It's been so nice to be here training without having a 'class' like I usually do. There's still about half of us here but we've been doing lots of solitary training, which I love. I think doing forms as a group really did help me to get faster but at this point, I think they do more harm than good. We've all developed bad habits (sloppy movements) that need to be corrected and I'm just starting to really make the forms my own and fully express their flavours. I'll never move the way shifu does so trying to copy him exactly is an exercise in frustration. I need to just find my style and make it great. So anyway, that's mostly what I've been working on. I'm also getting ready to leave here (eeeee, one week) and so I'm organizing and tying up loose ends.

About 2 weeks ago I started painting lessons. My teacher is this tiny old Chinese man who is very talented and also very sweet. I've really been enjoying it, it's challenging but not too hard and the time just flies by when I'm there. So far I've painted a pine tree, some bamboo, and another scene with mountains and another tree. Good times.