Badminton Tournament and Seaweed

For those of you who are wondering, after all the trouble I took after badminton tryouts, I DID infact, make the team! And for those of your who are wondering what the heck badminton IS, well maybe you should ‘research it’ like I do :P Basically it’s like tennis. The same lines and rules, except the ball is kept in the air and there is no ‘one bounce’ rule. Points go up to 21 points.

Anyways, I just thought I would make that clear, that I did make the team, and I have already been to my first tournament! Saturday I went to Nanjing, a city about 3 hours away from Suzhou. We went to a ‘just-for-fun’ Badminton and Football (Soccer) tournament at the Nanjing International School. We also competed with a local Chinese private school and also a Expat Adult Rec. Team. It was interesting to play against different ages and levels of people. Some people were great at badminton, and others weren’t that good. I wasn’t that good, but at least for now I have the legit excuse that I just started playing badminton for the first time a week ago, and that we don’t technically have badminton in the States J

My first game was discouraging. I lost 21 to nothing against a Russia girl…I mean it wasn’t even a local Chinese player!!! I slowly improved throughout the day though, with my highest score being 10 to 21. It was fun though, so that was the main point, right?!

I am the only white person on the team. There is one other non-Asian girl named Trince, and she is from the Philippines! Everyone else is Chinese or Korean. It’s really been great for me to be able to meet other Asian kids at school, because typically I run with the other western kids.

Through knowing so many Asians now, I’ve been able to try lots of their homemade food and stuff. I’ve tried homemade riceballs and homemade dumplings. Everything I’ve tried here so far I have liked, although I have gone all out crazy and tried chicken feet or beef flavored candy!

This weekend, however I took a leap of faith and tried something that a lot of the kids on my block seem to enjoy: seaweed. It comes packaged, flattened out, much like textured paper, very thin. I saw my little neighbor Xavier crunching on the green paper-like stuff and saw my cousin Annie run over and ask for a piece. When I asked what it was Annie quickly told me that it was seaweed and that it was ‘really yummy!!!’. Xavier offered me some, and I hesitantly took some delicately in my fingertips. I put it in my mouth and chewed. It was salty, and other than that I can’t really explain the texture. The taste though wasn’t far off from being a non-potato, potato chip, if you know what I mean? I guess you’ll have to try some for yourself! One of the foods here that I’m obsessed with is the Chinese yogurt! It is very liquidy, so much so that you drink it. It’s actually considered a drink here in China, because it is in an option under the drink section on a menu. I LOVE it! I drink one in the morning and sometimes another for snack. Annie always puts her hands on her hips and smirks at me, and sometimes shakes a finger saying that I eat too much of my ‘favorite yogurt’. But how can I help it? It’s just sooo good! Also I have found a new love for a popular European food…Nutella!!! Annie and I BOTH share this love for Nutella, so I don’t get any scolding for eating crackers full of this spread!

All is well in China so far. I’m enjoying spending time with my cousins and aunt and uncle and also getting to hangout with my friends on the weekends! School is going well as well. I love my teachers and am learning a lot inside and outside of school! My Chinese is slowly improving, but it helps that I have to use it on an out-of-class basis.

Hoping that you guys will adjust quickly to Daylights Savings! Hah! But on a more positive note, it DOES make it easier to chat on Skype because we’re only 13 hours apart instead of 14 hours J

Well I’ll check back in later. Until then,

China Girl