my olympic trip to china

2008-08-20T16:12:00.000+02:00

My return!

Here I am back in France. I have so many things to tell, I'm sure I won't remember everything! But I'd like to share some stories and feelings.

Stories:

My nose… not that there's anything out of the ordinary about my nose, but the Chinese would always be stopping me in the street and make me understand that they thought I had a very pretty nose. The interpreter explained that the Chinese tend to think that the French have big noses! After that, it was a piece of cake to negotiate prices, for example! I showed them my pretty nose to get them to lower the prices of what I wanted to buy and it worked! What a laugh!

The Chinese are funny, sometimes you get the impression they've never left their village. On the streets, they always wanted to look at our eyes and see what colour they were. They really dig green and blue eyes. And guess what… I have green eyes! It was awkward sometimes, but we had no choice but to have a laugh along with them and let them take pictures of us.

2008-08-18T16:14:00.000+02:00

My size!

What made me feel best was my size. In France I am considered rather small (1.60 m), but over there, I was in my world, everyone was about as tall as me! I was even taller than some of them, simply incredible… so now I have been tall for once in my life!

=> What made the biggest impression on me...

-the amount of people on the streets at all times of the day or night
-the colours of certain monuments, their architecture and the sculptures
-the kindness of the farmers who welcomed us; they treated us like heroes, and I was afraid upon hugging them because they seemed so fragile I thought I'd break them. I cried more than once because it was so moving. (One old lady cried for joy upon seeing us and I couldn't resist and gave her a cloth bag. She thanked me and took me into her arms and we both cried.)

-the different sights we saw

-The Forbidden City. I'd run out of batteries, so I have no pictures, but it was breathtaking and there are so many different rooms. We stayed for two hours and saw different buildings with several halls. Legend has it that when the emperor fathered a child, this child had to spend on night in every room from the day it was born; and by the time it had done that, it was 23 years old! I couldn't believe what I was hearing and we quickly did the math: 365 by 23 equals 8395 rooms! INCREDIBLE OR WHAT??? Those Chinese will never cease to amaze me!

2008-08-17T20:44:00.005+02:00

The Chinese Wall

Trip to the Great Wall of China! Whoa!!!! So many steps! They're also quite high (see photos). Together with one of my friends from the trip, we ran up 2,116 steps. I took a picture every 100 steps. After the field trip, we got a medal with our name on it saying we had succeeded in overcoming the Great Wall. I don't know, you hear every so often that you can see the Great Wall from Space, but let me tell you, when you're standing on it, you feel like you can touch the sky! It was tiring, but so extraordinary! You can't say you've been to China until you've seen it! I've been and will send pictures.

Here's a picture of one of the steps of the Great Wall. When I saw it I thought "Those Chinese are insane, to build steps that high when they're all so small! In fact all the steps are different. There are small ones, medium ones and loads of big ones. Tiring but I'm happy to have walked along a short stretch of the wall.

A part of the Great Wall. I took the photo from halfway up, so just imagine how high up I went! Athletic or what? No, I don't have a picture of me and my friend on the Wall.

2008-08-17T14:16:00.000+02:00

The Wall!

Simply enormous!! How did the come up with that, you can't help but wonder… those steps are insane! As high as my shins, you can work up a sweat no matter how slowly you climb them, it's a sport, I swear!!

And what really gave me goose bumps…
=> The Bird's Nest

I don't know if it's because I'm an athlete but when you get to the Olympic premises you feel your gut tensing up, just like when I climb up the steps to the podium. You feel overwhelmed by a bizarre feeling… like a fighter, a patriot, surveying all you see, and I felt transported to another place by the spirit of the games, somewhere far beyond my sixteen years of age. I felt envy of the athletes who were competing. I know you have to be strong and mature both mentally and physically to make it that far. Well I don't know, but I sure would like to be a part of the Olympic Games 2012. The road will be long, but why not try?

I have enjoyed this trip very much and know that it has made me grow in several ways. I have seen the misery behind the Olympic lights and know how fortunate we are to be living in France; in China, the everyday lives of the poor cannot be described! Even the refugees here in Calais are doing alright by comparison. I know we young people are often ungrateful and always want more but this trip has opened my eyes to true need! I would like to thank all those who have made this experience possible for me. I hope I have succeeded in sharing the different steps and hope that others will get the same opportunity.

Hugs and kisses to all; I will now try and get off my cloud and I'm going back to school soon. There's work to do!

Take care,
Tiphanie

2008-08-16T16:35:00.007+02:00

The "Bird’s Nest"! This is where we went to see the athletics this morning! It really is fantastic! Huge!

I took a picture of this sign in the building where we went to see the basketball game between Russia and Australia, which was really impressive!

The mood in the group is reasonable, some tensions, but nothing serious!

The trip is slowly coming to an end.

2008-08-13T15:35:00.031+02:00

Hi everyone!

Today I went to the village of Gangsu where the water pumps have been set up!

Water pumps in which water flows abundantly and for free, since it's rain water! There are 100 pumps here, which is still not enough for a whole village.

Spot where the farmers came to get their water before the pumps were set up. The colour of the water is greenish-brown! The importance of the water pumps becomes clear upon seeing the water.

Landscape in Gansu. Dry but beautiful. Town in which we opened the water accesses.

They welcomed us like royalty! It was great, we were given a tour of the village and then we offered them some little gifts we had brought (little for us, but to them they were fantastic). I even cried a bit because I was so touched!

I love this picture! I had it taken because this little girl was looking at me all the time. When we got to the village and the shop owners offered us the local specialities, maize and steamed potatoes, I didn't like the maize too much and went outside to offer it to the little girl. She hesitated to take it at first but I insisted and I think her big smile on the photo captures how happy she was.

Commemorative plaque signifying Franco Chinese friendship in the village where the water pumps were set up. And the Secours Populaire of France will always be welcome here.

To the Chinese we are bit like stars. After lunch I treated myself to a full body massage for a mere 130 yuan (13€)! I enjoyed it very much and felt great afterwards!

I'm moving to another hotel tomorrow, I hope it'll be okay! I'll be in touch tomorrow, hugs and kisses to everyone! Tiphanie

2008-08-11T11:09:00.003+02:00

Hello, I have arrived safely in Beijing. We left Paris-Roissy at 7 p.m. and arrived around 10 on Monday morning.

We have already done lots of things. The city of Beijing is really beautiful. There are lots of people riding around on bicycles. Today we visited the Temple of Heavens.
This temple is gigantic! Beautiful but very long! The Chinese are all making pictures of us! Sorry, but I don’t know what to say.

For lunch we went to a Chinese restaurant! Personally, I don't like Chinese food all that much - too much fish! But I thought they would eat more rice. Tonight we had diner at a Mongolian restaurant. There, the dishes all had lamb in them. That 6-hour time difference feels really odd.

I think that's it for now - I will post some more news tomorrow since we are heading off to Gangsu right now!

Kisses, Tiphanie!

how I picture my first day in china

2008-08-07T15:47:00.000+02:00

What's my first day going to be like?

The greatest thing for me would be to be able to dive straight into the daily lives of the Chinese, but after a 13 hour flight, I think we'll be dying to put down our things in one of their hotels. But I promise I'll tell you about all my experiences in that faraway land! Until then, I'll go and rest and hopefully dream of what may happen to me on this trip.

One thing's for sure: I am fully aware of the fact that this kind of thing happens only once in a lifetime, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can.

my itinerary

2008-08-05T16:35:00.001+02:00

Where I am going to be when, and what's on the agenda there:

Saturday, 9 August
Departure from Paris

Sunday, 10 August
Arrival in Beijing

Monday, 11 August
Get-together of adolescents, sportsmen and the representatives of the region North Pas-de-Calais

Tuesday, 12 August
Visit of Beijing City
Departure by train to Tianshui

Wednesday, 13 August
Arrival in Tianshui
Visit of the rainwater collecting project in the village of Zhaona de Tianshui

Thursday, 14 August
Departure by bus to Xian

Friday, 15 August
Visit of the Terracotta Army in Xian
Departure by train to Beijing

Saturday, 16 August
Arrival in Beijing
Attending the gymnastics competitions at the National Sports Palace of China
Get-together of the French and Chinese youths at the School N°22 of Beijing

Sunday, 17 August
Visit of the Forbidden City
Attending a basketball match at the Sports Palace of Wukesong
Visit of the Great Wall

Monday, 18 August
Departure to France

my adventure begins

2008-08-03T14:59:00.000+02:00

The President of the French Swimming Association told me that I would be going to Beijing at the French Championships in Dunkirk, which were also the qualifying races for the Olympic Games in Beijing. I couldn't believe it and even shed a few tears of joy. It wasn't until the next day that asked why I had been chosen.

I didn't like the thought of having been chosen because I'm an SOS child. But my coaches told me that I had been chosen because of my results, my consistency and my energy (which I have to spare, it's true!!!).
I was pleased to hear I had been singled out for the right reasons. My team-mates had known beforehand and were really happy for me; they really are true friends. I'm honoured to represent them and will make sure to take lots of pictures so they can share the experience!

about me

2008-08-01T09:41:00.011+02:00

I am 16 years old. I have been living in the SOS Children's Village in Calais ever since 29 December 2000 with two of my siblings, Anastasia and Kevin, my SOS mother Brigitte, her husband Jean-Laurent and Annelyne, their little daughter.
I have been going to a sports high school in Dunkirk for three years. This is where I pursue my passion: swimming. I have reached national level and am a member of the French junior team. When I'm in the water, I don't think about anything and forget all my worries!

My blog in French: sur la route des JO en chine
and in German: meine olympische reise nach china