Chuck Another Brim on the Barbie
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Showing posts tagged ultimate
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Tourist fail, getting beaten up and ultimate in Shanghai
As I said in my last post, I’d arranged to go for coffee in the morning. I woke up at around 9 and grabbed a shower and thought that I was running late as me and Jesse had arranged to go at 9. There was no sign of Jesse so I thought that maybe he’d already gone as I was running late. I waited around until about 10am just to make sure and just as I was gathering my stuff to head out and my touristy stuff, Jesse pops his head out and says that he is jut going to jump in the shower.
Both washed and ready, we head out. I asked Jesse where we are going for coffee and he said “Starbucks, of course”. Jesse is quite a character of contrast; on the one had he loves China, Chinese culture and everything that comes with it. On the other hand, he is an American through and through and takes pleasure in knowing that he can get the same coffee that he can get back home and the business that he is trying to move into is importing American beer to China.
We got some coffee; a grande latte for me and Jesse had his ‘jitters’ (a iced coffee with 2 extra shots of espresso!). After acquiring caffeine, we went in search of breakfast. Jesse say a guy with a ‘shaobing’ and he proclaimed how tasty they are so we tried to follow the guy around in the hopes of seeing where he got it from. In hindsight, this was a silly idea because why would he be heading back to the place where he bought his breakfast if he already has it?
After searching down a few side streets, we gave up and Jesse got us both some sugar cane juice. There was a woman with a little cart on the corner of a street selling the stuff. Her cart housed some sugar canes and a hand-operated grinder/press. She just grabs one of the canes, puts it into the press and wheels away and outcomes the juice. I’m not really sure how to describe the taste of just raw sugar cane juice. It was obviously sweet but it had an acidic taste to it that I can’t really compare to anything else that I’ve had.
Now to get some breakfasty food. Right behind the sugar cane cart there was a little cafe that also had a little take away window. As Jesse speaks Chinese, he ordered for me, as he had with the sugar cane juice. The only difference here is that with the juice, I knew what I was getting as there was only one thing to get. The woman started frying a pancake, an egg and a rasher of bacon. This is the type of food that I can get behind! Before the egg solidified at all, she threw the pancake on top of it so that all of the egg is absorbed into the pancake. Next, the bacon was thrown on top and somehow just melted into the pancake. I was amazed when she flipped the pancake over and there was no egg left on the hotplate at all. She wrapped it all up for me and Jesse didn’t want anything so I paid and we left the window.
We weren’t sure what to do next. It was about 11am by now and Jesse had to be the other side of Shanghai by 12:45 and he had a lesson to plan. Jesse suggest that we could go for a blind massage and described how the people who give the massages are blind (hence the name) and therefore their other sentences are heightened and can feel all of the knots an tension in your body. I’m very much a fan of massages and pampering in general so I was happy with the plan.
The place we went to was actually opposite Ben’s compound but despite that neither Ben nor Jesse had ever been there. Jesse said that he’s had quite a few blind massages but not in this area so was quite keen to see if he could find a good place that he could come back to.
We walked in and there was a little desk with some (non-blind receptionists) and the price list. 78 quai for an hours massage! Amazing!
We were lead into a room with 4 massage tables and were given tops and trousers to change into. Jesse said that it was a good thing that we had been kept together because if this was a place offering “massages” from “girls” they would have split us up. Jesse would have been fine, he can speak Chinese. I can image that situation being very awkward for me.
Jesse had a youngish (blind) guy and I had an oldish (non-blind) woman. Admittedly, it is really hard to gauge the age of Chinese people, for instance Xiao Bing is 36 and I thought that he was no older than me or Ben.
Having Jesse there to be able to translate we really helpful because even for simple things like moving me around the table or asking me where I’m in pain would just not have worked with my level of Chinese (none).
The massage was actually quite painful, but in a really good way. I can’t remember which comedian (I think that it was Sean Lock) said this, but it seems like an accurate description of how I felt after the massage: “It was like she took out my spine, washed it and then put it back again”. I felt really good afterwards and the nagging back pain I’d been having was all but gone. Result!
Jesse had his class to teach and I wanted to go and do some touristy stuff so we headed our separate ways. My first stop was Lujiazui, where all of the skyscrapers are. I wanted to try and get to the top of the Jin Mao!
A metro ride away and I was back at the bottom of the two tallest building in Shanghai and taking more photos. I once again pretended that I was staying in the Grand Hyatt hotel and got almost to the top again. This time the lift to the very top wasn’t working at all. I searched around looking for an alternative way (maybe some stairs) to go up the last 3 storeys. No luck.
I headed back down to the hotel lobby on 54 and asked why I couldn’t get up to the top and was informed that the bar and restaurant (Cloud 9 and Club Jin Mao respectively) didn’t open until 5:30. Damn! I knew I couldn’t wait around for that because I had to check in for my flight to ensure that I got the best seat that I could without paying any extra.
By the time I had faffed around trying to get to the top and failing, it was too late to get to Tai Cang Lu and still get back in time so I decided to hang around in the J-Life Centre which is attached to the Jin Mao at ground level.
There was a Starbucks so I grabbed a coffee and sat down a bit, looking through all the pictures I’d taken during my time in Shanghai and got rid of some of the blurry or just rubbish ones. Exciting stuff! After doing that for a while, I got bored and so started to wander around. As I mentioned before, simply looking western means that no one really questions what you are doing and just assumes that you are meant to be there. After a bit of poking about and taking more pictures, it was time to head back so I hopped on the nearby metro again.
Once back at Ben’s I received a text from the man himself to inform me that he was going to be late back from work as a project that he had been coordinating was due to be completed that day and still wasn’t finish. I was cool with that because I was hanging around to check in for my flight anyway.
Remember me saying that I had to get back to check in and I was in a rush to get back? Well… I got the flight time wrong. It was 9:40pm the next day instead of what I must have read, 17:40. A bit of Skyping and Facebook passed the time until I could check in. The pickings were slim in terms of flight seats as it turns out that I could have actually chosen my seats at the time of booking. D’oh! I ended up picking a seat near the back of the plane, outside aisle where the middle group of seats was only 3 instead of 4. A little extra legroom always helps.
By the time I finished checking in, Ben was already back and we were already late leaving for frisbee so we jumped on the scoot and headed off (I accepted that we had to scoot, no matter how much I hate it. Time was of the essence!). We actually just scooted to a metro station and then got the metro to the stadium. yeah, that’s right, stadium!
I’m a little upset that I won’t be playing ultimate in Shanghai full time. There was a great mix of people, from a girl who had never played before to a girl who has played in the USA nationals team and everyone in between. We were divided into light and dark groups and then into 2 teams of each. Me, Ben and Hannah were all darks on the same team. We started off by doing a quick end zone (Seattle, mushroom, many other names) drill. I was a little shaky as I hadn’t played ultimate since BTT on August bank holiday. I got back into it after a few throws and was not doing half bad.
Game time! We played against one of the light teams obviously and it was interesting to see everyone’s level of play. There were lots of good people on both teams and lots of mistakes from both teams (mostly me and Ben to be fair). The strangest thing was that despite being outside breathing was a constant struggle. I’d never really noticed the smog until now. I don’t claim to be super-fit but I can job around a bit without collapsing at the very least. This was horrible. Ben said that people in Shanghai smoke to get some fresh air and part of me believes him. Still, even with the massive lack of oxygen, the games were fun and everyone seemed nice. Pub time!
No ultimate training session can be completed without a trip to the pub afterwards and our destination was a sports themed bar; Windows Scoreboard. Hannah was very excited about playing beer pong so we grabbed some beers and set up a table. I was paired with one of the Chinese guys while Ben and Hannah were on the same team. Similarly to the last time I played beer pong I had a bit of a rubbish start but then got into the swing and barely missed. We destroyed them. In the world of Ultimate, winning games like this are crucial for bragging rights (this is all explained in this book).
New teams and a new game of beer pong. This time it was me and Hannah against Ben and one of the American girls (Christine? I’m going to use Christine from now on to refer to her). Christine is American so obviously had an advantage. 3 years of playing sport at college in America are definitely going to give you some beer pong experience. At one point me and Hannah we down something like 8-2 and then brought it back to 9-8 only to have Ben and Christine finish us off. Damn, bragging rights were no longer mine.
Me and Ben went to refill the beers. By now Hannah had had a whole 2 beers so was actually quite drunk but we got her one anyway. Me and her played some pool but I potted the black mid way through so was an instant loser. I was gutted. Everyone except Me, Ben, Hannah and Christine had left the bar by then so we played some doubles with the same teams as beer pong in the hopes that me and Hannah could win back our dignity.
I can’t remember who won (that probably means that we lost) but we had good fun, with me and Hannah covering each other in chalk throughout the game.
It was home time now but we were worried about a 3-beer Hannah cycling back home. She insisted she was fine so we said bye and off she went. Christine, Ben and I jumped in a taxi and headed home. Not a bad day after all!- heading off to the bar
- beer pong winning with chinese guy, loosing with hannah
- pool, me and hannah vs ben and another american girl (we lost)
- goodbye to hannah
- cab back and bed
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Ultimate: The Greatest Sport Ever Invented By Man - Wed 19 Oct 11
As I said in my last post, I wanted to try and keep things current so that I can talk about stuff that I am doing now (yesterday).
Work was work. I found out that I am getting an office, however. I know right? To be honest I am not too keen on the idea, it is already difficult integrating myself into a team that has been a close knit group for over a year. Moving into an office is going to cut me away from them and it will be more difficult to feel a part of the group. On the upside, I’ll get to use phrases like “put it in my office” and “give my office a call and I’ll see what I can do”.
Went for lunch with the rest of the team. Melbourne seems to have a lot of food courts with a lot of different types of food to eat. Food courts that are only seen in the UK at shopping malls and American TV but I think they work and are a good idea. It allows everyone to go for lunch together but to get the food that they want instead of the food that nobody wants but you went to anyway (so that no one was the person who chose where to eat). I had a veritable feast; a crazy breaded ball of rice and chorizo, roast potatoes and some salad on the side. Very tasty and very filling.
I keep thinking how expensive Australia is but that meal was $11 (about £7) and as I just said, was very tasty and very filling.
The rest of the work day was, of course, uneventful. 6pm rolled around and I dashed out of the door. Time to go and play some ultimate!
To get there I had to take the following route. The route involved a tram ride to the top of the park and then a walk through the park to where we would be playing. Getting on the tram was nice and easy, it stops in the middle of the road and you just get on. Simple. Paying for the tram is difficult. Melbourne has only just started an Oyster Card style system called MiKi (pronounced my-key, I think). I walk most places here so I haven’t bothered to buy one yet. You can still buy tickets on the tram but it turns out this tram was coins only and I had no change. Balls. I didn’t know what to do so just stayed on the tram without paying. I am such a rebel!
It was still really sunny at 6:45pm so I had sunglasses on. This meant that I wasn’t wearing my glasses, which in turn meant that it was almost impossible for me to see which stop to get off at. Luckily I noticed the stop number of the stop just before the one I wanted to so I pressed the bell after that stop and jumped off in hopes of being in the right place. Turns out that I was.
Albert Park is huge! I don’t think the map quite does it justice, but if you have also watched the Australian Grand Prix you will have seen the roads I was walking down. There is a huge lake running through the park with all sorts of birds and general wildlife in and around (no, I didn’t see any crocodiles).
It was all well and good being in this beautiful park but I had to get to frisbee and was already running late! I found a map but that was no use because all I knew was that I had to get to the bottom of the park. This was the first time I have truly missed having my iPhone. Being able to look up websites and maps on the go can be a lifesaver for situations like this. Alas, I had to do it the old fashioned way of wandering around in hopes of stumbling on the right place and constantly asking people where the bottom of the park was. I must have looked like a true tourist.
I eventually found the place using the traditional method of finding people playing ultimate; keep wandering until you see some flying plastic!
I wasn’t that late as people were still throwing around and nothing official had started yet. I arrived at the same time as a guy from the UK called Tom so I was chucking around with him until we were all called in.
This session is the social ‘league’ which is aimed more at beginners. I thought it would be a good level to get back into the game at as I hadn’t played in quite some time and was definitely out of touch.
Running the show was a guy called Seb who plays for a local club, Heads of State. The social league only started last week so he just went back over throwing the basic throws; forehand and backhand.
I was really surprised when he said that today we would be learning some advance throwing (it’s week 2!). I thought that it was just going to be slightly more advanced forehands and backhands such as some blades and discs made for running onto. Nope. Hammers and scoobers. If you are not familiar with ultimate and the throws involved, when I started playing you didn’t even think of throwing a hammer until you’d been playing for a few months and my first scoober throw was probably about a year in. This was either going to go really bad or really well…
We all paired off and started practising our scoobers. Scoobers are quite difficult to throw in any sort of wind and I had to throw into a cross wind to get my scoober to go where I wanted. This combined with me being a little rusty led to some truly awful scoobers and one that even hit a girl in the head. Oops.
Hammers next. Hammers were fine. Because they curve the opposite way to the scoober, it was much easier going into the crosswind and I actually threw some fairly decent distances with reasonable accuracy.
After we’d all had a bit of practice it was time for a drill. I was fully expecting an end-zone drill (Seattle, mushroom or one of it’s other many names) but instead we played a cool game called King of the Hill. The hill is essentially the end of a queue. The queue is two parallel lines going up the field. You play in pairs, opposite each other on the 2 lines of the queue. You have to throw back and fourth to move up the queue. If you make a drop, you go all the way to the back. Once you get to the top you are kings, if you are at the bottom, you’re jokers! What made this more interesting is that Seb would call out throwing rules such as having to put a fake in before throwing or hammers with one handed catches (with kings having to catch one handed at all times). It was a great little drill for getting people to practice their throwing and catching, while making it competitive. Me and Tom were kings twice, but I dropped both of them and we went tumbling all the way down to the bottom.
After the drill, it was game time and we were split into 4 even sized teams, with known experienced players as the captains. I was on Basil’s team (another HoS player) as well as I guy called Rob who has played with Devon Ultimate. I know a few people from Devon (JB, Afrow Peat & Craig) so it was really strange to meet someone on the other side of the world who has played frisbee with the same people as me.
The game was good fun and was a nice run around. Obviously, this wasn’t world class ultimate as a lot of people had only played ofr the first time either that day or the week before but that didn’t matter. I managed to score 2 points (I never score points) and put a decent pull out.
I actually spent quite a lot of the game time chatting to Seb about the ultimate scene in Melbourne and he told me that next week there was a league of HoS players starting up and that I would be welcome to come along. I was very much up for it as I really want to get back into ultimate on a fairly competitive level. Seb added me on Facebook and that was that. Next Thursday, can’t wait!
Afterwards there was no pub session despite being social league (unheard of!) so everyone went their separate ways.
By now it was 10pm but still very warm so I decided to walk home. It was 15 minutes on the tram so it couldn’t be that ling, right? Well, the walk eventually took me about an hour (I forgot about the 20 minute walk up through the park) but it was still really nice to be out and doing some exercise. Still being like 22 degrees at 10:30pm also helps.
When I got back, I grabbed a McDonalds from down stairs, had a Skype with dad and then fell into bed feeling the happiest I have since arriving in Melbourne! What a great day!
Note on the title: The title is actually the title of a great book, the website of which can be found here. If you’ve played ultimate for a bit and have been to a few tournaments, it’s a hilarious read because so much of it rings so true.
Edit: I forgot to mention, I’m going to start putting the date in the title. It just makes sense. Thanks to Stef for the idea (well, he stole it from Ben…)
