Fall is coming!

It's still pretty hot and the school is crowded but there's an end in sight. Some of the small kids have already left to go back home in time for school and more and more people will do the same. The feel of training in the fall is so much nicer. Cool nights and warm days are so comfortable. It's still good for stretching but it's not so draining just to exist. I think everyone is feeling it, our attitudes seem to be improving and everyone is more happy to go to class and train. Yay!

We're pretty close to finishing tai ji sword. A pretty long but totally awesome form that I really enjoy practicing.

My hip is getting better, I can do almost everything I normally do again. I'm glad it's happening relatively quickly.

Friday morning during our stretch part of class I hurt the tendon in the front of my left hip. Strangely, I was stretching the hamstring on that side and I kinda squished the tendon inside my hip joint somehow. Sounds weird I know but it's actually a fairly common injury here. Well anyway, it's nothing too serious but it is annoying. I have to take it easy on the stretching now, which is the only good thing about hot weather training. I also have to be careful and kick slowly and gently for a while. Overall though it's not too much of a problem now. Sleeping is when it bothers me the most, it gets stiff and starts aching and sometimes wakes me up. I've gone for a painful massage and have another planned for this afternoon so hopefully it'll heal quickly. I was just thinking about a week and a half ago that it had been a really long time since I'd had an injury so I guess I jinxed myself.

Not much to say this week. The weather is hot and sticky. Humidity today is 100% according to the weather page. gross. Mel got a heat rash on her belly. We've started taking around 3 showers a day too. I really can't wait until summer is over. Mom and Dad will be here in a month and a half and I'm REALLY excited!

We started leaning tai chi sword (taiji jian) this week and I love it! I've been wanting to learn this form for ages, watching jealously as foreign student after foreign student in the free class learns it. Well now it's our turn and even though we've just begun, it's totally awesome so far.

Here is the web address for the video on youtube. It's not the whole form but you'll get the jist of it:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8FTg-d5JVY