I am competiting in on the 24th of July and 8th of August

grading


July 15th was grading. I signed up to grade my Wingchun fist form which i am also competiting in on the 24th and 8th. I practiced all week for it and felt ready. When i was performing my form in front of the Masters for grading i paused a bit towards the end. Then i continued and finished. Afterward i was so mad at myself for blanking out. Master told me after grading that i made a small mistake but then fixed it and said i still did good. The whole day i was a bit mad. Before dinner one of the translators where writing the top 3 high scores from grading. Out of 19 people the top three were, 1st place-Clement. 2nd-Me, and 3rd-Another friend of mine. I saw that and could not believe i got 2nd. i felt a little better and knew if i practiced enough before the competition i might be able to get a good score, maybe even a metal.


competition

On the 24th of July and the 8th of August, Kunyushan  Martial Art Academy enrolls in a competition in Yantai. The competition is a martial art form competition rather than a fighting competition. In the competition we can win medals, only gold and silver. My friend Andrew did the competitions last year and won 6 medals. He trained in china over 2 years though. I asked Master if i can compete in it. He said yes and told me i can do three forms in both competitions. I am doing my Baji Staff form, Baji Fist form, and a Wingchun Fist form as well. Master told me the competition judges are used to seeing a lot of shaolin/acrobatic forms from Chinese people. The Forms we learn are more traditional so we might not be scored as high so we must show a lot of power in our forms. He said Wingchun is not popular in northern china where we are so the judges might see my Wingchun form and think it is boring because it is all hand movements and i do not move my feet at all. I did not mind trying. It gives me another chance to get gold. So i have been training my forms non stop during classes, hours after dinner, and i even find myself doing forms in my sleep. I have 4 days until the competition and these past few days Master  paired me and Clement up so time each other and watch each others forms. The time limit for my three forms are 1 minute and 10 seconds for my Baji fist. My Baji staff form is 1 mintue 20 seconds. And my Wingchun form is 1 minute 20 seconds as well. The problem was i was taught to do the forms slow then fast in some parts. Well when i did my forms for the first time i was 1 minute 50 seconds for my staff, 1 minute 30 seconds for my baji fist, and 2 minutes for my Wingchun form because its a slow form. For the past week i have been working on my timing. Master showed me certain parts where to pause and then the rest is done faster. I got my wingchun form down to 1 minute 18 seconds, baji fist down to 1 minute 3 seconds, and my staff is 1 minute 6 seconds. I have a lot more practicing to do these next 4 days. but i believe i can do it. If not and i don't win, well then there's my reason for me to stay another year.



-Scott

The accordion and martial art competitions... and a waterfall

Kung Fu is not the only thing i am learning in this adventure of mine. For the past month i have been getting guitar lessons from Jake. i never played the guitar until i came to china. My old roommate left me his guitar when he left. I had no use for it. One day Jake came over and saw it and asked if i can play. I told him i never learned. He picked up the guitar tuned it a little. Played a few random notes. Then out of nowhere he started playing a beautiful song. I was shocked. I told him that was awesome. He laughed then offered to teach me a couple songs. Now i practice Kung Fu and guitar. The guitar playing annoys Sam sometimes during break but it is part of our banter with one another.

The other day i was training in the training hall at night, doing my extra workout routine. Peter walks in, he is a circus trainer from France, with a backpack. I thought he was going to practice his forms so i waved and went back to my pushups. A few minutes later i heard an accordion! I never seen one in real life till then. I ran over and watched him play a bit. I asked him if he can teach me a song. He showed me the basics for the accordion. It reminded me of a piano, organ, and a pump fan ( ya know those fans people use for their fire pits) smushed into one big instrument. It was fun. He was shocked how fast i could learn the song. After awhile my friend Mark wanted to try it so he went after me. Didn’t get it down to tell. Tonight i asked Peter to teach me more of the song.

I am even learning how to speak a couple languages besides Chinese. One of my friends here is teaching me a few phrases in Hebrew. Another friend of mine is teaching me a few romantic phrases in French. Hope that comes in handy one day.

This place is what you make of it. It can be a place where you train for a couple hours a day and sit in your room eating junk food. Sadly, there are people like that here. Or you can get out there and learn a bunch of random skills. I choose to learn a bunch of random skills. Who knows when an opportunity falls in your lap next. My dad always told me, "Good luck is when Opportunity meets Preparedness."

-Scott




Today is July 10th, my 9 month anniversary of being in Kunyushan Martial Art Academy. When i first arrived, i felt like i was in a dream. I could not grasp the idea of being so far away from home, alone, to train here. Now, i cannot grasp the idea of leaving the academy...leaving my new home. A few people asked me if time here went by fast. There were times when it seemed extremely slow. For example, when master beat Ash, Mathieu, Anders, and me, the time it took for Shifu to beat the guys in front of me and get to me seemed to take forever! But weeks go by so fast here. Monday feels like yesterday when its already Friday. Another friend asked if i am happy i chose to stay the whole year rather than 6 months like i intended to do in the first place. I didn’t even think twice to say yes. I wish i could stay longer.

Last week Master Guo told us there are two martial art competitions that we all can participate in. One is on the 24th of July. The other is the 8th of August. The competition is a Form competition. There will be around a thousand other Chinese martial artists who will compete along with us. Later i asked Shifu if i can compete and he said my Xiao Baji fist form is good. I asked if i can do my staff form and a wingchun form. He told me i can but i need to practice my staff form a bit. Then he told me the forms the judges are used to seeing are the flip, jumps, splits in the air type of forms done by the Chinese. So our forms that we are taught here are traditional and applicable, which means it has less pretty moves and more moves we can use on the street. Also Wingchun is popular in southern china. We are in the northern area so he thinks the judges wont recognize what i would be doing and thing its boring. But he said my form is good and if i want to try i can. So for both competitions i will do 3 forms. Xiao Baji, staff form, and a fist form in Wingchun. A few students got medals for their forms last year. I hope i can medal in at least one form. I will be happy if i get a bronze because i have only been training for 9 months and my friend who got a gold last year had been training in china for about 2 years. I learned a theory from my dad once, i call it the Win or Win scenario. Instead of thinking that a situation has a "Win or Lose" i always think "win - win". For example If i get a medal at the competition, i win. If i don’t, i lose. That is the Win Lose theory. But my theory is this...I win a medal... i win. If i do not medal, i tell mom and dad, "Hey so i need to spend a bit more time here so i can medal like my friend who stayed here for 2 years,"....WIN!

Four other students from my class are competing. Oran, Anders, Mathieu, and Clement. Shifu told me to practice our forms after class now for power training rather than the exercises he usually makes us do until the competition is over. I did not complain about that rule.


-Scott

I am learning to handle this

This is not a 'set' this is a real place.

Relaxing at a waterfall near school

Dinner with Master Guo

June 23, 2011

Dinner with Master Guo

These past few weeks the “power training group”, Sam, Mathieu, Raven, and I have been wanting to take master Guo out to dinner. Unfortunately, this past week Raven screwed up again and is being sent home this weekend. A quick recap on that:

Last weekend Raven went to Yantai and stayed out late. Master found out and Raven who was already on probation from bringing his Girlfriend to the academy so Shifu had no choice but to tell him to leave. That same weekend Anders who started the power training with us back in May came back from his holiday. Right when the group was back to the original 5, it’s back to only 4 again. Well, , Sam, and Mathieu and I still wanted to take Master out and Anders did not mind so we asked him on Tuesday if he wanted to go to dinner with us on Thursday. He agreed.

We went to a restaurant in Muping. On the car ride there Master sat in front and we sat in the back with James, who would be our translator for the evening. Master's English improved a lot since last fall but still a translator would help. I asked James about the nearby farms and some Chinese culture questions. He told me the farmers have been a little worried lately because it has not rained. Last year it rained a lot and this year there was barely any rain. Luckily the past two days have been raining and the farmers are happier. I also asked him why there are so many Russians in Yantai. He told me that Russia and China have a strong diplomatic relationship, so they tend to visit each other’s country a lot...especially the northern China parts. Then he said, "Russian women are very beautiful." We all laughed and i replied, "Ah yes hen piaoliang!"(they beautiful) Shifu started laughing.

When we got to the restaurant we got to choose what we wanted to eat before we sat down. In the corner of the restaurant there is a table with the different meats. Next to the table were tanks of fish and other seafood/alien type things. Then by that was a rack full of different bugs. We all decided on different items. Shifu chose what he wanted as well. I told Shifu that we should get some bugs! He made a disgusted face and laughed and shook his head ‘noooo’. After we ordered we went upstairs to our table. We had a private room which was nice. It was a little awkward at first, because no one was talking. So i said that this place looked like a scene in a kung fu movie where ninjas bust in and we have to fight our way out. Everyone laughed and it seemed to lighten the mood.

Master started talking about the Chinese designs and how they plan on making the academy bigger and more traditional Chinese style designs. There is a picture on the wall of a Chinese opera mask and Mathieu asked what it was. Master explained to him about it and how Jackie Chan and his friends where opera actors before they did movies. We spoke about different movies and the training the kung fu stars did for a bit. Then Anders asked Master what we should work on. We had a meeting with Master about power training a couple weeks ago but it was good to hear what we needed to improve on again. He told us we all are doing well but then he picked out the points we all need to work on. For Mathieu it was his flexibility, Sam needs more power, Anders needs more flexibility and power, and I need more speed. I asked how I can improve my speed. He told me the weights are good and will improve and i should get some weights for my wrists as well.

Then Mathieu asked Master about his training when he was young. It was incredible. He used to do hours of just running, then non stop sprints, and non stop bunny hops up 5 flights of stairs. That wasn't all. He had to do hundreds of sit ups, push ups, climbing ropes, and conditioning, it made us all feel so weak and pathetic to complain about our power training. It was nothing compared to his. This night boosted all of our morals very high. I asked master if he enjoyed training foreigners more than Chinese. He told us he trained 70 Chinese people at once. It was possible. But it was impossible to train more than 30 foreigners. He explained why. He said that Chinese is more simple, more disciplined, which made it easier to teach them, I added in, "And they speak CHINESE!" Master laughed a lot on that joke. Then he told us that are more of a challenge to teach and not as disciplined. He told us a story about a foreigner could not get the kick punch movement down right. After weeks he still could not do it. Master tried hitting him with a stick so he would remember how to do it, did not work. It got to a point where he was so scared of master that when he did the movement wrong he started to cry. This guy was in his 30's. Shifu could not figure a way to teach him. Finally he got a fellow student to help teach him the move. After a few days he learned it. I asked if he liked the challenge teaching foreigners or the disciplined Chinese better. He said he enjoyed teaching foreigners better. We all laughed. We ate and talked about different stories of when Master was young. It was a fun dinner. Mathieu asked Shifu if he ever broke a rule when he was young and training. Master and laughed and said yes but never got caught. One time he stayed out and they locked the school doors so he had to climb a pipe with his other friends one night to the fifth story of the building. The neighbors saw them and thought they where thieves and called the police. They got caught by their master and had to run around the school 100 times and do 400 pushups nonstop or else get beaten. After dinner we played four ways between Anders, Sam, Mathieu and I for the 6 of us. We all felt more closer to Master and made us want to train even harder. We all decided we are going to do extra power training on Thursdays before dinner. And every day before lunch we are going to do stance training while we wait in line. I feel a lot more motivated and i will push myself harder for these last 4 months I am here. We all hope we can take Master out again next month. It would be a nice monthly meal.

-Scott

OPERATION: K.A.w.B.O.O.M.

June 16

OPERATION: K.A.w.B.O.O.M.

K-Kunyushan
A-Academy
W-Water
B-Balloon
O-opperation
O-Outside
M-Movement

I will brief you all in with the details before this 'OPERATION' started. This happened on Thursday June 16th. There is a guy here named Dorel who is a bit of a know it all. A lot of people don’t really find him too "amusing". I heard from Jake at Dinner that Luke and Raven were waiting for Kyle to go to dinner to get him with water balloons but the other guys watching said to get Dorel since he was close by and most of them didn't like him too much. So Raven and Luke hit him and he got a bit pissed off and told the Shifu on Raven. After dinner i sat outside on the porch talking to the guys when i saw Raven and Luke with more balloons. I asked them who they are going to hit and they said Dorel again for ratting them out. I told them dont get him, get someone new. We all decided to get this guy named Jospeh, another "Know it all". Raven and Luke agreed and hid behind the pillar on the porch. It would be a long shot for them to hit Jospeh and he would have plenty of time to get to cover. So i came up with a plan. Operation K.A.W.B.O.O.M.

PHASE 1-I told Luke to go across the porch to the laundry line and pretend to be hanging his laundry and I told Raven to stay behind the Pillar on the porch.
(Raven told me he cannot see far so he might not hit him. I told him “dont worry, listen” to my plan.)
PHASE 2-When Luke saw the "Mark" AKA Joseph he was to hit him twice in the back with his balloons.
PHASE 3-Getting hit in the back, Joseph will turn around to see what just happened. At that moment Raven will run out and hit him again with his balloons.



They all thought the plan was great. While we were all waiting eagerly, Kyle asked Luke for some balloons to make more water balloons. Jake asked Luke if he can get some. He got some and told me and Ash to go fill ours up and run up to his room on the third level and hit Joseph with "Artillery Fire". Before we went up i told the guys “ok the plan is still in effect.”

Current Plan:

Phase 1-Luke still held his position at the laundry line. Raven and Kyle hid behind the pillars on the porch.
Phase 2-Steffen was practicing his ‘staff form’ in the middle so i told him he will be the look out. He would not seem out of place because he practices his forms a lot in that spot. When Steffen sees the "Mark" AKA-Joseph. Tap his staff on the ground and we will all assume positions.
Phase 3-Artillary AKA Jake, Ash, and I will throw from up top. When they see us throwing, Luke moves to strike.
Phase 4-After Artillery strikes and Luke goes from behind, Kyle and Raven will attack from the porch.


After we made sure everyone knew the plan, i ran upstairs to fill balloons with Jake and Ash. We got in Jake's room and waited.

Phase 1 complete. Luke, Raven, and Kyle went to their positions.
Phase 2 complete. Steffen made the signal. We all got ready to throw. But then he said “he is with two other guys.” I yelled back down “we will make them scatter” so Luke get in close and raven and Kyle followed in after.
Phase 3 complete. I threw the balloons with Jake and Ash. Joseph was with Jo and Allen. When our water balloons hit, a couple hit Joseph in the head and the others hit the ground, Jo and Allen ran and got away from Joseph.
Phase 4 complete. Luke came and hit Joseph twice in the back and Raven and Kyle finished the job.

MISSION COMPLETE.

We came down to see the damage and Jospeh took the prank well. I guess the guys told him it was my idea because when i came down he smiled and said, "you bastard." Then tried to tackle me. Unfortunetly for him, i gave him the “Baji shoulder” which hit him in the chest and stopped him. My bad.

Afterward Jake and I ate an ice cream on the porch with the other guys. A victory ice cream. We all began to think of other targets to hit. We came up with a few.

Over and Out

-Scott

Dragon Pools and more training

June 14


Had a nice weekend. Stayed in the academy and watched a few movies with friends. I been trying to get Ash and Sam to go hike the “9 dragon pools” with me again but they always say ‘no’. So i was talking to Brittany, who is from Minnesota, since she had never been there, she wanted to go with me. So Sunday morning Sam and I arranged our room. He doesn’t like the window open but he is on the side of the room with the window but i get really hot. Since its been getting hotter, we decided to change up the room a bit.


After fixing the room, Brittany and i headed up the mountain. We started walking to the pools but got a lift from the head master’s brother, Jack. He runs the shop and is a taxi driver most of the time and helps out a lot. He is a really cool guy. He even goes clubbing with us sometimes. He dropped us off at the pools and we started our climb up. We got to the top of the 9 dragon pools after picture stops and breaks. It took us about an hour. When we got to the top there was a fork. The left was a path an old student told me about that takes you up the big mountain. The problem is, it’s not a smooth path with steps like the hour climb for the Dragon pools. It was a dirt path full of bushes and trees. At the time of course did not know that it was a dirt path, i soon found out.


The right brought us on a route back down the mountain. Well we had to pay 30 yuan to get into the pools so we decided to get the most out of our money. After 3 hours of going through bushes, climbing boulders, and protein bar snack breaks, we made it to the top. It was very tiring but we were pleased we made it to the top of the biggest mountain. It took us a couple hours to carefully climb back down steep boulders and push through the bushes. Next weekend we plan to go to the top of the temple where we do the mountain run. So i will have more pictures to post.


Monday training was pretty hard since i was so sore from the hike.

Master made power training a bit harder now. He said since we are getting stronger with our sprints and bunny hopes he is adding another exercise. When we finished with the sprints and squats with 70 kg, we take off 20 kg and do back lifts with 50 kg and one leg kicks to the base of the hill. Then after that we take off 20 kg and do push outs with 30 kg and bunny hops.


We used to do the hops to the base of the hill but now master told us to jump up the hill which is about 70 meters long. We had to do 8 times each of the three sets. We were really dead after that. I was up in my room when a translator came up and told me to find Raven and come to Shifu's office. I immediately got nervous. Raven is usually in trouble so i thought i must be in trouble too. I found Raven and we went to master's office. Mathieu was there so i thought we were just having a meeting bout training and relaxed a bit. Shifu told us Sam did not want to do the extra power training anymore. He asked if we thought power training was boring. we said no way. he told us Sam told him earlier he doesn’t want to do it anymore. Master was upset he said that because he has seen us improve. he said to me “zi long you have improved a lot in fighting and power”. zi lu, (Mathieu), and zi hao, (raven's chinese name), “not so much improvement. So stop being so lazy!” He laughed and said we all have good traits and we all have things to work on. he first said zi hao you have good flexibility and kicks but you lack power in punches. Zi lu “you have good explosive power and take downs are strong but lack speed and technique”. then he told me i have good power and technique. but i lack power and speed with my kicks. He said i have a lot of power but i only use about 60%.


With the extra power training it will let me use more of my power. It will also help Raven increase his power along with Zi lu's technique and speed. He told us the power training he made for us is precisely to help increase our abilities so when sam said he did not want to train anymore he thought something was wrong and did not want us to quit as well. Chinese students train harder than foreign students but we are young and have a lot of potential so he wants us to train even harder to become better. We told Shifu that we enjoy training even though it makes us tired but we won't quit!

After the meeting i went to talk to Sam. He said he worked better on his own but now since training is harder he will keep with it. The next morning Sam went to talk to Shifu. Sam decided to keep doing power training. Today for power training i used these 5 kg ankle weights i bought at lunch. I used it for the run before class. I can feel my legs working more when i run and i know that will improve my leg strength a lot more. Even though shifu made power training harder i wanted to use the weights. It was difficult but i made it through the first two drills, sprints and back lifts. The hard part was the bunny hops up the hill. The weight felt more like 100 kg rather trhan 5!
hifu came out to watch us to make sure we were doing the drills correct and saw that i had weights on. He smiled and i laughed and said Ya shifu, im training hard! He looked very pleased. After our power training i saw shifu. He told me to so shadow boxing and kicks with my weights on and it will help my speed and power with my kicks. i told him since he said i needed to imrpove my kicks i bought the weights just for that. He laughed and said good Zi long.

i spar Friday so i have been training hard so far this week.

-Scott