bones but it was very tasty. I think everyone tried at least one.

There was a Swedish couple and their 2 year old with us. She was darling and very well behaved. The Chinese all loved her and kept wanting to take pictures. It was fun to watch,

We visited the Ming Tombs. 13 emperors from the Ming dynasty were buried here. The tombs are like huge rooms with all the stuff an Emperor would need for his next life and then it is filled in with dirt. So the Tomb we saw just looked like a lovely hill with grass, trees, flowers. Very restful.

The Great Wall was impressive. What made it impressive is the amount of work that went into building this wall. We saw maybe 1/100th of it and we were overwhelmed. The section we thought we could climb didn't look steep but it was very steep. The Chinese tourists climbed this wall with sandals, flip flops and dress shoes. I had my Nike Hikes and my legs were aching about half way up. I almost turned around but dog gone it, if those Chinese tourists who were older than me, wearing shoes with no support could do it, I could, too! And this before I knew if I climbed it, I would be considered a real man. The Swedish man carried his little girl on his shoulders up and made it further than I did. There are various watch towers along the walls - I made it past 2 - Zack and Jerrica made it past 3 more and then they quit and had to come back down - thus wobbly legs - Jerrica's knees looked like Jello they were wiggling so much.

After the Great Wall we came back to Beijing and went to a Tibetan Hospital. Our guide told us there was a special Olympic demonstration of Chinese medicine. We would be given a foot massage for a tip of about 20 Yuan ($3) and a Chinese doctor would feel our pulse and tell us what ailed us and how to fix it. I was good with the foot massage. My feet were aching. The room we went to was out of a 1950's movie set. The room had couches with the close looped upholstery with embroidered clothes covering the back of them. Six of us got our feet massaged. We were told what herbs to take after sharing our personal history with everyone in the room - weird. None of us fell for the herbal remedies - we tipped our masseuses and went on our way.

Our final stop of the day was to a tea house. We got to taste 4 different teas and learn how to drink them. One tea tastes better if you slurp it. One is better if you "eat" the liquid. Our hostess did a good job with this, so Jerrica and I fell for the tea spiel - bought too much but one is an investment. It gets better with age so if I don't drink all of it and my kids have to clean out my house when I get old and infirm - look for the label, if it says "investment" try to sell it back to the Chinese and pay for my nursing home care!

We came back and crashed. Munched on a few things for dinner - we should be losing weight with all the walking we are doing and lack of recognizable food.

This morning, Zack, Jerrica, and I went to the supermarket to stock up again. This time we noticed more English translations under the Chinese labels. I am more appreciative of the second language thing now. We bought breakfast at the "deli", kind of a thin crepe with an egg in the middle, then some other stuff thrown in. It was tasty. As we were leaving we ran into some Canadians. They were here for wheelchair basketball. They were staying at the Best Western. We asked them if they had found any good restaurants. The breakfast buffet at the hotel is good and the rest of the food has not been a good experience for them. Jerrica knows how to cook this Chinese food so we have had some good food. The Canadians asked us where we were from - I said Wyoming. One of them had worked on an oil rig there. He said it was pretty desolate and he hoped to never to go back. A rough country with rough people - he told a story of how a replacement crew came roaring in on motorcycles and guns, scaring him to death. I told him it was probably my son-in-law and not to worry, he's a pastor now. That got a chuckle out him.

So today we are laying low and recouping. Dave caught a taxi over and hung out with us for about 4 hours. We might have enough energy to do something tonight - maybe a game. Tomorrow will be a big day - Dave says he has actually trained for the 50 butterfly. If he makes finals, I am making an appeal to stay on the green all day.

One Down

First things first. Dave swam his first event the 50 backstroke. He got that one under is belt and now can concentrate on his better events. Backstroke is not his best stroke. He was in lane one and was right by the camera. He was featured on the Jumbotron almost exclusively - we felt we were on deck beside him. He didn't make finals but his spirits are still up!

Now we can back up to the beginning.

We got up pretty early to go to the Water Cube. Unlike the Olympics - the seating for the Paralympics is general seating. The earlier you go the better your seats. No bleacher seating though - each seat is individual. The USA fans were some of the first at the gate. The Cube is truly awesome. It is big, the traffic flow is great - inside, the bubbles makes your mouth drop. There are waterfalls in the walls and the seating for the fans seems to go forever.

We got front row seating. We scoped our seats and spread out waiting for the rest of the USA fans to show up. I think we had about 40 fans for the USA. Some records fell and we have many swimmers in the finals tonight. As I was taking it all in, the tears started to flow again. I was thinking about swimming and how much God has blessed us to have this sport in our lives. Before I really knew what swimming was about, I told myself this was a great sport for my children to be involved in. It is a safe sport, it is a life sport, and it is a character building sport. As the years have passed, our swimming has family has grown. Dave wasn't hurt swimming but the swimming community came together to encourage him and us to live a full life. It took him awhile to come back to swimming but as I was watching the swimmers warm up, the thought came to me that swimming is a life sport. These disabled athletes chose swimming to excel in. It doesn't seem to matter what the disability is, the athlete is in the water and living a full life. That is what made me cry - that we get to be a part of that in whatever capacity it is.

Tom sat next to a Chinese woman who worked in Canada for awhile. She was interested in how this all worked. Too bad for her that she sat next to newbies. We are trying to figure out how this works also. We answered her questions to the best of our abilities - some of the more experienced fans heard some of the conversations and added more accurate info. We know a little more today than we did yesterday. We did wander the halls and wandered right into David. It was good to see him - he was all smiles and very happy to see us - I think the emphasis might be- very happy to see Jerrica but that's okay. It was brief, he had stuff to attend to but good. Tomorrow will be a down day for him so maybe we'll see more of him.

We're resting this afternoon. Zack and Jerrica are still on the Olympic Green. Maybe they will get their bearings better than we did. We got tired of walking and getting lost so we came home. We thought we'd try the bus and see another event but the buses are packed to the gill and the wait between buses are long - so we headed back to our apartment.

WE DID IT!

We had a full day on Saturday - Jerrica and Zack were feeling touristy and Tom and I were feeling tired. That meant a split up. After touring the Temple of Heaven and eating at MacDonalds (cheap and easy to find) Tom and I headed home. That meant catching a taxi and communicating with a driver who doesn't speak English. Thank goodness for maps and addresses written in Chinese. We made it to our landmark, the Best Western OL Stadium hotel, and walked to our apartment - a few blocks. We crashed and woke in time to catch a taxi and find our way to the Olympic Green.

We have gone all around the Olympic Green since we arrived but can't get on without a pass. Our tickets to the Opening Ceremony were our pass. We caught a cab - showed the driver directions and we were off. He left us off too soon so we had more of a hike than we wanted but we made it to the Bird Nest! It is more awesome than the pictures. We were grinning like kids with a new toy. There was lots of pre-ceremony celebrations which we didn't know about - so we missed some of that. We looked around and it looked like it was going to be a packed house. We were sitting in the second tier right behind the "crane" camera - I think we got some Jumbotron time.

The committee did an excellent job with this ceremony, too. While the Olympics shared China's history and culture, this program shared the Paralympic history and culture. Many of the performers had some sort of disability. It was very moving - especially when the little ballerina came on. She lost her leg in the earthquake 4 months ago. I thought she was very poised and when the male ballet dance picked her up and dance with her, I started crying.

The first time I cried though, was when David rolled in. He was saving his arms because Jimi Flowers, his coach, was pushing him. Seeing David experience the opening ceremonies as an athlete was moving enough but having Jimi push him added a few extra tears. Jimi was Dave's breaststoke coach in Auburn. David has always held Jimi in high regard - so this is like coming full circle for them to both experience this together. Okay, I'm crying again now.

The next moving moment was the lighting of the flame. I thought how the Olympics did that was so cool that I was going to keep a sharp lookout for how that flame got on the stadium without anyone seeing it. Well, we were right under it so we didn't get to see it. However the flame lighter was right in front of us. Watching the guy take the flame up in his wheelchair was pretty moving - I was really glad the flame didn't burn him or the cables - it looked close a few times.

For some reason I can't get the Universal sport site to show the opening ceremonies but if you can get it to open it is worth watching. A job well done. Sounds like David got some camera time, too. We sat amongst other swimming parents and a track and field parent. Hearing their athletes' stories is so moving. I wish them all well.

On the way home we caught another taxi. My legs were exhausted by this time and I wasn't walking one step farther than I needed to. I got our driver to the hotel and then I gestured for him to go a bit farther - he understood and made it to our apartment with no problem.

Today we went on a tour - an experience in and of itself but you'll have to wait for that.

Tomorrow Dave is SWIMMING! Records are falling and medals are coming to the USA team. Go USA! We are getting very excited.

Using the website

I hope this works for you guys. Click on the Universal sports under "Check these out" Then click on Paralympics tab - then video and I think that will take you to the events. Looks like some of the events are just recaps - some are live. I'll write more about the Opening ceremonies after while. It was awesome and there were tears numerous times.

Opening Ceremonies streaming live

It looks like Opening Ceremonies will be streaming live on Universal sports (click the link) on Saturday morning about 8 am Eastern time. I wanted you all to know that before you go to bed.

Beijing has done a wonderful job transforming from the 2008 Olympic City to the 2008 Paralympic City. Even the road signs feature the Paralympic Village - not the Olympic Village. Advertising signage is now Paralympic not Olympic. This was all done in about a week I think. We can't really understand what the Chinese newscasters are saying on TV but they are featuring the Paralympians fairly often. Swimming is sold out! Glad we have our tickets.

Still figuring out which time zone I'm in. I am tired around 10 pm but keep waking up in the middle of night. Last night it was 2am, this morning 3:30 am. I tried to go back to sleep but it didn't work. Maybe I'll get a nap in today.

Feeling a little Chinese

We all reported a good night's sleep. I think we were all awake around 2 am but we politely didn't let anybody know until this morning. Zack, Jerrica's friend, (and now our friend, too) is like a Jack Russell terrier. He is SOOO excited to be here and ready to go! If I call him Zack Russell, you'll know why.

The apartment looks like the advertized photos but it is a Chinese apartment amongst Chinese nationals. It's a little farther from the Water Cube than promoted but a taxi ride is about one dollar so we aren't complaining too much. Zack, Jerrica and I have been to the local supermarket. Strangely everything sold there is in Chinese. We bought stuff that is obvious like noodles or items that had pictures on it. We had a yummy dinner of Ramen noodles. Then we hoped to coordinate a visit with Dave. Unfortunately, he couldn't really tell us where he was and we didn't really know where we were so that was a bust.

This morning we were all up by 6 am - had instant coffee, PPJ and steamed rolls (Chinese style) for breakfast. We planned our day and headed out the door. The Best Western Stadium Hotel is on the corner so we went there first to get an address card to show taxi drivers. We figured if we could get to the Best Western we could get home. Then we started walking toward the Water Cube. We have varying opinions on how long it took us but I think about half an hour - dodging people, cars and bikes.

We met David - he looks good and says he is swimming fast. The pool is awesome according to him, but we couldn't get in to see it yet. We had tickets to pick up at two different locations. Zack was great at hailing a taxi and we were on our way. Zack speaks some Chinese - understands more and the speaking is coming back fast. He is helping us feel more comfortable in our surroundings. We got our tickets, then we got lost trying to find the subway station. We went down some very narrow streets and saw how the Chinese live. Eventhough we did get turned around we have felt safe. There are security guards, policeman or officers everywhere. We found our way out of the labyrinth and headed to the Pearl Market. CRAZY! This is 6 floors of booths that sell just about anything you can imagine. Zack helped me get one vendor down from 450 RMD to 80 RMD - the conversion is 68 US$ to $11. We were a bit overwhelmed and might go back with a list and a plan.

Zack says there is a flea market that might have better deals. Guess my family knows what they are getting for Christmas - souvineers from China!

We ate at a MacDonalds' - their hamburgers are a bit spicy. We found a Starbucks and had coffee. So far no gut problems with the local food. But we took Imodium with us just in case.

The temp is warm today - a bit hazy but we did see blue sky - not like in Wyoming or Colorado but still blue. It is more humid though.

We might venture to the Water Cube again tonight - it changes colors and pictures are projected upon it. Kinda cool. We can see it from the street so that is neat. The Olympic newscasters showed a big building that has kind of a curly Q top on it. It is across from the Water Cube. We saw the building called the "Pants". There is some unusual, fun architecture here.

Oh, on the plane ride over, I sat next to a woman who is a journalist for the Games. She writes for the "Palaestra" a magazine which features adaptive sports. Her regular job is a professor at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. She is a professor for Physical Ed with an adaptive twist. She knows quite a bit about about adaptive sports and the classification system of competition works. We hit it off beautifully. Strangely enough, in this huge city with hotels everywhere, she is staying at the Best Western Hotel that we can see from our bedroom window.

That's the news for now.

We're in Beijing!

We flew over the top of the world! We made it to Beijing in just under 13 hours. Customs was a breeze - no lost luggage and we have an apartment. We're all a bit jet laggy so I'll write more tomorrow, otherwise I might say something more stupid than usual.

USA Fans leaving for Beijing

We are packed! We are ready....the anxiety of going has not overwhelmed the excitement of cheering for DAVO! We leave out Denver Tuesday evening and will arrive in Beijing on Thursday afternoon. No, the flight really isn't that long but there is a 12 hour layover - most airlines had such a layover no matter which direction we went.

I did get to talk to David briefly on Sunday. He was still in Japan but getting ready to leave for Beijing the next day. He sounded good and gave high marks for the coaches and staff and all those on the Air Force Base that have made their training and acclimating much easier.

Can't wait to see him.

I will check in as soon as I can when we get to Beijing.

Go USA!
Go for the GOLD!
Make your Move, Davo!