Yesterday the China Daily newspaper published a story saying that the Internet is broken because of an Earthquake in Taiwan that took out some fiber optic cables or something like that. I don't know why that causes some sites to be fine (like blogger) and some to be inaccessible (like the University of Washington), but that is what they said. I hope they can fix it soon, but this is China so you never know. But I think they will because businesses are suffering too. Nothing is a big deal here unless the economy is or might be affected. Oh well, life goes on. And it has. Last Tuesday and again Thursday night some of my swimming friends took me to an indoor pool not far from school. It has one big 50m pool and a diving well and, even though it is not nearly as nice, reminds me of the Natatorium at the University of Minnesota where I used to swim a little. Open swim is in the diving well and they use the big pool for different groups. When we are there, 7-9pm, is when the students who "major" in swimming at the Sichuan Sports University practice. I'm not joking. They have a Sports University where you major in a sport and also take some other classes. But do not be misled, some of the students who major in sports are really good and go on to play professionally, some are not so good. Most of the students who major in swimming that I have seen swim are not even as good as me. The facilities are very nice though, and it is nice for me able to swim for longer than 20 minutes and think about technique and things. In the cold, outdoor pool I just jump in, swim 1000 or so meters and jump out as fast as I can. However, the water is hot (like any diving well) and there are a TON of people. I am passing people the whole time. That said, they have a new registration cycle starting in the new year and I think I am going to go buy a pass so I can go back and swim. They also have open swim from 6:30-8:00am and 12:00-1:40pm besides 7:00-9:00pm, so maybe the other times are a little quieter.
After swimming yesterday my friend Huang Laoshi (the one with short hair and glasses) invited me to go play badminton with her and her friends. Actually, she called them her "classmates" because she studied badminton at the Sports University with some of them. Chinese people seem to stay surprisingly close to their classmates. When they attend college, the entire class lives together is one building or even on one floor. Then when they graduate it seems they have trouble making new friends and moving on until they get married. This of course is a huge generalization, but it seems to be the case more often than not. We played at an indoor gym and there were many other people of varying abilities already playing even though it was 9:00pm by the time we got there. I am very bad at badminton, but they were very good and it was fun to watch. After that they wanted to treat me to dinner, which I could not very well decline event though it was already 10pm, so we went to a chuan chuan (like hot pot with a spicy, oily broth but you pick out things individually on sticks; so maybe more like Chinese fondue). Usually when we go out to eat I like to watch and listen and don't have to say all that much unless the conversation turns directly to me, in which case people slow it down a bit and I can understand. But this time Huang Laoshi talked to me the whole time, it seemed like she didn't see or hang out with these people alot and she didn't really talk to them much. But I think she likes them because I am going with her and another of the women (her classmate) somewhere next Tuesday when we don't have class. I don't know.
But tomorrow morning I am leaving for Chungzhou with swimming grandpa and Wo Laoshi, the guy from Taiwan. I am very excited and I'll let you know how it goes when I get back. I will not be back until the evening of the 1st, so see you next year!
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Let us know when you get back - Happy New Year from the US.
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