The Olympics start tomorrow, but the weirdness associated with them has been building for quite a while. First there was the news that our flight school couldn’t fly during the Olympics, all because our school is located within the province of Shandong, about three hours from where the sailing events will be held. Then we noticed a huge police presence in Linyi – even though we’re 12 hours by train from Beijing and 3 hours from Qingdao. Of course, the fiasco of the torch also contributed to the weirdness. Now, we have been informed that, as foreigners, we present a security risk and we are not even allowed to go to work – because work is located at the airport. It’s just weird. Plus, the skies have been suspiciously clear for quite a while now, and I’m starting to wonder if all the local factories have been shut down…
Police barricade on bridge in Linyi, a practice run for the Olympic Torch’s arrival
Sorry I didn’t post yesterday. I am sick. I’ve got a cold and a stomach thing. Digestive disturbances are par for the course after spending two months outside China. I need to reinoculate myself to the local fauna. Colds, however, are unusual for me. I usually experience one summer cold and one winter cold. Maybe I’ll just blame this one on the Olympics, too. A lot of weirdness is happening here, all being attributed to the “Olympics.” (Whether that is true or not, who knows.) I can’t wait for them to just be over. (And I hope they go well. Really, I don’t want anything bad to happen. God only knows what that might mean for us foreigners in the country. But don’t worry. I don’t mean to say that we are not safe. We are. It could just mean more weirdness and not a return to the happy, carefree days pre-Olympics.)
