June 22, 2012 / Day 4 (Part 1): The Opening Ceremony of the Jiaxing Dragon Boat Festival!
6:00AM: Breakfast was a buffet spread of Chinese and Western foods, and it was TITANIC. The teams crowded into the breakfast hall and went for the food all at once! The lines were long, the eggs went fast, many other items needed constant replenishing, and I can't believe how much food some people put away for breakfast! Xuefeng, for one, eats like a bulldozer. Doesn't that much food in the morning make you have to poo once we leave the hotel? Let's not forget what the public toilets are like here...
7:00AM: After breakfast, it was time to load up onto the bus and head out to the race site. But not before we bombed one of the other team's photos. Take that, Canada! By the way, the 3rd girl from the right in the bottom row is JACKED and has bigger arms than pretty much all the guys on our team. If she had wanted to, she could have picked up Pat with one hand and ejected him from view.
As previously mentioned, we shared a bus with these guys:
7:30AM: Due to the morning rain, the race site was a muddy, soggy swamp. These conditions would continue for the duration of the weekend, but for now, we're all just starting to try to get used to it. At one point, perhaps my favorite exchange of the entire trip took place between Renan and Pat about the muddy conditions. It went like this:
Renan: (trudging through the mud withouth is sandals on) "Walking in the mud barefoot feels the same as walking in diarrhea."
Pat: "You mean it feels like walking in diarrhea..."
Renan: (stops walking, turns to face Pat with a completely serious face) "No, it feels exactly the same as walking in diarrhea."
Ummmmmmm...............................................
Anyway, our team tent was adjacent to the California University team. This would prove to be highly entertaining in the next two days. Here's a look at our surroundings.
Renan: (trudging through the mud withouth is sandals on) "Walking in the mud barefoot feels the same as walking in diarrhea."
Pat: "You mean it feels like walking in diarrhea..."
Renan: (stops walking, turns to face Pat with a completely serious face) "No, it feels exactly the same as walking in diarrhea."
Ummmmmmm...............................................
Anyway, our team tent was adjacent to the California University team. This would prove to be highly entertaining in the next two days. Here's a look at our surroundings.
Each international team was provided with two local volunteers to help with logistics and translations. You've already learned a little bit about Alan, here he is with Xuefeng and me. Our other volunteer was Tracy, who despite looking like she's actually 12, is in college. Yes, she's posing in the stereotypical fobby Asian way. This is China after all.
7:45AM: Preparations for the opening ceremony got underway soon after we settled in at our tents. We informed Pat, fresh from his grueling trip to China, that he was elected to be our flag bearer, so he and I had hustled to the staging area to prepare our team flag and get lined up for the flag ceremony. Anne came with us too because she had been asked by the race organizers to take the athletes' oath of fair play and sportsmanship in English on behalf of all the dragon boat athletes taking part in the Jiaxing Festival. Quite an honor!
When we were ready, Pat took his place in line with the flag bearers from the other teams, I sat down with the other team delegates on stage, and Anne took her place to the side of the stage, where she waited to called to take the athletes' oath.
Upon first glance, my grandmother mistook me in the photo above for a girl. Yeees, she took one look and asked me, "Who's this girl?" And I was like, "...That's ME!" Thanks, grandma. But then after looking a second time at this photo and at the two men I was sitting next to... yeah, I'm really not much of a man compared to them.
From what I could tell, Mike is one tough motherf***er. During the opening ceremony, his right cheek started bleeding, and I was like, "Uhhhhh, Mike MIKE MIIIIIKE... you're bleeding, your face is bleeding, OMG THERE'S BLOOD!!!" And he replied: "Oh, it happens," and calmly wiped his face clean. WTF? Blake, from the Toronto Team, is a cool customer. He's apparently a renowned coach for one of the best dragon boat teams in Canada, and he steered for us during some of the races. The man never loses his cool, and he is also one Helluva karaoke singer.
From what I could tell, Mike is one tough motherf***er. During the opening ceremony, his right cheek started bleeding, and I was like, "Uhhhhh, Mike MIKE MIIIIIKE... you're bleeding, your face is bleeding, OMG THERE'S BLOOD!!!" And he replied: "Oh, it happens," and calmly wiped his face clean. WTF? Blake, from the Toronto Team, is a cool customer. He's apparently a renowned coach for one of the best dragon boat teams in Canada, and he steered for us during some of the races. The man never loses his cool, and he is also one Helluva karaoke singer.
8:30AM: The ceremony began with the race organizers again doing their z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-z-z-z speeches. Meanwhile, the original theme for the 1985 movie Silverado (REALLY GREAT FILM) played on in the background. As the delegates were told to sit on stage and look stately, I did not squirrel about and take photos during the speeches. I did manage a photo of when Anne stepped up to take the athletes' oath, but I missed her actual oath. During the opening ceremony, our team took part in one of two ceremonial 500m races to the staging area, where the dragon eyes on all the boats were painted in. Now, they were ready for racing!
As the opening ceremony concluded, sudden and very loud fireworks went off on the stage, just behind the delegates. It scared the crap out of everyone! Moments later, the ash and the shell casings from the fireworks rained down onto the stage, causing everyone to cover their heads and scurry away. Now, THAT is how you end a ceremony and tell everyone to get off the stage!
The following section to devoted to John Patrick Murphy and his adoring fans, myself included. Before and after the opening ceremony, literally everyone and their mothers wanted a photo with Pat. These are just a few of the moments that I was able to capture.
At one point, Pat borrowed California University's American flag so he could do this:
California University, by the way, seemed a little confused as to which country they were representing, USA or Congo.
Well, that about wraps up the opening ceremony! Back to hotel now for lunch!
This Morning's Numbers:
Morning cups of coffee drunk: 20
Number of breakfast items refilled: ∞
Plates of breakfast Xuefeng ate: I think it was 3
Number of teammates who took part in ceremonial 500m race: 10
Number of firework shell casings that hit me in the head: 1
Number of delegates who bled: 1 (though not from being hit by anything)
Friends Pat made during the opening ceremony: ∞
Pairs of sandals lost to mud: 1
Morning cups of coffee drunk: 20
Number of breakfast items refilled: ∞
Plates of breakfast Xuefeng ate: I think it was 3
Number of teammates who took part in ceremonial 500m race: 10
Number of firework shell casings that hit me in the head: 1
Number of delegates who bled: 1 (though not from being hit by anything)
Friends Pat made during the opening ceremony: ∞
Pairs of sandals lost to mud: 1