Trains, Baseball, and a Victory in the War on Bullshit

Well, we're in Qufu now, and this is notable for a couple reasons. For one, Qufu is the first large city we've been in for a camp, which you'd think would mean there would be things to do around here. You would be completely wrong. It's the birthplace of Confucius, so it's super touristy, and we don't dare go to the tourist stuff, because we're pretty sure the school's going to take us there. Which brings me to the second notable point: Qufu marks our first victory in the wave of complete bullshit that marks the beginning of every camp. They wanted us to start classes at 8 instead of 8:30, do evening activities, and teach on our day off. Ben's our camp director for this trip, and he's leaving the country in 20 days, which puts him in the excellent position to be a huge dick at negotiations. Although we're teaching at 8AM, we don't have to work 12 hour days, and we maintain our day off. As a bonus, we get coffee at breakfast now! The only really bad things are that our room is about the size of my freshman dorm room with five guys in it, and we may have the grossest bathroom in the world. It's honestly worse than the one in Hebei. 

Oh, remember that train crash that happened here about a week back? We rode the same kind of train to get here, and let me tell you, it is very nice. Instead of the cramped spaces I have been used to on trains, we had comfortable seats and a bar car. The more that I travel by train here, the more that I like it. It's also stupid cheap. Our ticket from Inner Mongolia back to Beijing was less than $20. 

There's a store about a block down from the school that sells supplies and sporting goods. I bought a baseball bat and six tennis balls for 80 yuan, so we've been hitting balls, and I get to teach my kids how to play baseball. Anytime we hit, we attract a crowd, and I've already taught some kids how to hit. Their swings suck, but they're making contact, and that's what counts. Miles and I are going to teach our kids how to play, and then play a game against each other on the Soccer field here. I may have to record that.

Other than that, I have nothing much else to report. We have the opening ceremony this afternoon, and after that, we meet our kids for the camp. We have to assign them English names, so I'm just going to use names of family members. They're all eigth graders, so I'm worried about their English levels. We'll see what happens. If they get the damn Internet working in our room I should be able to Skype again soon.

-Cooper