Day 12: Smog, Signs, "Confirm Me"

Today was just a foggy day.  It was grey everywhere—you could barely see the sun. I’m glad I brought eye drops because my eyes were feeling strange. It really wasn’t that bad for us, but I can imagine it bothering the players. 

You can see a little fog-- but it's really not too bad at Djokovic v. Simon on Lotus. 

The press won’t let it go, especially an English guy for Reuters. He asked about the smog in every single meeting. Most of the players have said it isn’t that bad, but I’ve seen a number of them coughing on the court. 

Djokovic's classic bounce before the serve.

Setting up the serve.

About to win against Gilles Simon.

Djokovic is one of my favorites to take to press—he is always in a good mood and jokes around with the reporters. At the end of the conference today he turns to the translator who is giving his response in mandarin, and goes. “ NO. I did NOT say that last part. I didn’t say that.“  The translator was horrified until he said that he was kidding and that he didn't speak any Chinese. 

Something that I’ve noticed is the signage around the tennis center. Instead of “strictly prohibiting” food or drink, etc, they offer “tips” on how to act. All of the rules are phrased “politely."

Just some "Tips."

Earlier in the media center I overheard one of the volunteers making up a sign. He asked me if the it made sense in English. It read something like: “ To pleasure, health and happiness, enjoying food outside.” What he meant was, “ No Food or Drink Allowed.” But he was very insistant on the fact that he wanted it to sound “ happy.” We compromised with, “For a clean working environment, please refrain from eating or drinking in the media center.”

Problem solved.

I'm not sure why but I just get a huge kick out of communication issues here. Katie and I bought some shoes at a market by our hotel, and it was quite the adventure trying to explain shoes sizes to the non-english speaking girl who tried to help us at a place called "Love. Family. Tree."

Try acting out "Do these come in black?"

It's funny how the communication for our media center has worked out. Our main supervisor is so great-- we get along very well despite the language difference. Her English is excellent, but it did take a day or so to really get on the same page with each other, especially since most of our communication is via the radio or phone.  I can tell that we would be friends even outside of a work environment. Some things such as personalities and character traits are so universal and easy to spot even without using words.  

Anyways, Katie and I are pretty proud of ourselves for getting one of the chinese girls we work with in the interview room to say "TEN FOUR" and "ROGER" over the walkie talkie.