Let the Games Begin!

  Huangshi No. 1 High School's Sports Meeting.

 Last weekend, our school held a "sports meeting", as they call it, for all of the Grade 1 and Grade 2 students. It was mostly track and field events, with a few more creative and fun games thrown in as well. Poor Grade 3 students are seniors in high school and they never get to do anything fun. They have to prepare for the college entrance exam in June. Unlike America, their exam is held over a 3- day period that is set by the government. They have to take it on this date and can only take it once. The students are under a lot of pressure, so they didn't have time for the sports meeting.

 

Day 1

The first day of the event started by having every class from the school present themselves around the track in their class "uniforms". The students don't wear uniforms to school, they only created fun t-shirts for the games. Some classes got a little more creative than others.

 

This is of one of my classes from Grade 1. They released balloons when they passed the headmasters and judges for the competition.

 

Another of my Grade 1 classes held up small Chinese flags. Some students took this very seriously!

 

I tried to get a picture of all the students out on the field, but there are so many, I couldn't get them all in one photo. This is half!

 

This is the other half. Our school is really beautiful now that we have warm weather again!
Each class had to present themselves around the track and then line up on the field. After all of the classes were lined up, they raised the flag and then proceeded to do the usual morning exercise routine. At least 2 or 3 times a week, our students parade out to the field for morning exercise, where they all do the exact same movements together. It is pretty hilarious to watch, especially since most of the students are bored!

Camille, Diana, and I in our matching judges' jackets, ready for the competition to begin. She makes us look like giants!

I just loved this man's shirt. He looked so intense while waiting. Go China!

 

 

A few of our students were the "official photographers" for the games, so we were constantly posing for pictures. My student, Philip, sent me this gem. We were waiting to fight out what event we would be judging. By the way, the hat was also part of the judge's outfit! I'm not gonna lie, I felt super cool rocking my hat and jacket, acting like I knew anything about what was happening!

 

We found out! We were in charge of shot-put! So, of course, we decided to play around before the kids got there and see how far we could throw it.

 

My turn to play! It didn't go very far :(

 

                 
                                  Diana's turn to play. I'm pretty sure she beat both of us!

And finally, the real competition. The boys' shot-put.

 

And then the girls' shot-put. We "judged" the shot-put competition for two days. First we had to judge the Grade 1 boys and then later the Grade 2 boys on day one. Day two was the same, but for girls. When they realized that Camille and I couldn't call out names or measurements in Chinese, they decided that our job should be to run out and retrieve the shot-put and bring it back each time it was thrown. Lets just say, after two days and picking it up over 100 times, my arms were pretty sore!

                                                                            Day 2
As soon as our shot-put job was finished, Camille and I went back to the teacher's tent on the field. Immediately, we were approached by a teacher and the conversation went something like this...
Teacher: Hi, we would really like for you two to take part in the teacher race.
Us: Umm, ok, when is it?
Teacher: It is now.
Us: Oh! Well how far is it?
Teacher: 800 meters.
Us: I don't know what that means! (we don't know meters) How many times around is it?
Teacher: 2 times
Us: Two?!?!?! I don't think I can run that far!
Teacher: Please?
Us: Ok.

This was another one of those moments when you look back and say, "What was I thinking?" This is when Camille and I signed our names for the race. We really weren't sure if we could run that far, neither one of us likes to run and this was a race, not just a leisurely jog! But, all of the teachers and students were just so excited that we couldn't turn them down.

 

 As you can see, Camille and I were not taking this very seriously. We were talking and laughing the whole time. Our students were running around the track with us, cheering us on!

Right before we were about to start, I looked over to see a woman wearing a dress with tennis shoes. I told Camille that we had to better than her, since she was wearing a dress! Right? You can't even see her in this picture, because she took off so fast. I definitely had to eat my words!

We finally finished! And I do mean FINALLY, as we came in last place! I'm embarrassed to admit it, because if you look at the picture above, you will see that quite a few of the people running were a bit older than us! I like to tell myself that they knew about the race ahead of time and that they are probably regular runners. Nevertheless, we finished and we never stopped to walk! And it was realllyyyy hot! Ok, I'm just trying to make myself feel better!

All of our students who were there, ran up to us to tell us, "teacher, you are the best!". I said, "thank you, but actually I came in last, so I am the worst!". They were very adamant that as long as you finish the race, you are the best!

Another student of mine, who is brutally honest with me, was not there when we raced but heard about it later. That afternoon she found me and said, "Oh, Lesley, I heard you ran this morning...very slowly."

                                                                   Day 3

My Grade 2 Babies! These students from the only class in Grade 2 that I teach this year, so they are the only students that I have known and taught for two years. I feel very attached to them and will hate to say good bye to them! This was before the boys and girls, class relay race.

This was by far my favorite part of the competition to watch!  About ten students from each class lined up together on the field and tied their feet together. They had to walk/run to the other end of the field, while tied together. Think a three-legged race times 10!

After they were tied together and ready to start. There were several falls and pile-ups. Too funny!

And then there was the jump-rope competition. How many jumps could a class get in a certain amount of time?

The closing ceremony and awards. I would love to tell you more about this, but I didn't understand a word of it! My life in China....