February 1st - Re-Learning 五步拳

Today is a pink mask.

My Thoughts 🤔 我的想法

08:00

Today has been better than last night. I woke up tired and sore but I had a small feeling in the back of my head that was telling me to keep going. To keep training and trying. So I got up, made my bed, organized my room and got ready for the day. One day of training was already testing my body; that wasn't even the full class yet. "Every day is going to be a challenge for the first month", that is what people have been telling me. "After that you'll realize what you can do".

So let's go first month! Come at me!

Now, I do need to remember to study my Chinese and programming as they are both important parts of my schedule as well. That is why I brought a Chinese book and I've even noticed a few 汉字 that I don't know around the school. So there is still opportunity to practice even if I'm stuck in the school grounds until this disease goes away.

The Horse Stance

19:22

Man, I am terrible with names.

Nadia
Matt
Josh
Little Kid who is now leaving
Lara
JD
Bryce
Ashely
Phillip

I'm trying to remember them but its hard. The rest of the day has been good. I've worked hard on training (see below) and talked to more people. I realize I don't talk much during the eating periods... I don't talk at all to be exact but I really don't talk much... normally.

Overall I like it here. I think I'm going to relax tomorrow but I'm not sure. I might clean up the garbage that is all over the place here as it bugs me and I don't see anyone else cleaning it up. We will see... Maybe I'll just train some more.

Bow Stance

Training 🥋 培训/训练

Today's training has been pretty light. I am stretching myself out in the morning so that I don't feel as sore as I do when I wake up. I hope to continue this practice but I'm not sure what the real classes are like so we will see. Another thing I did was started practicing my 长拳 forms that I learned in Shanghai Kung Fu Centre, 五步拳/十步拳.

Some other students saw me practicing and wished to help me as they saw I was missing some steps. Turns out, Shaolin Kung Fu also has this 套路 but it has some differences that I'm still learning all the details. Everything from the hand "shape" to the feet placement. It'll take time but I'll keep working on it.

As you see they are a little bit different and these small differences keep messing me up. I'll try to keep practicing both so I don't forget them but my muscles are already beginning to get sore from doing this new variation of this simple form. I was also shown what the Shaolin Group Form looks like and it seems difficult, but cool, to learn. You even get to speak Chinese while doing it!

Later on in the day I was training the new Shaolin Version of the 5 Step Form and a little kid (I forgot his name) decided to correct me on some things. My back is too bent when I go down into the cat stance so I have to learn to train it to stay straight and to get really low with it. Time to focus on a new stance!

He also taught me part of a form that I don't know the name of. All I know is that a master here teaches it later on once we've learned the group form and the 5 Step Form. So, if I want to learn that cool group form then I must get LOWER with the "cat stance".

I'll look up some exercises to help me in my free time and I'm sure the masters will be willing to help me get lower too.

Man, this weekend has been fun so far. How has your weekend been?

-Johnny "白武龙"