Sports Day

About halfway through last week all of us teachers were told that there would be no class that Friday. We'll call this a 'cultural difference' - not being told until 3 days before that there is no class! Soon I found out that the reason for the cancellation was because of Sports Day, which is conducted at universities throughout China. The students sign up to compete in different events - much like a "field day" that we would have in the States. So, I went with some students that morning to check things out. First, they had a parade of sorts where they marched around the track according to their department (English, Chinese, foreign students, etc.) and then the competitions began! Some of the events were your average track and field type events - 100 meter dash, shot put, relays but the rest were what you might think of as playground activities. There was dribbling the ball around the cones, kicking a soccer ball into the net, hackey sac, jump rope, and my personal favorite - hula hoop. :) There was actually a faculty team for each event but I chose not to participate...call me a sore sport but I just didn't feel like getting beat in a jump rope contest that morning! :)
Pictures: At the top is part of the parade - I don't know what department that is. Pictured in the second photo are some of my sophomores...(from left) Daniel, Joy, Lucia and Laura.