It’s been a very long wait of several months for my new placement’s announcement and it’s now official: I’ll be going to a country in Southeast Asia as the coordinator of the Sunbeam Vocational and Training Center, located in the capital city.

As I learn more, I’ll post here but in celebration of this new move in life, I made sure to include my new language component (hello) in my yearly summer swimming video. Bowing with hands together, saying “Hello” in the local language, is the custom of greeting, thus I included below along with greetings to my Chinese friends and former students in Luzhou.

For those not aware of my swimming prowess, I’ve been swimming since age 3. This website has numerous entries about my pool experiences throughout Taiwan, China, Japan and the US over the many years I’ve been teaching overseas.

I’ve participated in swimming teams during my younger years and then, after college, just for my own pleasure to keep fit, meditate and enjoy socializing with those of different cultures who have the same health and exercise interest as I do: lap swimming.

I’m not the only one in my small town who feels this way when it comes to the water. Here are the die-hard swimmers of Marshall, Illinois, all in our 50’s and going strong.

A Pool Story from China Worth Telling

I can’t tell you what a joy it is for me to visit a new pool with new people to connect to and a new environment to explore. My pool searches have led me on so many adventures.

In Guangxi Province, China, I remember taking fascinating local bus journeys through beautiful, lush countryside, with walks through an ancient village market place, to enjoy a middle-of-nowhere pool located in the midst of a vast pineapple field.

One day upon my arrival, the 50-meter pool had been drained and the staff of 7 was scrubbing the bottom. Since I’d spent an hour getting there and couldn’t swim, I figured I might as well not make it a wasted trip so I joined them in their efforts. Picking up the long-handled heavy scrub brush, we worked together under the roasting hot sun to finish getting off all the fuzzy green algae. (The water wasn’t chlorinated and was replaced every 3 days). Afterwards, the staff invited me to have a snack of bananas, picked fresh off a nearby tree, and tea before I departed.

The next day when I arrived to get in my daily laps, the 10 yuan ( $1.50) fee was waved.

My protests went unheeded as the manager insisted I accept my free ticket. After a culturally acceptable number of attempts of trying to pay, I gave in, making us all happy.

Joining in a new culture through a sport is not a time-wasting activity

To this day, I still have clearly embedded in my memory that special relationship established with the pool staff and the market ladies I met along the way to my swimming outing. And that’s not the only amazing story I’ve had of where my pool searches have taken me.

I’ve had Chinese Christian ladies corner me in the changing room and openly pray over me as we stood in our undies. I’ve given swimming advice after my workouts to anyone interested in improving his or her stroke. I’ve played water games with little kids who were fascinated by the foreigner who swam so fast. I’ve met strangers who became close friends all due to my daily pool visits and my willingness to converse.

For those who think my pool time is a money waster, an indulgence that needs examining, an obsession that is unworthy of the work I feel tasked to do as an educator and a Christian, I beg to disagree.

Keeping healthy, nurturing a sound mind, staying physically fit while being socially active, is a necessary part of fitting in to a new country and environment.

Thus my advice for earth-shattering, life-altering moves is this: Hold onto that stable something that keeps you from getting overly anxious, worried, upset, overwhelmed and depressed, because all those feelings will absolutely attack your well-being once you’re thrown into different, strange surroundings.

For me, that special something is the pool. And don’t you know I’ve already found several lap pools in my area that look very promising on Youtube!

Who knows what new friends and experiences await me there. I’m sure it will be just as rewarding and blessed as all those past encounters in my Asia placements, maybe even more so.

Thanks for joining me in this space. Have a great week!