August 14
The Week in Kunyushan
Since i finished the competition on Tuesday I planned to get back to a regular training schedule on Wednesday. But since my sister came to the academy i promised her i would do Tai Chi and Qi Gong with her in the mornings. Out of my 10 months here i never went to that morning class. Mainly because
1. I wanted to focus on WingChun, Baji, and San Da when i came so i did not want to get overwhelmed, and 2,
2. Since my first day here I was never able to wake up before 7am. Tai chi is at 6 so wake up time is 530am! But for some reason,(I was happy to see my sister?) I promised that i will go to morning class with her after my competition. So Wednesday was my first day. Tai chi has two masters teaching the first form and then Master Guo teaches the other tai chi forms. This week i was taught by Master Xiang.
Usually you get taught how to do each step in tai chi then after a few weeks you will start to learn the form. But master taught me the form right away. I picked it up quite easily which is why he probably showed me the first part of the form. Then every morning he would show me a new move. In Wing Chun, Master Guo teaches me a new move just twice a week. in tai chi with master xiang i learn one move a day! It’s faster to learn this way, but i would not want to learn my other forms like this. I like how master Guo lets us practice and then he teaches us another move. I remember Master Guo telling me at the tournament that the Chinese kids learn a form in one month and that’s the form they will do for a whole year.
It is weird seeing my sister around the academy. She seems out of place. My sister is not much of outdoor person. Her version of “camping” is going to a hotel that does not have room service. i am shocked he is doing well here so far!
Thursday was Big Mac’s last day here in kunyshan. He starts school next week so he had to go home. Before he left he asked if i had QQ, a Chinese chat messenger thing online. I did, so i gave it to him and we all took pictures with the class. He gave everyone hugs and it was sad for everyone to see him leave. He was our little kung fu baby brother.
Master Guo went to dinner with clement, Steffan, Oran, and me again. Since we got Gold medals, we invited him to dinner. He told us stories about how the school started and how he began teaching. He even told us they might start letting Chinese kids in the academy… but the head master thinks the Chinese kids will be too fascinated seeing so many white people at once and not train hard.
We had dinner down the road from the academy since master had to get back at 8pm to train. He is preparing to do a Qigong presentation by breaking a bigger piece of marble than the one he did back in March. Last time he broke a piece of marble that was about a foot thick. he wouldn’t tell us how he would break this bigger piece of marble, he said it will be a surprise.
Friday was the mountain climb. We started in the morning to climb the national park mountain. They said it would rain but we went anyway. Kc was tired before we even got to the base of the mountain....well it was about an hour walk to get to the base...uphill, but she was fine. I had to carry the food so that’s how i got her to keep walking. If she lost me then she would have no food! When she wanted water i would say, "Come on, get it," and kept walking. She would whine but hurry to get some water. To the top of the mountain was about 3km plus another km to get to the lookout part.
It is weird seeing my sister around the academy. She seems out of place. My sister is not much of outdoor person. Her version of “camping” is going to a hotel that does not have room service. i am shocked he is doing well here so far!
Thursday was Big Mac’s last day here in kunyshan. He starts school next week so he had to go home. Before he left he asked if i had QQ, a Chinese chat messenger thing online. I did, so i gave it to him and we all took pictures with the class. He gave everyone hugs and it was sad for everyone to see him leave. He was our little kung fu baby brother.
Master Guo went to dinner with clement, Steffan, Oran, and me again. Since we got Gold medals, we invited him to dinner. He told us stories about how the school started and how he began teaching. He even told us they might start letting Chinese kids in the academy… but the head master thinks the Chinese kids will be too fascinated seeing so many white people at once and not train hard.
We had dinner down the road from the academy since master had to get back at 8pm to train. He is preparing to do a Qigong presentation by breaking a bigger piece of marble than the one he did back in March. Last time he broke a piece of marble that was about a foot thick. he wouldn’t tell us how he would break this bigger piece of marble, he said it will be a surprise.
Friday was the mountain climb. We started in the morning to climb the national park mountain. They said it would rain but we went anyway. Kc was tired before we even got to the base of the mountain....well it was about an hour walk to get to the base...uphill, but she was fine. I had to carry the food so that’s how i got her to keep walking. If she lost me then she would have no food! When she wanted water i would say, "Come on, get it," and kept walking. She would whine but hurry to get some water. To the top of the mountain was about 3km plus another km to get to the lookout part.
We were the last students already to walk to the base so Kc, Max, Sam, and me walked up the mountain trail without a lot of breaks. I did this climb once with my friend Brittany already and it was not bad so i knew kc could make it. About half way up it started raining. the rain cooled us down from the humidity and the mountain walk. I wanted to find a stick to beat kc but soon her Master started walking up the hill and i told him in Chinese “kc is lazy so yell at her”. He did. And it scared her to keep walking. Kc turned to me and whispered..."I'm going to kill you Scott."
When we got to the top we took a break and headed back down with some friends. On the way down i told them we should take the slide down. Sure beats walking down stairs. So we paid 25 yuan each and slide down this marble slide. I did it last time and it was fun. This time since it was raining it was a little wet and when i went down...i went down FAST! Sam and Jeremy ended up crashing into each other. We all had fun and it was nice to have less steps to walk down now. When we got to the base we saw Master Guo and Rong sitting and talking. I told them my sister is very tired. They laughed and told her “good job”. All of my friends think kc is my younger sister. When i asked them why they think that they said because i am always taking care of her. I get her water, i get her stuff she needs in her room, i get her food from down the road...what they don’t know is SINCE she is older...she MAKES me do all of those things. They laugh when I told them that but it’s true.
My sister and i are going on a little break for a week and going to travel to Shanghai and Beijing. It would be a nice break for me since i haven’t taken a break from training since i began training for the first competition.
-Scott
When we got to the top we took a break and headed back down with some friends. On the way down i told them we should take the slide down. Sure beats walking down stairs. So we paid 25 yuan each and slide down this marble slide. I did it last time and it was fun. This time since it was raining it was a little wet and when i went down...i went down FAST! Sam and Jeremy ended up crashing into each other. We all had fun and it was nice to have less steps to walk down now. When we got to the base we saw Master Guo and Rong sitting and talking. I told them my sister is very tired. They laughed and told her “good job”. All of my friends think kc is my younger sister. When i asked them why they think that they said because i am always taking care of her. I get her water, i get her stuff she needs in her room, i get her food from down the road...what they don’t know is SINCE she is older...she MAKES me do all of those things. They laugh when I told them that but it’s true.
My sister and i are going on a little break for a week and going to travel to Shanghai and Beijing. It would be a nice break for me since i haven’t taken a break from training since i began training for the first competition.
-Scott
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