An American Girl Learning Badminton in China
So ya know how my goal is to become a gaoshou (expert)? Well, it happened. (On a very unassuming Friday night.) It was past 9pm and I had been playing for a few hours. My coach called me over to…
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Most of the people I play with are cool and we are used to each other. But I go everyday, and end up playing with lots of new people every week. Sometimes we become regular buddies and sometimes I never…
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I thought I’d share a typical week of how much I play and what kind of play/training I do. Last week I took pictures (almost) everyday so you can see. While every week changes a little, all the elements of…
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Somethings been a little off lately. It’s not my enthusiasm, it’s not my love for the game, but something hasn’t felt right for a few weeks. My schedule was thrown off by the winter holiday, and the rhythm and tempo…
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There’s a lot of disadvantages and a lot of self pity to be felt for yourself when you are a 40-year-old trying to get into athletics for the first time. You can’t help but compare yourself to all the younger…
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For those of you living outside of America there is a major international holiday called Women’s Day on March 8th. Don’t know why America completely ignores it but it’s big in China. Women are allowed a half-day off work and…
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Last semester, for the first time, I had a pretty intense, but orderly schedule. Monday and Friday I took off. Tuesdays I had training with my coach then I would go back at night to play with people, Wednesday I…
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I always talk about how awesome badminton is, but it’s not all rainbows and unicorns over here. Playing badminton has brought a lot of problems to my life and I decided to share some of them. One problem I’ve already…
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I bragged about how my coach gave me his keys, but I didn’t think I’d actually have to work there. I mean, who in their right mind would want a foreigner, with a weak grasp of the language and no…
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When I told friends I was going to Chaozhou, my coach’s hometown, I usually got this response: Them: Oh! The food in Chaozhou is so good! Me: Oh yeah? What kind of food? Them: I don’t know. I just heard…
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