Saturday morning Sean and I took the early 7:30 D-train from Changzhou to Shanghai. We arrived in Shanghai a little after nine and tackled the challenge of the huge subway system in order to get to the playing fields of the pick-up ultimate frisbee game that Sean wanted to join in on. About an hour and 3 transfers later we made arrived at the Shanghai rugby club fields in the outskirts of the city.

Sean found the pick-up game on the ultimate frisbee website and contacted some of the guys about it. All of the players (about 15 in all) were very nice and welcoming. Almost all of them were Americans in their twenties and thirties but there were a few older guys, a Canadian and an Englishman. I didn't play but I sat on the sidelines and watched the game with two interested Chinese girls (daughters of fathers playing rubgy) and a two-year-old belonging to one of the guys playing frisbee. Watching the game was fun and Sean played for about 2 and a half hours. He also found out about some upcoming tournaments in Thailand and South Korea.

After frisbee we headed down town to eat a delicious and highly anticipated lunch at Burger King (there is only a McDonalds in Changzhou). The flame-broiled whoppers were consumed in record time and made us remember how much we western food. We met up with Ken who had come a day earlier and walked around Nanjing Road, the main shopping strip. We found an English bookstore that had been recommended to us and had a great time finding a few books in English and some workbooks to help with learning Chinese. Then we met up with Peter who had also come a day earlier and had dinner at a really nice Chinese restaurant.

The next day we had to get up really early for the marathon. It was a chilly morning and the start of the race was packed with people. I think the total number of entries was around 20,000. Ken, Sean and I ran the 1/2 marathon and had a good time. The race was well-organized and everything went smoothly. We went at a nice, easy pace and all finished around 2 and half hours. The goodie bags for the race were pretty funny and included: a sample of cooking oil, medicine for heart conditions, off-brand Gatorade and Power Bars and a hideously ugly t-shirt (bright teal with neon orange, green and purple lettering).
After the race we went back to the hotel, showered, packed up, grabbed lunch at Subway (yum!) and took the D-train back to Changzhou. The weekend was very busy and fun and I was pretty tired on Monday. Sean and Ken, however, rallied and held beer club Sunday night in which the basics of "Flip Cup" were demonstrated. I am told that everyone had a really good time and things got especially fun during "Survivor Flip Cup."

1 Comment

1. Chen on December 2, 2009 at 4:03 AM

   This shirt is funny~~