These past few weeks have been quite busy at work. I have taken an increased role in planning activities out of the center and, as a result, seen my free time diminish slightly. It is no skin off my back because I love doing this sort of thing. There are a few headaches and worries involved but they are vastly outweighed by the fun of it all. In the last three weeks I have taken students skiing, bowling, and continued China's education on the fundamentals of winning basketball.
Skiing was by far the most difficult to organize. We were originally scheduled to go skiing on the 24th of February but by the time the 15th rolled around it was already 55 degrees in Beijing and we hadn't seen snow since December. I was assured by leading members of Beijing's snowboarding community that none of this would be a problem. After much deliberation between the three teachers who were organizing things, we decided to go ahead and keep the date of the 24th. I woke up at about 6:00 a.m. on that Sunday and was instantly regretting my decision to commit to skiing on my day off. I met some students at the predetermined location (McDonald's) and we waited for the other teachers and students to arrive. Once everyone was accounted for we boarded a chartered bus for the two hour drive to the mountain. Although Beijing lies on a vast plane, it is surrounded by mountains. We headed to one of the more minor ski parks northeast of the city. The bus ride was fun because I was able to hang out with the students and even taught them Texas Hold 'Em. They were a little put off by the gambling aspect (95% of the game) but they enjoyed learning a little about a popular western card game. As we drove further and further away from the city my doubts regarding the suitability of the weather were increasing. It was brown winter death as far as the eye could see and while the topography became more undulating, the snow was nowhere in sight.
As we rounded a bend the ski resort showed itself. One white mountain amongst a forest of brown. When we arrived at the slope it was a bit of a free for all. Students charging this way and that collecting their ski equipment and changing into their ski gear. This was a vastly different experience from my only other attempt at skiing. I went to Breckenridge with some friends about five years ago. This place was much smaller although it was more organized. Lines and lanes reduced the propensity for chaos that can happen in this land where the idea of standing in line patiently has only recently started to take hold. Once everything, and everyone, was in its right place we made for the mountain. We had a ski and snowboarding teacher go with us and he offered to take the beginners, who among our group were many, to the beginner hill to get the basics down. Skiing is a fledgling sport in China. It is definitely a sport for the rich so many of the students were just excited to have the experience. Two of the thirty students could be classified as advanced skiers having skied in several countries on three continents. As we made our way out of the lodge and towards the lifts the improbability of the situation became apparent. They had snow blowers that had laid snow up and down the mountain the previous night, that is how we were able to ski with temperatures in the mid fifties and no snow since before the new year. Another 'Only in China' moment. The mountain was not very big but did have many very short runs, 13 to be exact, ten of which were classified as beginner, two as intermediate and one Colorado 'blue' run classified as advanced. I took one run on the beginner slope just to refresh myself with the physics of skiing. After 10 minutes on the rope lift I took a deep breath and headed down the hill. 45 seconds later I was at the bottom bemoaning the economy of the rope lift. I instantly headed to the intermediate run which was just a longer version of the beginner slope. I was doing well (no falls) but I was feeling a little disappointed. Half the fun of being on the mountain was people watching:
People skiing in jeans, presumably because it cost 30 RMB ($4.15) to rent snow pants.
Men skiing with one pole so they could still smoke while enjoying the crisp mountain air.
70% of people fell as they got off the lift. Pileups were a little dangerous and a lot funny.
Terrible collisions that sounded like being at a football game.
After a couple of runs on the intermediate slope I headed to the advanced run, the only one with a chair lift. I went up there with one student who is something of an accomplished world traveler, Her husband is a well respected, and well published, economist and she has been skiing at Lake Tahoe, Park City, Switzerland, and Japan. She was real heavy on the advice for me but I can't say I didn't need it. The advanced slope provided the challenge I was looking for especially as the day wore on and the fake snow turned to a sheet of ice. I was having a great time when I came down the mountain to find that one of our students had gotten hurt. I immediately asked, "Who is it?"
a student I did not recognize replied, "It was Yo-Yo."
"Who is Yo-Yo?"
"Yo-Yo is not your student."
"Ok", and with that I headed back up the mountain. It seems callous as I tell it but the truth is it was not my responsibility. We had two schools on the trip and this student was not from my school. Her teacher was taking care of her so I headed back up for one last run before we were to board the bus and head back. I went up and karma met me halfway down the mountain when the snow jumped up and grabbed my ski. I spun around landing back first on the icy surface. I was alright, better than the girl who got hurt. Days later we found out that she broke her leg. Yikes. China is not a very litigious society so no wavers or precautions to limit liability were taken. She did not sue and the thought never entered her mind would be my bet.
Later that week I took some students bowling at the lanes near my work. I was not originally supposed to do it but the teacher that was organizing the outing divulged her contempt for it and I leaped on the opportunity to spend my work day bowling as opposed to being in the classroom. Bowling is a sport that seems to have been popular at one time in China but I think its time here has come and gone. That being said one of the largest bowling allies I have ever heard of is here in China, the Gongti 100. 100 bowling lanes that are quite popular with the kids. I have ever been there but I have been by it and seen the throngs. I have been bowling one other time in China and it was last year. The equipment was Brunswick's top of the line...in 1986. This experience was no different. The place where we bowled had a lot of technical glitches one being that we could not control the scoring screen and therefore couldn't enter any funny names, a fundamental aspect of any bowling experience. In all about ten students joined the bowling trip. I gave them a handout the other teacher had prepared and we just bowled for about two hours. None of the students were particularly good, neither was I for that matter. We had fun and I snapped a few pictures of the action.I have been continuing my basketball lecture series as well. Three weeks ago we tackled the topic of College Basketball. This was a fascinating topic for the students, one they liked even more than I expected. College sports are so unique to North America. Nowhere else are collegiate athletics followed so closely by the sporting public. I taught them about the most prolific basketball programs in the US and their most famous alumni. I also gave them the stat lines of who I believe are the three greatest college basketball players of all time, Bill Walton, Oscar Robertson, and Christian Laettner. The thing that really got them going was the part about the NCAA Tournament. I did a power point presentation and the last slide was a bracket from 2006. As soon as I switched to the slide the entire class cooed. I think there is something inside each and every human that draws us to the organization and aesthetic value of the bracket. I taught them about 10 seeds that beat 7 seeds and Cinderella teams. They were all over it.
This last Saturday I took the basketball education a step further. Defense is something that is almost entirely absent in every form of Chinese basketball I have seen. I decided to teach the virtues of man-to-man defense as well as the art of zone defense. the second half of the lecture was spent on Tex Winter's Triangle Offense. They were intrigued to learn more about the system under which Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant won multiple championships. Late we hit the court to apply some of what we had learned but the translation from the classroom to the court still needs some work.
In two weeks my dad and my sister will be here in Beijing and I have already started to map out the attractions that they need to see and even some off the beaten path that I think they will enjoy. One attraction of the former variety is the vegetable and meat market near my house. There are some very different fruits and veggies there and the energy of the market is a lot of fun. The meat market even has a few meats that will remain nameless in order to keep some of the secrets of this strange and wonderful market ahead of their arrival.
Here is a picture of my apartment complex that I took from the road this afternoon. I went for a walk and found a Korean restaurant that I think I will try this evening. Take care all.
