Adventures in Guangzhou!

The downside of this is that we can get pretty physical and I have a steadily increasing number of minor nagging injuries: a bruise on the elbow, a jammed thumb, a cut on the shin, etc. It's far too early for me to be thinking, "I'm too old for this," yet I find myself thinking that I'm not as young as I used to be. It's fine when I play with the teachers, but there are a couple of guys on the school basketball team that can leave me in the dust when driving to the basket. And I hate it. I guess that's what I get for playing pick-up games with guys who play several hours a day and do suicides (wind-sprints) at the end of every session.

This being a football day, I headed out to the stadium field at the regular time and got ready to lace up my cleats once again. The first thing I noticed as I walked out was that there were lines on the field today. "How nice," I thought, "now we'll know when the ball is out of bounds." The next thing I noticed was that the bigger goals were out, as opposed to the smaller goals we had been using the other day. A welcome change, I thought--bigger is better, right? I get closer and see a couple guys who look like referees chatting. A bit odd, but whatever. I turn my head to the side and notice three people with video cameras. Huh. Next thing I see is all the guys sitting down putting cleats on... all wearing a similar looking uniform top. Interesting. I get over to them and one of the guys throws me a jersey. As I catch the shirt, I notice a different team warming up on the field. Unbeknownst to me I was the newest member of the faculty/staff soccer team and we had a game!

It turns out we were playing a match against one of the local corporations in Guangzhou who fielded a very good team. I sat out most of the first half as a sub but came in towards the end of the half and played out the game in my old position of left back. They had one guy striking that we westerners would call a "ringer" and I had the privilege of marking him. I am always up for a challenge so I went right to work. This guy wasn't very big but boy was he fast! Wesleyan guys, think of the two guys from Typhoon that used to zip around the field. Needless to say, I got a good workout. I am proud to say that he only got one shot on the goal and it went way far right.

Anyhow, we were down 1-0 at the half but scored early on in the second to tie it up. The rest of the game went back and forth and I played decently well but not great. I did manage to slide tackle on one ball and received a nice grass burn for my efforts. The game was eventually called on account of darkness again (a recurring theme) and it was a tie. I hate that. I would almost rather lose because at least then I would know that the other team was better. A tie is just...nothing! It was a ton of fun though. Sidenote- in the middle of the first half, the ref blew his whistle for no apparent reason. Everyone stopped where they were and faced the direction of the gymnasium without saying a word. I had no idea what was going on until I realized everyone was at attention for the lowering of the national flag. Apparently this happens everyday! Along somewhat similar lines, I was walking around the South China Normal University campus earlier today trying to find a language tutor and came across an ENORMOUS military exercise. I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of people in uniform all doing drills and shouting at the top of their lungs. It was a bit of a reality check for me, i.e. oh right--I'm in China, a communist country. Gotta love it.