Archive for September, 2008
September 8, 2008 at 10:32 pm · Filed under Beijing, Paralympics, Results
Posted By: Kevin
Today was another exciting day for us at the track. Brayden was racing in the kilo, his best track race that he got gold at nationals.
His mom and dad were very nervous. Probably more nervous than him!
Brayden raced his hardest and finished 7th. His time was 1.22, not his best time ever, but his coach was happy with this result being as this was his first time at this big of an event.
Brayden is a celebrity here. When he sits with us people come up constantly to get their pictures taken with him and his autograph! And in athletes village people are recognizing him from his commercial!
Breanne
September 7, 2008 at 10:06 am · Filed under Beijing, Paralympics
Posted By: Kevin
Ok 4.5 days in and the fun continues
First the market – in two words – Holy Sht!!! I hate shopping at the best of times, even in Calgary, where you walk into a store .. wait for service and then pay what they ask for. Not even close to the process here in China!! The market is like a department store, multiple floors with an escalator in the middle. That is where the similarity stops. These markets have 8′ x 6′ kiosks, in row after row, with a walk way of about 8′ between each row. The merchants are nuts, and come right out of their kiosk and grab you to try and get you to buy their stuff. Most of the goods are fake brand names, but, according to the girls “good ones”. Seemed like crap to me. Basically, if you took the time to negotiate, you could purchase this stuff for about 10% of their first offer, and for about. 5% of the real stuff’s price. After an hour of this, I went to the bar and waiting for the girls to finish shopping, for some reason I don’t remember what they bought.
Opening ceremonies – they were fantastic, and I hope that those that could, did, watch them. I can’t describe the feeling you get when you see one of your family walking into the Olympic stadium behind the Canadian flag, it is unreal. There were 91,000 spectators and 4000 athletes marching, the place was electric. Originally Brayden was not going to take part as he had the pursuit early the next day, but the CPC decided that, being as this was his first Paralympics, and he was not expected to medal in the pursuit .. they let him attend. He was thrilled. I am sure I told most of you about my screw up in buying opening ceremony tickets ($450 ea) .. well guess what., we ended up with seats that were worth $12 each. Talk about nose bleeds!! But on the good side, all of the Canadian fans were in that area, so it was a lot of fun. The Chinese people obviously don’t believe in gouging you at these events .. we have been paying about $3 per beer at the bars … at the Birds Nest (and today at the velodome)… $1 per beer. You can’t beat that.
Brayden raced today, he set a PB and ended up 7th, a great result for a race he still struggles at. The good news for Canada is that Jean Q of Quebec raced to a bronze medal .. which was an unexpected, happy surprise.
More in a couple days, going for supper now.
September 5, 2008 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Beijing, Paralympics
Posted By: Kevin
We finally got to see Brayden last night, and that was great .. he looks healthy and strong (they must be taking better care of him than we do)
The security here is amazing. The area within 2k of the grounds is restricted for traffic, and our apt is within that area, so taking cabs to and from always involves negotiation with security to get in. The entire Olympic Green perimeter is surrounded by 2 – 10′ high fences, about 2m apart. Every 250m, there is a manned guard house between the fences. I would say that the grounds have a perimeter of about 30k. All of the gates to get in, have armed guards c/w dogs etc. The Paralympic village is within the grounds, and has it’s own security. Within the village, the Israeli’s have their own security around their quarters..
Ticketing – what an adventure – we received almost all we requested from the CPC – just the quality of the seats are brutal. Apparently the locals bought all the better seats. As I said “almost” what we wanted .. we were missing tickets to Braydens best event on the track. The official ticket agent here is the Bank of China, so, at noon, while the girls went to the market I went to the closest bank, and took number 151, then looked at the board .. calling number 41 .. scoured the line for someone who might speak english and met a young lady from Wales. She was number 57 and she got that number at 6:00 that morning. … Oh oh. … so, I turned on the charm and when that didn’t work, I offered her a bottle of champagne … she kinda smelt like booze so I thought if my natural good looks and charm didn’t work .. booze would (that worked with the girls in high school) .. I was wrong, there was a 10 ticket max and she needed to get all 10 tickets. There was a group of locals In front of the bank, who were obviously scalping tickets, so I found a bank clerk who spoke english and asked if he could help me broker a deal. He couldn’t but told me that the tickets were legit and I would have to pay twice the actual price. So the negotiating began .. after about 10 mins, I found out no one had cycling tickets .. Note to self, ask first. The clerk came out for a smoke, and waved me over .. He said that banks farther away from the Olym Green did not have as long a line up. I contacted the girls and there was a bank where they were .. an hour later we had the tickets we needed. (Kind of an anti-climatic ending to great story, wasn’t it?)
Anyway, today – Opening Ceremonies and I tackle the famous Pearl Market, so stay tuned for another story on Monday.
September 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm · Filed under Beijing, Paralympics, Travel
Posted By: Breanne
I got word from my parents – they’ve made it to China (I leave today) and here’s what they have to say:
We made it! Our apartment is quite big but has no utensils. The Canadian check in people are great though and are looking after it for us. It’s very busy here – cars and people everywhere. The city seems ready for the Paralympics. It is really humid but I haven’t noticed any problems with the air. We heard from Brayden and he sounded really happy to know we are here. He said Athletes Village is incredible.
Can’t wait to see more! – Mom
September 4, 2008 at 10:01 am · Filed under Beijing, Paralympics
Posted By: Kevin
Well we have now been here for 24 hours., and in a few words .. “This place is awesome!! “. Smog is none existent, and the streets are as clean as can be, people friendly and the beer is good. We are staying about a block from the Olympic Green. We can’t get in though, which sucks because we have not seen Brayden yet. The Cdn team had the velodome booked for practice today, so we took a cab over there, hoping to see everyone but even that venue was closed up, security wise, and we couldn’t get in. Wasted 1 1/2 hours during the cab ride, but did get to see some of the city during the ride. Cabs are cheap here, about $15 for an hours ride. Haven’t seen a service station anywhere so I don’t have any idea how much fuel is.
Our room is fantastic, lots of room for everyone.
Tomorrow we are going to the market, and hopefully getting together with Brayden.
September 3, 2008 at 8:41 pm · Filed under Beijing, Paralympics
Posted By: Breanne
Well, Brayden’s in China and he sent me an update (FINALLY!)
China is good. I am happy I am here and made the team but even though I made the team it is only a step towards the big goal, which is getting a medal for Canada. Maybe not this one, but you never know! And all the coaches want if not a medal than for everyone to try their best.
Also, I’m having fun – I am happy for when you, Dad and Mom come. And I talked to dad a few days ago and he said that Auntie Yvonne is coming as well, which is cool!
-Brayd
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