We finished learning Eight Immortals Sword this week and it is AMAZING!
















I Love The Sword!!! Yaaaarg!

3 weeks down and I'm already tired. haha.

Due to chinese new year we had an 8 day training week last week and it was pretty exhausting. Even after the day off yesterday, my body is super fatigued, especially the legs. I know kung fu is generally a leg workout but it's times like these that you really get to experience what that feels like. This is why I'll never have skinny thighs.

We're learning a cool form now. Eight Immortals sword. It's very long and tricky but so much fun!

I finished my first week of training and then we got 4 days off for Chinese New year. It was nice. I kind of wish I could have saved those days for the middle of summer when I really need then though. I just had over a month off so I would have been content to just train as usual. Oh well, I don't want to complain about having time off!

It's been a pretty smooth transition this year so far. Shifu hasn't been around so we are left to our own devices a little which is so nice. Mel had the brilliant idea to bring back a foam roller for self-massage and it's already been totally worth it. I've been rolling my quadriceps and although it's pretty uncomfortable, it's kept me from getting too sore. There's just one area that I can't massage with the roller, neck/shoulder area. That's what friends are for though right! haha.

I really gained some perspective over the break and I feel so much more confident about my future return to Canada now. I know what I want to do and though there are still lots of details to figure out, it's going to be such a time of personal growth. I look forward to it. I still have another year and a half here that I need to focus on but it feels easier to do that when I'm feeling so positive about the future.

After 6 weeks of resting I've returned to Wudang and to training. The time at home was amazing, I ate a ton, rested and slept, and spent time with the people I love. It's been great. Though it was hard to leave I've made it back and I'm relieved to be here. It feels good to move again.

The return trip was ok. We're both pretty jet-lagged though which usually only happens when traveling east so I'm surprised. We always seem to end up sitting near babies on the plane, that might have something to do with it.

With Chinese New Year coming up and most of the Chinese students gone, we're getting lots of time to practice and review on our own so I'm already really enjoying that. It's nice when you're self-directed too because you can ease back into training a little more gradually and take it easy for a few days.

We just finished booking all our tickets for the trip home. We had the Shanghai to home booked a few weeks ago but now we've got the Chinese leg of the trip taken care of too. We have to stay an extra night in Shanghai to save money (440 CNY each) but that's fine. Less time to pack but more time for travel should make the process a little easier, hopefully. This summer when I had to renew my passport I also realized something about Shanghai, they have good bread. Sandwiches, croissants, bagels, pizza too. Most of China has really weird imitations of western style breads, super sweet and fluffy, like crappy cake. Maybe it's due to the french influences in Shanghai but they know what real bread is.  I pretty much have a one track mind about travelling now. What to eat? That's what I want to know. Shanghai is Pete's Tex Mex, Vancouver airport I've already decided to get a bagel with cream cheese ASAP. Mom's making chili and cornbread for dinner the first night. First breakfast is pancakes with maple syrup. Oh man! Only 2 more weeks! Mel and I have already been looking up recipes for what we're going to make at home too. yum.....

One thing that I'm grateful for is that living in China has given me an iron stomach. At first eating the food here was rough, I got sick a lot and when I ate western food, I got sick again. It was a sad time. Now I can eat almost anything as long as I don't stuff myself too much. I can't drink an entire movie sized root beer with ice though. I learned that one last year! haha. There is one thing I know I won't be eating at all this break.....white rice!

We're back into training normally now. We spent the past week reviewing our forms and now we're going to start the 2nd half of the staff form. It's very long so they teach it in 2 sections. Saturday I hurt my knee a little so I've had to take it easy and wear a knee brace again. I forgot how much it sucks! It's feeling better now though and I'll be careful not to push it too quickly. I really want to be able to enjoy these last 3 weeks. Only 3 weeks until the break! Yay!!!!!

Today I had to do some filming for T.V. which I normally don't like but this time it ended up being pretty cool. We went up to the 5 dragon temple which is not a tourist spot (yet) and still has all the old original buildings. It's so beautiful and peaceful there. I was also doing the filming the our Grandmaster so I got to spend some time around him without huge crowds of people all over the place. It was really nice, he's so sweet. I'm sure his students would laugh to hear me describe him like that but in accordance with Chinese tradition we call him 'grandpa' and that's really the way I feel around him.....like maybe he'll reach into his pocket and pull out a Werther's Original!

Overall I had a great day.