"Want to go to Manila in two weeks for a frisbee tournament?" "Umm ... Ok?"

Hey, guys. I know I haven’t posted in a long time, but I’ve had a million things to deal with and very little energy at the end of the day to sit down and write up blog posts. I mean, to be honest, there have been a few days when I’ve had the energy, but I went out drinking all night instead. More on that kind of thing later. First, I want to tell you about the trip I took to Manila.
I play in the Shanghai Ultimate Frisbee League once a week and there’s some really good competition there. We have about a half dozen younger players who either went to nationals when they were in college or are in college now and go to nationals each year. This is a huge deal; the Union team can’t even make it to regionals, the bracket a step below nationals. I found out that the league puts together the best Shanghai players and makes a club team that travels to international tournaments. They call themselves the Shanghai HuWa, or “frog,” and they rock house, every tournament. So imagine my excitement when they asked me to play for them in Manila, the Philippines, for an international tournament on November 17th and 18th. Too bad I later found out this would not be the full HuWa team. The best 5 guys and the best 3 girls from Shanghai decided to team up with a bunch of other sick players from all over the orient and form a ringer team called the “Pan-Asia” team. That left the rest of the Huwa team with only seven guys to cover four positions on the field and only six girls to cover three. We weren’t the fittest players from Shanghai (I had only been asked to come three weeks or so beforehand and had no time to cross-train), we weren’t the best players from Shanghai (come on! A bunch of them went to nationals!), but we were still expected to play our asses off with a short-handed team.
Needless to say, we didn’t do so hot. We only won 2 of our 7 games, but we played like champs. We were up against a lot of Filipino teams, and they are really better than I expected. The Filipino ultimate scene is kind of exploding right now. It’s a super cheap game, a disc is even cheaper than a soccer or basketball, so it is a good game for the poorer kids in the boonies. Most of the filipino teams had at least 2 or 3 guys who could huck half-field or more and ALL of the teams had wicked fast Filipino kids. For a shorthanded team that meant that no matter how fast you are, the other team has fresher legs. When you are up against a deep team of fast kids and one or two who can throw it long, you’re screwed unless you have an endless supply of steam to chase the disc down. I still had a fucking blast and played as hard as I did in my last college tournament, even though my fitness level is about ¾ of what it was then. Damn you, dislocated elbow! You win again! Although Huwa didn’t do so hot, the Pan-Asia team swept the tournament. They were undefeated and won the finals 15-5. Now, how is that fun? I would have been a lot happier if they players on the Pan-Asia team stayed on their respective teams so that we all could have some decent competition, but c’est la vie.
But enough about Frisbee and on to Manila! The beer is dirt cheap and malt-liquor strong. We’re talking a quarter for a can of 6-8% ABV. Plus, you can get a liter of their “finest” rum for about 2 USD a bottle. I honestly think I would prefer drinking nail polish to that swill, but it gets you wasted all the same. The first night out the organizers had a “registration party” with a free buffet (shitty) and all you can drink malt liquor. I do not remember very much of the first night out. I do remember acting like a mad-man and basically owning the city. The Filipino players were all amazing ragers and would do anything to keep the party alive. Even outside of the parties, the Filipino people in general are the most hospitable, kind people I have met on my journeys so far. In China, you get stared at every single day as if you had some watermelon-sized growth coming out of the side of your head. Often, Chinese people will quickly walk over to you and shout, “Hello, how are you,” (the only English they know) and quickly run away before you even have time to respond. It’s childish and immature, like their friends dared them to just say something to the foreigner. It isn’t much of a hassle or anything, but it gets old after the 200th time. It’s a good metaphor for how ignorant and afraid so many Chinese people are of other cultures. I blame the government.
It was different in Manila. People were definitely interested in the “white people,” but in a more genuine way. I didn’t feel like a scary animal at the zoo in Manila. Instead of people jokingly running up and facetiously barking, “Hello, how are you,” I had people asking to shake my hand and learn my name. These working guys drove past me in a beat-up truck while I was walking across a corner and one leaned his head out to say “Hello, welcome to the Philippines, can I shake your hand?” It might have something to do with the much higher percentage of Filipinos who can speak English, but no one seemed scared of foreigners. It was a nice change of pace. This time last year I was almost dreading China, but for a combination of reasons. For one thing, I had been back-packing for a solid month and had no “home” to call my own; just hotel beds or floors shared with the other Union kids. On top of that, I was deathly sick for a good ¾ of that time. But I had gotten fairly homesick before that point anyway. I really don’t feel that this time around. I think that little trip into a different world helped me stay grounded. I’m so very glad I went.
OK, that’s all for international Frisbee for the moment, but I promise to be prompt with my next post: Killer Go-Karts and Bureaucracy at the Police Station (the two are only somewhat related).