January 21, 2012

I need to finish off the vacation trip diary, but am taking a break for a quick recap of our weekend in Changhua for a baseball tournament with Paul's local team.  Unlike previous tournaments when the teams were loaded with adults, this tournament was for middle school (grades 7-9) kids only.  Changhua is a couple hour drive south of Taipei near Taichung and we had amazing weather.  Mid-70's and blue skies both days.  Coming from Seattle, being able to play in prefect weather in January is a treat, although am sorry we did not do a drive by of the Big Buddha.


The boys did OK, winning two and losing two games...it was tough for them (and all of us) as their first games each day had a first pitch of 7:30 (so we had a 4-something-AM) wake-up call on Saturday). 

They won both their AM games, but came up flat in the afternoon ones unsurprisingly.  With 3-4 hour breaks between games, was hard to keep up an intensity level.

For his part, Paul was more than solid, going 4-8 with 5 walks, a bunch of RBI's, runs scored and stolen bases, and also played error free 3B with a couple of wily defensive efforts.  Paul is a very nice player overall and has learned how to play the right way...doing all the small things like watching a pitch all the way to the catcher's mitt.

 

It's a good thing that he has the knowledge as his coaches and teammates speak zero English.  He blew a sign at one point and got caught stealing, but the language of baseball gets him through for the most part.  It is kinda hard for him to not understand what's going on and can get bored being the only one not getting the joke.  At one point, a little girl asked him to open her Gatorade bottle and all the other boys started laughing at him and he still doesn't know why. 

For my part, there are a couple of parents that speak English and they are always very nice to me, explaining what's going on, making sure we get fed and such.  Everyone gets a lunch box that has a chicken cutlet, some cabbage, a 1000 year-old egg and rice...way better than it sounds.

And we all went out to dinner for hot-pot (Shabu shabu) that night.  We are familiar with the hot pot process, but the parents took time to make sure we were set-up before they ate themselves.

We are very fortunate to have found this team, not only for Paul to get to satisfy his baseball-jones, but also for all of us to experience things from a strictly Taiwanese perspective.  Going to an American school, everything is partially filtered through a Western lens.  While we relish these Taiwanese  experiences, it would be great to be able to make jokes...my humor is hard/painful to "get" for an native English speaker, but is close to impossible to translate into Chinese.

One of the mom's was wearing a shirt that cracked me up...

It's common for people to say that fellas think with their penis, but I've never heard of a talking vagina.  And I wanted to ask her what her vagina was asking that needed to be answered.  And if your vagina asks the question, is it in the first or third person.  Was killing me to not be able to talk through these pressing questions.

Another thing about Taiwanese baseball that is cringe-worthy and am dying to discuss is their cup wearing habits.  The boys don't wear them...I asked Paul if he was the only boy that wore one and he said, "yeah, but I'm the only one with something to protect."  That's my boy.  If you want to be a power hitter, you gotta carry a big stick.

The only other player on the field that wears a cup is the catcher, but only while he is catching, so they have a "team cup" that all the catcher's share.  And they wear it on the outside of their pants.

So if they have to change catcher's during an inning, in addition to switching the shin guards and chest protector, they will pull of this nasty yellow jock strap in the middle of the field so the new catcher can strap it on.  Definitely falls into the "just wrong" category.