China has been getting ready for the Olympics for about seven years now (yeah, you read right, seven years) and it seems that they have really calculated everything. Absolutely everything. So let's start with the details:
Traffic: While Beijing is as messy as Lima when it comes to insane traffic which includes insane drivers, things have changed for the sake of the Olympics just in a few months. Since yesterday, there's what's called the Olympic lanes - only Olympic vehicles, or vehicles that carry athletes and staff from the Olympics, I assume, will be authorized to use. So, while buses and private cars are bottled up at one side of the road, Olympic buses will be able to travel freely around the city.
Trash: Chinese people hardly recycle, but now they do. It's interesting to see the two colour trash bins in the street. Green/blue for things that can be recycled, yellow for those that cannot (or it's the other way around, I honestly don't remember).
Image: Yesterday's news showed how new flowers were planted, gardens beautified (and added), walls cleaned, etc. etc. so the city looks good enough by the time the games start. Admittedly, the most popular areas look awesome but there are others that are neglected (only because they're less transited). So that's kind of sad. Nevertheless, yeah, I have seen people building and rebuilding streets in the period of one week (!) for these games.
Security: By now some of you may already know that BNU is the designated residence for the American athletes. And starting today, absolutely nobody (except students and faculty associated with the university) can come in. So, every time I go and buy a piece of bread at the bakery outside campus, I'm asked to show my BNU student ID when I try to get back in. It's crazy. The international dorm (where I suppose the athletes will stay) is blocked from public access. There are barriers around it and about two policemen around every corner. Moreover, the restaurants next to it were forced to close. Also, the buildings around the track fields and gymnasium have hours in which people from specific floors won't be able to open their windows. One would ask why is that, well, this is to avoid possible snippers. A teacher of us told us yesterday, and I was like, we haven't even thought about that and the Chinese have! So, yeah, I'm apparently living at the third safest place in Beijing (not my words, but my teachers').
To make it sound more impressive, in the national stadium there are mini-missiles installed. You read right. So if there are unidentified flying units around that area, they will immediately be shot down. That's why, apparently, during these games, flying around that area is completely prohibited.
Also, whenever one goes to the subway and train stations, there are security scanners installed at every door. So if one is carrying a big bag, one has to go through them. That sounds insane to me since we're talking about thousand of Chinese people who travel to work and what have you every day. But apparently not "that" many Chinese use the subway, so things could be less... erh... chaotic? I had to go through one of them yesterday, and thankfully, it wasn't rush hour yet, but I really can't imagine having a bunch of people lining up just in order to get to the trains.
I can keep going on and on, but this is what I can remember. I'm actually glad for all the security and what have you, but I suppose there are things that have been... overdone a bit. But we'll see. China actually went through a lot of trouble during the last couple of months. So hopefully, everything will be successful. After all, the Olympics represent the unity of the world through healthy and friendly competition. :) So we'll see...
No comments:
Post a Comment