"Laowai" ("Foreigner") plays basketball

Today was a gorgeous day in Shanghai: blue sky and a warm 75 degrees. Yesterday a bunch of classmates asked if anybody wanted to play basketball today... how could I say no?

So I went and played basketball for the first time since arriving in China, actually for the first time since the legendary Franconia Ward church basketball team lost in the playoffs last March, so it's been a while.

As we were walking to the courts, I asked my friend how many times we'd hear people say "laowai" or "waiguoren" ("foreigner"). She asked me why and I told her that people always point out the fact to their friends, and to me, that I'm not Chinese. She didn't think anybody would.

The courts were packed (all 20 of the courts!), why wouldn't they be, it was a gorgeous day. As soon as we got there, the folks that were playing (teenagers and early 20's) pointed out that there was a "laowai." I turned to my friend and smiled, she had no idea that Chinese would do that. We've definitely become used to hearing "laowai" wherever we go. They don't say it as a bad thing, they're just amazed to see foreigners. That's life as a minority you know. It gets fun as soon as I reply back to them that I'm Shanghainese, you know, I live here therefore I'm also Shanghainese. Now they get even more amazed at a "laowai" that speaks Chinese!

At any rate, basketball went pretty well for playing for the first time in a year. This one play I drove in the lane and two guys came to guard me. I split them and a third guy came over to contest my layup. I wound the ball around him and got the layup. At that point I realized that a "crowd" had gathered to watch the "laowai" play basketball when they started cheering. Uh, I'm sorry to be the one to represent American basketball because I'm really out of practice, but it was funny to have a cheering section of people that I didn't know.

I played for an hour and a half, and have one blister on each foot to show for it. Morgan asked me why my blisters are so big and I told her, "How could I stop? I couldn't disappointment my fans!" She reminded me that I'm not that good, but I told her that good is a relative term, and for the time being, even with my old body that hadn't played in a year, I was still good!

Way to go "Laowai!"