Before we jump into the China Series baseball game, we wanted to give you a recap of a few things that went on late last week. First, we had our third Chinese lesson with Beth. She is a great teacher for us. It is incredible to see that as a full-time student she still plans and prepares diligently for each lesson she gives us. It is obvious that she takes it serious and is getting great experience that will be invaluable for her future as a Chinese language instructor.In the session we learned new phrases. Mainly we stuck to I or You want to play, eat, buy, watch, listen, etc. It interesting to see that in some ways Chinese is simpler than other languages. For instance, no conjugating of verbs takes place which makes it easy in one regard. However, due to the language incorporating four oral and written tones (Pinyin), an enormous amount of written characters (thank goodness we are not learning these), and unique pronunciations it is still very difficult to learn. We are try to absorb as much as possible and practice quite a bit with students from our classes when we see them on campus.
We decided that we should take up a few physical extracurricular activities. We are starting with tennis. We went down to Wal-Mart and purchased a couple of rackets and balls for about 85 yuan (roughly $12 bucks). The equipment is pretty decent so everything was actually quite inexpensive. We try to get out and play a couple times a week. The weather here is still rather cool so we make sure to do it before dusk. It entertains us when we don't feel like entering the madness of subways or tourist spots.
We Finally Get Tickets
So let us finish telling you about our little escapade with MLB game tickets. We figured there had to be some way that we could snag two tickets to one of the games (it was a two game series) between the Dodgers and the Padres. Adán was determined to get tickets and felt that the Internet was our best shot at getting them. He decided to check out a couple of classifieds that exist here. One is called The Beijinger and of course Craigslist (it has gone international you know). We really didn't have any luck here so we decided to see if the ticketmaster had a website. It was worth a shot. Much to our surprise we quickly located the website and noticed that tickets were still available according to the site. We decided to go ahead and reserve two tickets to the first game since it allowed us to. We also attached a message to the order asking for an e-mail verification.
To make a long story short, the next day we received a message saying that we needed to call the box office immediately if we wanted ticket or else we would lose our reserved seats. So we did and they told us that by 6:00pm that same day we needed to purchase the tickets at the same box office located at Worker's Stadium. It was Friday, the day before the game that this all took place. It really didn't make sense that we were so easily able to get tickets online and in person we had no luck but it was our only shot so we took off about thirty minutes later to get the tickets.
Ultimately we made it to the ticket office at about 5:30pm (cutting it close). We walked in side and within five minutes we had our tickets in hand and off we went. It really made no sense that at the same venue we were able to get tickets a few days later, certain things in China don't make sense but you just have to shrug and say oh well.
Game Day
On the day of the game the sun decided to come out for us fans. It was actually a great day to play ball. At the Wukesong Stadium things were disorganized. It took us several minutes to make our way into the stadium and to our seats. Lines were backed up several meters and it was about 40 minutes before we got in. Once inside we made it to our seats. We actually ended up with a decent view. We were on the left field side about thirty rows up. The stadium seating is very similar to bleachers at high schools so we weren't real impressed with that. However, the field was actually in pristine conditions especially for China.It was interesting for us as foreigners to view the game and feel that it appeared "natural." It had an American ballpark "feel" to it as the players (more minor leaguers than stars made the trip) battled it out in the first ever historical Major Leage Baseball game in China. But, when you looked in the crowd it was a different story. The predominantly Chinese crowd of about 10,000 seemed at times lost with the whole concept of baseball. Since the game is not popular many fans did not know when or even how to cheer. It did not take them long to learn as the Dodgers hit a solo shot home run in the third inning that got everyone excited.
It was a seesaw event that eventually ended up being at 3-3 time as the Padres rallied to even the game. We were bummed that it did not go extra innings but since it was a spring training exhibition game the game was called. As we began to exit the stadium we decided to hang around and see if we might get "lucky" and see a player or two. A few small crowds of fans started to huddle near one specific buidling so we made our way in that direction.
As we approached the other fans we noticed that the building was actually the team locker rooms. Within 10 minutes Joe Torre, the Dodger manager, was walking to a press conference and Adán was able to walk right next to him! Later, Adán meet Adrian Gonzalez, first baseman for the Padres, and got his autograph. It didn't end there. He also was able to meet Dave Winfield, Hall of Fame player, and score his autograph too! Soon after, the MLB officials and American press became irate as fans like us got unlimited access that normally they only get. Eventually the Chinese security got with the program and created barriers between the teams and fans. From that point on very limited access was available. By that point it didn't matter, we got more than we ever expected.
