Well I made it. Got home on the 24th at around 2 am and spent the next several days with family doing the christmas thing and catching up on some zzzz's. Indoor heating is amazing, you have no idea how nice it feels to walk around the house in only 1 pair of socks...sometimes I don't even wear a sweater! I'm really enjoying relaxing and taking it easy for now. The Ultimate Black Belt Test is almost over and I've accomplished a lot. Did I succeed in every goal? Nope, but I learned so much about myself in the process and grew so much as a martial artist and a human being that the goals themselves have become secondary. I still plan to blog often, I'll be in China and need to keep everyone posted on what I'm up to. So for the folks out there who are regular readers, I'll still try to keep it entertaining. Thanks to everyone who's been there for me offering me support this year, I appreciate it more than I can say.

Yesterday was the first day of our break and it felt soooo good to sleep in and bum around all day. It's funny though because today we leave on the train to Beijing and we're packing and cleaning but what I really want to do is practice! I guess it's really become a part of my daily routine and having more than one day off at a time seems really strange. I'm so excited to hang out in a heated house with my family and eat delicious home-cooked food! I don't look forward to the long train and plane rides but once we get home I'm going to be really stoked.

Not much else to say....in a few hours we'll be on our way home.

I don't have a whole lot to say this week. It's almost break time and I'm winding down. Still training hard but mentally most of my focus is on the break. I'm so looking forward to some serious rest but I'm also determined not to lose momentum. I've gotten pretty used to demanding practice every day and I don't want to get lazy. That'd just make it even harder when we start up again. So I have a few things I'll be working on over the next month and a half to keep me limber and on top of my game, qi gong, stretching, and of course training with my silent river kung fu family.

Wow It's hard to believe that it's December already. Our break starts in 16 days and it seems like time has really flown by these past few months. We finished Xuen Gong Chuan 1,2, and 3 and now we're taking some time to practice and polish them before the break. I'm glad because even though I know the forms, I still feel like they need a lot of work. I'm still getting used to the style differences from my training at home and constantly need to remind myself to make the movements bigger. The Xuan Gong system is a long fist system and pretty different from what I've trained in the past. For those of you at home it's more similar to Lao Gar or Mu long koon. We also practice as a group a lot and need to work on staying together and in proper lines before it'll look decent.

I'm looking forward to resting and especially to coming home but it also seems really strange that it's break time already. We're making good progress so we definitely have time for a break but I'm nervous about what the training will be like when we get back. I'm going to keep stretching and stuff while I'm home but I still hope that Sifu will ease us back into training and not try to kill us right off the bat.

UBBT goals are going alright. I'm looking forward to getting in some sparring rounds while I'm home so get ready everyone!