You ever wake up to the phone ringing or loud traffic? What about maybe a loud knocking on the door? Maybe a rooster or something that has to make noises at all hours of the night? How about constant construction noises that sound like your neighbor is completely remodeling their place, putting on a deck and possibly a second floor, all right next to your head? Well that’s how it's been for us at our apartments on and off the last couple weeks. About 4 to 5 times a week, no specific days, just kind of when they feel like it, the school is doing construction on our floor. There are three open rooms on our floor. The first day construction or "incessant pounding ever 3 seconds from 7:30 to 11:00 am" started; they made a huge whole in one of the rooms to connect it to the other one to make one big apartment. Then the next day they closed off our door to our nice balcony we use for BBQs, they say it's for a kitchen? I say use because now we just climb through the windows to get there. Anyway, along with these nice noises we get to wake up to; our shower with the heater hasn't been working lately, which means COLD SHOWERS! woo hooo! BUT, today lots of noise, but the hot shower was working. Also, as I arrived to school today to see students practicing for their up coming track meet. Its good to see no matter where you are kids are kids, and always find it funny to grab the high jump bar, make some karate noises and pretend to attack another kid. Awwww…. kids.
Ok, enough of the sentimentals and new alarm clocks. On to all the exciting things I left you on the edge of the seat with last time I wrote. I know its all you've been thinking about since, that and what's for dinner? But I'm off topic again! I've mentioned our new neighbors from Brazil a few times. Great people. I went with Rodrigo one night to grab a bite to eat. All of the restaurants he really likes here in Wenling decide to close, so he now only secretly likes restaurants and avoids going to them too much. We think someone is following him, or just wants him to leave, one of the two. We went to this little hole in the wall, much like the other 3,561 other hole in a wall restaurants here in Wenling. The key is, finding the good hole in a wall restaurants, which either takes a brave person or know someone that’s been here for a while. This restaurant is owned by Chinese muslims, an ethnic group pronounced similar to "way" or "hway", I forget exactly. Once you're in China you find out they have other foods, pork, chick, fish, but just about everything is cooked the same way. This place cooked things in a much different way, and is a great change to the normal grease covered food we eat at every other meal. After eating and sipping on a few beers we heard a rustling and workers chasing after something. At first I thought it might be like a chicken or something loose from the back, but no, it was a rat, maybe a mouse. It didn't look too big. Rodrigo turned and asked the workers in Chinese if they had "dashu rou" or rat meat on the menu. We ended the night at a pool "hall." It was more of an open basement to someone's house, with two tables. We bought a few beers and played for about an hour and a half, all for the price of about $1 American.
Later in the week I came home late from school after practicing with the teachers at my school for our upcoming basketball game. I got of the elevator ready to go to my room and either make a few noodles or slap some pb and j down on some bread and enjoy a little of an American staple. To my surprise I smelled something even better, BBQ!!!! Rodrigo and James had begun to cook some meats including, chick, giant ribs, and beef. And of course what BBQ is complete without throwing in a few tasty beverages. The mosquitoes can attack you out here in China also, so we had this thing that looked somewhat like an oven burner that you light and it lets off a smell or something to keep them away. We, well mainly just me, kept stepping on it, so Karina put it next to the railing of the balcony, out of everyone's way. We all enjoyed some good talk'n and some good cook'n. I moved spots later and was resting up against the railing for a while to enjoy a tasty piece of chicken. Distracted by the great juiciness of the chicken I felt I was a little warm. I sat up a bit and looked behind me. And of course, I was on fire. My shirt was a blaze, but quickly put out by fire-chief Bracha and her cup of water. Nothing was hurt except one on my workout shirts, my KU shorts which now have a few small burn holes in them, and a few people's sides from laughing so hard.
If you thought that was exciting, just wait! Friday I had no school, but I did have my first teachers' basketball game against another school. It was pretty exciting just getting to the game. I was told to meet at the bus station at 2 pm. I was there along with one other player. I thought I was late and missed the bus. We sat there and waited for a while. Soon another teacher arrived and I was asked if I had any friends. This is an interesting question. But after thinking it over I decided I might have a few. I called my American friends and told them that the other teachers wanted them to come and watch our game. We went in a Taxi and picked James and Tabitha up and returned to the bus station. Instead of getting on a bus we proceeded to walk down a ways, and hop into a truck with a fairly nice sized cab. After fitting in 5 of us, capacity, we drove to another house, where two more people came out. Seemed like they were going to try and fit in, but another car showed up very soon. I'll skip some of the details of the windy roads and crazy Chinese drivers who don't believe in lanes.
The game: We arrived at the school in between classes. This school was similar to mine, about 4 stores high with open walkways that serve as hallways. This school had two long narrow buildings like this. In Chinese schools the students get 10 minutes in between classes, but they don't have to go to a new room, they just stay in the same room, or in our case, stare at the Americans that just arrived. It felt like every student was looking at us saying, "ewwww, ahhhh" almost as if they were watching fireworks. The court was outside, which wasn't so bad except for the sun that came into play blinding me for a few shots during the game. The school we played is known for its volleyball. They represent our entire province against other teams in China. Which means: They had very tall players, a few 5 to 6 inches taller than me.
The game started quickly with our team getting many steals and running the fast break and playing some great defense. The first quarter ended with us leading about 26-6 from what I could remember. A few minutes into the second quarter things got tougher as another tall player came in for the other team and made their zone defense even tougher. Our offense stalled as their team started making shots. The score was soon 18 to 14. Yeah, that’s what I said; we all of a sudden had 18 points. The wind was blowing and moved the 2 in 26 to a 1. The other team didn't seem to notice, neither did our team. The game also became much more physical as their big guys began pushing me in the back for every rebound and fouling on every shot. About one of the fouls were called. I soon realized that the fouls were not going to be called and changed my playing style, playing just as rough as they were. I was not used to this style since in our pick up games at my school they called pretty light fouls. It was a different story in the game. I soon was playing just as rough as they were hacking on every shot and not letting them close to the basket. TWEET: Halftime – The ref walks by our bench and offers all of our players a cigarette. Thankfully no one accepted.
The game got very close and during the third quarter there was a passing period again. The walkways were filled with students, probably around 700 of them or more, all watching our game. The noise level was astounding and caught me off guard at first. There was no time clock showing but in the fourth quarter it was tied. One of our players was hit hard on a lay up and made one of the two free throws. We played good defense and got a steal and the whistle blew. A honestly don't remember hearing a whistle blow but just saw people start walking of the court and our team cheering. We had won by one point.
The night continued with a team meal. We ate at restaurant with the opposing team next door to us. We drank some herbal tea to start out with but the rest of the players got to the beer as quickly as possible. I drank my herbal tea as long as possible trying to get some fluids back in me. The two teams came to each others room and toasted each other. One of the players from the other team said to me in English while standing across the table from me, "Shake, shake happy." Yes, he had already done a lot of toasting people and we had just played a full game of basketball. But everyone from my team, all the Chinese people looked at each other confused. I looked at James and said, "Does he mean dice?" Dice was the game I learned at the banquet. Sure enough that’s what he meant. I had taught James so while I played this man from the other team, whose nickname was Dumpling, James played one of my teammates. We found out on the way home the Chinese name for dice translated into English is "try to lie." A nice banquet, some dice playing, and a 1-0 record. All in all a good day.
Ok, enough of the sentimentals and new alarm clocks. On to all the exciting things I left you on the edge of the seat with last time I wrote. I know its all you've been thinking about since, that and what's for dinner? But I'm off topic again! I've mentioned our new neighbors from Brazil a few times. Great people. I went with Rodrigo one night to grab a bite to eat. All of the restaurants he really likes here in Wenling decide to close, so he now only secretly likes restaurants and avoids going to them too much. We think someone is following him, or just wants him to leave, one of the two. We went to this little hole in the wall, much like the other 3,561 other hole in a wall restaurants here in Wenling. The key is, finding the good hole in a wall restaurants, which either takes a brave person or know someone that’s been here for a while. This restaurant is owned by Chinese muslims, an ethnic group pronounced similar to "way" or "hway", I forget exactly. Once you're in China you find out they have other foods, pork, chick, fish, but just about everything is cooked the same way. This place cooked things in a much different way, and is a great change to the normal grease covered food we eat at every other meal. After eating and sipping on a few beers we heard a rustling and workers chasing after something. At first I thought it might be like a chicken or something loose from the back, but no, it was a rat, maybe a mouse. It didn't look too big. Rodrigo turned and asked the workers in Chinese if they had "dashu rou" or rat meat on the menu. We ended the night at a pool "hall." It was more of an open basement to someone's house, with two tables. We bought a few beers and played for about an hour and a half, all for the price of about $1 American.
Later in the week I came home late from school after practicing with the teachers at my school for our upcoming basketball game. I got of the elevator ready to go to my room and either make a few noodles or slap some pb and j down on some bread and enjoy a little of an American staple. To my surprise I smelled something even better, BBQ!!!! Rodrigo and James had begun to cook some meats including, chick, giant ribs, and beef. And of course what BBQ is complete without throwing in a few tasty beverages. The mosquitoes can attack you out here in China also, so we had this thing that looked somewhat like an oven burner that you light and it lets off a smell or something to keep them away. We, well mainly just me, kept stepping on it, so Karina put it next to the railing of the balcony, out of everyone's way. We all enjoyed some good talk'n and some good cook'n. I moved spots later and was resting up against the railing for a while to enjoy a tasty piece of chicken. Distracted by the great juiciness of the chicken I felt I was a little warm. I sat up a bit and looked behind me. And of course, I was on fire. My shirt was a blaze, but quickly put out by fire-chief Bracha and her cup of water. Nothing was hurt except one on my workout shirts, my KU shorts which now have a few small burn holes in them, and a few people's sides from laughing so hard.
If you thought that was exciting, just wait! Friday I had no school, but I did have my first teachers' basketball game against another school. It was pretty exciting just getting to the game. I was told to meet at the bus station at 2 pm. I was there along with one other player. I thought I was late and missed the bus. We sat there and waited for a while. Soon another teacher arrived and I was asked if I had any friends. This is an interesting question. But after thinking it over I decided I might have a few. I called my American friends and told them that the other teachers wanted them to come and watch our game. We went in a Taxi and picked James and Tabitha up and returned to the bus station. Instead of getting on a bus we proceeded to walk down a ways, and hop into a truck with a fairly nice sized cab. After fitting in 5 of us, capacity, we drove to another house, where two more people came out. Seemed like they were going to try and fit in, but another car showed up very soon. I'll skip some of the details of the windy roads and crazy Chinese drivers who don't believe in lanes.
The game: We arrived at the school in between classes. This school was similar to mine, about 4 stores high with open walkways that serve as hallways. This school had two long narrow buildings like this. In Chinese schools the students get 10 minutes in between classes, but they don't have to go to a new room, they just stay in the same room, or in our case, stare at the Americans that just arrived. It felt like every student was looking at us saying, "ewwww, ahhhh" almost as if they were watching fireworks. The court was outside, which wasn't so bad except for the sun that came into play blinding me for a few shots during the game. The school we played is known for its volleyball. They represent our entire province against other teams in China. Which means: They had very tall players, a few 5 to 6 inches taller than me.
The game started quickly with our team getting many steals and running the fast break and playing some great defense. The first quarter ended with us leading about 26-6 from what I could remember. A few minutes into the second quarter things got tougher as another tall player came in for the other team and made their zone defense even tougher. Our offense stalled as their team started making shots. The score was soon 18 to 14. Yeah, that’s what I said; we all of a sudden had 18 points. The wind was blowing and moved the 2 in 26 to a 1. The other team didn't seem to notice, neither did our team. The game also became much more physical as their big guys began pushing me in the back for every rebound and fouling on every shot. About one of the fouls were called. I soon realized that the fouls were not going to be called and changed my playing style, playing just as rough as they were. I was not used to this style since in our pick up games at my school they called pretty light fouls. It was a different story in the game. I soon was playing just as rough as they were hacking on every shot and not letting them close to the basket. TWEET: Halftime – The ref walks by our bench and offers all of our players a cigarette. Thankfully no one accepted.
The game got very close and during the third quarter there was a passing period again. The walkways were filled with students, probably around 700 of them or more, all watching our game. The noise level was astounding and caught me off guard at first. There was no time clock showing but in the fourth quarter it was tied. One of our players was hit hard on a lay up and made one of the two free throws. We played good defense and got a steal and the whistle blew. A honestly don't remember hearing a whistle blow but just saw people start walking of the court and our team cheering. We had won by one point.
The night continued with a team meal. We ate at restaurant with the opposing team next door to us. We drank some herbal tea to start out with but the rest of the players got to the beer as quickly as possible. I drank my herbal tea as long as possible trying to get some fluids back in me. The two teams came to each others room and toasted each other. One of the players from the other team said to me in English while standing across the table from me, "Shake, shake happy." Yes, he had already done a lot of toasting people and we had just played a full game of basketball. But everyone from my team, all the Chinese people looked at each other confused. I looked at James and said, "Does he mean dice?" Dice was the game I learned at the banquet. Sure enough that’s what he meant. I had taught James so while I played this man from the other team, whose nickname was Dumpling, James played one of my teammates. We found out on the way home the Chinese name for dice translated into English is "try to lie." A nice banquet, some dice playing, and a 1-0 record. All in all a good day.
