photo assistant extraordinaire.

When you think of work... do you think of arriving at 8 or 9am, powering through the morning, taking maybe (if you're lucky) an hour for lunch, struggling through the afternoon and then trudging home around 5 or 6pm?

When you think of work... do you think of productivity, meetings, e-mails, accomplishing tasks and completing projects?

Or when you think of work... do you think of playing games like Mafia (Sarah... the Chinese people love this game), napping, taking two hours for lunch and riding motorized scooters around?

Because let me tell you what the past three days of "working" at the Laoshan Cycling Velodrome have been like. First, we catch the subway at about 7:30, play musical subway and jockey for a seat for our hour and a half train ride to Laoshan. Then, we arrive and ease our way into things with a morning training session that may or may not last for about 30 minutes. We exchange Chinese and English cultural knowledge with our colleagues until lunch around 11 or 11:30, and then proceed to nap, read or just "have a rest" in general until 1:30. Then another training session or two takes place, perhaps a tour of the Velodrome, mountain bike course and BMX track and some more hanging out follows. Finally, we all engage in Chinese-English communication barrier games trying to get to know our team... and we call it a day around 3:30pm so that we don't have to hit rush hour on the way home. A popsicle on the way to the subway, and we're good to go.

Honestly, it's not "work," it's just fun. We're getting to know the venue we will be working at, as well as the team working with the photographers that we are working with. There are about twelve of us all together, four Purdue students and the rest CUC students from all over China. Our managers are the coolest people ever and have worked as photographers and journalists all over China, as well as an "Overseas Expert" from Australia and an event consultant from Switzerland. They have all worked Olympic Games before and are super great to talk to.

Even though we do get a little bored... minus taking the scooters out for a high-speed spin today... we know that once the Games start, there won't be a dull moment. Our jobs as Photo Assistants basically make us the right-hand-men (and/or women) to the photogs. We're talking about me, Alysha, wearing a sweet photographer's vest, in the middle of a cycling track (while events are running), telling photographers where they can and cannot stand/sit/kneel, getting them any information they need and helping them in the photo work room after the event is over. Not only will I feel the sweat of Olympic cyclists, but I will be even closer to the blood, sweat and tears of photographers from the likes of AP, AFP, Getty and Reuters. (Todd, don't worry, I will stare at their fancy equipment for you!)

I think this is an awesome job. A little different than what I expected, but even better than I could have imagined. I can't even think about how cool I will feel being able to roam around Olympic events... telling ballin' photogs what to do. I am basically a bouncer for photographers. And there's a pretty decent chance you might see me on TV.


Now that I have gotten caught up in explaining what I will be doing, allow me to tell you where I will be working. The cycling venue is actually a "cluster" because three events are held on three different courses. Mountain biking is (of course) on a mountain. BMX is on a BMX track (the bikes that fly over the little hills). And track cycling is inside the Velodrome in a 6,000 person capacity stadium (photo above). Btw, BMX is making its debut at the Olympics this year... history, folks, is being made before my eye.

Also, the Velodrome is maybe the coolest thing ever. Think about a roller rink... propped up to 47 degree angles at each end... and stadium seating around it. Apparently when the bikes get rollin', the whole place sounds like thunder. Below is the view of the starting line (yes, I was standing on the track... be jealous).

So despite the fact that we will have only three days off for more than a month, our work is not that strenuous. I will add, though, that I am trying to get as much out of this experience as possible. I'm talking up a storm (and listening up a storm) to all of our managers and their previous experiences. I'm taking note of the way our venue is organized, the way the PR for the entire Olympics is panning out and especially the differences I have seen from the perspective as an outsider to someone living and working in an Olympic city. I think I will gain more from the little things I pick up with my astute observations of the way events are run than from actually working as a Photo Assistant. (Isn't that the truth about life anyway... you learn more just by opening your ears and widening your view? I mean, if you were thrown into an event like the Olympics, would you just stick to what you were supposed to do, or would you wander around and ask some questions?)

I'm asking questions.

[Speaking of questions, I love all the comments I'm getting... both via blog and e-mail. But if you have questions... or want me to go run around and take pictures of something, let me know and I'll do my best!]