Tomorrow is my basketball day with my Zhongguo pengyou (Chinese friends). I have made many friends and man do they like to push me around on the court. The funny thing is, it took them about a month to invite me to play. I would show up and stand on the side waiting to get a chance to play, but they would never ask me. So I bought a basketball and brought it with me and stood there bouncing my ball waiting for an invite to play and finally they did and now we have been playing together for a little over a year. I may be a little taller than them, but they are really good. They all have a very odd shooting technique they have all mastered it - every one of them uses the backboard to score. When they shoot from any area in the court, the ball goes in the hoop. Their ages vary from 18 to 88. The way they play, I really thought that some of the 70-year olds were no older than 40 - crazy. The big building in the background with all the Chinese letters on top is Xi'an's professional soccer stadium. It is so awesome for me to be playing with these guys in China. I would have never dreamed of it.
~Rick
A SIDE NOTE FROM ABBY: Basketball has been around since 1891, invented by Canadian James Naismith, who wanted a sport where the ball was big, lowering the risk of injury by not being able to see the ball, sudden movements, et cetera.
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