The King and I

About a week ago we had a faculty tennis tournament. I was paired up with Doctor Wang, a professor in animal research. Due to a communicative break down, we got slaughtered in our first match. Mid-way through the second match, down 4 games to 1, we really started to mesh. At first playing doubles was really unfamiliar, but Mr. Wang playing the backcourt proved to be the perfect antidote for my defunct backhand.  I revolutionized the game by starting to charge the net and spiking the ball as hard as I could. Mr. Wang had the perfect lob shot to the back of the court to set it up. Soon we started rolling the competition. Our last match was pretty even. We played against one of the veteran teachers and Mr. Zhou, the president of the school. I almost played myself out of a job next year going maliciously after the weaker link Mr. Zhou. I might have gone over the top (my hat was turned backwards and I was shouting Geronimo each time I attacked the net), but we managed to win on the tiebreaker. The tournament format was a bit confounding, after going 4-1 we received fifth place. Not that we had much of a shot of defeating the 1^st place team led by Professor Yu, the tennis instructor, but we did beat the team that got third place. Regardless, it was a really fun tournament and as an added bonus Mr. Wang and I both won 20 dollars for our performance.

I went out to explore a bit of the countryside with Henry and a couple of his friends. After a country-style lunch, we went fishing (if you can call it that) in a domesticated pond. If you play the level of the refraction and the fact that bullets can’t go very far once they hit water, their method of fishing is even easier than shooting fish in barrel. We decided to have a fishing competition where the team that caught fewer fish would have to buy dinner. While we were sitting there hauling fish in at 5-minute intervals, the pond owner came out to stake sun umbrellas over us and feed the fish, in order to make our task even easier. During our two hours of fishing, I had an extensive naughty words tutorial. Bobo, the English name I gave to one of Henry’s friend, had a particular affinity for learning English cuss words. By the end of fishing, he sounded very similar to the turrets guy on YouTube. The fish was grilled and barbequed at Henry’s restaurant and paid for by Bobo’s team that only caught 9 fish.

 The fish dish, what a catch(er)

With my friend Henry

The goblets of fire

As a reward for being P90x (America’s number 1 home workout video) graduates we went to go get massages with Henry. Upon hearing that I had sensitive feet, Henry gleefully ordered us for 45 minutes foot rubs as well. At the top of an endless list of my flaws as a human being is probably my foot odor condition.* According to Henry, the woman who was attempting to massage my feet as I wiggled and squirmed, claimed I have very unusual feet. The way I heard it, she said my feet stunk. Henry claims stink and stunk are the same words I just didn’t understand the context, which is entirely possible, although his translations tend to be based upon what causes the most amount of comedy/personal amusement. The foot massage was a volley between being tickled pink and tortured red (the masseuse would dig her knuckles into pressure points in the heel) all to the extreme delight of Henry. At the end, they performed a hot cupping to remove all the bad blood in our backs. I found the feeling to be similar to putting a vacuum hose up to your skin, but with a warming sensation.

The result of those blood suckers

The new constructed studio set 

I recently learned that they are filming a new TV series in Lu Kong, the ancient town right next us. This weekend, we traveled to Lu Kong with our boss and saw a massive studio set that wasn’t there three months ago. People crowded all around trying to catch a glimpse of the actors performing. For the first time ever we weren’t the persons of interest. That lasted for about 3 minutes until the actors spotted us and ran over to take pictures.

This will be my last blog. Tomorrow we will leave to explore China’s southern beauties, Shangri la, Lijiang, and Dali for a week. We will return the same day that Kassy’s sister gets in. I imagine we will have a ruckus last 8 days in Rong Chang before heading to Bei Jing for five days. I have had an incredible year and am very much look forward to returning in September. Unfortunately, Kassy will remain in the United States seeking to obtain her master’s degree. To end on a good note (one much better than me singing), my good friend Adam Van Atta will joining me next year as I continue to toil with the Chinese language.    

*It’s always sounds disgusting to admit you have foot fungus; I am very appreciative who ever decided to call it athlete’s foot. “A rose by any other name wouldn’t smell as sweet,” but a foot fungus that’s called athlete’s foot makes me feel much better. I can almost use it as a reasonable defense mechanism whenever I take off my shoes, well I’m sorry everyone I’m athlete… what do you expect.