Yesterday, Olympic Park officially opened. Mario lives close, so today we went.
If anything was clear, it was that Beijing is not ready for the Olympics (because it certainly wasn't the air). They are testing the stadiums right now by having the "Good Luck Games". Many of my students are volunteering for them, so they haven't been in class.
We wandered around outside because all the tickets were sold out, and we couldn't actually get into the park. And the view from outside was less than spectacular.
First, today was the most heavily polluted day of the entire week. It was so bad that walking around just for a little while (walking, mind you, not heavily exercising) made me feel like I was trapped in a room with a dog that had bad gas. I ended up going home because I felt so bad and wanted to be inside for awhile.
Second, the park is far from completed. There are half-finished buildings jutting from dirt paths. There were thousands of construction workers wandering around doing odd things. There were about three trees that haven't gained the leaves of spring yet. Basically, it looks like a place where everyone should have hardhats and "Caution: We're not quite ready" signs should be posted.
Luckily, all the volunteers that we saw seem to be very enthusiastic and energetic about their jobs. I was greeted warmly with a "Welcome!" over a microphone when one of them caught my eye. One of the main requirements was that they speak English (hence the large number of my students who are volunteering). It seems that that is indeed true.
At least the have the gusto of a large number of college students who are missing countless classes to prove that Beijing can be an international city.
