Chinese word of the day: Zao Shang Han-means-Good Morning
British phrase of the day: 'Ello Mate' -Means....can you guess? Hey friend.
Thursday Morning. Breakfast with hot chocolate powder...FINALLY! I shot up in bed this morning because I knew I get to use my hot chocolate mix with my oatmeal!
Morning practice was fun, we got to practice with punching bags. Just hitting the bags made me want to fight! We did basic drills but on the bags and it was fun feeling contact with the bags. After the bags we all lined up arms length apart and one by one a person would weave in and out of the line of people and do the drill. It would be punches, then kicks, then more banging forearms, but instead of partnering up we would stay still as each person in the class would hit you then when it was my turn in the line to go I would follow the line and hit everyone else. I guess I hit a few of the guys kinda hard because they said my punches hurt and when it was their turn and they got to me they went full force. My arm started to go numb but hey! its conditioning and its suppose to feel like that so I would just laugh and embrace the pain. I sitll thought it was fun anyways.
Second class break for accupuncture and massage class. I didnt go because I was so sore from yesterday's training so I just relaxed and read my book
lunch was good nothing new or interesting like squid just the usual chicken.
Afternoon training was San Da. Did a lot of kicks and hook punches. Its more kick boxing style so a lot of cardio for warm ups. then went and partnered up for punching the hand pads. I partnered up with guy named Gertle who's from Norway. Hes a tall blonde always happy guy. A lot of people here are very happy...little weird. But hey this place is fun and feels like a dream so why wouldnt people be happy... besides the hours of training, pain, and the constant chicken, veggies, and rice.
Anyways, Gertle was my partner and I was first to hit the bags. He would move around making me jump around and hit the bags quicker. Then iI did the kicks and he had to take a break after each time I kicked the bag. He said, "each kick makes his brain rattle." I didnt know I was kicking that hard. Then back to punches. He would say "keep your guard up" and hit me on top of my head with the pad. Well it was easy for him to do that because I was low and guarding my face. Then he would go BOP and hit my head and say keep your guard up. After a few times of him doimg that i got a little mad and told him "do it again and I'll punch you in your face" but in a joking way and we both laughed even though I really wanted to punch him. But as a good training partner he kept trying to hit my head but soon I learned to block those 'bops' and counter that with a punch to his his chest. He realized he couldnt bop me anymore and he stopped trying because each time he reached for my head, he made it it easy for me to punch his chest. I would say "keep YOUR guard up!"
After class we went down to watch Andrew grade. He had two forms to grade and he is leaving on Sunday. Sad to see him go, but he has been here 9 months. So we all went down to see him grade. He did a 15 minute Ti Chi form. It was super long but he made it look easy. After that form he did a form on the Wooden dummy. Which is a wooden punching bag with sticks sticking out to hit and pull depending on the moves. He performed the form so well I wanted to learn it ASAP. But I knew it would be a couple months till I could attempt to learn that form.
After that I showered up and read my book till dinner time. When I went to dinner and stood in line with Rorey and we talked about his Power Training today. He told me how his Master, the same master as my roommate Sam, would line them up and have them sprint across the room at the same time he would chase them with a stick and hit the person who was last! Sam had told me that his master BEAT them if they stopped during a drill or just gave up. This would make them work harder but chasing them with a stick to make them run faster was insanely funny! While we were in line, Rorey told me that while doing pull ups Sam could only do one pull up. Sam wanted to get off the bar, but Master would hit Sam every time his feet touched the ground so Sam is dangling on the pull up bar trying not to get hit. But Rorey said one of the other classmates got it hard too. His master asked the group if anyone was tired from training. One of the guys said he was. So the master said "ok do 30 push ups now." Then when he finished the master asked him are you still tired. He said "No" so the master said "ok good do 30 more push ups." Then after that the guy was exhuasted and everyone felt really sorry for him and the master asked him again still tired? Rorey said he didn't say anything and the master laughed and said "good" and they continued training! I felt bad for them but Rorey said his master is hard on certain guys because he knows they have potential but the ones who don't have potential he will beat untill they have it. Then I asked Rorey, since he's been here a while, why does my master, Master Gou, make his class so laid back such as he doesn't chase us and beat us with sticks. The other masters all beat their students but my master doesnt. Rorey said he would hate to have my master. My master is very quiet and observes a lot so if someone slacked off Master Gou would just not talk to them and be like 'why should I teach you if you dont even try'. Rorey was SPOT ON. Master Gou does look at some of the other students who don't try in the class like that! He never looks at me like that because I try 100% everyday not just because I want to learn a lot but I want to complete as many forms so I can get to the stick fighting form! But when Rorey said Master Gou would just not talk to the person instead of beating them it seemed like a greater punishment. Rorey and Sam's master would play the guilt card every now and say something like "you were here to train and if you just want to 'play' then he will find you a 'toy' to play with but I don't want to waste my time." When you look at Master Gou, you KNOW he won't even waste his time teaching you the move if he thinks you just want to play around. I've seen him just walk by students who don't practice. Having that chat with Rorey really helped me realize that Master Gou is pretty strict. He always seems to smile and laugh when he trains me but maybe thats just because im one of the good students. I would NOT want to see his bad side.
After dinner I came to my room to write this blog to keep you guys updated. Now going to read my book and go to bed.
Good Night.
-Scott
Lmao poor Sam just dangling there. Those kids should to b ready for those comments. Shoot I would b like I'm not here to play sir. But I have leggos in my room for when I want to during break thanks jk lol but man u better b top of the class. Set records bestie =]
ReplyDelete