So we had a talk with Shifu 2 days ago and asked him about our last 6 months here. It went a bit badly at first but eventually we came to an understanding and I think everyone felt better afterwards. I said I'd really like to practice on my own more and focus on myself more than the group stuff and really just try to enjoy the time we have left here and he gave me the go-ahead. He said he wanted us to be happy and healthy. So now I have a whole 6 months to devote to my own training goals and I'm really excited. I may still have a few questions I need to ask him but I'll be left to figure a lot out by myself. I think this will be an important step on the road to becoming a master myself. I'm really looking forward to it, it's been a long time since I felt this positive about being here. It's such a nice change.

Yay!

It's hard to think of anything to say that's not just a complaint about how cold it is in my room.


The countdown is down to 6 and a half months left.


Training has been nice (other than the icyness) in that we've been able to practice solo rather than doing group forms most of the time. I always love that. I really hope it continues for the rest of the 6 program.


I got a really cool calligraphy scroll from my painting teacher, it says "sword spirit" and it's pretty awesome. He is such a nice man too. It's so nice to have so much positive feedback.


Soon the chinese kids will be back from their break. Nothing against them personally, but I really prefer how peaceful the school and training is when they're not around. It's so much quieter at night when I'm trying to sleep too.

That is all.

It's gotten very cold, it's been snowing for 2 days and we're back to seeing our breath in our room again. That means it's chilly.

Last week we took a little trip to the city and went to an unexpectedly interesting local museum, stayed overnight in a lovely hotel, ate japanese food, and took lots of baths. It was really nice, in fact, I wish I was there right now sitting in a nice, hot bath. I'd been having some pain in my hip that I just couldn't get rid of, well 3 baths took care of it. It is amazing what a hot bath can do, don't take your bathtubs for granted people!

While we were in the big city, we went to a supermarket and picked up a box of delicious chocolate cappuccino truffles (imported from Italy). What were they doing in the middle of nowhere China you ask? I have no idea....but I sure am glad to have them. I'm eating one right now and the texture is divine, melt-in-your-mouth decadence. Luxuries like this become otherworldly here. In eating one of these truffles, I really do enter an altered state of consciousness. My cup of morning coffee is like that too. We brought the beans from home, sometimes we get them sent. We grind them in a crappy blender, and brew them in a really nice insulated french press that a friend gave us and then each morning have a life-changing cup of real, good coffee. I like coffee, but at home I could easily go without for a few days and I do, but here..... it becomes nectar of the gods!

So, even with snow falling, 4 layers of clothes on indoors, and only enough hot water to wash my hair or my body (but not both), I'm doing alright.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. I hope this year turns out well for us all.

We had so many fireworks that it was hazy and foggy for 2 days afterwards. I hope everyone at home celebrated in much more environmentally friendly ways. haha.

Last fall I started taking chinese ink painting classes. The teacher is a local artist who teaches painting and chinese calligraphy to quite a few students at our school. I started on a bit of a lark with zero art experience beyond childhood crayon drawings but ended up loving it! I wrote a little about it last year.

When I first came here, I knew almost nothing about daoism (taoism...whatever) and honestly it wasn't what interested me the most. I love kung fu and the physical side of things is what appealed. Over the years however, things have changed. I still love to practice kung fu, tai ji, etc but now I also love learning about daoist philosophy, chanting the daoist chants, and.....painting. It may seem strange but Chinese culture is all kind of mixed up together so that daoism influences music, which influences tea culture, which influences chinese medicine, which influences buddhism, and so on and so on forever. It makes attempting to learn more about this stuff both challenging and so very interesting. Anyway, I really feel like my painting teacher (who lived in a daoist temple when he was younger) helps me to take a love and reverence for nature and put it to paper. Somehow, painting a tree, or some mountains, I really feel a connection with nature that seems extraordinary. It's changed the way I interact with my environment. I don't mean to belittle the education I've received here, but these handful of painting classes have helped me to understand daoism more than any lecture that Shifu has given or any well-written book I've read. I don't know why, I can barely even start to explain how it feels, but I'm so very glad I decided to give painting a try.

All I can say about this week is that I will never again take indoor heating for granted.

The first week back is done. It rained a little but for the rest of the time it's been sunny and not super cold.

The first few days of training were brutal! I forget how hard we work most of the time. After your body adapts to the routine, it starts to feel pretty easy, relatively speaking, and you forget that it actually takes a lot of strength, stamina, etc to get through an average day here. Well after 2 months off, I've been unpleasantly reminded. By the 4th day or so though, it's already started to get better and I feel less like a clumsy elephant.

There are a few things that I really missed, noodle soup for breakfast, how peaceful the temple can be on a weekday morning (when there aren't hundreds of tourists), and how my body feels when I'm always moving it. There are lots of things that I can't stand though, but now I can count down, only 8 months....only 8 months....

Feels so good!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW7XMWLnizw