I Beat...No, Slaughtered a Chinese Person in Ping Pong

If anyone can remember in my other blog when I went to the ping pong park in Beijing, I was hoping for another similar experience, without all the horrible beat downs by old Chinese ladies that could've played for the US Olympic team. I asked Mrs. Wang if there was a ping pong park in Kunming, and she took this to mean simply, "I want to play ping pong," even though I wanted to find a similar ping pong park. So she took us to her gym, which was a Powerhouse Gym, an American brand. It had all your top facilities, from free internet, to a juice bar, to a relaxation lounge--but definitely did not have an authentic ping pong park. Oh well.

By now I'm starting to get the feeling that Mrs. Wang is pretty well off and, she's the type of person who gives 100% and expects the best. With her really nice house, second apartment in the city center, her Mitsubishi SUV, and all the restaurants she's taken me and accommodations she's made for me—it's slowly become clear. She's the kind of person who emails back immediately, almost always answers her phone, and has been able to juggle her job and this summer camp (and me...I'm a hassle). Her son, Zak, attends one of the toughest high schools in the city. I learned this through a mutual friend, who just graduated. He admitted that his high school was pretty laid back, but explained that Zak was attending the school of Mrs. Wang's choice. As Zak will be a senior next year, the preparation for the Gao Kao (College Entrance Exam) has already begun, and he has classes pretty much all this summer. He attends Monday through Saturday, and he gets less than two weeks off...trying selling that to your son or daughter.

So I guess you've become accustomed to my tangents by now. As I was saying, we went to the gym. Jes and I started playing. She beat me 2-1 on some cheap serves and rules that were not previously explained (starting the game off 5-0 leads to a victory). So we played best of 5 and yours truly took home the gold. At that point I was really worn out from winning so much, but Mrs. Wang wanted a go. After I started out destroying her 13-3, she handed the paddle over to the aforementioned mutual friend, and I continued the demolition. It ended in a route, 21-6. America, gotta represent. So yea, actually I beat TWO Chinese people.

In the days after I got sick, I then hobbled into the summer camp preparations. All the camp volunteers finally convened at a hotel, and that night we went out for some good old Kareoke. This is two years running for me, so it's becoming somewhat of a tradition. Matt's (young guy in pic) pick of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was clutch, and I came up with probably the pick of the night in the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way". Good times...it's still early, so maybe I'll get another session in this summer.