Tennis

There's a lot of tennis being played at the college. Some students who are in the PE department are majoring in tennis, so they play every day for at least a couple of hours starting at 3:30. I've hit with some of them and they are all very nice and they all want to play with me.

There are also tennis classes, which are taught by the tennis teacher whom I hit with a couple weeks ago. The classes, however, look like a serious challenge. They have two courts they can use, one teacher, about forty students, and two balls per student. I may get involved soon but I have yet to talk with the instructor about what I could do. I think if we got more balls that would be a start.

Next, the school's president and vice president are currently very interested in tennis. According to Bob, when the president and vice president get into a particular sport, most everyone else follows suit. So now there are quite a few faculty who also play. I have played with Bob twice, and on the second occasion I also played with the vice president as well as some other faculty members. Most of them have only been playing for a few months but many of them are surprisingly good and can rally consistently.

Finally, I gave Bobby and Cathy a sort of lesson yesterday afternoon. Cathy's mom drove me, Bobby, and Cathy over to the new campus and we played for about an hour. Bobby has played a little bit and it was Cathy's first time. I gave Cathy a very quick introduction to forehands and backhands and then we started hitting with me on one side and both of them on the other side, standing on the service line. We were able to rally very well and it was a lot of fun. Some of my students from class showed up and wanted me to teach them but I had to leave with Bobby and Cathy since they had class last night.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up this Wednesday, so we have a three day holiday from Wednesday through Friday. The Mid-Autumn Festival happens on the same day as the Autumnal Equinox and it is a time when the moon is supposedly its fullest. If they have enough time to do so, people in China return home with their families, have dinner together, and eat mooncakes afterwords. A mooncake is like a little biscuit that can be rectangular or circular and has a sweet filling inside. The crust is imprinted with the Chinese characters meaning "longevity" or "harmony". This will be my first Mid-Autumn Festival in China and it will also be my first time eating mooncakes. If Cathy and her family will be staying in Xinyu for the holiday, I will join them for dinner on Wednesday night. They may go back to their hometown, in which case I will most likely visit some villages in northeast Jiangxi. It is supposed to be beautiful there and spending the holiday in a village could be fun.

Due to the holiday, though, we have make-up teaching days. I had to teach class today (Sunday) and I will have to teach two more next Saturday. Having the full weekend off would be nice, but I'm enjoying teaching so coming in for a couple extra days isn't so bad.