We Don't Need No Stinkin' Field!

The great American sport of baseball has officially been brought to Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China. Well, actually, the great American sport of baseball was officially brought to Zhanjiang by another foreign teacher last year. Still, I spent the Saturday before Christmas playing pickup baseball with a very enthusiastic group of girls.

I don't actually have any pictures of the game itself because I was an active participant. This experience was a great reminder of how many things there are out in the world that are completely unfamiliar. For example, can you imagine having NO idea how to hold a baseball bat or what you are supposed to do with it? When one of my students asked what she should do with "it" as she held the bat in front of her like a handbag I probably had a look on my face similar to the look a Chinese person gets when I explain to them that I can't shell, de-head and de-leg a shrimp with a pair of chopsticks. You always hear the phrase 'different strokes for different folks,' but sometimes it's easy to forget that some strokes aren't just different, they're often not even in the same ballpark. Pun intended. ;-D

After almost two hours of baseball, the activities dissolved into a mess of picture-taking. It's amazing how often this happens. I don't think Chinese people can ever get enough pictures. One of my students' favorite poses is the "pretend-kiss" picture. They will keep taking this picture until the 'kissee' gets it right. The key to this is looking delighted at the prospect of the impending contact. Smiling is also acceptable, but not ideal.



It seems that after every sporting event my students like to see a display of strength or athleticism. For example, when I play basketball, then want to see from how far away I can make a basket. On this day, the interest was in how big a person I could lift. The largest student at the field was a boy weighing at least 3 kg less than me (that's ~6.6 lbs., for those of us who don't speak metric). It was decided that I should do a test run first with this much lighter girl, Lorelai. After lifting her without so much as a grunt, the true test began.



First came the discussing of logistics and relative weights.



Then came the moment where I realized that a person shouldn't do everything an impressionable Chinese student tells them to...

And finally, success!

It wasn't baseball as I've known it before, but it was certainly alot more fun than many of the times I've played more organized ball in the States.