Shanghai'd

Award.


In a previous post, Laurel already wrote about the dragon boat race. Below is the email I received a few days after the event from the "The Organization Committee Of Zhangjiang Cup Dragon Boat Race":

Dear Mr.Tim Stelzer:
Not personally issues for you the Wins an award the certificate
, we felt extremely regretted.
That day afternoon, you informed us, you not to be able in four to receive an award. Also has the question which the possibility is links up to cause you not to attain wins an award the certificate, we felt so sorry.
Organization Committee Of Dragon Boat Race will be sent ”The Best Delimits The Oarsman” certificate and the to you company!
Thanks for your participant!

My intention is by no means to mock the English of this email (the old "he who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones" adage certainly applies here), but rather to highlight the bizarreness of the situation. The certificate was a nice gesture. As I later discovered, awarded to encourage foreigners in the race - unfortunately, not a reflection of my oarsmanship. The strange part is the 5 crisp Maojamins that accompanied it. My only thought is that the organizing committee must have had some money left over from the corporate sponsorship of the race. Is it unethical for me to accept the jiang? I suppose if I treat the rest of the dragon boat team to dinner with the cash I can still sleep at night. Weird.