Training and Training and more Training

Feb 22 2011

Another week past in Kunyushan. Time goes by so fast. Its already been four months since i began my journey when i said goodbye to my family and friends at the airport. My adventure might come to an end soon. Reason is i am going to start school this fall semester. Yet I am in a prediciment. I want to stay in China and attend Yantai University and learn Mandarin for a semester, but i also want to go and start college back home. I feel stuck. All i know is i am running out of time to train. So what have i been doing? I have been training non stop during breaks, at night, constantly through out the week. I want to get as much out of this place as i can before i leave. I hope sometime in the future i am aloud to come back here. Maybe when i have a vacation from college or finished college i can come back to refresh my skills, but i know one thing forsure, I wont stop training once i leave. I started writing down excersizes and forms, so i can practice them when i leave.


There is an old ancient saying, "A wise man prepares for war in times of peace." Even though i am here training i am preparing as if i will not be training here next week. I want to be prepared so i can maintain my physcial shape and ability when i come home. I always ask my friends when they leave are they happy to be going home or are they sad to leave, everyone of them said they are sad. During the beginning of my stay i could not believe that someone would be sad to go home to see their family...slowly i am beginning to understand when someone leaves here, not only are they saying goodbye to friends, but also saying goodbye to the new family they became apart of. Many of the guys here tell me how lucky i am to be studying here at such a young age and how lucky i am to experience such an amazing adventure. The average age here is 26. And most of the guys come here so they can start a new life and plan a new future after many years of wasted time. But i have not wasted any time yet and thanks to this place i have a greater knowledge of life and the world. Never knew Kung Fu can bring such enlightenedment to one self. Maybe its the training and using different muscles to wake up my brain, maybe its the atmosphere of being in the mountains, or the energy coming from the masters that is enlightened me but i truely feel that i have changed to be a better person.


Call me crazy, maybe i got hit on the head to many times during training, but this last week i took a little bit of time just to stop and think for a few moments. When i did, i felt like a whole load of stress, of worrying, and sadness was lifted off of my chest. I felt happy and even though these 4 months of hard training, my mind still cant grasp the reality of me being thousands of miles away from home and that i am fighting my way though My Adventure in the Orient.


-Scott