Adventure 2.0

Adventure 2.0 

I have never realized how many people come to this academy to Escape. An escape from reality, sort of speak. Some guys come here because school isn't going well for them, some guys come here because they can't find any jobs back home, even some guys come here because they just got a divorce and the wife took everything from them. They all come here not only to get in shape and learn how to fight, but they come here to get away from all the things in the real world. This place is an escape. A piece of a dream where everyday is the same and you make it what you want it to be. Some guys are lazy and attend class every once in a while, but others train every minute of every day. I guess what I'm trying to say is that i am fortunate to be here. To be here when everything back in reality is steady, where i haven't hit any major problems in my life, and i can start my life Healthy, enlightened, and have a better head on my shoulders. I have 174 days left and who knows when i can come back so i want to get as much out of this dream as i can. Today for example:

Day 2

I woke up so sore. I could not even raise my hands over my head to put a shirt on. Morning training started and today was applications. Since i was gone i have missed a couple moves, so i stayed after class and asked clement to show me them. Once we finished he said you haven't forgot our Tuesday routine have you? I totally forgot. every Tuesday after first and second class we do some sparring. I was so sore and exhausted from class but he helped me so i decided ill at least help him. So i threw some punches for him and he threw some back at me and we had a light spar. it was good practice.

Second class was acrobatics, i haven't done a kick flip since i left. so during stretching, i practiced that a bit and got it down. then after take downs stayed in the ring and worked a couple take downs i didn't know with clement again. By the time we finished i banged my shin on his knee. He hit his toe on my leg. My shoulder was hurt. but after i told him, "look on the bright side, at least we got some conditioning done." 

After lunch had stance training. Shifu broke a stick off a tree and used it to hit us if we weren't low enough. my legs were shaking so much due to the pain of being so low. I was 

After dinner i trained in the ring with Jake. Did some more sparring. working techniques. Afterward when we were stretching. i realized that this place is what you make of it. the masters will show you the moves but you wont be perfect after the day. it takes the will power of ONESELF to make ONESELF be a master. i have so much to learn from this place but unfortunately i can not stay 2 or 3 years like the other guys. i have 24 weeks left here. I am trying to make the most of it as i can. It is 8:12pm here and its the first time i been in my bed since 7am this morning. I am tired, exhausted, sore, and more SORE! Tomorrow is power training and power stretching. The will be a test of WILL power! 

I will write about it tomorrow if i can move my fingers but they might be too sore. Wish me luck!

-Scott 

Adventure 2.0

The weekend was relaxed. I went to town with Ash to do some grocery shopping for the week. Got back and did some laudry, cleaned up my room a bit for inspection, and watched a couple movies. I was enjoying my last break before the PAIN began.

Day 1.

Woke up at 5am. i dont know if it is the Jetlag or i was excited to get to training. Had breakfast, layed in bed for a little, and then headed down stairs at 8 for line up and the morning run. I did not notice how out of shape i was until i ran. I ran the whole way with Ash but afterward i felt so nauseous! I waited a bit before i could stretch. i stretched a bit when i was home but not as much as i do here. So i was a little scared because i knew it will hurt. Ash stretched me and i was still pretty flexible. So that boosted my spirits a bit. The morning drills killed me too! I was out of breath half way through! some of the guys said i havent lost my touch but i told them i lost my endurance! Afternoon training was conditioning...AKA WE BEAT EACH OTHER! I forgot how painful conditioning was but Ash helped me remember. 

Had a break after lunch. The food was the same as usual. Starting to miss american food already. A few minutes before class started i ran. This time i was a little easier than this morning run. I stretched with Ash again and i noticed i am more flexible. Maybe since my body is all warmed up and awake i was doing better than this morning. Some say if you give your body a  month to recover you can be more flexible. That might be my case or im pushing myself harder because i want to get back into the groove. What ever the case my be i am still in pain...just with my leg a little higher. 

Afternoon class was Baji. During stretches Master Guo became evil! This morning he didnt walk around the class stretching people but this afternoon he did. He pulled my leg so far apart during the front stretchs. My calf was 2 fingers away from the ground on both legs! I measured! Then the side splits he pushed my hips way lower than the other guys. i guess thats what i get for asking him to treat me like a chinese. I LOVE it though. At this rate ill be a lot better after my six months, and in a lot of pain as well...

I forgot how much energy you use with Baji. I was exhuasted before i even started my form. Cool thing was Master Guo showed me more movements to my staff form. Usually he checks on you once and shows you two moves. But today he came to me THREE times and showed me 6 movements! 

 

After dinner i went to go do my workout. Ash and Jake joined me once they finished there dinner to do their workouts as well. It was nice to be hanging with the guys crackin jokes about random things or goofy people at the academy. When i was doing my handstand push ups Jake said, "Get up Ahhhh." I laughed so hard i fell backward. Everytime we pass each other in the hall or see one another out training Ash, Jake, or I would say "Get up Ahhh," from that silly video. Its just a funny inside joke, but like i said in my past blogs, Its the little things that keep you going here. 

When i finished my workout i did some shadow sparring with Jake for a little to work speed. There might be sparring this friday but after today i believe i will be dead by friday so i am not sure if i will fight but i will train for it anyway. 

I just had my shower and its almost 8pm here. I am super exhuasted and will get an early night sleep!

Day 1 complete!

175 days to go...

-Scott 

Adventure 2.0

April 21, 2011


Adventure Back

It sure is an adventure jumping back into another culture and having to adapt to survive. I've realized it’s the little things that define who you are. And yet, do you ever stop to realize how different your life would be if you chose to go down a different path? No matter what path you go down there will always be obstacles to overcome, whether it’s physical or emotional. All I do is smile and fight a way through.





Saying goodbye is the hard part. Whether its saying goodbye to your best friends or family, it’s always a sad day. I left Stockton California Tuesday night and went to SF with my mom because my flight was early Wednesday morning. I had an amazing time back home. I worked a lot but saw my friends and family as well. These past four weeks were awesome, but now its time to get back to training.



I do miss the training, my friends, and especially the PAIN! I am going back for 6 more months so i can finish a whole year of training.



So after all the goodbyes and packing on Tuesday. The adventure back began at dawn. Went to the Airport at 7am. Checked in two big duffel bags full of Candy, snacks, and other supplies i need for the next 6 months. Did not need to pack clothes since I left those back at school. Both of the bags were almost 50 pounds. I took Alaskan Airlines and my first flight took me to Seattle, WA. It was a 2 hour flight. Once i landed i had 3 hours to kill till my flight to Beijing. That was a 14 hour flight.



Unlike the first flight to Seattle, the Beijing plane had private tvs for everyone. That was a plus. I got the window seat sitting by an older Chinese man. ‘Grandpa’ hogged the entire arm rest the whole way. Thats not the worst part. He kept FARTING! The people in front of me had a baby boy. He liked to cry and cry and cry. But he was adorable. The dad was white and the mom was chinese so the baby looked like a asian version of Elmer Fud, bald and chubby. He kept looking back at me so i would play peek a boo with him. Made Lil Elmer laugh and he tried squeezing through the middle of the two seats but his head was too big. Besides Grandpa and Lil' Elmer the ride was ok. Watched about 4 different movies, had a couple meals, and spoke to the stewardess in chinese. It was pretty fun.



Unlike my first flight to China which was a straight flight i had to transfer again in Beijing. I am pretty familiar with the Beijing Airport so i did not mind transferring there. Problem was when i was leaving SF Airport, Mom told me my flight from Beijing to Yantai was canceled so when i got to Beijing i had to figure out when my plane to Yantai would leave.



Here is when the problems started. I Arrived in Beijing, had to walk up two stories of escalators because the escalators did not work. Not even 10 minutes of being in China and im already starting my Kung Fu training by climbing frozen escalators. On top of that i really had to Pee. But i told myself ‘get your bags, check them in, and then you have time to kill’ (and answer the call of nature). So i had to hold it. I got my bags, and headed to the Domestic Flights. Could not see ‘Air China’ which is the Airline i bought my ticket from. So i asked a info lady where ‘Air China’ was and she laughed and said, "these are all Chinese airlines, where are you going?" I told her Yantai and she told me to go to ‘China East’. So i waited in line for 15 minutes to check in still having to pee. When i got to the desk the ladies told me i am at the wrong airlines and i wanted ‘Air China’ which was in Terminal 3. i was in terminal 1. So they told me i needed to take a bus to terminal 3. I found the shuttle bus outside after going up and down levels in the first terminal still having to pee. I would have stopped to go pee but my flight that was cancled was at 5:45 pm. My plane landed in Beijing at 4:55pm so i did not have a lot of time to waste because i thought they would of rescheduled another flight at 5:45pm. So i told myself, ‘tough it out Scott and make it to your flight’. Got on the shuttle bus and i had to load my two huge duffel bags along with my two carry on bags. there were 3 chinese airport workers who were standing around. They didnt even lift a finger to help me. i threw my bags in the middle of the bus isle since there was no room to put my bags nor even a seat for me to sit so i stood in the middle with the bags. We drove 15 minutes to terminal 3. The ride there was ridiculous. The bus would turn fast, stopped randomly, or accelerated immediately which didn’t help my needing to Pee situation. This whole time i would be trying to balance in the middle with nothing to hold on to. I was being thrown side to side. Kung Fu bus ride? Arrived to the terminal finally at 5:35. The good news is that my flight to Yantai was not at 5:35 I would not have made it anyway since i still had to go through security! I was stressing a little bit. So, i threw my bags off without any help and headed to Air China. I strongly believe Chivalry does not exist in China. I held countless doors open for older Asian women, allowed them to go first, or even cut in line. But i am starting to realize Chinese mentality of thinking is not chivalry but more of the “Strong will survive”. Ever since i landed in Beijing everyone would push to go first or squeeze in lines. So i had to adapt. When i got to Air China they told me the ticket my mom bought was for yesterday the 20th. But I crossed the international Date Line and when my flight landed in China it was the 21st. I got them to change my flight to tonight at 11:15pm and i will arrive in yantai once again at 12:15am. Once i finished that, i ran to the restroom. The academy will be closed so i am probably going to stay in a hotel close by.



I am writing this part of this Blog entry while I am sitting in an airport Cafe waiting till i can check my luggage in since i got here at 6pm and cant check in till 9pm. So i stopped by a coffee shop and started the blog for today. Will update tonight! Wish me luck!









So i got on the 11pm plane to Yantai. Got my luggage and headed out to find a taxi. Unlike last time i can sort of talk to the taxi drivers so i told him take me to a hotel since the academy is closed. When i was in Beijing, i made some prior arrangements to stay in a hotel in Yantai so i already had a room booked. Got to the Hotel and knocked out. I tried not sleeping at all on the plane because i didn’t want to be jet lagged.



If you ask me if this flight to China was easier than my first experience i would say no because my first flight was a straight flight to china so i did not have to deal with transferring terminals and dealing with missing flights! But i was more calm and less nervous being in a foreign place because i have been here before. So physically, no it was not easier. But emotionally i was very comfortable. so in that sense it was easier.



Woke up Friday morning. Went out to find a taxi to take me to Kunyushan. Got in a taxi and he kept calling someone asking how to get to Kunyushan. Then he dropped me off at another taxi driver and he said that he will take me to the academy. The car ride took about 55 minutes. The whole time i was nervous. Why? I am not sure. I had this strange feeling in my gut. The kind of feeling when you are about to drop in a Rollorcoaster. I arrived back to the Academy. Class was still in session so i got my bags and headed up 3 stories to my old room. On the way a new translator stopped me and asked if i was a new student. I smiled and told her no I’m an old one. I unpacked all my snacks i brought from home, two duffel bag worth full of Poptarts, twinkies, nutella, oreos, and lots more of other snacks. Most of them are for my friends because many never had twinkies or poptarts before. I bet I’m the first person to bring twinkies to a kung fu academy!



Before i finished unloading, Ash ran into my room and almost squeezed my head off with his hug. It was lunch time so we headed down to eat. I can honestly say i missed the Academy food. We will see how long that lasts! Sat with a bunch of my old friends and told them how my trip home was and how i came back bearing gifts for them. They filled me in about the new kids and drama with them. Then after lunch Jenny told me Master Guo wants to see me. So i got my gift that i bought him back home and went to his office. He smiled when he saw me and i went up to him and hugged him. First time i ever hugged my master. i gave him his gift which was a Seiko watch. It was a black watch with little dashes of gold where the numbers should be. I think it was an impressive yet intimidating watch, kinda like my master. He really liked it. I sat down and he told me how its nice to have me back and that i should not worry because a month is not too long to forget your training. i told him i have 6 months left here and i want to train hard because i dont know when i will be back. He said starting May 1st he is going to train Zi Lu, Raven, and I extra hard with extra explosive exercises and drills to help us with fighting. I was so happy to hear that! Thats exactly what i wanted. I told him to treat me as a chinese student not like a foreign student. The masters get in trouble from the head master for going too hard on the students sometime because we are weak foreigners, but i want Master Guo to treat me strictly and beat me if i am doing it wrong just to push me that extra mile. He laughed and said he will. I saluted him and left. Ash, Jake, and my roommate Ben where all hangin in my room when i got back. Talked to them a bit then Jake had to go practice for the performance on Saturday. Kunyushan is becoming a district in the Province now so there is a huge celebration. It is kinda like they are becoming their own county. The academy is putting on a demonstration at the Temple on top of the hill. A couple students and the masters are performing. i will take pictures and video for all to see. The guys left, i finished unpacking, and finally had a chance to relax. Master Guo told me training will start Monday so i had today off. I cleaned up my room and tried not to take a nap. i was so tired. Ash and Jake came back and asked what I was doing for dinner. i told them it would be nice to grab a bite at the restaurant next door. They loved my idea and said they will shower first then we go. Once they got ready Jake, Z his wife, Ash, and i headed next door for dinner. It was packed with the local chinese people. We saw two translators from the academy and they said they have been waiting for their food over an hour. So we decided to go to another restaurant that Ash had been to while i was gone. We ordered a lot of food but it was amazing. We decided we will come here more than next door because its a little more private and better service.



After dinner we headed back to the academy. i went to Jakes room and we went on Youtube to look at a couple videos we talked about at dinner. One of the videos was the Car ad, "Get up ah." If you have not seen it, go on google now and type in "Get Up Ah." Its about this guy cleaning and singing. Its pretty funny. Then we looked up Urban sports, had a good laugh at the human rodeo one. And he showed me a couple others. If you know of any good videos let me know so i can show the guys here. I headed to my room, washed up, and laid in my bed. It was nice and firm. i put on a movie but didnt go 15 minutes into the movie without closing my eyes. So i turned it off and went to bed. It was only 8:30pm but i was exhausted.



Woke up today at 5:45am. The performance today is at 10am so i have some time to kill. I will finish my movie and have a pop tart for breakfast. The sun rises on my side of the building so it does not seem like its only 6 am but its nice and refreshing. The view is superb, the trees, flowers, and fields are all blooming and its amazing.



Its good to be home.



-Scott

Last blog while in China

March 24, 2011


It has been a really busy few weeks with Sparring, Grading, Roommate leaving,




chinese  dialects and american dialects
Learning to speak mandarin is a bit difficult. I am picking it up quick talking to local people in town, which i tend to do a lot when i go out with friends from the academy and we need to buy something or pay for the movies, since I have been learning Mandarin i have to be the one who talks. Since i am in this situation a lot i learn words very quick, i guess its a form of "Language Immersion". Plus the lessons from Jenny helps quite a lot as well.


Hopefully in the next 5 months i can get a bit better so when i go home i can talk to a few friends in Chinese.


Not only am i trying to learn Mandarin but i can start to understand the local dialect. The Beijing Dialect is Mandarin and everyone must learn Mandirn in China. But in Cities, towns, and provinces, there are local dialects. I was speaking to Jenny and she told me she knows her home town dialect, Yantai Dialect, and Beijing Dialect. Things just got more confusing. The only difference between the Dialect that i can notice is the accent is on the different parts of the words and they say them faster and now I can recognize what dialect it is.


On the other hand i am still learning the British slang, Cocknee Ryming slang. Sam and Ash are teaching me. Some reason when i try to talk in an English accent, they say i sound Australian.


I'm not the only one picking up other phrases, Ash has been saying "Dude" and "awesome" more since i say it a lot. One thing i also say a lot is "Hella". every time i say "thats hella awesome" or "thats hella funny" or even "she is hella cute" he will look up in the sky because he thinks i am going to say "Helicopter". I think its pretty funny. Never thought how different cultures are until i came here.


Sam leaving
So i came back to the room on Thursday of last week to find out that my longest friend here was leaving the Academy to go home.


I asked Sam if he was sad that he is leaving the academy after 6 months, he said, " I am but he is happy to be going home." Sam is leaving because he misses family and friends and he has things to do back in England like school and family stuff. I


Its time for him to go back to reality. Life here at the Academy is 10 times different compared to back home. They way you live, sleep, eat, is so different. I am as sad as Sam is because i feel like my brother is leaving! I was mad at him when he told me he is leaving. I told him no he can't leave. But that wasn't enough to convince him to stay. He says he will try to come back in the future but he doesn't know when. I hope he does. He was very good at Wing Chun. Master Guo was also a bit upset when he told him he was leaving. Master Guo told him to go out of the Academy a bit and go to Yantai with me and Ash to the bath house, hoping that would spark some energy back into him. We took him last weekend but sadly it also did not convince him to stay, He is set on leaving. I told him when i visit him, he needs to put two bed in his room so we can be roommates again and i can keep him up when he is trying to sleep. During the week Sam would sleep early. When he is sleeping i would talk to him or play music just a little to annoy him. In the morning he would get revenge by waking me up early and jumping on my bed. Then at night i would get him back and so on. It was a good run but now he is leaving so i have no one to Banter with. He leaves tomorrow at 4am. I will help him bring his stuff down to the taxi and wish him goodbye. I absolutely hate it when people leave and i never thought that Sam would leave so early.


Last week there was also sparing. There is sparring every 2 weeks now instead of once a month. Sam sparred one round and ended up colliding knees. He was pretty hurt. Another friend and i helped him to the room. The Shifus gave him meds but i got medicine from the USA which are 10 times better and it helped him a lot. That night Ash and i took him to Yantai for one last weekend outting. 

Also on the weekend i went to the Zoo with some friends and it was a lot of fun. They had lions, tigers, and bears...OH My. But they even had Poodles, huskies, and chihuahuas in cages like they where some exotic animals! Some of the cages where really dirty and i felt bad for the animals. I wanted to hold another Eagle Scout project and get some scouts here to clean up the place.



grading.
This week there was grading. I graded my fist form and sparring form in Baji. A lot of people graded this week. I hope by next month i will grade my Wing Chun Dummy form and my Stance form in Baji. I finally started my Staff form in Baji and in WingChunGuo. Its the first time in 5 months where i actually did applications with the master and attacked him. Usually he will demonstrate applications on me but i actually did a move on him and it felt totally awkward! I did the move right but i was nervous to hit him. Its a lot of fun.


The weather here is getting a lot more sunny and less cold. Only problem lately is its been windy. On the weekend it was hot and beautiful. You can tell its spring now due to the trees and the atmosphere. I cant wait till it gets warm enough to swim at the lake and just relax outside. Not only does the warm weather help with moral but also with training. when its cold its really hard to train because we get lazy and it hurts and we lose flexibility. I hope it stops being windy by next week.


A few students here are following Master Wong to the Shaolin temple for training. I was talking to kyle who went last year and he told me many chinese train at the temple as well. Most of them who leave the Temple tend to join the Triads, or gangs, because they get bored. His master told him that. I thought that was pretty intense.


I'll try to keep my blogs more recent for you. Sorry for the delays.

Just talked to my parents and i am going home for a little vacation. So i spent the last week here at the academy training hard and preparing to leave. Finished moving into my new room with Ben who is from France. Since Sam left i had to move rooms. Ben is a good guy who is in Shaolin. Hes not a 'Sam' but he is a nice guy who i know we will get a long well.


My flight was at 11 am from Yantai to Beijing, then a 5 hour delay till i go from Beijing to Canada, then from Canada to San Fransico. When i was leaving i had the same feeling when i was saying goodbye to my family when i began this adventure. I felt like i was leaving my family back in China. I know i will be back but i still felt sad. I wrote down all my warm ups, stretches, and workouts down before i left so when i go home i can keep in shape and flexibility.


My experience at the airport was a lot easier than my first experience. I felt more comfortable knowing if i had an emergency i can talk to someone in chinese. I was already pretty comfortable with the Beijing Airport because of my trip to Beijing with Danny so i knew what to do to kill the 5 hour wait. Went and ate a little and even got free internet for my laptop. I was flying Air Canada for the first time. Last time i took Air China and it was ok, a little crowded and no good movies. But Air Canada was AMAZING! There were two seats by the window three in the middle and two on the other side. I got a isle seat by the window so i had plenty of room. I had my own tv in front of me and i was able to watch free movies! I tried to stay awake because i left China Sunday at 5:55pm. And i arrive in Canada on Sunday 5:55pm. I traveled back in time! Not literally though. The only problem with the flight was the guy next to me had horrible breath. I found out because when he slept he slept with his mouth open and head pointed my direction.


The transfer fights went smooth. No problems. When I landed in Canada i was so surprised to see so many WHITE people! What really blew my mind was no one was speaking Mandarin! I kind of began to miss hearing random chinese people SCREAMING at each other 1 foot away from each other. I was walking to my gate and i saw a older chinese lady walking with a younger one. I took my head phones out so i can see if they were speaking Mandarin. Unfortunetly they were speaking english. I was hoping they would be talking in mandarin. I got a little sad so i put on a Mandarin learning app on my ipod so i could hear someone speak mandarin. Call me crazy but after 6 months of being in china i get so used to it i missed it after 12 hours.


It was nice to see my family. They picked me up from the Airport. It felt a little surreal being home. As i am writing this back in Stockton it feels like a dream. The ironic thing is the Training felt surreal but now when i am back, this feels like the dream. Maybe the mountain air is made me crazy. But its time to stock up on supplies and head back after vacation. Lot of the guys want me to bring back some goodies like, Twinkies, Oreos, Nutella, and Poptarts.


Now i am working a little back home. I am on the night shift since i am used to being up during chinese hours it works perfect. At 1:54 am Californina time it is 4:54 pm back home...i mean back in China. So this way i can help out my parents even more.


Now its time to get back to work.






-Scott

Quick update

Due to disaster in Japan, we had Scott come home for a month. Scott has just returned to China.




The next blog was one that Scott wrote a couple weeks ago while back in the USA and the blog entry after that was written earlier today on his first day back to China.







Editor

(Scott's Dad)