May 24th - Lovely Weekend

Friday Cleaning, a lot more fun with someone "helping".

Whew, I was really lazy this Sunday. I don't have any regrets though as my dad would tell me that sometimes my body knows what to do better than me. It was just a build up, or maybe a wind down, from all that happened this exciting weekend.

Let's go back to where my last post left off...

Split Progress, Wednesday May 20th

Thursday...

...went by quite slowly as "the news" of changes coming to the school became official.We had our last relaxing Mediation Class with Master Ning, as he talked more about love and calming the mind, which led to us practicing Ba Duan Jin under the guidance of Master Peng. Conditioning flew by too as Master Yan had us condition our fingers on the sandbags that day. Lunch was spent stretching, like usual for this week, but then... Power Training surprisingly came. Master Yan changed up the training completely! We had to carry our partner around the big training hall twice, do wheel barrels once, 50 pull ups, and then a five minute straight arm plank. It was a big surprise and very difficult to do after our 4 km run.

After that intensive class, everyone was shuffled together for the, what I'd call, depressing meeting. All the Masters were there, including Master Bao and Lisa. All the students were sitting there with lumps in there throat as we all knew what news was coming. It was true that Master Ning and Yan were leaving "temporarily". Master Yan would be going to a summer school to train Chinese students and Master Ning was going home. Master Bao would help with Tai Chi, Sanda, and Qi Gong classes while Master Peng would be in charge of the rest. The look on Master Peng's face made it seem like he wasn't too thrilled either.

Master Bao also talked about political stuff, where we can and can't go, some minor rules, things on cleanliness, and stuff like that. Not much discussion happened during the meeting and I didn't do much for the rest of the day.

Saturday's Afternath

Friday...

...was quite fun though! Things were a bit different as morning roll call just had Master Yan and then us students ran Power Stretching by ourselves. Master Ning tried to silently leave while we were stretching but we all managed to run outside and wave to the car as it drove away. Master Ning stopped the car, stepped outside, and gave us his cheerful martial art salute. Master Ning was always a quiet and cheerful guy, it makes sense he'd try to leave quietly to avoid the sad students.

The following Forms Class was very somber. Some students went off on their own to practice and even Master Peng was quiet in the beginning. But, we all pushed through it and kept training. To help me not get distracted by the odd feeling in the air I reviewed everything that I've learned here; Tong Bei Quan, Long Fist, Baji Quan, and the Staff Form. It was nice to review the forms to see what I needed to work on but also to see what I still enjoyed doing.

Which leads to a great surprise... my girlfriend showed up to the Kung Fu School! I was surprised to see she called me after class, so I called her back and turned out she was outside the gates. This was an awesome surprise so I spent lunch eating and showing her around.

After lunch I still had to run 10 km and clean a part of the school which, surprisingly, my girlfriend wanted to help with. Needless to say, some students and even a master laughed at her and I cleaning the school together but it was way more fun than cleaning alone in silence. Once cleaning was done, her and I went to Wang Zhuang to get some milk tea and noodles... coming back we managed to stop by a grocery store to get myself some snacks but it was then time for her to get a cab to the hotel.

"Home" - Trying to prepare for all these changes

Saturday...

...morning was spent cleaning up my room, doing laundry, practicing Tong Bei and preparing for my girlfriend to come back. Our original plan was to go to Maling Mountain and then go to Wang Zhuang but she got here a little later than planned and it was hot so we decided to stay on the school grounds. The time was spent watching funny videos, eating various foods, and talking until she had to head back to Shanghai.

Soon after she left, the weather got real fierce. Dark Clouds. Thunder. Pouring Rain. Massive Winds. All of this suddenly came upon the school breaking a door, tipping our solar panels, and tearing some roof panels off of the big training hall. It was quite a spooky half hour. The rest of the evening kinda melted away as I tried to keep myself busy until I fell asleep.

Which leads us back to the lazy Sunday where I spent my morning talking with my family until lunch. After lunch, I cleaned up my room (preparing for the Monday morning inspection) and then watched some youtube videos until I fell asleep... for two hours.  I felt very different after this two hour nap. It was like my body was trying to catch up on all the repairing/resting that I haven't gotten in so long. I really think that would be the best description for the feeling that I've had all day; repairing.

It was a good thing that I woke up because everyone was getting ready to go to Wang Zhuang. Some good noodles with meat sounded like a great way to end the week... and it was.

I know this past week and the new changes are effecting everyone in different ways but I hope that we all can continue back to a new "normal".

How was your weekend?

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