I bought our train tickets today! We leave here on Thursday afternoon and will be home on the 20th. yay!

Just having possession of the tickets makes our departure seem that much sooner. I'm really excited to be going home. At this time of year we're all pretty ready to get the heck out of here. A month or so of rest is just what I need to get me excited about this place again.

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.

This week was very...different. We trained normally one day, did a short T.V. demonstration the next, then for the following 2 days we were part of an "audience" in a Chinese martial arts movie being made here in Wudang. It was pretty boring actually, just sitting there in the cold for about 8 hours pretending to be interested in the cheesy fight scenes being acted out onstage. Then we trained normally again on Tuesday but I think we all felt really weird and out of sorts from the drastic change in activity level. Wednesday we had to get up and get ready for another performance on the mountain. We waited for the bus to come pick us up for over an hour and then finally just left, in classic organized Chinese showbiz style, they didn't have the transportation worked out properly ahead of time. Then on Thursday (our day "off") we had to get up early and go to the temple for an exchange with some Canadian tourists. These exchanges are when a group shows up with martial arts background and we take turns showing each other forms and visit for a while, a pretty fun activity actually when it's not on the day off. This morning we were in the middle of our early morning practice when we were told to be ready to leave in 15 minutes for another day in the "audience". sigh. Off we went for another long day.

On top of all of that, the power was out for one day and then the following day our internet stopped working for 3 days. It finally got fixed this afternoon.

What a week! Craziness!

Monk spade.......tired.....only 1 month left......

Well this week has been grueling. I'm hoping I'll continue to get better and stronger and that the hard part is over.....yeah.

Not much else to say this time. Maybe next week will be a little more exciting.

Monk Spade

This week we started learning the monk spade (fangbian chan) basics and the form. We started by building them last Thursday. It was a lot of work but a pretty fun process all things considered. When we bought them we each got a hardwood staff as well as the head and the base. We just had to cut the staff to size and then shape the ends so they were tapered to fit inside the shovel and base. Then we nailed them together. It was time consuming but Shifu was helping us and gave us lots of good advice.

Then it rained so a few days later we started practicing it. It is really challenging! I estimate it weighs about 20 pounds or so and it's difficult to maneuver. I thought I was pretty strong for my size but after the first day I was feeling really disappointed in myself. It seemed like it was so much easier for everyone else (plus my shoulder was extremely sore) and I wasn't too happy. I guess I have a lot of room for improvement but the second day was a bit better. I started to understand the technique so I didn't have to use as much brute strength. It's still definitely not easy though. Shifu was having a few laughs at the faces I was making as we were practicing. He said it'll take a lot of work for my arms to get strong enough to do the form well but I kind of expected that would be the case anyway. I really hope this week is better, luckily I have the break to look forward to!

If you want to learn more about the Wudang Monk Spade check out the schools page:

http://www.wudanggongfu.com/kungfu/monkspade.htm

They've been doing renovations at the temple we train at for a few years already but this week they did something kinda cool. I don't know what it means but they put these brass knobs all over the big red doors we go through each day. They certainly look much more impressive now! I keep meaning to ask Shifu what they're for but I've forgotten in all the excitement of halloween....


We had a really fun Halloween party here with lots of fun and games. Everyone had a really great time. There were activities like pumpkin carving, face painting, mask making, games, and then we danced to some awesome music played by a D.J. who happens to be training here right now. Though the Chinese students thought it was a little strange, they seemed to really enjoy it. Even shifu scratched on the turntables for a while and played a little. It was definitely the best party we've had here by far.

These are a few photos from the competition a few weeks ago. Me, Mel, mom, and dad cheering everyone on and one of me helping out in the pre-start mayhem. I was sure glad to have my parents there, it made the whole thing a lot more fun!