Something Unexpected

If the children I've seen playing in the street are any indication, badminton is popular in Beijing. I don't know why I find it surprising - maybe because I always imagined that the only people who play badminton have names like Percy or Cecil, and grew up attending posh schools in England set on large Victorian estates with extensive lawns, and wear bright white shoes with socks up to their knees when playing.

Then again, my mind should be a bit more open after Peru. I certainly didn't expect to come across kids playing impromptu matches of volleyball way up in small mountain towns. But it turns out the sport is all the rage there.

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Side note: I haven't been able to access my blog for most of the past couple weeks due to reasons unknown to me (China's censorship at work?), hence the silence. This and some subsequent posts should have been up here a while ago.