February 9th - A Full Moon and Lantern Festival

The School Yard under a full moon

My Thoughts 🤔 我的想法

Yesterday was 元宵节 and it was kind of cool. There was a full moon out and some great fireworks going off all around us so you could just sit outside the school's walls and watch them go off all over the place. We also got to eat some delicious 汤圆/元宵 for a dessert. I thought it was good and so did a few others. Besides my thoughts on the school yesterday I will say that the food we get is pretty good, you just have to get used to eating many kinds of vegetables and rice all the time. Every day they prepare something new so I can't complain.

Yesterday's Dinner: Vegetables, Potato, Egg and Rice

My training yesterday was really light. I practiced my forms as a warm up then went into practicing Kung Fu Stances, because they are a great stretch, and then finally worked on some Kung Fu Basics like punches, kicks, blocks and sweeps. After all of that I went back into stretching so that my body wouldn't feel stiff after training. I think I trained for 2 hours in total, not much compared to what we did last week. I'm trying to get myself used to having recovery days so that my body can fully heal. I'll stretch everyday and practice forms everyday but I'll do it to a less intensity than during the week. Training is pretty fun though...

Yesterday, we all watched a (pretty bad) movie called "Robin Hood Men in Tights". Normally, I wouldn't watch the movie but I realized I needed to find a way to distract myself so that my body could relax and heal as sitting in my room I was getting antsy. So, I went down and watched the movie with everyone. Even though it was a terrible movie my calves did feel better since I just laid down for an hour or so and didn't move. I think by Monday they'll be ready for some more training!

This is the Luohan Uniform

Another thing that I did was *learn how to use 淘宝 which is a Chinese Online Shopping website similar to Amazon or Ebay. Using that helped me practice and learn some new words in Chinese but I did find a few products that I've been wanting to by in America. One is the Luohan Uniform that is priced around $30 dollars in America but its around $5-10 dollars here. Second is the Monk Socks that I got for my Birthday. Again, they are cheaper and using them in the Winter was amazing so I want to get more. Third is a pair of white Feiyue Workout Shoes so that I can match my black/white socks.

I'm still not sure when I'll buy all of this but I am keeping them saved so that I can buy them later on.

*谢谢女朋友

Study 🧠 学习

I haven't been focusing on studying as much as I'd like. I'd like to devote an hour a day to studying so that my vocabulary can keep increasing which would make talking to the Masters easier. Here is what I've studied recently:

江苏 Jiāngsū "Jiangsu"
徐州 xúzhōu "Xuzhou"
新沂市 xīn yí shì "Xinyi City"
运费险 yùnfèi xiǎn "Freight Insurance/Shipping Insurance"
减少 jiǎnshǎo "to lessen, to decrease"
摩擦力 mócā lì "friction"
前滚翻 qián gǔnfān "Forward Roll"
翻来翻去 fān lái fān qù "To roll"
比赛型选手 bǐsài xíng xuǎnshǒu
幼稚 yòuzhì "Childish, Young"
烧水壶 shāo shuǐhú "Electric Kettle"
打呼噜 dǎ hūlū "To Snore"
洗手池 xǐshǒu chí "Sink"
骚扰 sāorǎo "To bother, to harass"
注册 zhùcè "to login"
加厚 jiā hòu "to thicken"
保暖 bǎonuǎn "to warm"
纯棉 chún mián "pure cotton"
透气 tòuqì "to breathe freely, to ventilate"

麻辣串串 málà chuàn chuàn (A food here in China)

夹心山楂 jiāxīn shānzhā (A Candy I like here)

Idioms 💬 成语

吃瓜群众 chī guā qúnzhòng "Peanut Gallery, onlookers who watch but don't have anything to say/do"
龙凤呈祥 lóngfèng chéng xiáng "Dragon and Phoenix bring good fortune"
劳逸结合 láo yì jiéhé "To find a balance between work and rest"

The weekend is almost over, what are you preparing for this week?

-Johnny "白武龙"