It was hot. In fact, it had been hot in Shenzhen for the past two weeks. The kind of hot and humid weather that makes you start sweating the moment you go outside. The kind of hot that makes your body feel weak and tired.
It was Saturday. Normally, we’d sleep in and have a leisurely morning. Not this morning. I was up by 6 a.m. making breakfast, letting Martin sleep in a little longer. By the time I finished making breakfast, Martin was up and I was feeling terrible.
Despite not feeling well, we climbed into our friend’s car, along with a couple other people and drove north the Longhua, a suburb of Shenzhen where the reservoir was.
A dragon boat is a long skinny boat that is only powered by people. In the south, its made of teak wood. Once a year, on Dragon Boat Festival, teams of 18-20 people compete in a race. At the head of the boat is a drummer. He hit the drum to keep us all paddling at the same time, so he also chose how fast we had to paddle. In the back of the boat is a driver who uses a long wooden rudder to steer. In the middle is where Martin and I sat, thrusting our paddles into the water to the rhythm of the drum, trying not to think about how tired our arms were and how hot it was.
At first, being part of a 2000 year traditional Chinese boat race sounded like fun. Then, for 3 hours we paddled in circles around a reservoir. In hind sight this was probably not the best idea considering how crummy I was feeling.
We were taught the proper paddling technique, which isn’t that difficult. What is difficult is having the stamina to paddle about 2 strokes a second consistently for 100-300 strokes. Martin and I would have preferred a slow relaxing paddle down a river to a campground instead of a finish line.
Our team was full of misfits, people who had an interest in boating but weren’t connected in any other way. Other teams had matching hats and even entire outfits – these were often people from he same company. They paddled circles around us – literally. The government provides the boats, water, life jackets, and paddles free of charge to encourage people to participate in this sport. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people would do it if they had to pay for it.
Unlike most things that we do, we were the only foreigners and no one besides our friend spoke much English. So, for the first time in our two years in China, I was forced to use Chinese in a social context. I was so happy when I finally heard the words “chi fan” which means Let’s Eat!
Lunch was at a nearby restaurant – this team had been practicing all day Saturday and Sunday for the past 3 weekends. They always ate at this restaurant. The food could have been OK, but by this time I was really feeling terrible. Martin and I left early and found a tram and two trains to take us home where I took a 90 minute nap and finished the third season of The Game of Thrones.
In the end, I’m happy I learned how to paddle a Dragon Boat despite the inherent competitive nature of the sport. Which is why on Dragon Boat Festival (June 18th this year), instead of being in the boat, I’ll be cheering from the shaded sidelines in awe of the stamina and strength of the paddlers.
Another great story, Jill! Thanks.