Lessons learnt - 27.08

I got back safely home to Germany.
I really couldn't get proper sleep last night and I guess I probably missed my hard bed in Beijing. Jokes by side, I think my experience in China has rather given me a deep exposure and insight into a number of things which I may consider as learnt lessons.

1. I have strenghtened my skills of working better under pressure and improved the attitude of leaving less room for mistakes.

2. I have enrichened my social skills and competence as I had this wonderful opportunity to really work in a global environment involving not only my foreign Atos Origin colleagues but different internation teams.

3. I have learnt to be less judgemental especially on things for which I have had no direct exchange with. I believe the media does a really good job of generating loads of negative images about a lot of things that it is equally important not to base opinions on what we consume from the media.

4. China is on the march! They have the biggest Airport in the world now, the biggest Theatre in the world, the biggest shopping Mall and the most iconic stadium I have ever seen. I guess soon we might all have to consider learning chinese. At least, the next generation will have no other choice.

5. China is a beautiful country and I have had a wonderful experience with chinese people.
People have been extremely nice, friendly and hospitable. I can't tell if it has always been like but I have been impressed!

After Games Party - 25.08

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Officially, today is our last day and the agenda is to have an official group foto and an after-games party.
For the group fotos we are all to appear in our full uniforms but we had the option to change for the party.
Taking the group foto was tedious since we were a large group of over 400 people.
It took over an hour to get this done. People from different groups and groups of individuals who linked well took the opportunity to take fotos as well.
After the foto session we travelled in different buses for about one and a half hours outside of Beijing for the after-games party.
I guess a lot of people were a bit enraged due to the long trip but as soon as we got to the location every single one of us was overwhelmed. We were met by group of chinese drummers who performed to welcome us.
The location,the decorations and the food were absolutely fantastic.

In his speech, Mr. Adiba (our olympic CEO) showered praises and congratulations on us for all our efforts and mentioned that we had delivered perfectly and each one of us had a reason to be proud.

I got back to the hotel around 2am in the morning, had to wake up at 7am because my flight was at 10am. I was picked up at around 7.30am and on my way to the airport I reflected on my last 3 weeks in Beijing. As I digged into the last 3 weeks, I was absolutely convinced that this, indeed, has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.

Lunch with Olina and husband - 24.08

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As I left the venue last night I decided to come back the next to watch the basketball finals between USA and China.
I got a phone call this morning from Olina inviting me to have lunch with her and her husband.
I was a bit irritated and confused now because that meant I would have to skip the basketball game this afternoon.
But I have learnt that it would be absolutely disrespectful to decline such a gesture.
So I agreed to having lunch with Olina and her husband and rather skip lunch. Besides, I had already watched a number of basketball games involving the Americans and I was much confident they were going to win.

This lunch rendezvous turned out to be an excellent idea because we went to a pretty nice chinese restaurant in a typical chinese neighborhood.

We had what is known as "steaming pot", a huge boiling pot in the middle of the table with assorted types of meat and vegetables. I personally thought this was one of the most delicious meals I have ever had.

Later in the evening, I met with some of the guys with whom I now had excellent relations. One of them, Alex Foing - a french dude, was having his birthday so we all went out to the famous Sanlitun bar area to celebrate with him.

Last Day of Work - 23.08

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Today is my last day of work and on one hand, I am quite happy that I will soon be going home but on the other hand I am certainly sad that these wonderful times here are quickly over and also because I have to say good-bye to all the wonderful people I have met here.

I have had an excellent working relations with Olina, my IDS Colleague, the BOCOG colleagues (Beijing organizing committee for the olympic games) and the Omega colleagues.
Even though the job has been extremely demanding but we were able to execute our duties with absolute perfection. We never had any issues that could have pose as a major hindrance to the our venue games.

I guess we could all be very proud of ourselves because we simply achieved our goals and reached a huge milestone.

The Bird's Nest & Water Cube - 21.08

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Today is my free day and I am very excited.

The reason is that I will be going to the Bird's Nest to watch some exciting finals of the athletics.
As it is, the view of the Nest is awesome and the whole area is permanently filled with thousands of people seeking to take shots of the nest and the water cube.
My aim is to take shots when it gets dark.

I was lost with words after I entered the nest. The first words that came out of my lips were "WoW"!!!!
Today I perfectly understood why a lot of athletes break down into tears during a medal ceremony. The whole atmosphere comes with a deep emotional touch and it is certainly one of those things you really need to experience in real life.

The highlight for me was the 110m Hurdles showdown which the cuban Dayron Robles won. It was the perfect race for him.

After the event I came out and the view of the nest and the water cube with changing colors was so fascinating.
I went to the 10th floor of the DHQ (our main technology center), which is just 50 meters away from the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest.
I paid a short visit to Karim Samir, an Atos Colleague who has been on the Olympic Project for over 6 months now.
I took the opportunity to take some shots from the 10th floor because I had an excellent view of the Cube and Nest!!!
Another fantastic day...

Football - 19.08

My highlight today is to watch the game between Argentinia and Brazil.
I closed at 6pm and rushed towards the workers stadium.
The subway was full of people all heading to the stadium.

Again, I witnessed a fantastic atmosphere and got to know that the Chinese were almost as football crazy as Europeans.
The game was not the best I have seen as the Argentiniens really dominated the Brazilians and rightly won...

Cháng Chéng 20.08 - Great Wall

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What we all call the Great Wall of China is known in China as Cháng Chéng!
We (me and 13 other Atos Origin Colleagues) rented a Van and Tour Guide and traveled 90km outside of Beijing to Mutianyu.
Before we got there we made a short stopover at a Jade factory.
For the first time in the olympics Jades were used as the inner core for the medals. What I really learnt today was to distinguish between a fake and a genuine Jade. I am not sharing this secret with you but you can always render my services when the need arises...

Because we were all tired from those long working hours we decided to go uphill with cablecars instead of climbing up.
Having reached the top, I was simply speechless - What I now saw was way beyond my expectations. The view of the Wall is simply stunning.
The steps are really uneven so walking to the different towers is quite an exercise. But every little step was worth exploring.
Again, I was really wondering how they did it. I guess the ambition and the quest to survive as a people from invasion was incredibly strong.

Riding down was so much fun. We decided to run the "bob-sleigh" down the hill and that was such an awesome feeling.
And then on our way back to the Van we met the German Basketball team with Dirk Nowitzki. We had a few exchanges with them.
The day was really fulfilling....