Badminton

Because I did not find anyone here, who is playing squash, I had to look for another sport. I figured that the closest typically Chinese thing to squash would be badminton. So, when a Chinese colleague of mine offered to teach me some badminton, I immediately accepted his invitation.

This morning, as early as nine o'clock, I was sitting in the taxi on my way to the Fuzhou badmintion stadium, about ten car mintes away from the hotel. As I entered the hall, it was clear to me that we would not be alone. The place was very full. I estimate that approximately 20 badmintion courts had been set up in the hall, all of them occupied, and besides the courts there were still plenty of early Sunday morning Chinese, having a rest.

It took me a while before I found my colleague and his team. They were with eight person today, and when I glanced at the group that was already playing, I concluded that it would most likely become a very tiring Sunday morning for me.

And indeed, that was the case. As I am typing this article, my left arm is trembling a bit, because of the muscle ache that is now coming up unavoidably. Even though I could of course not compete with the guys by a long shot, it was great fun to play. After about 1,5 hours of playing, the time was up. Soaking wet and pretty tired I decided that I would most likely play again next week.