The trip here was a nightmare. It started with my first flight out of Indpls getting delayed by an hour which put me in St. Louis late missing my connection to LA and so on and so on. So my only option was to switch airlines and motor to Minneapolis St Paul and try to get to La in time to make my flight to Taipei. In the end I made it to LA just in enough time to get on the plane to Taipei. Actually I was the last person on the plane after sprinting from one end of the aiport to another, and as I was getting the clear to enter the plane, the man at the desk said to make sure I filled out a report for my luggage when I got to Kaohsiung. Sure enough, I made it to but my luggage is still MIA. Thank God I packed my toiletries in my carry on backpack or I would be one stinky coach. Not a very good first impression.
All of the coaches and players have been so hospitable and helpful. When I arrived there was three hours before the start of the first hitting practice. I had enough time to shop for some essentials and come back to the training center and get situated. After the first hitting practice the head coach asked the head trainer to give me a towel, one player to loan me an outfit for the following day, and another to wash the clothes I had been wearing for over 48hours.
The complex reminds me a lot of my dorm days in college. I have me own room with a shower and everything I need within a few steps. I forgot what it was to have someone prepare your food, saves one a lot of precious time.It took me a day to find the coffee machine and I still don’t know exactly what I am eating. It seems to be green, healthy, and light, a far cry from the fast-pace greasy crap most Americans eat.
My translator joked I must have brought the cold weather with me.Yesterday and today I would say the high has been 40 degrees. This is a far cry from the usual 60 -70 degrees typical for this region and time of the year. I can tell the coaches and players are not used to the cold as they spend a great deal of time making coal fires in small barbeques and a warm Ginger and Brown sugar drink on a gas hot plate. Today they prepared a special treat by spreading small yams over coals and at the end of practice we pealed the skins and ate the warm potatoes. My translator informed me they have been taking more breaks than normal in their training and the players keep quenching in pain because of the cold bats. Maybe before I leave I can share with them my Cadillac design of a bat warmer. I wonder if they make cans of Sterno in Taiwan. 🙂
