Langfang Sports Day

"Let the Games Begin!"

 

  Every year LTU puts on a two-day sporting event where teachers and students compete for medals in Olympic style games: "The Langfang Teachers College 2012 Sports Day!" As a teacher I got to participate in this year’s festivities.  It was a lot of fun!  The two-day celebration began with an amazing opening ceremony where hundreds of students would march around the track, dance in the center field, release balloons and fireworks into the air, and all of this was done in completely synchronized movements.  There was also about 50-75 fan dancers that took the field and did a traditional Chinese dance to music over the loud speakers.  There was a parade of old retired faculty members who carried a big banner in front celebrating their service to the university.  There was a marching drum band in traditional Chinese garb.  There were also a hundred young freshmen boys marching with flags.  There was a lot of marching!  The one part that impressed me the most was when nearly two-hundred freshmen dressed in military fatigues all took the center field and did synchronized martial art moves at the calling of the loud speaker.  Each move was followed by the signature calling out of the word “kai” by the students upon completion of a move.  People in the States might be familiar with this technique from seeing it performed on a movie or a TV show depicting training in a martial art’s studio.  Simply magnify that in your mind a hundred times over and you’ll have something akin to the experience.

 

Most of my time during the events was spent in the stands sitting with my new students.  All freshmen are required to watch the games and there are even officials taking attendance to make sure no one is missing.  Rain or shine the students have to participate… and it did rain.  Around 2:00 pm on the first day we had an hour of showers where hundreds of umbrellas came out and filled the stands.  I thought it was foolish to make the freshmen sit out in the rain and eventually the college felt the same way.  The games were canceled for about two-hours and the freshmen were allowed to seek shelter from the storm.  The games then resumed at 4:00 pm.  Siting with the students was a lot of fun.  All of the departments are forced to sit together so I sat with the English majors in the “English Major Section.”  You could tell it was the English Major Section because they were the ones with giant letters in English that read “Come On!”  I got to learn a new phrase while sitting with my students.  I got to learn the phrase, “加油 (Jiāyóu)!”  It literally means “refuel” but students shout it at their athletes as a form of encouragement.  The actual usage of the term is more akin to shouting, “Let’s go!” Or, “You can do it!”  I got to hear this phrase shouted a lot during my stent in the stands.

Finally it came time for my own participation in the events.  I was volunteered by the university officials to take place in the male-teachers’ long jump competition.  I would have preferred to do a relay race but I was not given the option.  Instead, I had to compete against 30 male teachers from the university.  At first I was feeling pretty confident.  Most of the teachers are overweight and are heavy smokers.  I knew I could beat ‘em.  But then the PE teachers came out!  One of the PE teachers came directly after me so I got to try my best first.  I jumped about seven feet.  The PE teachers, on the other hand, jumped nearly 15 feet.  Let’s just say, none of us stood a chance against them.

Me and the PE Teacher

Jiāyóu!

The other teachers on my team also got to participate in their own events. Shannon got to do the shot put.  She placed fourth.  Jaime got to do the women’s long jump and she did a relay race for the English department.  She did really well on the relay but unfortunately the other three members of her team did not go as fast as she did and the English department still placed last.  Luke did not participate due to his event being canceled by the rain.

Shannon and the Shot Put

Luke and Shanon

Both days were a lot fun.  But it wasn’t over for us even when the sun went down on the stands.  Jamie and I were actually invited to a celebration dinner with select faculty.  As we were leaving the stands to go to dinner I got to meet one of the English and PE professors whose English name was “Don’t Change.”  He chose the name more as a joke but by the end of the night I was already calling him “Buddy.”  I guess it changed after all!  Buddy and I walked all the way to the restaurant where the dinner was being held and the entire walk was a rather lofty conversation about philosophy, life, the universe, and everything.  Buddy is incredibly knowledgeable in the teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Immanuel Kant, René Descartes, Aristotle, Plato, Gautama Buddha, and Jesus of Nazareth.  We discussed all of the above and much more.  It’s a lot of fun to find someone who shares a love for deep thinking.  However, Buddy is a little out-to-lunch sometimes.  I had to stop him from walking in front of a car at least three times different during our walk to and from dinner.  Buddy has invited Jamie and I to join him and his family for dinner sometime and it is an invitation I highly look forward to accepting.  

Do I at least get a participation medal?  No?

Shannon, Danny, and Lynn