Arriving in Manila was a relief. Not that the traveling was particularly hard or uncomfortable. In fact, the meal served on the flight from Xiamen to Manila was the best plane-food I’d had in a long time. I always find it strange to come to new places at nighttime. So much of the definition of a city is hidden by the darkness. Of course, cities like Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, and even Chengdu can leave quite an impression at night. Glaring lights in the form of mostly incomprehensible symbols leave pulsing images on the back of your eyelids. But none of this was to be found on my first night in Manila. Not only was my trip from the airport to Carey’s largely through residential and military areas, but I landed in the beginning of a typhoon.
That the typhoon was just beginning was not obvious. Once in a taxi, I watched sheets of rain plaster the streets. I was thankful that the taxi driver seemed comfortable driving. He spoke decent English and was happy to talk about the recent flooding, international politics, and the city. The limits of his English stopped him from providing too much depth, but I at least quickly got the impression that the Philippines is far more westernized than China and that they like Americans, particularly Obama.
Carey’s apartment was in a high-rise situated next to some open fields in a developing part of Manila. It reminded me of the high-rises I had seen under construction outside of the city in Chengdu- tall, identical buildings that, at least in their current state, looked out of place. The inside was well decorated and spacious for one person. Many thanks to Carey for letting me sleep there for the night! The greatest thing about Carey’s place was uncensored and fast internet. I could finally access websites and send messages without restriction or trepidation.
To my surprise, I woke up to a high-pitched, continuous howl. Although the typhoon had passed at night, the remnants of the storm included gale force winds. The wind was so powerful that it was blowing through the air conditioner’s exhaust system right above my head. Fortunately, Carey also had a very comfortable leather couch in a quieter part of the apartment. After another catnap, I looked outside to see stopped traffic and motorcyclists battling the wind to stay upright. After a brief wander in the direction of some shops that Michelle had mentioned, I found a bookstore and Krispy Kreme. There was no better way to kill the morning before my trip to Coron than coffee, donuts, and a book.
The afternoon was not destined to run as smoothly. There were significant delays on all flights due to the typhoon. Additionally, the main power was cut at the terminal which caused limited lighting and no air conditioning. Combined with the fact that all passengers with canceled flights were put in lines normally reserved for check-in to reschedule, it was a mess. Thousands of people with luggage, children, more luggage, and more children waited in endless lines. The fact that none of the refrigerators and non-essential water sources (faucets in bathrooms or drinking fountains) were working in the entire airport made a bad situation worse. There was little food available and bottled water seemed to be running out.
Downstairs at the gate was no better. People were forced to sit on the floor and lean against walls as customer service representatives announced delay after delay. The situation came to a focal point when an old man on my flight started shouting at a service rep to the point where she broke down in tears. I was almost motivated enough to get up and explain politely that this poor woman had no control over the flights but, to my complete disbelief, the complaint actually ended up changing the flight schedule. There is hope for belligerent travelers after all! After the showdown between the old Filipino man and the Cebu Pacific representative, which was kindly translated for me by an American fellow, there was a quick announcement that our flight was boarding. Getting out of the oven that the waiting area had become was a huge relief.
The flight itself was uneventful, except that I distinctly remember a sense of excitement as soon as we got in the air. Flying over Manila revealed shanty towns bordering mudflats and small houses packed together covering the landscape with faded pinks, yellows, and greens. These small homes were in stark contrast to the large, white churches that rose up sporadically and overlooked the city. The landing in Busuanga was bumpy and loud. When we got off of the plane, we were greeted by six workers and escorted into a small building housing the only gate. We were only 150 miles southwest of Manila, but it felt like a different country. The ride to the guesthouse only reinforced this feeling. It was on a road that alternated between concrete and dirt and wound through rolling hills. As the sun set, I wondered what awaited me. And I once again approached a new place at night.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
First Step: Frisbee in China
Ultimate is a just in its early stages in China. The natural place to turn to development is the school systems. Because of limited access to these systems as a foreigner, it is essential to get local students interested so that they can organize meetings, practices, and tournaments themselves using foreigners only as a supplement. Two weekends ago, almost 20 intrepid Beijingers composed of foreigners and a few locals set out to Tianjin to help out with a practice that involved two teams and a group of incoming freshmen from the Tianjin sports university.
The group of expats, as most groups of expats tend to be, was one of all ages, vocations, and backgrounds. Aspiring journalists, language learners, lifelong teachers, embassy workers, technology and finance people, and travelers where all represented. The group was jovial and energetic in the morning, although nobody quite knew what to expect. How long was the ride going to be? What was the quality of the fields? How many students would be there? Would we be able to see the sky? Nobody really knew the answer to any of these questions, although Tao, our fearless leader, tried to make up some responses. As most Frisbee related activities that are managed by Chinese students tend to be disorganized with as little information given as possible and a host of last minute changes, some of us were dubious about the little information we had. Nonetheless, expectations where high and we hoped that the blue skies on the highway would last all the way into Tianjin.
The blue skies did last, and after a quick bite to eat we were on the fields for our first round of scrimmages. The fields were decent turf, which in China is a lacking commodity. There were over 40 eager Chinese students with varying levels of ultimate experience ready to play. The expats split into to two teams and the Tianjin students split up into their A team and B team plus freshmen.
My team played the B team with extras first. We won handily because of their predictable offense and lack of throws. Even on the B team, all the players are fast and strong, but their lack of understanding and patience makes it impossible for them to run a consistent offense. Not only do they lack the skills, but they don’t even know what the skills are supposed to be. Instead, they rely on their athleticism to get open and try to play a quick, aggressive game. It is understandable that they play this way, but the lack of coordination between players on the field made it so that players were constantly cutting each other off and not using open cutters.
After the game, we explained the horizontal stack and set up a basic drill to emphasize continuation. The idea being that if they understood how some basic cuts were supposed to work, they could run a more efficient offense that had players working together not against each other. The drill went fairly well, and due to some good translation, I felt that they had a basic understanding of what was supposed to happen. It remains to be seen whether or not those ideas will be sticky.
The next game was against the Tianjin A team. The A team was a more experienced and athletic version of the B team. Although they still don’t have the nearly the conceptual knowledge of a decent college team, most players have been to tournaments and have a year or two of experience. As seems natural, the emphasis for them is aggressive play and quick movement. The athleticism on that team is brutal. These are the equivalent of D-1 athletes in the US, and it shows on the field. Their basic offensive concept is to throw the disc and beat your opponent to space. The result is a fast paced game with lots of give and gos and the occasional deep bomb. It makes sense that this is where their game is, because in the beginning, they didn’t have the throws to play at a higher level. How do you win games when you don’t have long throws but almost every player on your team is faster and fitter than your opponents? Throw passes to space and run like the devil is chasing you. The result of this is that most teams are able to beat Tianjin A by running a zone in no wind. The concept of moving the disc among the handlers while patiently waiting for a breakthrough up field does not exist to them.
Fortunately, our team had the athletes and enough experience to handle Tianjin with out a zone. The game was close and hard fought. I will digress at this point to say that several players on Tianjin have questionable spirit. I think that this stems from the fact that they are very competitive (in terms of skill) athletes, and they are not used to having the responsibility of making their own calls. This is not an across the board problem, but understanding that responsibility and the respect that must go with it is something that should be focused on in future clinics. Experience, in this case, trumped a fitter team, but one can’t help but admire Tianjin A’s work ethic and desire to succeed.
After the game, we taught them zone defense and offense. The idea was that if they were able to practice zone defense, then they would be able to practice zone offense. Having a concept of the defense you are playing against greatly enhances your ability to breakdown that defense. Also, as I mentioned, the solution to an athletic team that moves the disc quickly is a zone, because it forces them to be patient. For offense, we tried to encourage patience with the disc among the handlers, and then fast paced throws once they had made it past the first layer of the zone. Once the first layer of a zone is broken, there is a 4v3 situation favoring the offense. Certainly, it is hard to break through that first layer, especially if you don’t have experience playing against it. Thus, patience has to be exercised at first, and then once you have the numbers advantage, the disc should be moved quickly.
The finale of the day was moving to a grass field to play against the Tianjin Allstars, a combination of Tianjin A, the captain of the B team, and two recent graduates. It was great to get on grass, even if it wasn’t perfectly flat. The grass field was a huge expanse surrounded by construction and completed skyscrapers. The sky was still clear, and we played through sunset until it got far to dark to play. The game was again close, with a narrow defeat handed to Tianjin. As Tao put it aptly, “it is hard to beat a team on their home turf”. Like most Chinese people I’ve met, the Tianjin players showed great pride and determination in what they do. I have no doubt that with some direction they could be a great team by the worldwide standard in the near future.
Although saddened in defeat, the students all expressed their gratitude and everybody ended up having a great day. There were no major injuries and beer and dumplings were enjoyed as a post ultimate celebration. I hope to have the opportunity to play with and help Tianjin again.
Big thanks to the organizers and translators.
One last note, on our ride home we encountered a traffic jam of epic proportions. Cars were shut off and somewhat drunken players wandered around the side of the highway. We thought that perhaps this was caused by construction, an accident, or increased security at the Beijing checkpoint. But no, it was caused by one truck pulling another truck (and I mean a real truck) using a rope system. As we finally drove by, the ropes snapped. Oh China…
The group of expats, as most groups of expats tend to be, was one of all ages, vocations, and backgrounds. Aspiring journalists, language learners, lifelong teachers, embassy workers, technology and finance people, and travelers where all represented. The group was jovial and energetic in the morning, although nobody quite knew what to expect. How long was the ride going to be? What was the quality of the fields? How many students would be there? Would we be able to see the sky? Nobody really knew the answer to any of these questions, although Tao, our fearless leader, tried to make up some responses. As most Frisbee related activities that are managed by Chinese students tend to be disorganized with as little information given as possible and a host of last minute changes, some of us were dubious about the little information we had. Nonetheless, expectations where high and we hoped that the blue skies on the highway would last all the way into Tianjin.
The blue skies did last, and after a quick bite to eat we were on the fields for our first round of scrimmages. The fields were decent turf, which in China is a lacking commodity. There were over 40 eager Chinese students with varying levels of ultimate experience ready to play. The expats split into to two teams and the Tianjin students split up into their A team and B team plus freshmen.
My team played the B team with extras first. We won handily because of their predictable offense and lack of throws. Even on the B team, all the players are fast and strong, but their lack of understanding and patience makes it impossible for them to run a consistent offense. Not only do they lack the skills, but they don’t even know what the skills are supposed to be. Instead, they rely on their athleticism to get open and try to play a quick, aggressive game. It is understandable that they play this way, but the lack of coordination between players on the field made it so that players were constantly cutting each other off and not using open cutters.
After the game, we explained the horizontal stack and set up a basic drill to emphasize continuation. The idea being that if they understood how some basic cuts were supposed to work, they could run a more efficient offense that had players working together not against each other. The drill went fairly well, and due to some good translation, I felt that they had a basic understanding of what was supposed to happen. It remains to be seen whether or not those ideas will be sticky.
The next game was against the Tianjin A team. The A team was a more experienced and athletic version of the B team. Although they still don’t have the nearly the conceptual knowledge of a decent college team, most players have been to tournaments and have a year or two of experience. As seems natural, the emphasis for them is aggressive play and quick movement. The athleticism on that team is brutal. These are the equivalent of D-1 athletes in the US, and it shows on the field. Their basic offensive concept is to throw the disc and beat your opponent to space. The result is a fast paced game with lots of give and gos and the occasional deep bomb. It makes sense that this is where their game is, because in the beginning, they didn’t have the throws to play at a higher level. How do you win games when you don’t have long throws but almost every player on your team is faster and fitter than your opponents? Throw passes to space and run like the devil is chasing you. The result of this is that most teams are able to beat Tianjin A by running a zone in no wind. The concept of moving the disc among the handlers while patiently waiting for a breakthrough up field does not exist to them.
Fortunately, our team had the athletes and enough experience to handle Tianjin with out a zone. The game was close and hard fought. I will digress at this point to say that several players on Tianjin have questionable spirit. I think that this stems from the fact that they are very competitive (in terms of skill) athletes, and they are not used to having the responsibility of making their own calls. This is not an across the board problem, but understanding that responsibility and the respect that must go with it is something that should be focused on in future clinics. Experience, in this case, trumped a fitter team, but one can’t help but admire Tianjin A’s work ethic and desire to succeed.
After the game, we taught them zone defense and offense. The idea was that if they were able to practice zone defense, then they would be able to practice zone offense. Having a concept of the defense you are playing against greatly enhances your ability to breakdown that defense. Also, as I mentioned, the solution to an athletic team that moves the disc quickly is a zone, because it forces them to be patient. For offense, we tried to encourage patience with the disc among the handlers, and then fast paced throws once they had made it past the first layer of the zone. Once the first layer of a zone is broken, there is a 4v3 situation favoring the offense. Certainly, it is hard to break through that first layer, especially if you don’t have experience playing against it. Thus, patience has to be exercised at first, and then once you have the numbers advantage, the disc should be moved quickly.
The finale of the day was moving to a grass field to play against the Tianjin Allstars, a combination of Tianjin A, the captain of the B team, and two recent graduates. It was great to get on grass, even if it wasn’t perfectly flat. The grass field was a huge expanse surrounded by construction and completed skyscrapers. The sky was still clear, and we played through sunset until it got far to dark to play. The game was again close, with a narrow defeat handed to Tianjin. As Tao put it aptly, “it is hard to beat a team on their home turf”. Like most Chinese people I’ve met, the Tianjin players showed great pride and determination in what they do. I have no doubt that with some direction they could be a great team by the worldwide standard in the near future.
Although saddened in defeat, the students all expressed their gratitude and everybody ended up having a great day. There were no major injuries and beer and dumplings were enjoyed as a post ultimate celebration. I hope to have the opportunity to play with and help Tianjin again.
Big thanks to the organizers and translators.
One last note, on our ride home we encountered a traffic jam of epic proportions. Cars were shut off and somewhat drunken players wandered around the side of the highway. We thought that perhaps this was caused by construction, an accident, or increased security at the Beijing checkpoint. But no, it was caused by one truck pulling another truck (and I mean a real truck) using a rope system. As we finally drove by, the ropes snapped. Oh China…
Sunday, September 27, 2009
First Dinner in Beijing
I had my first opportunity to cook dinner in Beijing last night. I was happy to use my new chef's knife, and it did not disappoint. Anyways, lets get to the good stuff.
The main dish:
Brown 6 seasoned chicken drum sticks in sesame oil
Add 3 cloves of garlic to the browning process
Remove garlic and chicken and set on plate
Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of vinegar (dark somewhat cidery vinegar in this case)
Add 1/2 cup of water (stock would be great here)
Add chicken and garlic
Simmer for 15 minutes, or until you approximate 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through
Add 3/4 cup celery chopped
Add 1 large tomato seeded and rough chopped
Simmer for 10 minutes
Side dish:
Boil several potatoes in salted water
Remove potatoes after 15 minutes or when you think they are 1/2 cooked
Rough chop potatoes
Place potatoes on a metal tray and add olive oil
Spice with fresh ground black pepper and rosemary
Roast in preheated (375 Fahrenheit) oven for 20 minutes
Comments:
The main dish was solid and will probably show up in the future. The chicken was tender, and the sauce was flavorful. All parties were satisfied. A key to success was the use of whole cloves of garlic which avoided browning and allowed for easy removal and addition.
7 out of 10 frisbees
The side dish was nothing to write home about. Suspected foul-ups include boiling the potatoes too long and roasting them not long enough. A third party contends that the heat distributes unevenly in the oven, but I believe the soggy inner texture and lack of crunch on the outside was due to poor timing. What saved this from a two frisbee ranking was the addition of sauce from the main dish.
3 out of 10 frisbees
The main dish:
Brown 6 seasoned chicken drum sticks in sesame oil
Add 3 cloves of garlic to the browning process
Remove garlic and chicken and set on plate
Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of vinegar (dark somewhat cidery vinegar in this case)
Add 1/2 cup of water (stock would be great here)
Add chicken and garlic
Simmer for 15 minutes, or until you approximate 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through
Add 3/4 cup celery chopped
Add 1 large tomato seeded and rough chopped
Simmer for 10 minutes
Side dish:
Boil several potatoes in salted water
Remove potatoes after 15 minutes or when you think they are 1/2 cooked
Rough chop potatoes
Place potatoes on a metal tray and add olive oil
Spice with fresh ground black pepper and rosemary
Roast in preheated (375 Fahrenheit) oven for 20 minutes
Comments:
The main dish was solid and will probably show up in the future. The chicken was tender, and the sauce was flavorful. All parties were satisfied. A key to success was the use of whole cloves of garlic which avoided browning and allowed for easy removal and addition.
7 out of 10 frisbees
The side dish was nothing to write home about. Suspected foul-ups include boiling the potatoes too long and roasting them not long enough. A third party contends that the heat distributes unevenly in the oven, but I believe the soggy inner texture and lack of crunch on the outside was due to poor timing. What saved this from a two frisbee ranking was the addition of sauce from the main dish.
3 out of 10 frisbees
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
An old story courtesy of Roldy of Kunming:
Roldy told me that there when he was a child he and his friends would always try to catch dragonflies. There were three ways to catch dragonflies:
1) Chase after them with nets.
2) Capture a female, tie a string to its tail, stake down the string, catch the males when they come to mate.
3) Capture a male, put mud on it, capture the males when they try to mate with the male (mud confuses them).
He said that often there would be 20 or so Chinese boys with nets chasing after one dragonfly! A scene I can only imagine.
Roldy told me that there when he was a child he and his friends would always try to catch dragonflies. There were three ways to catch dragonflies:
1) Chase after them with nets.
2) Capture a female, tie a string to its tail, stake down the string, catch the males when they come to mate.
3) Capture a male, put mud on it, capture the males when they try to mate with the male (mud confuses them).
He said that often there would be 20 or so Chinese boys with nets chasing after one dragonfly! A scene I can only imagine.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Another busy week in Chengdu, so not too much blogging action.
Two short updates:
Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to go to Korea to play in the tournament Jeju, because it would cost at least 700$. This makes me very sad. At first we though we were going to get group tickets for 200$, so you can imagine my surprise at the price change. I'll have to visit Ben another time!
Yesterday I was looking out of my apartment window at a major intersection and I saw a police car with lights flashing trying to make a left turn. You might think that this would be no problem, but the Chinese drivers seemed to think otherwise. Not only did they not let the police car turn, but even as he eased into traffic, the entire traffic flow shifted so that they could keep going. Eventually the police car was surrounded by cars on both sides, although he did make it through in the end.
Two short updates:
Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to go to Korea to play in the tournament Jeju, because it would cost at least 700$. This makes me very sad. At first we though we were going to get group tickets for 200$, so you can imagine my surprise at the price change. I'll have to visit Ben another time!
Yesterday I was looking out of my apartment window at a major intersection and I saw a police car with lights flashing trying to make a left turn. You might think that this would be no problem, but the Chinese drivers seemed to think otherwise. Not only did they not let the police car turn, but even as he eased into traffic, the entire traffic flow shifted so that they could keep going. Eventually the police car was surrounded by cars on both sides, although he did make it through in the end.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Been quite a busy week here in Chengdu. Fortunately, the weather has been great, with temperatures reaching 75. The Chinese people are still wearing multiple layers of sweaters. Perhaps they will catch on at some point. Yuanqiang claims that wearing warmer clothes now will "season" people so that the summer doesn't seem as hot. Who knows whether this is true or not. Maybe they should wear shorts in the fall to prepare for winter (I didn't notice that when I got here). Anyways, I'm looking forward to continued good weather and another weekend with two games of ultimate!
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