Beijing Memories: Closing

While I certainly won't promise that this will be my last Beijing/Olympic-related post, now that the Games have closed this will likely mark the end of the daily "memories" posts ... believe me, I am experiencing Olympic fatigue myself!   It's certainly feels like we experienced two Olympics - one that we still very surreal-y experienced first-hand and the other much more typical experience from our armchairs!

We have found ourselves generally agreeing with many other wrap-up/memory type reports that we have read or watched on television.  That feeling of contradictions seems to be a universal experience - a true love affair having developed for the Chinese people, but still considerable reservations about the controlling nature and behavior of the government.  It will be fascinating to see what happens to China as a result of the Olympics - it was all a fascinating and quite delicate balance - the country is certainly progressing (to think in my lifetime, there was a point where I didn't even have the option of visiting China, let alone for a worldwide athletic competition) and moving rapidly to the future - but I have thought that it is "getting in its own way" quite a bit too.

Anyhow, as we prepared to leave Beijing we were thinking that a week was probably just enough time.  Surprisingly enough, I hadn't experienced much fatigue in the trip over (not nearly the 5 days it took to recover once I  get come).  I think it was just the excitement of being there and can I am confident pure adrenalin was to thank for getting me through much of our week and a very, very active schedule of activities.  But towards the end of the trip, you can see the fatigue start to set in with us and other in the group... and even mental, as patience with each other started to wane. 

It is an odd situation to be thrown in a group of strangers (Todd really was acquaintances with only one other person of the group size of nearly 20)... often I joked that it felt like we were on the Amazing Race, with the couples traveling together.  Needless to say, you know what TAR team demo we fulfilled... and w were joined by such common "teams" as married couples (of different nationalities), older couples, mother and son, father and son, two male co-workers, etc.   So, I'll just say it was probably a good thing our trip ended when it did...ha!

I'd be curious to hear if others have the same experience when they're all packed up and getting ready to head out of their hotel room one last time.   I always seem to have this somewhat glum... "well, this is it" moment... and I'll be man enough to admit that I have been emotional about it times.   There is so much anticipation for vacations/trips, that it is often hard to believe or digest that they are over ... this Beijing trip was certainly off the charts in that department...

But I had a big 'ole ... "get you when you least expected" or "thought it was all over" moment.  We found out about this unbelievable trip to the Olympics in the midst of what would end up being that very difficult time of losing Toby so unexpectedly.  In fact, I had one of the many vet appointments on the very day we received the Beijing news.  I am still grateful that we had hope for Toby on that particular day and were able to celebrate the news... it would be several days later that we would have to face the news that he only had a short time left.   

And when the end did come, I was worried that Toby's death and this Olympic trip would be helplessly intertwined.  But the adage that "time heals" proved true and it wasn't until we were getting ready to leave our Beijing hotel room that it crashed back into my mind... and again, I'll fully admit to having a bit of an extended "episode"... and poor Todd, though now quite familiar with what has become predictable teary-eyed departures, didn't have a clue where this 0-60 mph breakdown was coming from, nor could I effectively vocalize it for a bit.

OK, onto more fun/happy stuff!   On our Beijing flight to SF, again we weren't seated together.  We attempted to check online to see if we could change our seats... but no luck... and once we got to the airport, we also tried to see if we could swap with the agent - but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that any plane departing Beijing a week or two into the Games was heavily booked (or overbooked). 

The agent however did offer a "special rate" (but still gulp-worthy $$$)  to upgrade to business class - at first, we said "naaah"... but then we quickly started second-guessing ourselves and thinking "What the hell?" (ok, "hell" wasn't exactly the internal phrase used).   We thought about the 12 hour flight ahead and having been in the first row of economy on our flight over -- and witnessed first-hand the insane amount of sitting and breathing room, the non-plastic plates and "cutlery," the hot towels to freshen up with, etc... so we devilishly decided to be indulgent and take the upgrade... and boy, it is a decision we didn't regret.  It will certainly be difficult to think about flying economy again for any long flight in our future! 

And while I was probably one of the few people onboard who knew it, there was also a professional tennis player just a few rows ahead of us in business class -- Russian (but kinda American) pro, Dmitry Tursonov... who had the misfortune of drawing Roger Federer in the first round of Olympic tennis tournament.  I was planning on snapping a picture of him in baggage claim as proof, but he pretty much disappeared once we got off the plane.

Oh, our other "celebrity" run-in was... Matt Lauer!   Another story that got underservedly lost in big 'ole shuffle of all this was that we got to meet another blogger while in Beijing.  James of Life in Beijing stumbled on to my blog shortly after we received the big news, and was an invaluable resource leading up to the trip.  Thankfully we were able to meet up for dinner on what ended up being our one free night... James, and his partner James, are ex-pat Americans who now call Beijing home, and took us to this wonderful restaurant that was named one of the best in Beijing (and in the world by the NY Times, if I remember correctly) and... what you know, we walk in and  there was Matt Lauer being ushered off to a private dining room (quite common in Beijing we learned)!  So that was pretty cool... and we can only hope to find such wonderful dumplings here in the States!   I encourage you to check out James' blog for some serious first-hand accounts of lots of Olympic events!

So that's it for now -- like I said, you likely haven't heard the last of our Beijing adventures -- but I sense I'll be returning to "normal programming" in the days ahead.

Comments

[James (in Beijing)]

Hey, thanks for the blogroll! I just wanted to tell you that, despite promises to the contrary, I never did meet Matt Lauer properly, so I had to make do with that quick glimpse at Din Tai Fung. Oh well, he turned out to be shorter and schlumpier than I expected anyway...!