I’m basically doing no presents for anyone this year…with one notable excpetion. Badminton people!
On tuesday I gave everyone in my group a little gift. A birdie keychain. I bought 20 because I never know how many people are going to come, and that day we had about 17 people total. So then we took a lot of pictures afterwards.
A group shot! We hardly ever take these because we finish at 10pm, and most people run off back home immediately.
Since everyone had these keychains my friends were doing some funny pictures with them….
Which I had to photobomb of course.
And I couldn’t let my teacher walk away from our class empty-handed. After one of the hardest classes I’ve had in weeks, I gave him a badminton cup. He was totally surprised and we took a selfie and then we had a public love-fest on our wechat moments.
This is my wechat declaration of love. It says “My progress is slow. I forget a lot, but my teacher is awesome! Thanks teacher. Merry Christmas!”
Honestly, the guy speaks very little english. Just words like “standby” and “ok la!” Im guessing someone helped him write this? Anyway, it was nice.
I’m truly a frustrating student, but lord knows I’m enthusiastic and I think he finds me funny. (Especially as this week we practiced jump smash and when we practiced without a birdie, I was hopping around like a bunny and I caught him laughing at me.)
And what else? Well, the best present is one that I thought I was buying for myself but actually my friend ended up paying for (as a gift). Tickets to see the professionals play! The Xiamen National Team has the highest number of Olympians and World Champs, and the day after Christmas they are playing the Qingdao National Team which has the second highest amount of world champs (including Lin Dan). It’s gonna be my first professional match and I can’t wait!
So, whatever you are doing this year, and whoever you are spending Christmas with, I hope it is a good one.
Merry Badminton Christmas!!
