Once again got the 12:49 train to Nanning. I made sure I got a seat even though the one on my ticket was taken. Once more got into conversations with others around. One woman, I think, was trying to marry me off to her younger brother's daughter. And this was after I'd shown photos of my family.
Once I got to Nanning I took out Leilei, Xixi and Qiqi big brother to the People's Park. Actually it is a bit of a handful with a 1, 3 and 7 year old plus a pushchair but I think I managed ok. Leilei has got into Qiqi's spoilt habit of wanting to have a go on lots of rides and buy more toys, so I was fairly strict and allowed them to go on just a couple of rides. They moaned a bit but once we were out of the fun park area they were fine. I think Qiqi needs a bit more of that treatment. Both the half-bloods (that is the literal translation I believe - sounds like something out of Harry Potter) were cooed over - especially Xixi. I can't imagine how many young girls' mobile phones contain pictures of her, her big brother and to a lesser extent me. Probably around 110 (I can imagine really).
Speaking of mobiles, it's interesting that most people, especially men, have rather large PDA-type Chinese branded mobiles. I suppose it's fashionable but on a hot day, wearing light clothes, they must weigh you down loads. It doesn't appear that the mobile Internet has caught on here though. We do have "Edge" mobile networks but data costs are pretty high so as far as I know no-one uses it. I'm sure there's a market here; at home most computers are never turned off, and there's constant chatting through QQ (like Chinese yahoo messenger). Maybe they see home as a place to do that sort of thing, and outside of home a place to be with friends and not constantly tapping away at a phone. I hope that's the reason.
In the evening I went to play badminton with the bloke who lives on the first floor (the one who takes Xixi out most days) and his son. We got to the courts at 7.30 and it was nearly empty. Really empty considering there were 28 courts. Leilei and Qiqi came along as well as we couldn't prevent them. The bloke's son warmed up with me and then I foolishly challenged him to a game 10 minutes later. I think it was 21-6 in the end but he probably gave me most of my 6. I felt wretched afterwards and guzzled a bottle of water. That was the only competitive game I played. The rest of the time was sorely needed practice and looking after Leilei as he wandered onto other courts picking up stray shuttlecocks. Funnily enough the Chinese call the shuttlecock a ball. Even funnier is when they try to say "shuttlecock".
Finally I played the bloke himself and I think his son had worn him down as I was able to hit him around a bit. His son had given me a great piece of advice that literally transformed my game: "you are hitting the ball too low, hit it higher in the air". It takes advantage of my height and uses less energy so you get more power. I looked forward to using my new found skill the next day but aleady I had a sharp pain in my back. When we left at 8.30pm every court was being used.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment