On Sunday we finished learning monk spade, I was pretty happy about it. We have still been practicing it almost every day and I think I am continuing to get stronger and stronger. It's good. Shifu is also gone to Beijing for about a week so another one of the coaches is in charge of our class and I'm really enjoying it. He corrects us but doesn't push us too much (this close to the break, we're all just trying to get through these last weeks) and when we practice monk spade he counts each movement instead of having us do it in sections.
To explain, when we practice forms as a group, we do them either counting while focusing on the correct movement, or in sections while we try to go really fast and stay together as a group. When shifu was teaching us the monk spade form he started teaching us the sections and pushing us to go faster right away. It was really difficult for me and the other females in the class. I was just barely able to do the movements with the heavy spade and I was trying to keep up with the guys, some of which were ridiculously fast right off the bat. I found it really discouraging, in fact I cried in class the second day we tried doing it fast. I don't usually feel jealous or resentful of the males in the class, I hold my own pretty well most of the time despite their strength but lately that's changed. I have been trying my very best and using every ounce of power in my body and they are still way faster than me. It even LOOKS easier when they do it. It's been extremely challenging for me and I find myself really resenting the guys. I don't want to hear anything about them being tired or sore, it just makes me want to punch them in the face! It doesn't help that I'm getting kind of sick of them in general, I'm not going to miss them over the break that's for sure!
Anyway, our coach has been really nice to us and I'm still improving but I'm really looking forward to going home soon. It's getting harder and harder to concentrate.
