Day 2
I woke up at 5:50. I slept soooo good, my body was dead tired. My legs had 3 mosquito bites, my arms had two… I’m getting eaten alive!
I had to get up and get ready for Tai Chi. Scott was supposed to do tai chi with me in the mornings but he wasn’t there this morning. I saw Sam in class, he does tai chi in the mornings. I did some stretches and one of the masters called me over to show me the first steps to a form. He had to show me 4 times before I kind of got it down. But when he walked away and I tried to do the form on my own I didn’t remember it.
Thankfully Big Mac is also in the tai chi class and has the same master as I do so he was nearby and I was able to ask him to help me. I had him watch me do the steps a few times before I got it down. Big Mac doesn’t speak English and I don’t know any chinese, so I had to motion to him that I wanted him to watch me or show me how to do the moves again. He is really nice.
After tai chi I did qi gong again with master Guo. Thankfully this time we were allowed to sit down. Qi gong is meditation. It is really hard for me to focus my mind and sit still. I feel like a five year old kid figiting in my seat. I was doing pretty well until a giant bee/wasp/bug thing flew by me. I almost jumped up and ran away.
After tai chi I did qi gong again with master Guo. Thankfully this time we were allowed to sit down. Qi gong is meditation. It is really hard for me to focus my mind and sit still. I feel like a five year old kid figiting in my seat. I was doing pretty well until a giant bee/wasp/bug thing flew by me. I almost jumped up and ran away.
Once class was over I went to the dining hall to look at what they serve for breakfast. I grabbed two hard boiled eggs and went up to scott’s room. He was still sleeping so I woke him up. I told him I was hungry and needed him to feed me. He got up and gave me yogurt with granola. It was really tasty.
We had to do our first 2 mile run in the morning and then break into our individual groups. In Shaolin we worked on our forms and then did some San da drills. The master pulled me aside and had me do San da foot work while the other students did the drills. After that we paired up and did conditioning. One person would hold the punching bag and throw it at our partner and that person would have to hit the punching bag with their back. I threw the bag first and when it was my turn to hit the punching bag, my partner was really nice and threw the bag really slowly and easily for me while I got the hang of it. Still, I felt like my brain was rattling in my head. My partner was the guy who is teaching scott to play the accordion. He is from France and used to be in the circus.
After we hit the bags with our backs we had to hit the bags with our shoulders. By the time we finished conditioning my head hurt so much. After conditioning we had lunch which was really really good! Eggplant, meat and they had veggies mixed with eggs.
After lunch I went up to scott’s room to watch “How I Met Your Mother”. At 3pm we had to go on the mountain run. For some reason I was really looking forward to the mountain run. Scott didn’t have to run because he was practicing his forms for the competition. We have to walk from the academy past the spot where we run to in the mornings and afternoons before class and walk up a hill. This is a really BIG hill. I reach the bottom of the hill and it starts raining. Let me rephrase that, it started POURING. The biggest rain drops I’ve ever seen. I look back and there are a few people behind me and about 10 people ahead of me. I walk about 4 feet and I am already soaked. I look back and no one else is coming. I guess everyone went back to the academy, but I keep going up the hill. Maybe I should call it a mountain instead of a hill because this thing was steep. It’s probably about a three mile walk up the mountain and this isn’t part of the “mountain run”. At the top of this mountain is a temple with stairs…this still is not where we start the mountain run. After walking up 40 steps to get into the temple, we go to the side where there are MORE stairs… now this is where we start the mountain run. I am breathing so hard, I am out of breath and my legs feel like they are going to give out. Not to mention that I am soaked all the way through, it is still raining hard and then I heard thunder.
I liked walking in the rain. It was fun because it wasn’t cold, but what I didn’t like was that my clothes and shoes were heavy from the rain water. The view from the mountain is amazing. It is so green and beautiful. There are a lot of orchards near the academy and you can see the water fall from the top of the mountain. One of the girls, Donna, was trying to ask Big Mac if there was a bathroom up at the mountain but he didn’t understand her. So I tried to motion and show him what she was asking. So I squatted and made motions with my hand to show what I thought looked like going to the bathroom. Big Mac looked so confused, but it was really funny.
After I checked out the view I start my mountain run, or mountain walk is more like it. I don’t know why I was excited to do this because this SUCKED! It’s worse than I could ever explain. We have to run to the top of the mountain. It’s not a straight run, there are stairs and it’s windy and on top of that…there was rain. My legs were already tired just from walking up here to start the mountain run.
You would think that since it is raining like crazy the mosquitos would hide or go away, wrong! They were still out trying to eat me. I made it up the mountain and back down once. Some people made it up two times. But by the time I made it down the Masters told us to go back to the academy because it was raining too hard and the stairs are slippery.
I walk down the mountain with Big Mac and he tries to talk to me a little. I don’t speak chinese and he doesn’t speak English so we have a hard time. We usually end up playing charades and motioning to communicate. On our walk we passed Scott and Scott said something to Big Mac in chinese and Big Mac responded and started laughing. Scott later told me what he said to Big Mac. Scott said that my Chinese is bad and Big Mac responded, “Yes she’s really really bad”.
When I got back to the academy I put on my swim suit and walked back out to the waterfall to swim with scott. There were a few other people from the academy there. The water was really nice and warm. After the swim we went back to the academy. I hung out in scott’s room for a while and we then went to dinner down the street with a few people. Let me tell you who we had dinner with. It was me and Scott, Brittany and this girl Xan. Brittany and Xan are from the states. Xan actually went to UOP, she was here in china teaching English. Max also had dinner with us, he is in Scott’s Wing chung group. Donna and her boyfriend Jeremy also had dinner with us. Donna is from Canada and Jeremy is from France.
During dinner Donna told us that Jeremy found a bird caught in a spider’s web and next to the bird was a bird skeleton. I don’t know about you but that story really made me miss being home. How big is this spider that eats birds???
After dinner I went next door with Ash and Keith. There were a lot of students next door. We sat down in our own little group. Matheiu was there already and Sam came over a little after I got there. Next door is a little restaurant that is literally next door to the academy. The food is prepared in this little outside building and the guy carries the raw meat from the little building into the restaurant to cook it. (I don’t think I’ll be eating there) the beer is warm and the service is slow but everyone goes there. I sat around with the guys for an hour or so. It was fun just sitting around. After that I went to my room and fell asleep.
Ill tell you about my resting day later.
Xoxo,
Kc
We had to do our first 2 mile run in the morning and then break into our individual groups. In Shaolin we worked on our forms and then did some San da drills. The master pulled me aside and had me do San da foot work while the other students did the drills. After that we paired up and did conditioning. One person would hold the punching bag and throw it at our partner and that person would have to hit the punching bag with their back. I threw the bag first and when it was my turn to hit the punching bag, my partner was really nice and threw the bag really slowly and easily for me while I got the hang of it. Still, I felt like my brain was rattling in my head. My partner was the guy who is teaching scott to play the accordion. He is from France and used to be in the circus.
After we hit the bags with our backs we had to hit the bags with our shoulders. By the time we finished conditioning my head hurt so much. After conditioning we had lunch which was really really good! Eggplant, meat and they had veggies mixed with eggs.
After lunch I went up to scott’s room to watch “How I Met Your Mother”. At 3pm we had to go on the mountain run. For some reason I was really looking forward to the mountain run. Scott didn’t have to run because he was practicing his forms for the competition. We have to walk from the academy past the spot where we run to in the mornings and afternoons before class and walk up a hill. This is a really BIG hill. I reach the bottom of the hill and it starts raining. Let me rephrase that, it started POURING. The biggest rain drops I’ve ever seen. I look back and there are a few people behind me and about 10 people ahead of me. I walk about 4 feet and I am already soaked. I look back and no one else is coming. I guess everyone went back to the academy, but I keep going up the hill. Maybe I should call it a mountain instead of a hill because this thing was steep. It’s probably about a three mile walk up the mountain and this isn’t part of the “mountain run”. At the top of this mountain is a temple with stairs…this still is not where we start the mountain run. After walking up 40 steps to get into the temple, we go to the side where there are MORE stairs… now this is where we start the mountain run. I am breathing so hard, I am out of breath and my legs feel like they are going to give out. Not to mention that I am soaked all the way through, it is still raining hard and then I heard thunder.
I liked walking in the rain. It was fun because it wasn’t cold, but what I didn’t like was that my clothes and shoes were heavy from the rain water. The view from the mountain is amazing. It is so green and beautiful. There are a lot of orchards near the academy and you can see the water fall from the top of the mountain. One of the girls, Donna, was trying to ask Big Mac if there was a bathroom up at the mountain but he didn’t understand her. So I tried to motion and show him what she was asking. So I squatted and made motions with my hand to show what I thought looked like going to the bathroom. Big Mac looked so confused, but it was really funny.
After I checked out the view I start my mountain run, or mountain walk is more like it. I don’t know why I was excited to do this because this SUCKED! It’s worse than I could ever explain. We have to run to the top of the mountain. It’s not a straight run, there are stairs and it’s windy and on top of that…there was rain. My legs were already tired just from walking up here to start the mountain run.
You would think that since it is raining like crazy the mosquitos would hide or go away, wrong! They were still out trying to eat me. I made it up the mountain and back down once. Some people made it up two times. But by the time I made it down the Masters told us to go back to the academy because it was raining too hard and the stairs are slippery.
I walk down the mountain with Big Mac and he tries to talk to me a little. I don’t speak chinese and he doesn’t speak English so we have a hard time. We usually end up playing charades and motioning to communicate. On our walk we passed Scott and Scott said something to Big Mac in chinese and Big Mac responded and started laughing. Scott later told me what he said to Big Mac. Scott said that my Chinese is bad and Big Mac responded, “Yes she’s really really bad”.
When I got back to the academy I put on my swim suit and walked back out to the waterfall to swim with scott. There were a few other people from the academy there. The water was really nice and warm. After the swim we went back to the academy. I hung out in scott’s room for a while and we then went to dinner down the street with a few people. Let me tell you who we had dinner with. It was me and Scott, Brittany and this girl Xan. Brittany and Xan are from the states. Xan actually went to UOP, she was here in china teaching English. Max also had dinner with us, he is in Scott’s Wing chung group. Donna and her boyfriend Jeremy also had dinner with us. Donna is from Canada and Jeremy is from France.
During dinner Donna told us that Jeremy found a bird caught in a spider’s web and next to the bird was a bird skeleton. I don’t know about you but that story really made me miss being home. How big is this spider that eats birds???
After dinner I went next door with Ash and Keith. There were a lot of students next door. We sat down in our own little group. Matheiu was there already and Sam came over a little after I got there. Next door is a little restaurant that is literally next door to the academy. The food is prepared in this little outside building and the guy carries the raw meat from the little building into the restaurant to cook it. (I don’t think I’ll be eating there) the beer is warm and the service is slow but everyone goes there. I sat around with the guys for an hour or so. It was fun just sitting around. After that I went to my room and fell asleep.
Ill tell you about my resting day later.
Xoxo,
Kc
so glad i found this blog... interesting to read what its like when you first get there! i hadnt even thought about mosquitos :o
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