WIZARD OF BAT

dave, being the "natural athlete" that he is (craig will appreciate THAT one!) joined the school's cricket team and they had their first match april 25th. their worthy (or unworthy) opponents were teachers from what we call the green school, another school in macau that serves the international population BUT certainly NOT even close to our TIS standards (i am talking about the actual school here, cricket skills aside). a few practices were held and it turned out to be a very different way of thinking from what we call baseball. first of all, when you bowl (pitch), you cannot bend the arm and as those of us who were standing (and standing) along the sidelines grimaced to find out, you can NOT strike out ... and it is very common for these matches to go for DAYS and DAYS and DAYS. I-YA!!! (that is chinese pinyan slang for "man, did i make a mistake in agreeing to watch the game").

it did get better though. the first end was so slow and it truly appeared we would be there for days. then our boys (and one female) were up to bat - the pace picked up considerably.