This week not much happened. I was pretty tired for our Wednesday evaluation so I just went with the old stand by sword form that I like. It's hard to hold on to a weapon when the weather is so cold though, I dealt myself a glancing blow to the forehead at one point! Luckily I don't think Shifu noticed and it wasn't painful, just a little silly. Here's a picture of me.

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.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Spending a lot of time with family here and it's so relaxing. I really missed them in China.

Last night I went to Silent River kung fu to say hello and train a little. It is so great that even after not seeing them for a whole year it feels like no time has passed at all. Everyone there is so welcoming and positive, it feels like a real family. I'm always so happy to come home for a visit. We are so lucky to have such a great place to train. I hope everyone realizes that.

I leave for the train in one hour!

20 hours on the train, 2 nights in Beijing, 12 hour flight, 2 nights in Vancouver, then.....

HOME

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.