An American Girl Learning Badminton in China
Xiao Bing! Too Slow! Xiao Bing! Wrist higher! Xiao Bing! Body Lower! Xiao Bing! Too fast! Xiao Bing! Smash it! Xiao Bing! Hit it to the empty areas! Xiao Bing! Don’t smash it, hit it lightly over the net! (Xiao…
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It’s kinda funny because in my foreigner badminton group, everyone swears in their native language. I mean, swears just kinda pop out when you least expect it and they roll off the tongue so naturally you don’t have time to…
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Because I’ve been playing everyday until around 11pm I miss the last bus home. So my coach has taken to driving me home. The first week we started this tradition, I hated it. Like I said in my other post,…
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So, a whopping five days after the typhoon struck, my coaches gym finally got electricity! It was even more amazing because his was the only building in the entire block to get it. But I wasn’t complaining. But I would…
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Xiamen just lived through Super Typhoon Meranti, the biggest storm of the year this far and one of the biggest storms to hit Xiamen in decades. Needless to say it made a slight dent in my training schedule. Like a…
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When I came back from my summer travels I wasted no time getting back into the badminton game. And by “wasted no time” I mean, devoted myself entirely. I decided to not see my friends, not go out for lunches…
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This past summer I spent a month of my time, and two months of my salary taking an intensive Chinese course. Why? Because of badminton of course! In my new group no one speaks more than a few words of…
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Badminton is slowly changing my life and this was reflected in my summer holiday. Instead of traveling all around China during my two-month long break I decided to spend my hard-earned money and my free time studying Chinese. Why? Because…
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So the Olympics are having their closing ceremonies, and countries are celebrating their achievements. And while I had an awesome time watching the games with my coach and group, I can’t help but feel sad in the end. Why? Well,…
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Needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to the Olympics, not just to watch some amazing badminton games, but because it was an opportunity for badminton to get a little international press and attention. For the first time in history,…
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