THUNDERBOLT & LIGHTNING!

Beijing, Day 7

Thanks to Ute our medical supplies have been re-stocked, and the mosquitoes will flee the HoS.

The author of these lines realized that after one week in Beijing he started to adapt a new morning ritual: the first look, eyes half open, goes full of hope direction window, but every day there are less buildings around me.

I already thought about gathering the neighbors of the 763 other apartments in the compound, and perform a classical rain dance. Instructions can be found on Wikipedia:

Work in two lines, about 4 feet apart, all women in one line, all men in the other.

The main step is alike for both men and women, though a little more vigorously done by the men: Step left foot, step right a little higher, progressing a few inches forward.

Do not work in a circle; but in each of the three figures, progress along two sides of the quadrangle of the pueblo (I guess in a case of emergency or for the Olympics a 23 floor high riser can count exceptionally for a pueblo).

(a) Men and women all facing right, to one singing of the song

(b) Continue the step in same rhythm for 8 double steps, but without music

(c) Then the women start the song again, while the men yelp in time (2 yelps to the measure)

(d) All continue the song to the end.

That sounds quite easy! I will ask Emily and Cathy to translate that into Chinese, and if tomorrow Beijing will be flooded you know why. Please watch CNN for breaking news!

The orginaized chaos, 4:
No, this is not some weird art stuff in our neighborhood.
That's real!

The Team Quarters:
Hakon, reading. Verena, thinking. Laundry, drying!

After a brief visit to the HoS which is still full of feverish activities in order to get ready for the first major event on Thursday, the author took Fides and Hakon, who were off today, for a walk through the Hutongs, the small traditional alleys of Beijing. We dived into the these narrow streets like into another, quite past world, visited the Lama temple to make sure that the HoS gets also full support from that side, before a phone call from Mr. Gutzwiller brought me back into reality (Cosmos? Chaos? We have that here, too). We ended up by pure coincidence in the Houhai Lake area, and had a cup of tea before heading back home.

That's why China will win at least 86 gold medals:
At every street corner is a public fitness palace,
here tested by Fides and Hakon.

Hidden beauty in the Hutongs.

In the evening Stephanie and the author went for dinner with Katharina Rutz, who works already for over 3 years for the Kempinski Lufthansa Centre in Beijing. After publishing a book titled “Ein Jahr in Peking” (“One year in Beijing”, at Herder) in springtime, Katharina is now coordinating with the German House at the Olympics which is situated in her hotel. The evening went by fast, exchanging news from the last years, and reminiscing about the good old times in Switzerland. CK

Long time not seen: Steph and Katharina.

Checking on the competition:
Welcome to he German house, but only if you are an athlete, VIP, sponsor, or from the press!

Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News!

My rain dance works even without the neighbors: it is 2am Beijing time,

and the sky outside is filled with thunder and lightning, and ... rain...???