It's almost the end of February already! Where does the time go? Somehow I've managed to get through a whole 3 weeks of training and I'm still happy to go to class. haha.

Things are going quite well though. We've started learning Dragon Fist bum bum buuum! We're about a third of the way through it and although it's a form that requires a lot of juice to get through, it's really fun. There is a lot of unique body techniques that are really cool looking and also difficult. Here is the link to a video of one of our older kung fu brothers performing the form several years ago. He's really good at it, check out his stances! It's too bad the video cuts out before the end of the form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cobcTvougfo

When we were in Hawaii I got a really nice ukulele and I've been learning to play that. I like! Easier to learn than the guitar and much more portable, plus I think the ukulele sound is really cute. I think I'll be spending a good portion of my free time this year on it.

Back at the School

After a truly wonderful break we're back in Wudang. This break felt almost like 2 breaks, we got to go home fro Christmas and see our loved ones, then we got to go to Hawaii for 2 weeks. It was amazing. I highly recommend the island of Kauai for anyone looking for a laid back place with gorgeous natural scenery and tons of outdoor activities to do. I had so much fun and I didn't want to leave.

On our way back we stopped in Hong Kong for a few days to get our Chinese visas which ended up being really crazy and stressful. Although Wudang was freezing cold the day we got back we were so relieved to be finished with all that visas, catching flights stuff that it felt good to finally arrive.

Shifu has been surprisingly gentle with us this past week. He's been mostly letting us practice on our own and giving us a few tips on how to build our stamina back up. He's easing us back into practice in a way he's never done before. Last year we did frog jumps, duck walking, and sprints every single day for the first week. We all could hardly walk up or down the stairs. This year has been nice. Of course we're still sore, it's to be expected but overall, it's been a really nice transition.

The other day he was giving a few of us some help with our tai chi, pointing out a few mistakes and polishing it a bit. He said we've reached a level where he can get into the details more and really help us perfect our form. I'm excited about that, I hope we spend some time working on that stuff over the next year.

I already miss my parents and it's pretty cold here but it feels good to train again and things are going well so far. It's been a good week.