wushuzilla

I am typing this from Narita Airport in Japan while we wait for our connecting flight to L.A. via Honolulu.  Since our Beijing time has come to an end I wanted to post up some photos and experiences that we had here in Beijing during the last 10 days.  Got to see a bunch of people, although not as many as I thought I might.  But overall it was a positive experience and a good chance to get some things on track before heading off to the U.S.  So, here are some photo highlights for your enjoyment:

Wang Fu Jing’s Night Food Market (7/16)

 

Ruhi in Wang Fu Jing (7/16)

 

I’m excited to be in Beijing! Taken in Wang Fu Jing (7/16)

  

This is the mother of a friend who studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU or “Bei Wai”).  She was staying in the same apartment as us while she was there, but after a few days she had to return home to Malaysia. (7/19)

And this is her daughter, who’s name I can say but can not write for the life of me.  Something like “Nythiya”?  “Nydyia?”  Anyway, she is in a degree program at Bei Wai, so naturally her Chinese is pretty good. (7/19)

This is our friend Brian, who is a teacher at Bei Wai.  We were staying at his apartment during our time in the capital city.  Next to him is a student who came over to practice a speech she was giving at the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium a day or two later.

 

Of course, no trip to Beijing is complete without visiting with some wushu folks.  Here we are with Hao Zhi Hua at the Blue Frog restaurant in San Li Tun’s Village Mall.  Cary was there too, but I didn’t include his photo because I was afraid his hair would attack me.

All the Wushu West folks will recognize Sunny, our intrepid tailor and all-around fashion police.  James was there to put in a big order for his friend’s wedding and I was there to get a jacket and shirt made, along with some clothes for a few folks in the U.S.  Yay for Ya Xiu!

And then there is Wu Di.  We met up with him, Osric Chau (another alivenotdead artist who you might remember as the young Tibetan monk in the film “2012”) and Stephen for some sushi and fun.  Wu Di shared a script idea with us and we gave him our feedback.  Then he was nice enough to drive us back home.  I was hoping to see him again before I left, but my schedule was crazy and I wasn’t able to see him again.

Wu Di

 

Osric Chau

Stephen

The next are a set of photos from “Pure Lotus”, a Buddhist Vegetarian restaurant located in the Chaoyang area near San Li Tun.  Great food and a very unique environment made it a great eating experience.  I ended up going twice, both times treated by someone else!

Buddhist statue made from wood.

This is their menu!  It is about 3 feet long and weighs close to 20 pounds.

Main entrance area of the restaurant.

A cup of tea

Word of wisdom

Some vegetarian hand rolls.  Very delicious.

And finally, one of the things I was doing here in Beijing was some work for Khalil Fong and his fan club.  Some of it was administrative, some of it was fan interaction and logistics, and some of it was photographic.  I got to attend his concert here in Beijing which was quite spectacular.  Soul Boy has some skillz.  I was able to hang out in the dressing room beforehand and also get some pictures from backstage, so I wanted to share a few of the ones I like the most here:

 

Some autographed concert cards for fans

Backstage with some band members before the show

Jun Kung on guitar!  Ray on Base!

 

I like his energy in this shot

Left: Taken from back stage, Right: sipping some water between songs

 

I like the light in this one.  No photoshopping required!

View of the audience from the 1st row.

While at the concert I ran in to an old friend from back home.  Marla!

At the concert were Dayyan and his wife Bei Bi, along with another friend Saba, who was the DP on one of Ruhi’s film projects a few years back.  Saba joined in at lunch the next day since he and Khalil are old friends and I snapped a picture of them comparing cameras at the table. 

Yes … we at at “Pure Lotus”.

 

And that more or less wraps up the main highlights of the trip.  We got some good stuff done and I had a nice time but now it is time for us to head off for our month-long trip to the U.S.  Keep your eyes peeled here as I blog our travels around the western hemisphere!

One more bonus pic, taking a queue from Emilio.

As I mentioned before, Ruhi and I decided to move to the XISU (Wai Yuan) campus since she is going to school there and I will be teaching there.  They set us up with a great Teacher apartment right on campus and so, since Ruhi was in Beijing for the month of July, it was on me to make sure we were able to have a smooth transition from our old apartment in Gao Xin to our new apartment on the Wai Yuan campus.

And for the most part everything went quite smoothly.  We were able to locate a new renter for our apartment in Gao Xin and thanks to Ruhi via telephone from Beijing and a Chinese friend or two in Xi’an, we arranged for movers to come and take care of everything and get it in to our new apartment in just a matter of a few hours.

I wanted to share a couple pictures of our moving process.  First here is a picture of most of our boxes all ready for the movers.  This was taken on July 5, but I’m proud to say that by the time the movers showed up on July 13, I was all packed up and ready for them well in advance of their arrival.  No last minute scrambling for me!

And here are some pictures from our new apartment at XISU.  Obviously there is some serious unpacking to be done when we return from our trip to the U.S. at the end of summer!

 

 

During the last few days in Gao Xin I also took it upon myself to frequent some of our favorite hang-outs and say goodbye to the folks in the area.  First up are some photos I took at the Shanxi Dumpling and Noodle restaurant that we would frequently visit.  I actually have some really great video footage from this place that I will hopefully be able to put up in the future, but for now here are just a few photos so you can get the idea.  The first two were taken in May and the rest were taken on July 13.

   

And finally here are some photos from our favorite Kao Ro place, run by Lao Sun from Shandong – a real stand-up guy who always treated us very nicely.  I tried to be a bit more artistic with these so I hope you enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

I’m actually writing this blog from Beijing, where I’ve been for the last few days and will be until the 26th of July.  I’ll post up some of the photos I’ve taken here once I head off the U.S., but first here is a teaser image:

As I might have mentioned before, Ruhi and I had been hanging out with some friends who run an English school in Gaoxin called 4Dream Education.  They’re super nice people and have a nice school with free wi-fi, so naturally I spent a decent amount of time there, hanging out and getting to know some of their students and employees.

Recently we’ve been saying our goodbyes to them, since we’re moving to the other side of town and will not be able to spend as much time there as we have been.  I wanted to share some photos of the fine folks at 4Dream – sort of a 4Dream retrospective, if you will.

First are a group of photos I’ve posted before, but they give you a good idea of the environment at their school.  These were taken in early May:

  

Next are some photos from one of their social activities.  They had a small theater room in which they would play a movie, and then there would be a related activity in English after the film in the main room.  It was lots of fun and I got to meet some nice folks.  (the first picture has some wushu folks in it!)

 

Next up are some photos from the last day hanging out at 4Dream before Ruhi left for Beijing for the month of July.  In fact, the picture of Ruhi here with one of the 4Dream students, was taken as she was on her way to the airport.

 

  

And next up are pictures from a dinner welcoming a new teacher to 4Dream, Michael or Mike who hails from Chicago (if I remember correctly).  Or maybe the east coast?  Hmm … I need to keep better track of these things. 

Anyway, Mr. Kim asked for suggestions about places to eat and naturally when you are hanging out with someone from Korea you ask them to take you to a Korean restaurant because they they undoubtedly know a good place to go. And he certainly did.  Here are a few pictures from dinner with the 4Dream staff and Mike.

  

  

Finally, this Saturday I was invited to play some badminton with them after they finished their work.  It turned out that the badminton would be played in the courts located at the sports center for Mr. Kim’s apartment, which also just happened to be located across the street from Ruhi’s friend Susan’s apartment.  Small world. 

Those years of playing badminton with Jet finally paid off because I was able to be on the winning teach for each game I played.  But after 3 or 4 matches I was drenched in sweat, so after a change of clothes we all went to a delicious Kao Ro BBQ place and partook of some delicious food.  Here are a few photos from dinner.

 

 

 

 

And thus ends my Spring and Summer hanging out with the fine folks at 4Dream Education.  If you know anyone who wants to study English in Xi’an, I heartily recommend their school!  You can get more information at 4dreameducation.com.

As some of you have seen on Facebook or other places, our (and I say “our” in a broad Xi’an-wide sense of the word) cat Momo has passed away.  It seems it was due to kidney failure and it came quite quickly.  Over last month of her life she started to lose a lot of weight, wouldn’t eat or drink, and became rather weak.  After a couple visits to the vet she ended up passing away in our bathroom with Ruhi and I sitting by her side keeping her company.

(Pictured at Right: Momo back in the day in Shanghai before coming to Xi’an)

It was actually the first time I’ve been next to any living creature (bigger than a cockroach, that is) as it died and seeing an actual final gasp for breath from a creature you have grown attached to is probably not an image that I’ll be able to remove from my mind.  It was both sad – and at the same time somewhat life-affirming.

But I’m not here to depress you.  I’m here to celebrate the life of Momo.

Actually, I didn’t know Momo for very long – just about 7 months or so.  Originally she was Chana’s cat, brought over from Shanghai (and originally I think from Hong Kong?).  She has actually lived with almost all of Ruhi’s foreign Friends in Xi’an at one time or another and with each home more and more people got attached to her gentle nature.

In fact, I’ve had close to a dozen cats over my life, but I’ve never been around one with such a peaceful demeanor.  She was the most sociable and accommodating cat I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

(Pictured at Left: An accommodating Momo endures an embarrassing outfit)

I’ve taken quite a few photos of Momo over the past half year or so, so I wanted to share a few of my favorites here.  Enjoy!

Click on an image to view a larger size.

February 4, 2010

April 2, 2010

April 22, 2010

May 15, 2010

We found Momo enjoying this bag one morning.

May 16, 2010

Momo would often sit next to our computers (or sometimes on them) while we were working.

May 20, 2010

More photos of Momo helping me with my work

May 27, 2010

Momo wasn’t the only one who liked to take cat naps.

June 22, 2010

The morning before she passed away.  We took her to the vets to get an IV treatment to replenish some fluids and nutrients.

But this is how I really will remember her:

May 10, 2010

Goodbye Momo!  You will be missed.

An online friend of mine is currently training at Zhao Chang Jun’s schools here in Xi’an.  I’ve been wanting to check this school out (or even find out where it is) for a while now and so when he invited me to check out a forms test (i.e. “mock-ompetition”) they were having I was eager to see what it was like.

Now anyone who knows anything about modern wushu’s “golden age” (i.e., the 70’s – 80’s), knows who Zhao Chang Jun is.  Multiple Chinese National titles as well as a slew of other credits to his name makes him one of the best known athletes of his generation.  (If you really don’t know who he is, go to youtube and type in his name.  And then slap yourself on the face for being such a n00b.)

I’ve also had the opportunity to train with him one time when he visited Wushu West back in 2005.  (Or was it 2004?  Wow … I’m getting old.)  Anyway, I could quickly tell that he was an excellent coach with high standards – he really knew his stuff.  Of course, that was also around the time that he moved to the U.S. from his native Xi’an and left his wushu school under the care of someone else (I think his “sister”, so says the rumor). 

I’ve heard relatively good things about the school since arriving in Xi’an.  Of course most of the local people are familiar with his name since he was a pretty predominant local celebrity back in the day, but it was hard to find out where his school was located.  And in any case I wasn’t in a huge hurry to check it out since I already had a place to train.  I had corresponded with one or two people who have trained there and they had decent things to say about the instruction there.  I have talked to some athletes about the school and they didn’t have anything disparaging to say about it either. 

But whether I’m checking out a new movie, restaurant or wushu school, I generally try to reserve my expectations until I’ve had a first-hand look. 

The school itself is located just past the south 3rd Ring Road in Xi’an a couple kilometers to the west of Chang An Road (Google Map Link).  Coincidentally it is about 5 km from where I’ll be living in September, so when I found out where it was located it appeared on my radar as a possible training location.  The local area itself is a bit isolated, but not terribly far from actual “civilization”.  When you arrive there are a few large signs on the main road letting you know that the school is just a half a click down a wide alley spotted with various ceramics and botanical supply shops.

The gate wasn’t manned when I walked in, so I just started to explore a bit to see if I could find out where I was supposed to go.  There are four main buildings – one is classrooms and offices, one is dorms, there is a weight training and sanda training building and a wushu hall.  There is also a new building but it was small and I wasn’t sure what it was for.

From the looks of things, they also rent out or share some of their school space with an automotive mechanics college.  Of course, every building has pictures of ZCJ with various famous folks or on the podium accepting trophies and medals.  But if I had to use one word to describe the general condition of the buildings and grounds I would probably go with either “dilapidated” or “run-down”.  I could tell that it was probably quite the nice little school back during its inception, but it was clear those days were somewhere in the past – or more optimistically, somewhere far in the future. 

I really am hesitant to say too many negative things, because these are only my observations based on about an hour hanging out there and seeing things at a glance.  Undoubtedly there are many very positive aspects to training and living there.  But since my experiences are limited I can only go with what I know. 

And personally I think that whether or not the soccer field is overgrown with plants, or the wushu carpet is a thin strip of rug on top of a hard wood floor, or the dorms have working showers is irrelevant if the training is of a high standard and the level of instruction is top-notch.  Those other things can be overlooked if you are really improving and developing as an athlete.  This isn’t a country club, after all, it is a Chinese wushu school.  You aren’t supposed to be wrapped in luxury while you are getting your butt kicked in the wushu guan. (*cough* Shi Cha Hai *cough*)   (Although … I will admit that it is nice to have a high thread count on the sheets when you are recovering from a workout.)

So the real proof is in the proverbial wushu pudding.  I was anxious to see how their wushu looked.

And here is the thing … the school isn’t strictly a wushu school, so much as a boarding school that has a rather predominant wushu program and theme.  The people who live and train there are kids who pay to go to school and, if they are so inclined, learn wushu.  In fact, it isn’t a requirement that they train, but most of them do since it is available (and probably their parents have sent them there for that purpose). 

With my experiences in other cities I recognized that there was quite a difference between athletes at a professional sports school such as Shi Cha Hai or the Shaanxi Sports Training Center and those who are at wushu training facilities without a professional emphasis.  I assume that most of the kids who show any promise are whisked away to the local professional training centers rather quick, leaving the remaining students a random collection of sub-standard ability and unrealized motivation.

The group I observed were the older kids – probably around 12 – 17 – and it was their traditional forms (fanxi, ditang, shuang dao, etc.) day for testing.

I will try to be honest and pragmatic about this.  The level of fundamentals were not all that high.  Stances and basic techniques were lacking.  It seemed that a lot of emphasis had been put on nandu training rather than basics training, and this was confirmed when I spoke with my friend out their training regimen.  In fact I have to be honest in saying that the foreign student from the U.S. had better fundamental technique than the kids who lived at the school – which is really a credit to his coaches back home since they clearly instilled in him a high standard for wushu.

And while his “tricks” might not have been as interesting as the local kids, I would say that the jumps he did do looked better because they were built on a stronger foundation; straighter legs on his butterfly, more “pop” with his explosive power, etc. 

Again, I don’t want to say that they local kids were bad. They weren’t.  Actually, some of them were fairly decent and showed some promise.  But after training with the Shaanxi Team for the past 9 months (granted, in a very inconsistent manner) my standards for what I will view as an “acceptable” level of wushu has grown considerably (Woe be to those at Wushu West when I come back there and help out at the beginning of August! You have been warned) and so I was watching this with a different eye than I might have a year ago.

I also heard that ZCJ will be bringing a group of his students from the U.S. to train at the school later in the summer.  I’m pretty sure that when he is there the level of instruction as well as the focus of attention on basics, will improve dramatically.  Heck, the whole facility might even get a face lift prior to their visit. 

I feel compelled again to emphasize the fact that this was a very quick snap-shot of what the school looked like at this particular hour on this particular day.  Take my views with a super big grain of salt and, as always, you should judge these things for yourself.  What looks good to one might look bad to another, and vice versa.  I’m a strong proponent of the independent investigation of truth – so be sure to do your research before you make your final decision!

//

More photos are here

I took videos, but I’m not sure if I want to post them.  Post a comment if you want to see them.

This past spring I had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of students from the Xi’an International Studies University (XISU) who are majoring in “Teaching Chinese as a Second Language”.  There are 82 of them, split in to two classes of 41 each and are all freshmen, as in fresh off the train and in to school. 

There are some interesting things about the university system in China that I didn’t know before meeting these students.  For example, in China no one transfers from one school to another.  Once you start at a school, you have to stay there until you graduate.  Also, based on your entrance exam you qualify for only a specific set of majors.  So, if you really want to study French and you didn’t qualify for that department, then you have to pick some other major instead.  Needless to say, there are a fair number of students in these two particular classes that aren’t super thrilled to be stuck in a major that they have no interest in.

However, it is the system they are in, and they are all adjusted to that fact.  I suppose if you have no other options, you play with the hand you are dealt.

My role with these students was helping them with their Oral English.  But first I wanted to share some photos I took during a field trip they invited me on to check out the Terracotta Warriors, Xi’an most famous historical landmark.  They were kind enough to invite me along and so I brought my trusty digital SLR and snapped a bunch of pics.  If you are outside of China you can view them all on my website or my picasa gallery, but here is a selection of my favorites for those of you still inside the middle kingdom:

 

Oh, and in case you were wondering why the majority of the students in these pictures are female, it is because XISU’s student population is around 80% female.  So, for all you single guys out there, now you know where to apply for your exchange programs. (j/k)

One of the things I helped these students with was to provide some opportunities for Oral English practice outside of their classroom experience.  I would meet them outside of the school for some “Free Talk” time.  They would come in groups of 2, 3, 4 or even 5 and we would hang out and I would give them a chance to ask me any questions they might have about whatever topics interest them.

It was also a good opportunity for me to get a bit of practice helping students with their English prior to getting started with my new teaching job at XISU starting in the fall.  I was able to ask them what sort of English class was the most beneficial for them and what their particular desire was with relation to learning English.  It was very educational.  Here are some pictures of the students I met with out and about in Xi’an:

Prepare yourself for an overabundance of peace signs

 

 

(Not a student at XISU, but we met him on the XISU campus during a Free Talk session, so here he is.)

 

 

 

 

You can click on an image to view a larger version.

With some of the students we would go out to eat, so here are a few gratuitous food shots just to get you salivating!

 

And thus ends my XISU related photos from the spring.  I’m really looking forward to teaching in the fall and have already begun preparing ideas and materials for my syllabus and first classes.  It should be fun!

On June 19 I attended the wedding of Jamie and Wendy.  They are friends that I met through Ruhi who both live here in Xi’an.  They asked if I would be able to take photos of their wedding – nothing “official”, per se, but Jamie liked the photos I took at the Family Reunion and Orientation in Hong Kong so he asked if I wouldn’t mind snapping a few pictures during their special day.

It was my first time taking photos during a wedding so I wanted to try and do my best at it.  I figured it would be a great learning experience.  And I was right.  I learned a few things about areas that I need to work on, the limitations of my equipment and the need to take control of a photo-taking situation to get the best photographs.  Wedding photography is not for the feint of heart and I have newfound respect for those that do this for a living.  You have to be both aggressive and gracious, assertive and giving.  It is an interesting balance.

Over the course of the wedding and subsequent reception lunch, I ended up taking around 2,075 photographs.  My method is to take several photos of each pose or situation, knowing that at least one or two of them will probably not work out and this “shotgun” method tends to give me good results. 

Out of the 2075 photos, I first did a round eliminating all of the photos that didn’t turn out at all.  That brought me down to around 600 photos that turned out.  From those I picked the photos that captured the feeling of each moment the best.  That brought me down to 275.  From there I worked on cropping and color correcting the photos and eliminated a few more giving me a final count at 261 finished pictures.  I burned those to a couple DVDRs and will be meeting Jamie this week to hand them off. 

From the 261 photos I picked 75 that I personally liked for my own portfolio album.  You can see them on my picasa album (unless you are in China) here:

I wanted to share my top 9 photos with you, along with the reason I like these particular photos the best.

This is Wendy before she changed in to her wedding dress.  For some reason, while she was moving I managed to keep part of her face in focus.  I really like this effect – it is actually something I might try to achieve in Photoshop, but as luck would have it I didn’t need to here.  It feels like it is keeping her spirit in focus but also displays the quick pace and hectic nature of one’s wedding day.

These are freshmen students at the Xi’an Music Conservatory University.  I really like the looks of concentration and relaxation on their faces, indicative of high-level artistry.  They were actually quite good.  In particular I like the position of her fingers over the strings – almost like a cat stealthily walking through the tall grass.

This was probably one of the only times I snapped Jamie’s dad smiling.  It isn’t that he wasn’t happy, but just that he doesn’t crack a big grin all that often (based on this one time I saw him).  I like this photo because it has some genuine joy coming out of Jamie, Umesh and Jamie’s dad.  Jamie’s parents both live in YanLing, just a few hours west of Xi’an, where they both teach English at the university there.

This is a picture of Wendy, her father, and her daughter (from a previous marriage).  They were waiting a little ways down the path for the wedding to start so they could make their way down the aisle.  I like this photo because, even though it is her wedding, that doesn’t mean she is exempt from taking the occasional phone call, but more than that I like it because her daughter decided to do a little impromptu dancing, which I thought was very cute.

Thanks to my long lens I was able to zoom in on their hands during the ring exchange.  Something about this feels very symbolic to me – well, of course it does.  They’re exchanging wedding rings.  But still, I like the composition on this shot, so I included it here.  As they say, “if you like it, then you better put a ring on it”.

For the most part Wendy’s dad has on a big smile and was quite cherry.  But for this one moment I was able to capture him as his eyes were watering seeing his daughter finding happiness.  Nothing brings tearful joy to a parent’s face than to see their children find true happiness.

Amazingly I was able to capture the bouquet being thrown by the bride to “all the single ladies”.  I was surprised this photo turned out so I wanted to include it as the only wedding “action shot” in the group.

The new family together!  This is a nice photo because both Jamie and Wendy are looking at the camera, but the real reason I like this one is Wendy’s daughter’s expression – almost a mixture of happiness and mischievousness. 

  

And finally I like this photo.  Jamie’s flowers kept falling out of his lapel so they had a fun time trying to get it back in, eventually just sticking it in his shirt pocket.  While they were doing this everyone and their uncle whipped out their pictures to snap the "moment” between the new couple and I was lucky enough to get this shot showing the enjoyment and laughter on their faces.

I also put together a time-lapse video of all 2075 photos.  They are on a 1/10th of a second rotation, giving a total time of around 3 and a half minutes.  I put some music to it as well, which I think gives it a nice effect.  Check it out here – the entire wedding in 3 1/2 minutes!  …

Youku Version:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg2NjYyOTk2.html

Youtube Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwpeTeQvS8U

Oh, and here is a runner-up photo that almost made the top 9:

Ruhi and Lei looking towards the future!

Been doing a lot of work these last few days.  Here is a view from my table at Village Coffee in Xi’an.

 

As you know, I have been a little on the quiet side with my blogging as of late.  I’ve even blogged about how I’m lamenting over my lack of blogging (and training), which is a little funny when I think about it.

But now that my future plans are “official” I can talk a little bit more about what is going on in my future over the next year.

You see, part of the problem with my current situation is that my work load and current obligations don’t really allow for a consistent amount of training.  Often I will have to drop my training for a period of time while I travel to meet a client in Hong Kong or spend a few all-nighters finishing up a project.  This doesn’t really bode well with me as I am the type of person that, if I am going to do something, then I really want to focus some energy and attention on it and not spread my attention across too many things.

In other words, I’m not all that in to multi-tasking.  I prefer to focus on 2 or 3 main priorities in my life than spread myself too thin with 10 different projects.

So, in looking at the various alternatives that I had available to me I realized that there was one opportunity which I’ve been around for the past 5 years which I’ve never really explored.

Teaching English.

Now, to be honest I’ve had my reservations about doing something like this.  It took me a long time to get comfortable coaching wushu, and I had zero experience teaching English aside from a few conversation partners and some English practice sessions with Jet and his English teacher back in L.A.  I figured the best thing to do would be to try it out in a controlled environment to see how I felt about it.

So I scouted around for some light teaching opportunities.  I put up notices that I was available for English conversation practice at some of the coffee shops near universities and even replied to some requests for part-time teachers.  One request was for someone to teach twice a week at a primary school in Gao Xin.  Well, I thought I could at least check it out and see what it was like by watching someone teach.

But when I got to the school I was told that I would be teaching that day!  There I was in front of 50 3rd grade students with zero classroom teaching experience and no lesson plan.  Thank goodness that Ruhi was able to quickly give me some suggestions on the phone before I stepped in to the room.  But it was certainly a stressful 2 classes.

Coincidentally, on that day I also made contact with a private school in Xi’an that was opening up and they provided me some neat opportunities to learn a bit more about teaching as well.

And finally I was able to help out with a class at a local university teaching Oral English once a week.

Those combined experience made me realize that this was something that I not only was interested in doing, but that it was something I actually was enjoying as well.

So I applied for a teaching position at Xi’an International Studies University (XISU), one of the top Foreign Language studies universities in China.  Actually it has a very good reputation and probably the only other language school that would be better on my resume would be Bei Wai in Beijing.

But that aside, it is also a good situation because we get on-campus housing, which allows us to both save some money and takes a couple hours off of Ruhi’s commute, since this is also the school where she is getting her Master’s degree in Chinese studies at the moment.  Plus, to be honest, I sort of like that side of town better.

So, what does this have to do with wushu training?  Thats an excellent question.

I knew that, if I was able to get this teaching position, that it would actually free me up so that I would not have to take on so many projects at once.  And, as I mentioned, taking on so many projects has been hampering my ability to get any exercise and training in to my daily routine.

Come the fall I would be able to teach in the mornings and spend my afternoons training.  I could keep two of my maintenance clients and focus on providing them with good service and my life would suddenly become free to study Chinese, spend time making some Friends, hanging out with my wife a bit more, less traveling to Hong Kong every month, and other important things like that.

But in order to get from where I am now (inundated with projects) to where I want to be (see the previous paragraph) I would need to get ALL my non-essential projects finished up and out the door as quickly as possible.

In fact, I’m planning a trip with Ruhi back to the U.S. in August for 6 weeks.  And during that time I am really hoping to be able to enjoy myself and not be constantly stressed out about work.

So, my current focus is on getting everything done.  All my projects (except for those 2 clients).  And to do it all by the end of July.  For the sake of my future ability to train in wushu, I will sacrifice the following 3 – 4 months without any training so that I can clear out these obligations.

And this is why I haven’t been training very much lately.  I have been trying to focus on getting these things out of the way — on getting all of these projects finished and completed.  And to be honest I still have a long way to go.  I still have a lot of things on my plate that need clearing off.  So, for the time-being at least, you are still going to have a bit of silence with regards to my training in wushu.

I will still try to blog whenever possible, but for the next 2 months you will have to be patient with me while I work on taking care of a few loose ends so that, come the late summer months and in to the fall, you will be able to enjoy some high quality blogging and a lot more wushu videos and information for the coming year.

I was waiting until now to write about all of this because, right now I’m in Hong Kong and I just received my work visa for my new job teaching English at XISU.  Now that I am officially on my way towards the coming year’s plan to get my priorities re-aligned, I felt it was okay to share all of this with you guys out there in the blog-o-sphere.

So, there you have it.  To celebrate this, I finally posted up some of the videos I took at my last training with the Shaanxi Wushu Team back on May 15.  They were preparing for an upcoming Compulsory forms tournament and you can check out their forms here:

And finally, here is a wushu training vlog that I made when Qi Peng Hui invited me to eat at their cafeteria.  It was my first time there so I thought I would put it on video.  Enjoy!

This is from an e-mail I wrote to a friend related to their recent experiences with a wushu competition. Just thought it might be an interesting read for some of you …

… Competitions are an interesting thing. They reveal a lot about who we are as people — and often times our reactions to competing are not what we thought or hoped they might have been.  One’s experiences with competition is really a reflection of their inner thoughts and feelings about the true reason they are there.

If a person tells themselves they will go compete just for the fun of it, but they end up having a terrible time, then perhaps the true reason they went wasn’t just to enjoy themselves, but it was to prove something to themselves, or to score well.  You can only have a terrible time if it doesn’t match with your expectations, so we have to really figure out what our expectations on the experience was that caused that reaction.  Or, if we really enjoyed it, and when we went there we were assuming we would not have a good time, then perhaps the reason we enjoyed it is directly related to the expectation of having a bad time?

Anyway, I think I’m speaking more about myself than you in this regard.  I’ve always found that how I end up valuing a situation is a direct correlation to what expectations I went in to it with.  And that makes me realize that the only way to really be subjective about my experiences and see things for what they are is to not have any expectations and emotional attachment to a specific outcome from the beginning.  Because when I can do that (which takes practice, I have to admit) I actually end up seeing the merits and enjoyable aspects of the experience, and acknowledging the negative, less enjoyable aspects for what they are, without carrying any emotional baggage or resentments inside my heart.  Take the good and make it my own, and acknowledge the bad and leave it out of my heart — is basically what I’m saying.

Not sure if that applies to you at all, but what you wrote made me think of it.

But,as you said, you’ve grown from the experience, and to be honest, I think that is the real reason we should compete.  Because, in teaching ourselves about who we really are, it allows us the opportunity to take that new-found knowledge and apply it to our lives and come out on the other side a better person.

Or something like that …

- Mark