April 15th - Exhaustion and Testing

Sunny Day with my cool Mask

Morning Thoughts 🛌

Not going to lie, waking up this week has been harder than usual due to me being especially tired in the mornings and especially hungry when going to sleep. I'm not sure why but its been this way so far. Monday I fell asleep at 8:30 pm and woke up on Tuesday at 6 am. If that isn't my body telling me to get some rest then I don't know what is.

Also, I've changed my "wake up routine" a little bit; when I wake up I do my usual make bed, drink water, drink milk, but instead of watching videos on my phone or computer... I very carefully stretch while doing so. Usually wall splits, butterfly stretch and the straddle stretch are the three moves I do in the mornings to really... not warm up but "open" the hips. This allows me to get in most Kung Fu stances for whatever class is in the morning.

Yesterday's training was nice, we focused on various new jumps and rolls which I was able to do a few of. It gives me confidence that one day I will be able to do some of the cool Kung Fu flashy moves that we all see in movies and shows. Sanda takedowns class was basically a flashback to Judo basics which was nice to me... even the Tai Chi Master Ning said my throws were getting better than before which made me feel good. And I ended the day with an intense review of my sword form and an hour studying some new Chinese terms.

牛肉丸子面

Afternoon Thoughts 🍵

Basics class was tough because of the training that we did and because it is getting hotter and hotter here. Master Peng led us through basic kung fu combinations like Horse Stance Punch into Bow Stance Punch (马步冲拳便弓步冲拳) and "Cross Block Combo" (十字冲拳). He also taught us two new combinations, Resting Stance Push Palm (歇步压掌) and a move from Da Hong Quan called 盘肘 which is a very aggressive and close combo. We were exhausted after all of this but we were given the last ten minutes to review our forms before testing which was nice.

Then testing came and went so quickly. I think everyone tried their best but the masters commended Terina, Philip and me on our forms but Master Peng told me I had to work on my speed and to not change the moves of the form (I just got confused; I did a tiger claw instead of a push palm). I think I'll do 梅花单刀 and 通背拳 next grading. I want to use the tests to make sure my skills in my older forms are not going away as well as show what cool new things I've learned.

It has been a great day of training so far.

Evening Thoughts 🥮

The evening turned out to be another Wang Zhuang Adventure!

Before the adventure, there was Sanda Class. Master Tang has been teaching us Sanda for a week now due to Master Yan dealing with his wedding and honeymoon so the class has a different feel to it. We work on a lot of Boxing Basics and Kicking Basics and usually combine them somehow at the end of class. Today, our way of combining them all was to do some light sparring! That was interesting but don't worry, I still suck. I had to spar Raja twice and then spar this big Chinese Kid once with Boxing rules. Raja is still better than me but I felt bad sparring this gigantic 15 year old because it didn't seem fair. But, that is how training is sometimes.

(Left to Right) Matt, Josh, Terina, Philip (behind), Shilat

After we all got done with our Afternoon/Evening class we all went to Wang Zhuang to go eat at "一香美食" but they were sold out of most food so we bought milk teas and went to the Muslim Noodle Place. JD got the delicious looking 牛肉泡馍 which is a beef and bread soup. Matt, Philip and Josh all got the 红烧牛肉面 which is braised noodles and beef. Terina and Shilat both got the Fried Egg Noodles. Raja, who finally joined us on one of these adventures, got the 牛肉炒拉面 Fried Hand Pulled Beef Noodles. To be honest, everyone's food looked delicious.

Milk Tea Shop next to 一香美食

Then after eating we went over and they had me buy Mochas for everyone. While I was waiting for the seven mochas to be made, the owner of the restaurant next to the milk tea shop came by and talked with me. Just simple stuff about the Virus going around, where we are all from, how is the Kung Fu school, what happened to the other translator and stuff like that. It was another test of my Chinese, especially ordering food/drinks for eight people in total. Though, I hope I can expand my Chinese beyond ordering food.

I need to use my free time to study menus and other topics of conversation.

At least I feel almost full and ready for a day of power training tomorrow.

How has your guys' week been?

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