Labor Day in China
Monday is a holiday, which means that lots of workers here will have to work an extra day next weekend to make up for the "day off". Somebody needs to explain that one to me. No unions here.
Headed to play 18 holes at Hangzhou Lake Hill Golf Course. It's the same course I've played several times now in Hangzhou. Nobody else wanted to leave campus at 5:00am to play for a lot less money. That's cool. I'll have a great time regardless. Fully expect to hook up with another single or pair and enjoy my day. Weather is heating up. Should be over 80 degrees in the afternoon, but I expect to be home well before noon. Looking forward to dropping on the couch and taking in Empire of the Sun after having just visited the Bund. I remember watching Hannibal after visiting Florence. Super cool to see places in movies where I just spent time.
Shot an 86 (45-41). Playing some consistent golf. Lots of pars and double boagies. Got a lot better on the back nine. My caddie was Jiang. We had a lot of fun. Not a lot of communication, but shared lots of smiles.
Had some good and bad today. Started off on fire. Three straight pars and was hitting it well. Two very near birdies. On the fourth hole we caught up to a pair. Jiang told me to tee it up and that maybe we could join the pair. They moved to the side, but we're right in my wheelhouse for distance. Yes, I hit it right at them. It went right over their heads and landed just beyond them. When I got up to my ball they weren't smiling. Dang. I apologized as best I could, grabbed my ball, and moved in to the next hole. Neither one of them said a single word. It was way awkward. I felt so embarrassed.
The good was that I had a single playing in front of me that I had to wait on, and another single caught up to me and joined me. Her name was Xu Xiaoping (Queenie). We had a great time together. She lives in Vancouver BC just north of Bellingham. She is in Hangzhou caring for her older father. She has a 21 year old son in college back in Canada. We shared contact information and it feels like I've made a new friend that I can golf with. She likes to play super early in the mornings too to save a buck. Bonus: She was playing in red pants. She gets it. We played fast together and had a ball.
In other less exciting news I finally shaved it all off. No more hair to deal with on my head. We're going to give this a try for a while and see how it feels. Streamlined. Combine that with some red shoes and we're talking hyper speed baby.
