July 6th - Time Flies... 22 Weeks Later

Thanks Josh and Shilat for buying fireworks!

Time certainly moved fast this past week. My trip to Xuzhou followed by Terina returning home then a good week of training which ended with the fourth of July weekend.

Another Student Heads Home...

Tuesday went by as most Kung Fu School Tuesdays do. Jumps and Rolls Class, learning more 小洪拳 in Applications Class, and then learning basics kicks in Sanda Class. You know, the usual. Wednesday was a better day of training for me as I almost got down into the front splits in our Basics Class where we are focusing on practicing kicks and then stretching into the splits for the whole hour. I'm really happy with my progress in the splits as... it is something I thought I wouldn't be able to do but now I'm less than six inches away from touching the floor. I just have a lot more pain to go through to get there. After basiscs, we all said goodbye to Terina as she finally (after 5 cancelled flights) was able to head to Shanghai to get a flight home... or so we all thought. (She ended getting stuck in Shanghai because another country cancelled her flight... dang Corona Virus) This shrunk our school down to six Laowais, one Chinese student, and a Master Peng. Our Kung Fu family gets smaller and smaller.

Cloudy weather all week

Quiet Training, Peaceful Place...

Thursday brought about the usual Thursday struggles of a really relaxing morning due to Meditation and Qi Gong Classes but then my body was destroyed because of the 4 km run and LEG DAY POWER TRAINING. Power training with only 3-4 people was a bit odd as I really had to motivate myself to keep going harder/faster but my sore legs tell me I tried my best. Friday was more Power Stretching, more Spear practice, and more running (10 km). Only Matt and I are doing the running at the moment but I hope the rest can get better so we can have more people running.

After twenty two weeks of living here I've really settled in. There are many things that I like and many things that I don't like (or think could be improved). What I like is the training throughout the week. It isn't the promised 6 hours a day like they say on the website but 3-4 hours of training a day is hard enough on the body. Another thing I like is the amount of free time that we get (which has only increased due to changes in the school) because if you want to train more, you can! I also like the area that the school is located in, the rural country side feel is nice but it also comes with rural country side problems.

A nice weekend breakfast

The things I don't like are... many smaller things. These small things add up over time and sometimes its these small things that make bad days worse. Broken toilets, burnt out lights, moldy rooms, false advertising, food issues, malnutrition, heat not working, poor training gear, and a few more. If you can handle all of this then I'm sure you'd like it here. Honestly, its really nice that we all like each other here as there are days where your classmates are able to help you keep going/ stay motivated. Or, if you're all feeling down, its nice that we have movie nights/fast food nights/game nights and the like for all of us just to unwind a bit from training. Although this sounds like part of a review for the school, I'm trying to give you all a better glimpse at the smaller things that go on here. More of the "in between" day to day stuff besides just the training.

Almost there!

4th of July Weekend...

My 4th of July weekend was relaxing, lazy, and fun. Did my usual weekend activities like talking to my family, boring cleaning/organizing but I also played games with the guys. What I wasn't expecting was Josh and Shilat to bring a big box of fireworks to light off. That was nice guys, thanks. Everyone gathered together to watch, including Mama Bao and Papa Bao. It was a lot of fun to watch some fireworks...

Which leads me to the start of another week. I'm just riding these highs and lows that come along with this adventure. I can't fully describe my feeling about the life here but muddled is a good word for it. Life here is fun and interesting but I'm wondering if it really is worth it. What good is Kung Fu out in the "real world"? Really, this place is just helping myself. Flexibility, kicks, good cardio, and forms are not really useful unless I were to be a martial art teacher but they do help myself feel really good, really healthy and (sometimes) really strong.

Hope your weekend was good.

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