Mr. Hughes' Blog - Day 4

Day four:

It is 11.00 a.m. Both teams have spent the morning preparing the robots and practising their dances. We are now packing the robots and sorting out the logistics of getting them to the venue in one piece. I have been to the venue to book the practise times for both teams on the dance stage ands to pick up the security passes. The adult passes were not ready so we will have to pick these up this afternoon. The rest of the passes were ready, but it was a bit of a melee to sort them out with various Chinese helpers busily sorting out the slips we gave them to find the right pass. The Chinese are very keen to help, but the language barrier is quite a big issue, however I muddled through.

Language is a real problem for me. I have O level French and German (only just), but the Chinese language and speech cadence is so very different that I cannot understand a word. English is understood by few and spoken by even fewer. Under these circumstances I usually resort to mime and basic charades which gets me through. Unfortunately in China this gets me nowhere. The hotel we are staying at has a spa which I wanted to have a look at to see if I would make use of it. I spoke to the receptionists in the hotel who didn’t understand me, but they asked a door attendant to walk me across. I spoke to several people in the spa trying to get them to understand that all I wanted to do was look. I made lots of signs with my fingers to indicate waking and pointed to my eyes to show that I wanted to see the spa. Eventually they took pity on and gave me a locker tag. I was asked to take my shoes off and given leather slippers and shown the changing room. There I was given a towel and expected to change out of my clothing. When I didn’t they finally understood and were very accommodating in giving me the tour.

The pool was small and irregular in shape, designed for relaxation and conversation rather than swimming. There was also a smaller Jacuzzi shaped pool where you could relax while hundreds of tiny (minnow sized) fish swam around you. There were very modern power showers, a sauna, shaving area and a massage area. I could spend the whole day there with a massage for under £20, although working out the tariff took several conversations and one phone call.

The Chinese are very keen to understand and to please. In fact they will happily nod their heads in understanding and bring you their interpretation of what you have asked for because they don’t want to embarrass you by not understanding what you have said. As I re-read this it sounds complicated, but I think that it is true. I have found this when ordering meals, and when talking to hotel staff.

In the hotel the Reception staff do not really understand English. When I talk to them they often call over one of the door attendants who has good English. Interestingly his name is Stephen, although he is native Chinese. He is a college student who is doing holiday work in the hotel; he is a very useful person to know.

It is now 7.45 p.m. We have just got back from the venue. Today was setup day where we took all of the robots to the venue, set them up, tested them and had a run through on the main stage. All of the girls worked very well throughout the day preparing their robots and practising their dance routine.

It was a logistical challenge to get all of the teams’ kit to the venue, and it took four taxis to get us there. Our taxi cost 14 Yuan, or about £1. It was a little disconcerting to see our taxi driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid the potholes, and to be greeted by team members at the venue who had left after us, but it was quick.

We were quickly unpacked and assembling the robots. Each team had been allocated a small space to work in among the rest of the teams. It was quite an experience working next to teams from China, Slovakia, and Israel among others. There was a real buzz in the room with everyone working on their robots with conversations in many different languages. We noted that younger Chinese children had a little sleep when they had nothing to do. They folded their arms on the table and rested their heads on them. My lack of sleep was starting to catch up on me at the time and I was quite jealous.

There were issues of space for the posters and getting the music right, but everything was resolved and both teams had successful practices. Rock ‘n’ Roar were so keen that they had 4 run-throughs on the day.

We had a late lunch with a take-out from Starbucks which refreshed everyone, and spent the afternoon watching other teams, doing our practises and getting ready for the real thing. There is a lot for the teams to think about in terms of checking equipment and getting everything to the main stage without damage. We discussed who should carry what, and how to carry everything while also having someone looking after equipment so that it did not get interfered with. Sabotage is a real issue in this competition and I heard tales from previous years of robot parts being tied up with cable tidies so they could not function properly and infrared interference. The whole spirit of the competition is one of meeting different teams and sharing ideas, so the notion of winning at all costs is a strange one.

As the darkness grew we left the venue and caught the 28 bus. The lights on the Science and Cultural Centre were starting to glow in the gathering dusk, a myriad of lights continually changing colours: it was beautiful and spectacular. Back in the hotel everyone collapsed after the effort of the day. There was a competition reception at a local school, but no-one felt up to it. We had a small DIY meal in our rooms before getting to bed. I fell asleep after trawling through the offerings of Chinese TV. It seems very similar to our own in many respects: news, soaps, reality TV, competitions, etc. I watched some incredible acrobatics on a circus performance and tried to watch Chinese opera; but as with European opera I found it difficult going.