KC Blog: I missed my flight!!

​I am a total mess   My Seattle flight was delayed an hour we were supposed to land at 4, but landed at 5. I was hoping and praying that I would not miss my flight from Beijing to Yantai that left at 5:45. My flight to Beijing was pretty hard for me this time. I couldn’t get comfortable and I felt queasy the whole way. I took a different airline this time and I think the seating area is a little bit smaller. We landed in Beijing at 5pm, we taxied for 15 minutes then had to take a SLOW bus from the plane to the building to pick up our bags. By the time I got all my bags it was 5:45…. Damn, I missed my flight. I had to take a bus to another building where the domestic flights leave. I have a lot of bags… I mean a lot and they are all super heavy. I was sweating and struggling trying to roll my luggage, carry my duffle my jacket and my tote bag to the bus. I would have tried to combine the bags but they were all full.


When I got to the China Air counter they told me the last flight to Yantai was full and I’d have to wait until tomorrow morning at 7am. I started crying, silly I know but I was tired, nauseated, and just wanted to shower and lay down. But what can I do? The whole time I was trying to figure out a way to tell Scott I missed my flight. He went to Yantai to pick me up and I wouldn’t be there. My cell phone isn’t working in China this time; I didn’t think I’d need it. I was so wrong. Once I changed my flight I hurried to find the wi-fi internet code for the airport. I saw a pay phone and tried to call my parents but I didn’t know the international code so I couldn’t make a call.  I got the wi-fi code and tried to log onto aim. You can text message a person’s cell phone with your instant messaging account. It took forever to get the internet to work but it finally did. I text my mom and dad so they could tell Scott about my flight. I had to sleep at the airport with all my bags and I was kinda scared. It was my first time sleeping at an airport. My dad told me to tie my bags together while I slept. I was able to text Scott’s phone too and tell him what time I land in Yantai the next day.


 After I talked to my parents and Scott I went to find a place to sleep. I found a row of chairs, the arm rests don’t rise up, but that was my only choice. I took my shoe laces off of my shoes and used that to tie my bags together. I used my backpack as a pillow covered with my jacket. I have a lot of money on me so I’m a little paranoid. I fall asleep pretty fast but woke up often to check the time. There are a lot of people who are sleeping in the seats next to me. I don’t think I’ve ever been more uncomfortable while I slept but I didn’t mind because I needed the sleep. If I was lying on my back I had the arm rest pressing into my back and had to put my legs over the arm rest of the other chair. If I slept on my side I had the corner of my bag jamming into my shoulder blade. And my neck was aching because my backpack is so lumpy and hard filled with hand warmers and granola bars. I need a massage at the bath house for sure! I think the twinkies and chips I brought are all smashed now, but I tried my best. I’m waiting to board my plane to Yantai. I got jasmine tea and a little sandwich for breakfast. I am NOT going to miss this flight!
 Xoxo,
 Kc


p.s. At least I didn’t cuss anyone out this time

My bags

KC Blog. Rush To Airport

Rush to the airport- the story of my life It seems that every time I travel somewhere I am rushing to the airport. No matter what time I wake up or leave. I was planning on going to San Francisco the night before my flight but I didn't finish packing until 9:30pm and I was so tired. I decided to leave at 5 am. I figured that would give me plenty of time. I was so wrong. We were stuck in stop and go traffic the whole way to the airport. My mom dropped my off at the loading zone to check in because I only had an hour and 20 minutes before my plane left. In the rush of things I left my wallet in the car so I couldn't check in without my id. I had to wait for my mom to bring my wallet back. Luckily my bags were the perfect weight. One bag was over two pounds but the lady let it slide. My mom and aunt saw me off at the airport. My carry on bags are so heavy because I put the heavy stuff in here so that I could fit more things in the luggage and not go over the weight limit. I'm trying so hard not to fall over. When I try to go into the bathroom stall I make so much noise with my bags bagging against the door and the wall. It's almost funny because I barely fit in the stall with my stuff.   I fly from SFO to Seattle. Thank god I don't have tk recheck my bags I don't know how I am going to carry everything. I fly from Seattle to Beijing and from Beijing to Yantai. I have an 11 hour flight. I am now boarding my plane. I'll update you soon!
 Xoxo,
Kc

KC Blog. I am heading back to Acadamy!!

We meet again Hello I'm back! Well I'm almost there. I'm sitting in the Seattle Airport waiting for my flight to Beijing. I'm going back to China! I know what you are thinking, I JUST got back from China and I know I did. But I'm going back for Scott's disciple ceremony. (ill let him tell you about that) My parents wanted to go but they are sooooo busy they couldn't make it. They are sensing me as their replacement and I'm not complaining. I found out a week ago that I was going back to China so I've been scrambling around trying to get everything together. I started taking online classes so I had Scott check to make sure I could go online and do my class while I'm there. I packed two days before I left and that was a good idea. Yesterday I had to drive to the Chinese consulate to pick up my visa. It took me 2 and a half hours to get to San Francisco because all of the traffic. Thankfully it only took mr about 40 minutes at the consulate to pick up my visa. Last Friday I was at the office for 3 hours. An hour and a half outside waiting to get into the office and get a number and another hour and a half for my number to be called. When I got home yesterday I tried to clean up my house for my mom who will be staying there with my doggies. I still had to buy all the snacks and goodies that I'm supposed to bring with me. I pick up my mom and we go to target and Costco. My car is packed with treats. Omg how am I going to pack all of this???? I'm bringing two luggages to check in, a back pack, a duffle bag, and a tote bag. Im bringing a lot of gifts give me a break. I tried packing food on my own but it was clear it wasn't all going to fit. I ask my roommate Ana to go through the clothes I'm bringing with me just to double check if I'm over packing. We go through everything an I take out a sweater a pair of leggings and a pair of workout pants.... That didnt help much. I call my mom and tell her I need help. We try fitting everything in the bags but we can't. Ana suggests we get space saver bags. Its past 7pm... We go to Walgreens. None there. We go to CvS pharmacy. None there. We finally find them at bed bath and beyond. We rush home and get to work.  We unpack my bag again and are able to fit all my clothes. Some blankets im bringing as gifts and a little more stuff in my bag. Next obstacle is to weigh it. Oh boy here we go... We use Ana's scale and it says 49 lbs. Perfect! 50lbs is the limit.   We are then able to fit most of the food in the other luggage and my duffle. We take some stuff out of the box but we are able to fit 98% of it. We weigh the bag and the scale says 49lbs... Wait a minute... We use my scale to weigh it and it's a little higher. Well it must be somewhere in between. After I pack I paint my nails, my mom attempts to dye my hair (first time) and I relax. We have to leave at 5am to make it to SFO by 7. I'm boarding soon so I'll tell you about my crazy day later. Xoxo, Kc Sent from my iPhone

three new Blogs today

Sometimes there are more than one blog posted at a time in one posting. 

October 2011 group

Rong Sheifu- Shaolin

Lu Bing is Back

Lu Bing fishing with me near the Acadamy

Lu Bing
September 28 2011

Last Year around November, Master Guo's disciple came to train for a few weeks. His name is Lu Bing. He is two years younger than me and has been doing martial arts since he was small...like all Chinese kids. Master had Lu Bing help me and train me in San Da so i would fight better. Then after 4 weeks of being here, he went back to the Shaolin Temple to finish his training. And now after 10 months, he is back.



When he came back Master told me him and I will train again. Master said that when Lu Bing was in the Shaolin Temple, he focused more on forms rather than San Da so he wants him to practice more with me. Plus i will get better at San da as well (and get my butt kicked more like it). In class i pair up with Lu Bing to stretch before class, we pair up to do applications together, and unfortunately for me we pair up for power stretching. I like pairing up with him. I train harder when we pair up. Master has even made him do power training me, Sam, and Mathieu do. Since Mathieu went home for a month, its only been Sam and I. Having Lu Bing around is a high moral booster.

Before he left back in November, we did a lot of take down training together. More like getting my butt thrown on the ground training. He would show me a couple moves and then i would practice on him and he would just throw me down. Well on Tuesday we practiced take downs again. We both have been training for 10 months, he still has more years of experience than me but i think i might have gain some experience over this past year as well. So when we began doing take downs, nothing changed...he kept taking me down. Then he would correct what i did wrong, so i would try again and would still get taken down! I told him, "Teach me!" He laughed and said, "I teach you this," and he motioned taking someone down. I did not understand but then i figured it out. He is teaching me by taking ME down again...and again! I got up from the floor and tried to take him down again...and again! But i would use the techniques i learned and the ones he taught me. I got pretty close to taking him down! I could tell he was using 100% of his strength against me. Every time i almost took him down he would flip out or do some move to take me down. Id yell and get back up and try again. Finally after almost an hour of being taken down, after being taken down 200 times, i FINALLY took him down! It was only once but hey i never took him down last year! Maybe i am getting stronger!

He is here for 9 months then he goes home for 3 months around Chinese new year. So if i do come back next year we can train together again. But until i leave we will be training constantly. In return for all the extra training he is giving me, he asked me to teach him guitar. I was shocked and i learned here so i am not that good but i guess i can try to teach him for all the work he is putting in training me. So this past week i gave him some basic lessons on cords and strumming. I even let him take my guitar to his room in the village so he can practice. I at least owe him to teach him a song or two so i am glad i have a chance to make it up to him.

-Scott

On International Business

Trip to Weifang
September 28, 2011
On Saturday i went on a trip with Brittany to a town called Weifang. Reason being, my father wanted me to check out a bbq smoker factory there before he bought one. He said its in the same province as me so i thought it should be close. Turns out it is 4 hours away by bus. So on a Saturday I asked Brittany if she wanted to keep me company for this little adventure and we got on a bus in Yantai around 2pm. We headed to the factory. I made contact with the factory and a lady who spoke English told me what ticket to buy and said go to the bus station. After about 4 hours of sitting on a bus we get to the last stop which was the Weifang bus station. Its about 6pm and the lady said she will meet us at 6:10. So we waited and she called saying she is here and she is holding a red paper in the air. 

We looked all over the station...could not find her. Called her back and told her we could not find her. She kept repeating that she is in the station and was holding a RED paper. I told her i do not see anyone holding any paper. Then she started speaking in Chinese and i could not understand and said, "What?" She would say, "Ummm." And start repeating what bus station she was in and said to meet us at some super market. By now i was getting a little irritated. I told her hang on i will have my Chinese friend from school call her and tell her we will meet her in the front of the station. I walked a bit out front to see if she was there and taxi drivers would come up asking if i wanted a ride. I told them no and walked inside. I walked in and out of the station a few times while i waited. 

Finally i decided that i should take a picture of the name of the station in Chinese characters. So when i went outside again, i was surrounded by 4 Chinese taxi drivers. All started yelling in my ear asking if i needed a taxi...AGAIN. I was a little irritated from all the events that were going on and said, "Stop yelling in my ear, i will punch you in the face." (Some bad words left out). I did not look at any of them while i said that because i was focusing on taking the picture but they seemed to leave me alone after that. I got a call from my friend and she told me that the lady wanted us to get off at a Bus STOP not the bus STATION. The bad news was the Bus stop is about 2 hours by bus away from the station. The lady told my friend that she wants us to take a bus in the morning to meet her since the factory closed in a couple hours. I told my friend to call her back and tell her in Chinese that we have to go back to school on Sunday so we cant make it and will try again another weekend.

We walk a bit down the road to find some food and see a tourist hotel. It was named the FUKUN Hotel. Found some place to eat, stayed the night at the hotel, then headed back to the station to get a bus back to yantai. Took a 12pm bus back to yantai. The bus back was kind of dirty and when the ticket guy came around he took our tickets then said in Chinese, "Yantai? That bus over there. Follow me." Apparently the Yantai bus was not docked on the right numbered platform and we almost went somewhere else. Could of been very bad. Got back to the academy after dinner in Yantai around 7pm. Rested and got ready for another week of training.

Will try again next weekend but i will make some preparations before hand.

-Scott

Rosh Hashana in China

Rosh Hashana
October 8 2011

Ever since i had that one Shabbat dinner with Amitai and Ariel (mentioned in a couple blogs ago), we say prayers every Friday now at dinner. Yesterday was our Rosh Hashanah dinner. For those who have no clue what Rosh Hashanah is, it is the New Year for the Jewish calendar. Amitai and I have been working out different prayers to say, buying food for the prayers, and I even put in a little work researching the different prayers to put a little spiel together to explain their meaning.

A few friends who weren’t Jewish wanted to go to dinner with us as well. Only problem was we could not do the service in the dinning hall, since it was too noisy. Amitai wanted to ask the Shifu's if we can use their dining room but i said ‘NO WAY!’ I told him we should go to the restaurant down the road, get a private room, and do the service there. It was a great idea. About 8 people were attending the service. The people were me, Amitai, Ariel, Sam my roommate (us four are the only jews here), then Brittany wanted to go, as well as Sam number 2, Bart, and Richard...Diane came late but she just wanted to eat with us.

At 6pm on Wednesday we all met up, nicely dressed, and ready to celebrate the New Year. We walked down to the restaurant and then Amitai began pulling out different fruits and stuff for the service. The first prayer was for the wine. We got a cheap small bottle for the toasting and prayer at the “Everything Shop”. For the people who did not want wine, we got grape juice. We looked everywhere for the dark purple type of grape juice but they only had green clear juice. Amitai said, "Its our service, who cares!" So we bought it.

Before we said the prayer i said a few words. I asked if everyone knew what Rosh Hashanah is. Of course the 4 non jews did not know, so i explained to them that it’s the New year. On this day it’s the time to say sorry to all the loved ones and friends you may have wronged in the past year. You repent for the sins you made so you can start this NEW YEAR fresh and clean. After a few more words about the holiday i explained how the service will work and Amitai took lead from there. He read a prayer book his family sent him for Rosh Hashanah. They also sent a few Kippahs that everyone wore. After he said the prayer we all said Amen and L'cheyim! Then after that we did the prayer for washing out hands. I have only done this prayer once (I believe it was when I was in Israel so it was pretty new to me as well). Then it was time to say the Motzi. We did not have any bread for the 'Blessing of the Bread' so few guys ran to the everything store next door to buy some. When they came back we continued the service. Then we said a prayer for each fruit Amitai bought. I never done Rosh Hashanah like this before. Amitai got dates, peas, pomegranates, and of course apples and honey. He was missing a couple things but we said the prayer anyways.

He wrote the Hebrew prayers out in English letters (transliteration?) so everyone at the table could read a prayer...or try their best to say it. After each prayer Amitai explained why we ate that fruit. I told him i would say the prayer for the apple and honey so I went second to last. When it got to my turn i read the prayer, and everyone ate apples dipped in honey. I explained why we do this crazy thing. I told them that Honey represents the sweet new year to come. Then Ariel was last and read the prayer for the fish head. We say that prayer because we want to be like the head not the tail. Head being the beginning to everything and the tail meaning the end.

After all the prayers have been said, we ate dinner that we ordered at the restaurant. Amitai asked me how i usually spent Rosh Hashanah back home. I told him for the past 14 years i spent it in temple, ditching school, spending all day in temple, and then we do the repenting of our sins at a lake to ask God for forgiveness. At that point everyone went around the room saying ‘sorry’ to one another. I looked around and said, "Sam i am sorry for all the times I picked on you. Bart I am sorry I tease you in class all the time". I went around the room like that and everyone was laughing having a good time. Then i asked how Amitai and Ariel celebrated in Israel. They both said they are not very religious so they never went to temple. Amitai would go to temple on Yom Kippur with his dad for the last two hours but that was it. Rosh Hashanah was a big party in Israel. Richard said, "He never expected to celebrate Jewish New Year in CHINA!" We all agreed to that. Then he said, "Let’s all go to Israel and celebrate Buddhism!" Maybe one day.

When we all came back to the academy, Amitai said we should give Master Guo some apples and honey. So i asked for an extra Kippah, a knife, a apple, and honey. Told Diane to translate for us, and we went into shifu's office. Diane told him it was our new year and a tradition was to eat Apples and Honey. I gave him a Kippah to wear and he laughed. He said it’s a hat that his baby son could wear. Then we asked if he wanted to try apple and honey. He said ok. I cut him a small piece and put a little honey on it. It looked at it like it was an Alien, tried it, and made a weird face. It was hilarious. He said it was a weird taste. Then i asked if we can take a picture all together. Shifu did not want to wear the hat because he felt silly so we said its ok and took a picture.

That night i began thinking about the past year. In 12 days i will have spent a total year here in China. I cannot believe how fast time flies by and how quickly friendships are made. I cannot think how life will be back home, if it will be normal or will it feel weird because I am so used to the life here. Only one thing to do, thank God for the good year we all have had and pray to have another good year.

L'Shana Tova

-Scott