Have we mentioned the crowds???

Ni hau from Beijing! It's been a week and we're finally just about acclimated to time, weather and food. We had some days off due to advancing out of our bracket to the semis, yahoo, and have been enjoying it! We're getting in a little sightseeing here and there, meeting some really cool athletes and their families, doing some bargain shopping at the pearl and silk markets and seeing lots of great water polo. (Did I mention how naturally Charlie took to the whole bargaining thing at the markets? Big surprise, he learned from the master, Carlos who seems to be well known and loved by many of the Chinese salesladies, they always give him "best price" because he's so special, haha! The girls picked it up as well, I just sat back and enjoyed the great entertainment!) Charlie, our historian and barterer extraordinaire, ended his stay here early, heading back to practices at CAL. I think he is glad he came and we'll certainly miss him!

So what continues to be a challenge is navigating through the seas of people everywhere you go! We have been fairly spoiled at the water polo venues where we can get through security fairly quickly. The place is usually packed full of Chinese coming to cheer on this new sport but it's really manageable. We know this because we were fortunate enough to get tickets to the USA/Greece basketball game. THAT was an experience! We had a late start to begin with and then imagine trying to catch a cab at rush hour during the rain in Beijing!! What were we thinking? So we arrive at the venue right about game time to a crowd so large we didn't even know where to look to get in line. Well ok, there was no line. It was just this mass of people all funneling into a small entrance and then fanning back out again before squeezing through two security lines. The Steffens fam huddled together so that we wouldn't get separated and inched our way forward VERY SLOWLY. (Schnugg women know this as the amoeba factor!) I couldn't stop from giggling as the Chinese people successfully and calmly "pushed" their way through...they are quite comfortable in this environment, we apparently are not! Anyway, the game was great, the stadium beautiful and we were grateful to be a part of it. We're desperately trying to get our hands on more tickets but . Hopefully we'll get lucky...

Our guide and friend Patrick from Yantai took great care of us all week, dealing with cabs and translation issues. I don't know what we would have done without him. His last day with us was another good one...a trip to the pearl market, the temple of Heaven, a fabulous Peking Duck dinner in a renovated section of Old Town near Tienanmen (can you spot Carlos in photo with his new hairdo?) before heading out for some nightlife in the Hoehai (sp?) district. This area is really spectacular at night, like Disneyland, 100s of bars and restaurants surrounding a few lakes connected by canals and filled with boats. You could walk for hours but we ended up in a little place with a live band. The hostess spotted us as players and seated us right in front. The Chinese band launched into a set of toe-tapping, country music. Before we knew it they were playing reggae then latin and the Steffens family was up and dancing. We were the entertainment at that point and I think that was their plan! Tons of fun and a great end to another great day.




So the nerves will start again as we get closer to Tuesday...we are in the semi-finals and we'll be playing Australia. So keep cheering, the girls are playing great and loving all the good energy coming their way. Awesome job, TEAM USA!