The days has passed with a certain morning routine. Up early in the morning, do some yoga, throw in some eggs and bread down my throat and wash it down with some of that salty butter tea, that really has grown on me. Not much time to rest! Plans and times change suddenly and us four chaperone's, a Canadian girl named Dolma and two other Tibetans, Tenzin and Niyma, have to be on our toes all the time, keeping the athletes together and properly equipped for the day. Every time we are counting people in for taxis, there is always a few people missing that we have to wait for. Apart from organizing the athlets, we also take care of minor wounds and I got use of my tibetan massage to help sour muscels. Many small injuries are not actually sport related, one girl had two cut wounds from pedicuring her toes for example! These days we had a few more practice sessions of swimming and there was many personal improvements, but lot's of time was spent playing around with a ball, to everybody's happiness. Apart from the swimming there has been practice at most of the track and field disciplines as well. During all this time we've had film crews and people making documentaries following us for shooting and making interviews. Some are nicer then others. Lot's of respect to the professional Estonian team with Helen(a), the full time comedian, part time camera woman; Olger the quiet sound man; Agne the beautiful, talented director; all led by the clever, creative producer Aet. They gave the athletes lot's of space and found the way's of not getting in the way. Other film crews were not as delicate. Example, my room mate was unwillingly 'abducted' one day, so a team could have some shoots of him walking in the market during morning, they couldn't wait because the weather could change... Because of that, he unfortunately ended up missing the whole days training of swimming + track and field. He was not to happy about that.
One hard thing chaperon these athletes was learning to remember their names. For example you have many Tenzins, they are named after H.H. Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama) for being born under his 'period'. Those following Karmapa, names their children Karma + something. Then you have boy's with the girls name Dolma (after a goddess). If the babies when they were young were very ill, the parents would change the babies name to Dolma for her protection. Also the humor is a very cultural based thing to learn. For example: what is red, white and with metal inside? Answer: A sheep that you shoot in the head and gut from the throat to the belly! Then there's lot's of jokes about 'Uncle liar', a character that lies and somehow always manage to have sex with young girls and nuns. These jokes are told a bit embarrassing and with no girls listening.
Before the last day of training, two guests of honor for the Olympics came for dinner. One was Asha-ji, which has done allot for the Tibetan community in the city of Chennai. She is their mother so to speak and since many refugee kids don't have any relatives here, that has a closer meaning for them. The other, was a sort of world known special character, Shihan Husseini. He's a archery and karate (8th dan) teacher + sculpture and sketcher. This man has been breaking odd records during his days. Breaking stacks of ice blocks with his forehead, by jumping head down on them, had his hand crushed by tiles and then sketched drawings with the blood, sat himself on fire with 100 liters of gasoline, had 4 cobras bite his hand then smashed 100 of tiles (heart attack and hospital next), etc... He held a loud (!), funny, inspiring speech about Tibet, archery and freedom. He was so commanding, no one dared to utter a word! When he asked Lobsang loudly (the Olympics chief) that Tibetans should never surrender, they should 'Do or ?' Lobsang inspired raised his hand and shouted 'Dieeee!!!' No, no, no!! said Husseini 'Do or Do!! why should you die?!?!' as everybody was laughing their asses off. Then he showed us the record breaking events on his laptop. You can also see that on Youtube if you wish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_s8dFF02Ns&feature=related
Next morning there was no yoga. Hence known Cobra master, wanted the morning for archery training, so we quickly gathered the athletes after the early breakfast. From now on it was much easier keeping track of the athletes from not wandering off or taking to much time, you just had to remind them that Cobra master was going to whoop their ass and paint their picture if they didn't hurry! We ended up waiting over an hour on the field before he came in with a big presence and loud voice. The training went well, unneeded to say disciplined. Outside of the 'role' and a thing that the athletes has to touch his feet as a gesture of respect before practice, he is really a nice guy. I had very nice chats with both Asha-ji and Shihan and I am now excited to visit them and see what they do in Chennai. In the evening, I had to take blood pressure on two athletes that was left after further checks. Luckily they both seemed fine, so after allot of check-ups and talks, all athletes were allowed to compete tomorrow.
One hard thing chaperon these athletes was learning to remember their names. For example you have many Tenzins, they are named after H.H. Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama) for being born under his 'period'. Those following Karmapa, names their children Karma + something. Then you have boy's with the girls name Dolma (after a goddess). If the babies when they were young were very ill, the parents would change the babies name to Dolma for her protection. Also the humor is a very cultural based thing to learn. For example: what is red, white and with metal inside? Answer: A sheep that you shoot in the head and gut from the throat to the belly! Then there's lot's of jokes about 'Uncle liar', a character that lies and somehow always manage to have sex with young girls and nuns. These jokes are told a bit embarrassing and with no girls listening.
Before the last day of training, two guests of honor for the Olympics came for dinner. One was Asha-ji, which has done allot for the Tibetan community in the city of Chennai. She is their mother so to speak and since many refugee kids don't have any relatives here, that has a closer meaning for them. The other, was a sort of world known special character, Shihan Husseini. He's a archery and karate (8th dan) teacher + sculpture and sketcher. This man has been breaking odd records during his days. Breaking stacks of ice blocks with his forehead, by jumping head down on them, had his hand crushed by tiles and then sketched drawings with the blood, sat himself on fire with 100 liters of gasoline, had 4 cobras bite his hand then smashed 100 of tiles (heart attack and hospital next), etc... He held a loud (!), funny, inspiring speech about Tibet, archery and freedom. He was so commanding, no one dared to utter a word! When he asked Lobsang loudly (the Olympics chief) that Tibetans should never surrender, they should 'Do or ?' Lobsang inspired raised his hand and shouted 'Dieeee!!!' No, no, no!! said Husseini 'Do or Do!! why should you die?!?!' as everybody was laughing their asses off. Then he showed us the record breaking events on his laptop. You can also see that on Youtube if you wish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_s8dFF02Ns&feature=related
Next morning there was no yoga. Hence known Cobra master, wanted the morning for archery training, so we quickly gathered the athletes after the early breakfast. From now on it was much easier keeping track of the athletes from not wandering off or taking to much time, you just had to remind them that Cobra master was going to whoop their ass and paint their picture if they didn't hurry! We ended up waiting over an hour on the field before he came in with a big presence and loud voice. The training went well, unneeded to say disciplined. Outside of the 'role' and a thing that the athletes has to touch his feet as a gesture of respect before practice, he is really a nice guy. I had very nice chats with both Asha-ji and Shihan and I am now excited to visit them and see what they do in Chennai. In the evening, I had to take blood pressure on two athletes that was left after further checks. Luckily they both seemed fine, so after allot of check-ups and talks, all athletes were allowed to compete tomorrow.
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