30. Ping-pong

In the common room of the academy, there is, in addition to tables, chairs, and sitting groups, also a ping-pong (or if you prefer to be specific, table tennis) table. This ping-pong table is a gathering point in our free time, and a very fun game is played on it.

The game we play here is for as many people that want to join (or however many rackets are available...and we have a lot of them). You then divide into two groups of roughly the same size, who line up at each end of the table. The first person in one of the lines starts by serving. Each person then hits the ball once, and then moves around the table in the anti-clockwise direction. If you fail, that is, either you don't return the ball over the net, or you let it bounce more than one time on you side, or the ball you hit doesn't bounce on the table at all, you loose one of your two lives. When you loose both your lives, you are out of the game.

The game is played this way until there are only two people left, who then play a match which goes to two points (or three, if it's initially a draw). It's a lot of fun to play, even though I often end up going out of the game at an early stage. It's also fun to watch, and you can always hear it being played from a long way away, from all the hoots of laughter, shrieks, and shouts coming from the direction of the common room. Today, after dinner, I played this game with two other people. There's a lot of running to do when there are only three people playing this game (and no lives to lose). I had to return the ball the person behind me hit, so it's about being both fast and accurate. It was a lot of fun, and also really tiring. Sweat was running down my face when we finished.

If you ever have the chance to play this game, I highly recommend it. It is a very including game if you only have one ping-pong table, but lots of rackets. So this was today's dosage of out-of-breath fun.

This is the last day of BEDA, in case you hadn't noticed. I am looking forward to getting back to my usual blogging schedule, even though this month has been a good experience. I have become better at writing, and also at noticing the small and interesting things in my everyday life here. I am now completely into my routines here, and this has really become my home. I am looking forward to sharing the next couple of months I spend here with you.

Books read: 18

Pages read: 4886

PS: For a really catchy funny song titled "Ching chong!", click here. I thought it would fit with today's post because it sounds like the title...and I often have it on repeat in my head unwillingly.