The drunks are forbidden...
By Jennie Palluzzi
7/12/2008
Before arriving in Beijing, I expected to be blown away by its architecture, people, culture, food, landscapes, climate, etc. However, after arriving I have taken comfort in knowing that some things are just as I thought they'd be. On our second night here, some of the Chinese students invited us to go out and play ping pong. So we made the walk across campus to meet the students at the ping pong gym. Next to the six tables, a sign displayed the rules of the game--including our favorite, "The drunks are forbidden."
We were expecting to be schooled by the ever-so-powerful Chinese ping pong players, but after a couple of rounds, most of us realized the Chinese students just wanted to have fun. They were hardly competitive, and kept rotating between rounds to switch up pairs at the six ping pong tables.
Only one ping pong table kept score, and eventually the CUC students started to teach us how to hold the paddles correctly, and how to serve the ball. Several students asked me whether or not I had ever played, and I tried to play along and let them know that I had never played. I guess it was true--I had not played in years, and I certainly had not ever played against people that had once been on a ping pong team. Cindy, one of our CUC friends, told us that she used to be a professional player, an expert. She had to stop playing ping pong because she had hurt her arms. Needless to say, I didn't feel like I was lying--I certainly had never played the way the Chinese do.
It was strange, to me, that they played in such a non-competitive manner, but also refreshing. There is something about playing a game to have fun, and not to prove to others how good you are, that made me feel that much more welcome. The students were just interested in making us feel at home--and it definitely did.
7/12/2008
Before arriving in Beijing, I expected to be blown away by its architecture, people, culture, food, landscapes, climate, etc. However, after arriving I have taken comfort in knowing that some things are just as I thought they'd be. On our second night here, some of the Chinese students invited us to go out and play ping pong. So we made the walk across campus to meet the students at the ping pong gym. Next to the six tables, a sign displayed the rules of the game--including our favorite, "The drunks are forbidden."
We were expecting to be schooled by the ever-so-powerful Chinese ping pong players, but after a couple of rounds, most of us realized the Chinese students just wanted to have fun. They were hardly competitive, and kept rotating between rounds to switch up pairs at the six ping pong tables.
Only one ping pong table kept score, and eventually the CUC students started to teach us how to hold the paddles correctly, and how to serve the ball. Several students asked me whether or not I had ever played, and I tried to play along and let them know that I had never played. I guess it was true--I had not played in years, and I certainly had not ever played against people that had once been on a ping pong team. Cindy, one of our CUC friends, told us that she used to be a professional player, an expert. She had to stop playing ping pong because she had hurt her arms. Needless to say, I didn't feel like I was lying--I certainly had never played the way the Chinese do.
It was strange, to me, that they played in such a non-competitive manner, but also refreshing. There is something about playing a game to have fun, and not to prove to others how good you are, that made me feel that much more welcome. The students were just interested in making us feel at home--and it definitely did.