ICPC World Finals 2018

I was even more disappointed by the choice of host city that year. I had been a coach for two years, and the World Finals had sent me once to the United States and once to China. Why? As a travel destination, I would personally take Beijing over Rapid City by an enormous margin, but I had already visited Beijing more times than I could count. I had never even studied there, yet I felt as though I had ridden at least ten complete circuits of Subway Line 2.

I wanted to see somewhere else in the world.

Still, the university was paying. I could treat it as a free trip home.

The team had three members that year, all American. For convenience, I will call them American One, American Two, and American Three. Their qualification campaign had been remarkably smooth: American One had delivered an exceptional performance and carried much of the regional contest. For the full story, see the regional-contest collection.

American Two had attended my algorithms class consistently since the previous year and worked extremely hard. I had taught him everything I knew. That was not an infinite supply of knowledge, but in terms of algorithmic breadth, it covered the kinds of problems one might encounter around the World Finals silver-medal level. How much of it he had absorbed was now up to him.

American Three’s distinct role in this particular lineup was, well, rather limited. American One was much faster at implementation, so there was little chance that he would take the keyboard. American Two had a broader range of algorithmic knowledge. Between those two strengths, most of what American Three might otherwise have contributed was already covered.

The hotel provided by the organizers was extremely luxurious. Our room was on the thirty-fifth floor—if I remember correctly, the highest floor accessible to guests—and the view was excellent.

The organizers arranged an excursion to the Great Wall. I did not go. Guess why.

A small group from our university then organized its own visit to the Forbidden City. I did not join that either.

In truth, I probably should have gone with them, but I had plans that day, so I let them venture out on their own. I decided to trust in the English-language competence Beijing had accumulated since the era of “Beijing Welcomes You.” Before they left, I asked the assistant coach, “Do you have any money?” He said no. “Do you have WeChat?” He did, but he had not yet worked out whether the payment function would actually work. “And you’re still willing to leave the hotel?” I asked.

I gave them all the cash I had, a little over 500 yuan. That seemed as though it should cover a day out. At the very least, it ought to pay for the tickets. Beyond that, they were on their own.

Apart from those larger excursions, I took them to the food streets near Peking University. That was when the limitations of my English as a non-native speaker became painfully clear. The assistant coach wanted milk tea. I looked at an entirely Chinese storefront and its endless list of optional ingredients and realized I had no idea how to translate any of it. All I could offer was: “They’re sweet. Just pick one.”

On contest day, I was still quite relaxed.

Compared with the previous year, however, I was slightly more nervous. In 2017 I had essentially been there for the experience. This time I had modest expectations for the team, especially given American One’s extraordinary implementation speed and American Two’s solid command of algorithms.

The result justified some of that optimism. They solved four problems and were officially listed in a tie for 56th place. More than forty teams finished on four problems, but our team was near the front of that very large group. If all the four-problem teams had been separated by the usual ICPC penalty ordering, they would have been around 60th overall. That was better than my own result in my first World Finals.

Unfortunately, Peking University did not win the championship. As the host team, they were clearly very strong and had given it everything they had.

One final episode occurred as I was preparing to leave Beijing. I was standing in a subway station with my suitcase, waiting for someone, when a salesperson from an English-language training company approached and asked whether I wanted to study English. I looked remarkably young then—young enough to be a student. In fact, I still was one.

“I don’t want to study English,” I said. “Are you hiring teachers?”

He replied that their standards for teachers were extremely strict, then launched into a long explanation to which I paid little attention.

At the end, for reasons I never understood—perhaps simple politeness, perhaps one final attempt to salvage the sale—he asked where I lived.

“San Francisco,” I said.

He went silent. After roughly three seconds, he said, “Are you messing with me?” Then he walked away.

You were the one who came over and started the conversation.