Here goes part 2 of the "Exploring China" series. We went back to Yanji just three weeks after the first round. The first time we went, we took two teams (and were the only school to do so). True to fashion, the powers-that-be decided to cut the second team, although they had rightfully made it into the second round. We also got a new addition, our star basketball player, Auzz-Rook.
Power to Auzz!
The boys, minus our Chinese teammate, Jason
The girls, minus our American teammate, Me
My roommate, Dashka (Mongolia), and I trying to point to each other's flags
3-3 Basketball match...a little behind in our first game, but we caught up!
Dongbei and Liaoning--If only we had been able to play these during the basketball tournament!
Number 1 team. Look at how smug they are!
What they forgot to mention above was how much pain they were all in. The top three teams all sustained pretty serious injuries. The American from Yanbian's team even broke his knee.
Meanwhile...
I went to visit my old school and found my little buddies all grown up!
They still remembered me! The girl on my left gasped when I came in the room. Jenny probably never thought she'd see Lehyla Teacher again, nor did Lehyla Teacher think she'd ever be happy to see Jenny again haha! *sigh* It's a good thing people grow up, teachers included.
My old classroom has been turned into the storage room, which made me a little disappointed until I saw...
They haven't taken a thing down from the walls since I was there! There's the American map and all of my student contracts!
These kids are just as big as me!
Finally, however, the last day of the competition arrived.
Zhuan Li and Lena getting ready for the Orienteering. The mood was somber since the night before (and I don't care that I'm sharing this pubicly, China) the top three teams were given the map of the course by their coaches, who got it from the hosts. How would you feel, knowing that without these points you'd probably lose, but that to get the points you needed to cheat? Now let me put it in context. How would you feel after being shown the course without knowing it was for the purpose of cheating until it was too late? That is China.
Since everyone else was getting all "patri-mental," I decided to do my part, too.
After it all, it's time for some fun! Suri-Nico, me, and Auzz-Rook. They're so tall!
Ol' stone Josun and I
I should have been born a cartoon
So we passed Round 2 as cheaters by world standards, as strategists by China's standards, and as opportunists by all. Three days later we were on to the national competition in Qingdao, Shandong province.
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