It has been just 4 days of training since I returned to China and I am in more pain than I endured during the whole years’ worth of time I spent here before. My back aches, my knees hurt, I have massive shin splints in both legs, and that all happened very quickly. Now, I stayed in shape during the months I spent back home. I attended a gym and even gained 25 pounds of muscle with the help of Manuel,  a personal fitness trainer at24 hour Fitness in Stockton.  I trained with Manuel for the last 6 weeks right before I left for China.. 


Even with that training I did at home, I am in massive PAIN! The extra muscles did come in handy.  I can do more stuff like pushups and the strength exercises but no amount of training you do elsewhere can prepare you for this intensive training. One reason I felt more sore than usual is that I started extra training from almost the minute I got back to the academy.  From training day 1 on Friday I began to practice my forms because shifu was going to check. Minor details had to be fixed but over all I was still ok with my forms. 


When it was time for mountain run I did not remember the walk to the mountain being this hard. I was exhausted by the time I reached the temple…I felt like a NEWBIE! But when I began my usual routine of bear crawls and hoping up the stairs, the strength I obtained back home helped incredibly. 


On the weekend I went into town bought a fridge, water cooler, some warm clothes because it was freezing here (I just packed for summer time) and other stuff to get used to the PAIN again. On Sunday Sam and I had dinner down the road to celebrate Passover. Monday came and it was time for more…PAIN. Reviewed more forms and when it was time for conditioning, Sam and I partnered up with a couple of new guys in class. 


Conditioning new guys is fun and entertaining. Long story short we conditioned them pretty hard. I told them, more pain you feel here the less you will experience out on the street. It’s true! 


As the week continued the PAIN didn’t cease. Since I came back, Master is making Liu Bin, Sam, Mathieu, and me start extra power training (the sprints and squats plus extra practice on our forms). And at night, Sam and I do extra weight lifting to get in good shape. We do all this while the rest of the people here at the academy are resting and recuperating for the next training day.   


This weekend is the temple performance and Shifu asked me to do my wingchun form. On Tuesday night the Shifus called everyone who was doing a form to rehearse. When I went to do my form, Xiangshifu called me FAT! When I couldn’t bend my arm as much, due to the fact I have more bicep muscle, my own shifu called me fat as well. I was shocked! I said, “NO! More power shifu,” while I flexed my muscle. I’m not too sure they are convinced. I told Liu Bin and he laughed and agreed with me that I am stronger not fat. It’s the middle of the week and I am in a great deal of pain. Hopefully it is because I’m getting back into the routine and not my body saying, “Hey dork, welcome back to HELL!”

My Long Sword form

And I’m Back At the Academy to Continue the Adventure

Saying goodbye is the worst part. It was finally time for me to go back to China to continue my training.



I spent 6 months back home in the USA going to school, work, being with friends and family. But finally it was the day of my flight back to China and I found that it was very hard to hug my loved ones goodbye and leave my home once again. The flight didn’t make it any easier. My connecting flight to Yantai was canceled so I had to stay overnight in Shanghai. Mom told me that the airlines would provide a free hotel room for me that night. So when I flew into Canada after flight #1, I checked on this free hotel room but my airlines told me they have no record of my hotel voucher. That kind of made things a bit irritating but worse case would be to sleep in the airport from 4pm-10am and that did not sound too bad. I got on flight #2, the 12 hour plane ride from Vancouver, Canada to Shanghai. Worst ride ever. I boarded the plane and was assigned to sit next to an older Chinese lady who hogged the middle arm rest and even leaned towards my side.



After 20 minutes the stewardess went on the speaker phone explaining how the plane is being refueled. After another 40 minutes pass and the plane started to make a beeping noise. The stewardess went back on the speaker and said, “Sorry, the plane had a mechanical failure and is being fixed.” I have never heard that before on a plane ride, didn’t help the trip much either. An hour and a half passes and the plane started to move to take off. I couldn’t get much sleep due to the fact I thought the plane would crash and the whole time frame threw me off as well. After about 9 hours of flight, the beeping resumed…I thought to myself, “Was that mechanical failure beeping?” It finally stopped beeping after 20 minutes and I tried not to think about it. I watched a few Disney movies and tried to sleep to make time faster but the chair and lady did not allow me to find a position of comfort. The food they handed out was not good either which only made my stomach hurt. I finally got to doze off to sleep when I was woken up by the plane shaking and breaking from the landing. I woke thinking we crashed!



When we got off the plane, I went to claim my luggage and talk to the airlines. I got my stuff and tried to find my airline. I did not see it anywhere so I thought it would be smart to find an information desk and ask them. Well after walking back and forth about 4 times I couldn’t find the info desk and decided to go to the second floor. I saw the ticket sign and headed over. During this whole search for the airlines, the smell of the airport, the noise, and the pushing and shoving of rushed Chinese people did not help my state of mind. I slowly began to turn into my sister…who cussed out the Chinese people who pissed her off, but I calmed myself down and went to speak to my airline. I went to the first desk who said to speak to the desk a few feet down, the second desk said to speak to another desk a few feet down as well, and before I would allow history to repeat itself, I went to the airline supervisor.



After about 10 minutes of him making calls, checking papers, and checking my passport, he got me someone who would take me to my hotel. While I waited for the hotel shuttle with a few other passengers, a Canadian guy named Karma complimented me on my tattoo. He mentioned how he saw my tat and remembered me from the plane ride from Canada. This guy was a true Canadian, meaning he ended about every sentence with “Eh”, super cheerful and polite...even to the rude Chinese people, and we chatted about his travel plans and my academy plans. We chatted on the bus ride to the hotel and I helped him order some food from the counter. I said goodbye and went to my room. A nice shower, pillows, and a bed was perfect/needed after traveling since 5am that morning. Tomorrow I head to the school. Not quite sure how I feel. Excited, happy, nervous, and sad but I’m half way done and aiming to finish this adventure.

My first meal back in China, Shanghai Airport

Welcome Back

The next day I got a shuttle and went to Shanghai airport. Checked in pretty easily and boarded my plane back to the “escape from reality world”. But I was feeling pretty nervous. Maybe it was a mix of being nervous from thinking of being in pain from the hard training again or nervous about disappointing Shifu since I haven’t actually trained as intense back home.   At the same time, I was also feeling excitement.  Liu Bin emailed me about picking me up at the airport so I was pretty excited about that plus seeing all my old friends. I couldn’t shake the sad feeling I got when I thought about saying goodbye to family and friends, but had to keep going. 

Got to airport and a translator was there to get me and to pick up a new student so there was no room for Liu Bin. It was break time when I arrived at the Academy and I immediately ran around saying hi to Sam and everyone. It was almost time for everyone to go back to class when I saw shifu and Liu Bin. They had a line up to welcome me back and then started class. I asked shifu if I could skip class and unpack and he allowed it. 

After class a translator found me and told me that shifu invited me to dinner to meet his 'kung fu brother' and as a welcome back dinner for me. Only “family” went to this dinner which included, Shifu, Liu Bin, Masters Kung Fu brother, Me, Master Xiang, Jack (head masters brother), and a translator. At dinner Shifu told me how impressed he is with my Wingchun and I told him how I was teaching Wing Chun back home. It was then that Shifu told me he had volunteered me to perform with the other Masters, Liu Bin, and other students at the temple in 10 days. I was shocked but hey I’m back and shifu is putting me to work. 

Then Shifu told me there is a Chinese tradition to cheers each guest so Liu Bin and I did it together by starting with Shibu (master’s older kungfu brother) we cheered glasses and drank, and then Jack, then XiangShifu, and then we sat back down. After that Sarah the translator went home and we continued dinner. I didn’t quite understand what they were saying but shifu would talk to me in English saying random things to let me feel like I haven’t been forgotten. After dinner we walked back to the academy and I felt very safe walking with 4 Kung fu masters and my elder kungfu brother. Had a long day and knocked out before 9.