Sports meet!

Today was a great day and it's only lunch time! At 8 a.m. I had to teach one make-up class again at the new campus. My students in that class then had to go back to the sports meet competition at the stadium. I asked if I could go with them, and they literally screamed, "YES!!" So I went.

It's a very nice fall day as we leisurely headed for the stadium. I could hear the music being played before I even saw the stadium. Several of my girl students escorted me to the seating. They were just like big concrete bleachers overlooking a big track and field area. The whole place was enveloped in colorful flags, floating red lanterns, and red banners with white characters entreating the athletes to do their best.

We had to climb the stairs and walk in front of mobs of Chinese students watching the meet. I cringed, because I knew that I would attract a lot of attention. And that I did. For a moment the students all forgot about the race happening below. The main attraction became the foreigner. Some other students from my classes spotted me and started yelling, "Hello, teacher!" Then everyone else sitting there started yelling, "Hello!" also. I hope you can picture this. It was really a strange feeling.

We made our way to the English department flag where nearly all of my students sat, looking very dejected. They brightened up for a minute when they saw me. I think they were really surprised, but glad to see me. They've had to sit there for three full days straight by now.

I went to sit down, and students offered me paper and books to sit on. A lot of my students explained everything going on to me. They were also curious to know if "sports meets were like this in America." Um, no.

I looked around at everything, just trying to absorb it. The stands were filled with thousands of students who were required to attend. I saw some girls try to leave the meet, and some men in business suits refused to let them leave. There was the same sort of marching/anthem/swelling music playing over the stadium the whole time. For some reason the races, which were really quite slow, seemed much more exciting and patriotic with the music.

The "athletes" were conscripted into the races, more or less. There were some students who sort of knew how to run, but most of them didn't. A lot of girls wore crazy track suits or jeans and thick sweaters. They all looked tired. Then toward the end of each race, the runners up front would surge to the finish line and they would dramatically collapse into people's arms! The winner would happily be carried across the field, looking victorious and like they had just returned from a war.

We watched the long races. One of my students placed 1st and the English department students went wild! The "electricity" department students sitting nearby didn't look pleased. Apparently the winner gets money or a new pair of shoes as a prize.

After I was there a few minutes, I noticed the students in the stands furiously scribbling out little notes onto countless pieces of paper. I asked my student, Wendy, what was happening. She said they all must write "articles" to encourage the athletes. Each student must write hundreds. Wendy said she stayed up until midnight writing hers.

The English department has the other university departments beat so far. They've written 40,000 articles to "encourage the athletes!" I was amazed as I watched some of the student monitors from my classes dash about the stands, collecting arm fulls of these articles, trying to fulfill some quota. I don't know if I've ever seen anything so pointless and tedious, but I certainly kept my mouth shut. I just tried to watch the races, while listening to the loudspeakers blare with that martial music, and announcers cheering on the contestants. A part of me wanted to rush onto the track and join the races.

At one point, one of my students, Smile, walked up and sat down in front of me. She was carrying a notebook in front of her face and I could glimpse blood on it. I asked her what on earth had happened. It looked like she had been in a car accident. But, no. The poor girl had been racing a couple of days ago and fell. Her face had been totally scraped along the ground. It was awful, because her normally "smiley" face was bleeding and shredded. This sports meet is intense.

Anyways, it was all a sight to behold. I'll try posting some pictures sometime soon. I took some videos also. Tomorrow morning I might return to watch my students in the "closing ceremonies."