April 25th - Soothing Weekend

Sunday, Back to Basics

Morning Mumblings 🌞

It has been an interesting morning of cleaning, washing, organizing and relaxing. Yesterday was Shilat's birthday party so everyone was up late drinking, playing games and having fun. I called it early once it was midnight as I woke up way too early on Saturday.

Saturday

Besides the birthday party, my day was spent cleaning (yes, more cleaning), stretching, talking with my family and going to Cao Liu Village. There, I bought a wide variety of snacks and drinks for the week. Moon cakes, Cow Horn Bread, Muffins, Egg Yolk Pastry, Strawberry Pastries, Instant Noodles, Fruit, Cookies and some drinks. Oh, and my favorite "Sweet Crackers" as well. Those are delicious.

A big part of my morning was spent hand washing my clothes due to the washing machine not working. It took a bit of effort but in the end my clothes and sheets are clean but I really do appreciate the good washing machines that we have at home. I guess its just another part of the Kung Fu experience!

Saturday, A Pond Near Zhang Zhuang

Evening Thoughts 🥮

Every time I feel relaxed or comfortable here something always reminds myself that I came here to train, I came here to learn Kung Fu, and then I have this strong urge to go train. Today it was this shirt that started this urge. I know, deep down, I'll never be the best or a champion but the few minutes or hours that I spend more than others is time that I'm getting better. Not just getting better but also finding a bit of myself.

Saturday, Purple Flowers

I have too many thoughts at the moment and I'm surprised at how cluttered my mind can get here where I have a schedule to follow, goals to meet, and many things to work on. Yet, I lose focus or some days it is hard to concentrate on training. Which is why this weekend was nice, everyone had fun on Saturday and then those that could went out on the town and ate. We really didn't buy anything, we just went out to Wang Zhuang to eat food and get away from the school for a few hours. I drank some milk tea (and got a free mango drink from the place too), ate some good fried noodles and Wa Yu. JD, Shilat, Matt, Terina, and I also had dumplings together. A very filling trip to Wang Zhuang.

Sunday, Delicious 炒锅面

When we got back the martial art school was really quiet so I stretched and trained the basics; staff, stances, and punches. It was good to review these various moves and poses as I realized I had made a little progress on them. My horse stance was lower, my cat stance had more balance, and my rest stance also had more balance. The only stances that got worse were my bow stance and low stance. I'll keep working on them and hopefully by the end of the year my basics will be okay.

Spicy 蛙鱼

Feeling this tiny amount of progress made me think about something; what will I feel like after a year of training here? Its a question that me and some other students have talked about before but its always in my head. I've mentioned it before but I always feel weak, sore, and tired here but once I'm home and back to "normal life" what will my body feel like? Will I feel stronger? Will I really see my progress? I hope something is different, even if it is just me with some more self confidence or some more strength/flexibility. Or even just a clearer, more focused mind.

How was your guys' weekend? Do anything fun?

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