Our class is so New York - diverse, interesting, a little eccentric. Along with the logical retired school teachers and nature photography buffs there are a few veterinarians, both retired and in-training, all of whom speak excellent Italian, including the girl with the wicked Bronx accent (who knew the best veterinary schools in the world are in Milan and Bologna?). There is a Port Authority engineer (“don’t hate me!”), an air traffic controller, a television commerial child star, an animator, and a sociologist working on a book about Star Trek and the history of photography. That puts me, part-time Chinese art dealer, right in the mix.

After a quick orientation session regarding schedules and requirements, we headed out for a tour of the Zoo.  I know my basic animals and even the names of a few of the major personalities, like Gus and Ida the polar bears. But I certainly didn’t know that Chocolate the snow leopard prefers her birth name, Mei Mei. Everyone was a little jealous of the retired vets extensive knowledge, and the Air Traffic Controller, who was born in Uraguay, knew every single exotic bird in the entire Rain Forest exhibit.  That area is going to take me weeks to figure out. 

We won’t get our textbooks and officially start study until next week, after going through a mandatory  City background check.  But as we were leaving the orientation a security man told me to make sure I’d watched the major kid’s flicks about animals, especially Madagascar. Kids get a lot of their knowledge and misiformation from these movies, and if you can relate to them using those contexts you’ll be a better guide.

Asiana’s business class lounge looks like new Asia – clean, bright, appealing, and with a wacky mix of East-West foods (noodle bar, cheesecake, and Doritos). So many golf magazines. Is golf the national sport of South Korea? Lots of children on the flight; Mom wonders if they have spent the summer at American camps or summer schools to learn English. The boy next to me colors in his animal book with the serious intensity of a high school junior taking the SATs.

Our flight is supposed to leave at 12:30am, and an hour or so later we are still on the empty tarmac, the whole plane in screen-saver mode, half asleep. I don’t even notice when we finally take off. The good part of the delay is that by the time we arrive in Seoul at 4:00am tomorrow, we’ll be able to check into a lounge until our mid-morning connection to Beijing. 

Korean food is hearty and Asiana takes no chances that we’ll go hungry. At 3:00am “Heavy Snack” is served, slices of goose liver pate, lobster and charcuterie followed by steak or bibimbap. That’s A long but quite good flightdefinitely heavy! I love bibimbap but pickled vegetables and chili sauce with rice at this hour probably isn’t conducive to sleeping. 

Seven hours later Mom has a sandwich of ham, cheese, and pickles on a croissant and we both think of Tom.  I should sleep more but there is a delicious aroma from the galley, noodles in a spicy broth with mushrooms and seafood. I love the kimchi and other little panchan dishes, the elegant long chopsticks, the teeny little tube of chili paste all elegantly arranged on a tray. Asian food travels so stylishly.

After noodle service, the stewardesses put out a big box of strong peppermints!  Some of us take the hint and go brush our teeth. 

Motto of the Olympic Games:  Citius,  Altius, Fortius,  “Swifter, Higher, Stronger!” If that doesn’t motivate the international traveler to get up and stretch every 20 minutes I don’t know what will.

Mom and I read a huge file of clippings I’ve been saving over the past few months about the Olympics. There has been so much coverage, but it is fun to read all of it again at once, choice bits about restaurants and art galleries mixed in with the incredible new architecture of Beijing and the compelling stories of the athletes.

The FT and Wall Street Journal give the best background. Not surprisingly, Sports Illustrated is more interested in the upcoming college football season than what is happening in China…

Until 1948, it was considered slightly unfair to train for the Olympics and most athletes didn’t know how!

Barbara writes:

A long but quite nice flight on Asiana. We left JFK an hour late at 1:30am on Mon. and are soon arriving in Seoul at about4:00 am on Tues. the 19^th. Laura and I got several hours of sleep , thank god! We have just started to read Laura’s file (large) on China and the Olympics. There was some great  quick reading about all the summer  games starting from 1898 and the politics of who was invited, who didn’t participate etc.  – plus wars, invasions, hurt feelings etc.!   Weare descending but there is nothing to see out the windows and the shades are all closed. They have been closed automatically the whole trip.  Love to the whole family, especially Bill!!!

Laura writes:

Tuesday 4:00am at Seoul’s Incheon Airport. Drinking walnut and Jacob’s Ladder tea in the enormous and very comfortable lounge which looks like a mod library. We have a five + hour layover until our flight to Beijing. Although we are just in the airport, it does feel like Korea, with Etiquette Bells and fountain toilets (got a direct hit of warm water in the face trying to see what was coming, luckily I was wearing my glasses), more noodle bars and a plethora of pickles.I will go down to visit the Cultural Heritage Experiencing Area when it opens.