So Wednesday was moon festival or autumn festival by use of the lunar calendar and our Shifu was generous enough to give us 3 days off. I can't remember the last time we had a long weekend so this was a really nice break. All of the different classes were asked to come up with some kind of performance for the evening and so we did spend a little time practicing but it was really simple. Our class performed our Daoist chanting that we're learning and also acted out a very simple play from the three kingdoms period. It was really fun to get to use a bit of creativity with our costumes and to just do something a little out of the norm.
Our Shifu also bought a new karaoke machine (in China you can't have a celebration without karaoke). So we sang and danced and it gave us a really great opportunity to get to know some students that maybe we don't get to train with often. Also teaching some of the younger Chinese kids how to dance was hilarious. It's funny to think that someone that's so good at Kung Fu can't seem to figure out how to move to music. Not that I'm a professional or anything but I had a really great time with them. It's nice to see some of the younger kids get a chance to just fool around.
Brandi and I might be getting our own rooms (I'm typing this with crossed fingers). Although I do love my sister, it would be really great after a year of sharing a tiny room with way too much stuff in it. There would be some inconveniences for me since I don't have my own computer, but hey.. I can deal with it. I'm not much for this computer stuff anyways. I'll look forward to having room to spread out. Literally and figuratively.
Friday 24 September 2010
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Injury Number... Oh I Can't Keep Track
It seems like since our last Christmas break I have incurred injury after injury. I'm at the point where I'm so frustrated I just want to explode. First it was about three or four months of shin splints. Which means I had to stop running and could do no jump kicks for almost those entire months.
And almost as soon as I got over those I hurt my knee one class while we were practicing throws. I had just started running again. I was starting slow, running three times a week trying to make sure I didn't cause the shin splints again. Now at this point I've actually gotten over my great hate of running. I'd actually begun to enjoy it because it was something that I'd been forced to 'put on hold' for months.
I got a solid punch to the jaw in one of our sparring matches and had to get a serious anti-inflammatory from the hospital because I was in such incredible pain. For weeks I wasn't able to open my mouth fully and could only eat soft foods and had to chew very slowly and carefully. (Admittedly this had a positive effect on my eating habit which are generally stuff as much food in my mouth as fast as possible.)
After our trip to Beijing I was hoping for a fresh start. But somehow I seemed to have strained some of the tendons in my foot. I got an x-ray to make sure that the bones are alright and so now I'm baffled as to what I could've possibly done to my foot to cause this much pain. It doesn't really seem to be getting any better but this week is moon festival so we'll have two full days off. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I will heal.
This is the most difficult training here. Getting past the frustration of injuries and not being able to participate in all the things I want. Arg! I'm sure I'm not the only person who has ever been through this. But this is new for me and I'm struggling.
And almost as soon as I got over those I hurt my knee one class while we were practicing throws. I had just started running again. I was starting slow, running three times a week trying to make sure I didn't cause the shin splints again. Now at this point I've actually gotten over my great hate of running. I'd actually begun to enjoy it because it was something that I'd been forced to 'put on hold' for months.
I got a solid punch to the jaw in one of our sparring matches and had to get a serious anti-inflammatory from the hospital because I was in such incredible pain. For weeks I wasn't able to open my mouth fully and could only eat soft foods and had to chew very slowly and carefully. (Admittedly this had a positive effect on my eating habit which are generally stuff as much food in my mouth as fast as possible.)
After our trip to Beijing I was hoping for a fresh start. But somehow I seemed to have strained some of the tendons in my foot. I got an x-ray to make sure that the bones are alright and so now I'm baffled as to what I could've possibly done to my foot to cause this much pain. It doesn't really seem to be getting any better but this week is moon festival so we'll have two full days off. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I will heal.
This is the most difficult training here. Getting past the frustration of injuries and not being able to participate in all the things I want. Arg! I'm sure I'm not the only person who has ever been through this. But this is new for me and I'm struggling.
Thursday 9 September 2010
Eat, Pray, Love
I don't have a lot to say this week. I just finished reading the book called 'Eat, Pray, Love', by Elizabeth Gilbert. (I know that it's been made into a movie but movies sometimes are just missing something...). I really liked reading someone else's perspective on the search for happiness and enlightenment. Her approach to finding these things in some ways is completely different from my own, but in other ways, very similar. I found that it really opened my eyes to the motivation behind a lot of the decisions I make especially in my relationships to other people. I'd recommend this book to just about anyone although I'd guess it would appeal more to women.
And... Just as a side note. Reading about someone spending four months in Italy doing basically nothing except learning Italian and eating a plethora of delicious food (that I of course don't have a chance of eating anytime soon) was torturous and fabulous.
Hopefully next week I'll have more to say about training because I don't think I'll have finished my next book by then. Ha!
And... Just as a side note. Reading about someone spending four months in Italy doing basically nothing except learning Italian and eating a plethora of delicious food (that I of course don't have a chance of eating anytime soon) was torturous and fabulous.
Hopefully next week I'll have more to say about training because I don't think I'll have finished my next book by then. Ha!
Thursday 2 September 2010
Wudang.... Home Sweet Home
Pretty frustrating that I made a commitment to blog weekly and then just actually couldn't get access for 2 weeks. ARG!
It's great to be back to the old and the familiar. I don't want to spend this whole entry complaining about how terrible our trip to Beijing was, so I'm just going to make it brief. We ended up staying for 2 weeks instead of 4 days so we were more than a little unprepared. We spent the majority of our time there waiting for something. Waiting for the bus, waiting to rehearse, waiting for dinner, etc. I'm not a particularly patient person, so I'd have to admit, this drove me a little insane. Other than that, and the fact that our government liaison had to be one of the most annoying Chinese women I've been forced to spend time with, I actually kind of enjoyed myself. I'm a people person, and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people.
There was one in particular (I'll omit names), that had to be the epitome of jerkiness. I really can't remember ever meeting someone that left me so offended at the end of any interaction between us. But I was particularly proud of myself. Despite one outburst after an especially lewd comment, I didn't really let him get under my skin. I just mostly pretended as if he wasn't there. Our Shifu always says that it's a special skill being able to ignore people and let people like this one leave you unaffected. I also met some really great people. Some, I was disappointed to not have the chance to get to know better. We exchanged emails so I hope that in the future our paths cross again. It was really interesting as well to meet people from a different style and see their different levels of skill. Some had just arrived in China, and others had been here for a year or so. Also had the opportunity to meet a Shifu from the Shaolin temple. 6 to 7 thousand students and he's been there for 12 years or something. Definitely some interesting experiences. This for me, was the best part of the trip.
I'm so happy to be back in Wudang. Getting back to our regular schedule, drilling forms, going to bed completely physically exhausted instead of mentally depleted of energy. I don't think I've gotten to the point yet where I can look at Shifu without a huge grin on my face. If anything, this trip really helped put my training back in perspective for the coming months before the break.
It's great to be back to the old and the familiar. I don't want to spend this whole entry complaining about how terrible our trip to Beijing was, so I'm just going to make it brief. We ended up staying for 2 weeks instead of 4 days so we were more than a little unprepared. We spent the majority of our time there waiting for something. Waiting for the bus, waiting to rehearse, waiting for dinner, etc. I'm not a particularly patient person, so I'd have to admit, this drove me a little insane. Other than that, and the fact that our government liaison had to be one of the most annoying Chinese women I've been forced to spend time with, I actually kind of enjoyed myself. I'm a people person, and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people.
There was one in particular (I'll omit names), that had to be the epitome of jerkiness. I really can't remember ever meeting someone that left me so offended at the end of any interaction between us. But I was particularly proud of myself. Despite one outburst after an especially lewd comment, I didn't really let him get under my skin. I just mostly pretended as if he wasn't there. Our Shifu always says that it's a special skill being able to ignore people and let people like this one leave you unaffected. I also met some really great people. Some, I was disappointed to not have the chance to get to know better. We exchanged emails so I hope that in the future our paths cross again. It was really interesting as well to meet people from a different style and see their different levels of skill. Some had just arrived in China, and others had been here for a year or so. Also had the opportunity to meet a Shifu from the Shaolin temple. 6 to 7 thousand students and he's been there for 12 years or something. Definitely some interesting experiences. This for me, was the best part of the trip.
I'm so happy to be back in Wudang. Getting back to our regular schedule, drilling forms, going to bed completely physically exhausted instead of mentally depleted of energy. I don't think I've gotten to the point yet where I can look at Shifu without a huge grin on my face. If anything, this trip really helped put my training back in perspective for the coming months before the break.
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