The swimming complex at the Wuxi New Sports Center, though large, is boring. We had to go there on the afternoon of Saturday the 14th for a School Outing.
There were two things wrong with the complex on Saturday: its pools were too shallow and there were too many people. I am about 1.9 meters tall. The six pools are at most 1.7 meters deep. But this is fine for most Chinese. There is a diving area there which has Olympic size diving platforms. When I first saw it, I was overjoyed. Deep water I thought. But then I saw people standing in the middle of the diving pool. The bottom had either been raised or another bottom had been added. Seeing that the deep pool had been turned in a wading pool was very disappointing. So there was no where to dive and no where to swim for a distance. I would have walked out of the place after five minutes. But stay we had to because it was a school outing.
A life guard at one of the pools could have been a former Red Guard. He was blowing his whistle like a mad man at anyone who committed even the smallest infraction. When he kicked out two pretty girls for not wearing swimcaps, the chant of "the referee is a wanker" could heard coming form the foreign contingent.
Emily, a student at HyLite, and her husband brought their little 17 month old boy to the pool. The Child did not like the water. He was screaming all the afternoon. But, I watched with envy seeing the couple with their cute little child, and by doing so, increased the anticipation I have for when my son comes. Taking my little one on outings like that will be quite pleasant. Six weeks to go.
The New Sports Complex is large. Visit AKIC at AKIC Spaces Live to see photos I took. Luis, Bradley and I were able to get into the football stadium. We walked past the Gym Complex which was huge like the swimming area.
Simon managed to get to School after his bachelor party last night. He has iron strength of will comparable to mine.
The wife cut her finger this morning while she was trying to cut a pumpkin. She bled a bit till she could put a bandage on.
I learned this when I arrived home tonight which may have been just as well considering the day I was having at school. They told me to schedule a whole bunch of classes one day before when I usually need a week. The Chinese are not one for planning or foresight.
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