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We Feel Changes Every Day

Beijing 2008: How would you describe your life in China?

Michael Cambanis: I have been here for one and a half years. I am very happy with what I’m doing here, and my wife is too. Everybody knows there is an economic boom in China. Every country and every person has great interest in China. You can see this point from the expansion of the embassies in Beijing. Take the Greek Embassy for example: we are trying to find a place suitable for our expansion and we are ready to rent a big apartment in an office building to concentrate all the different Greek services in Beijing, in one place.

We really enjoy living in Beijing and we are interested in all kinds of cultural events. There is Beijing Opera, Chinese theatre, and lots of foreign groups performing here. We are very excited that there is always something to do and time passes quickly in this way.

How do you feel about the changes that the preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games have brought to the city and the country?

I want to share with you some of my experiences. Yesterday I went to the airport to send off my wife, and I discovered, on the way, another new bridge. It is amazing that you can find new things in Beijing every day. For the one and a half years that I am here, I realize that the authority has made tremendous efforts to build a modern metropolis in preparing the city for the Olympic Games.

What is more, at the same time, the government has also made efforts to preserve and restore the historical sites. For instant, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park, Houhai Park, all these magnificent parks in Beijing. It is not only good for the city itself, but also good for its inhabitants and for the foreigners who want to come to the city for the Games.

The municipal government is also making efforts to improve the infrastructure of the city. There are new subway lines, new buses, new taxis, new airport and new roads. We can feel these changes every day.

We can also feel that the economic boom is now happening in other cities as well. I’m not only talking about such big cities such as Shanghai or Hong Kong, but for the whole of China. As an ambassador, it is very important to know the country that you are appointed to, so we have travelled a lot. In every city we went, in every province, we discovered the same boom. China now is one of the world’s biggest economic powers. I am sure that within one year and a half, Beijing will be absolutely ready to organize the best Olympics ever.

How did people in your country prepare for the Olympic Games? Any useful experiences to share with Beijing?

I am sure you are going to have a fantastic Olympics in 2008. The thing that counts very much is the opening ceremony, and Beijing, like the cities that hosted the previous Olympic Games, has only one chance for the first impression. We used to say that the good beginning is half of the final success. To organize the Games you need more than the sport itself. You have to concentrate your efforts on details. The expectations from the whole world for Beijing are very high. On the contrary, Greece is a country of much smaller size and less population, so the expectation was not so high. Eventually when we made the opening ceremony such a big success, people forgot all the other small faults. But Beijing has to be successful in every different way, so you have to pay more attention to details.

An element, among many others, that contributed very much to the success of the Athens Olympic Games was that we secured a good transportation link between the different sites. Transportation was a key element for the Olympics Games. We didn’t have a subway or a good airport before the Games. We made great efforts to improve our transportation system. So just before the Games everything was changed. And we had disciplines to persuade people not to drive on the special lane on the roads during the Olympic Games, which really helped to facilitate the organization of the Games. Chinese people are more disciplined than Mediterranean people and you will do a better job on this.

We have already done a good job in sharing our experiences with Chinese friends.  We see the Chinese Olympic Games as a torch relay of civilization. The Olympic ideals were born in Greece and we would like to see these ideals being carried on by a country of such an ancient civilization.

What're your suggestions for Beijing to host a unique Games?

You have to pay attention to the tourists. You need to make the foreign people understood. The lack of communication in China is because few people speak foreign languages here. If you have language services in every hotel, every tourist site, every Olympic venue, it will be much easier for the foreigners. This is a very important factor that the organizers need to keep an eye on and I am sure that the authority has already thought of it.

Another difficulty will be the behaviour of some Chinese sellers. For instance when you enter a Chinese market the sellers push the tourists to buy their goods. But I think you can solve this problem before the Olympics. I will give an example. One year and a half ago, I was invited to a classical performance in the Forbidden City Theatre. I was very much disappointed that time, because I saw people eating potato chips, making noise and speaking loudly during the performance. We left the performance in the middle. Ten days ago, we went to the same theatre. The changes were unbelievable. There were three broadcasts telling people not to do this, not to do that. All the people were sitting there quietly listening to the music. So I think it’s not difficult to tell the sellers not to make noise and not to push. It largely depends on the publicity. I think it’s my duty to say this.

Another suggestion which is easier for you to act on is, for instance, the ATM machines. When you go there to withdraw money you find the instructions are all in Chinese except one word in English “cancel.” Now and then in the banks there are ATMs with English instructions, but not the ones on the street. I think it’s not difficult to change.

These small details make the life of the foreigners very difficult here. That's why I am always talking about details. Details are very important for the Games. I am sure these problems will be solved very soon.

Have you bought any Beijing Olympic mascots or other licensed products?

Of course, from the very beginning I bought many things, from mascots to jeans. I like them very much, and I sent them to my kids in Athens.

How will you be involved in the Olympics?

I think I will work as a coordinator. We will have many Greek delegations and officials coming to China at that time. The embassy will coordinate the visits in a very official way. Of course as a country having organized the Olympic Games just before China, we have already worked for the 2008 Olympic Games since we have to coordinate different groups of Greek experts coming here to cooperate with the Chinese counterparts. We have had many meetings with the Chinese organizing committee. That’s why we are in the position to say that you are going to have the best Olympics Games ever, because we know.