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Posts Tagged ‘shi cha hai’

Before getting back in to the experience of learning wushu itself, I thought I would take some time to talk about something that had a huge impact on my experience with wushu over the years. In fact, besides my coach, I would say that this is one of the two factors that contributed the most to my development with wushu:

People.

More specifically, I’m talking about the people I have met through wushu over the years, and who have had a big influence on my views on both wushu and the world.

For the sake of this blog entry, I will limit this to just the people I met while training in the Bay Area before moving to Los Angeles in 2001. (I will tackle the rest of you people later.

Kaz and Tabala

The first two people I became close to through wushu were Kaz and Tabala. I mentioned them before, but I’ll explain a bit more about them here.

Kaz was half-Japanese like me. A friend of Green Day’s turned kung-fu enthusiast, he came to join Wushu West through an interest in Hong Kong movies. He eventually decided that he wanted a more traditional application-oriented path and went to the city to train at a different school, but even while doing that he kept in contact with Patti and I. We were roommate for a year or two as well, before I ended up getting an apartment with Brandon.  Has has since gotten married, had a kid, fell in love with soccer and moved to Malaysia.

Tabala was an african american man with tight, short dreads. He had grown up with Bruce Lee as his primary father figure and, truth be told, he didn’t talk much about himself. He had been training in some form of Chinese martial arts for most of his life and was very dedicated to his martial arts education. He was really friendly, but at the same time, somewhat mysterious. After a few years he moved to L.A. to get some work and pretty much dropped off the radar. Finally, after years and years he resurfaced on Facebook.  Its nice to be back in contact with him.

From Kaz and Tabala I learned that even if you stop training with your teacher, it doesn’t mean you stop giving them your respect.

Gio and Rich

We called them the Nan Quan Brothers. Two big Philippino guys from San Leandro who started at wushu west about a year after me. I would hang out with them fairly often and we would commute back and forth to class pretty regularly.

I remember one time a bunch of us met at a park in Alameda to train at a park (just for fun, believe it or not) and we were talking about the mechanics of the twist. Of course, none of us could do it and most of us were afraid to try, but Gio decided to go for it. Right there on the grass he went for it. And he almost landed it! He kept trying, each time crashing to the ground, but getting closer. After a little while he stopped, but he had made good progress.

To be honest, I was a bit ashamed of myself, because I didn’t have the courage to try it out. Looking back, I think I could have done it, but I was just too afraid. Now-a-days, if I was in the same physical condition that I was back then, I’d try it in a heartbeat. But again .. hindsight is 20/20.

They eventually left Wushu West around 1999. I think Rich studied with Tony Chen for a while (it was cheaper) but last I heard neither of them train anymore. They’re on my facebook friends list though (isn’t everyone?) and I was able to see Gio during my last trip back home.

From Gio and Rich I learned that fear should never be a reason not to try something — it’s a signal that you’re in the midst of a great opportunity for self-development.

David Chang

I mentioned David before too. He was the one that helped bridge the abyss between Wushu West and Cal Wushu.

Back when he first started he took his training very seriously. He had started only 5 months before me but his hard work and dedication made him improve very quickly.

Truth be told, he had a few quirks of the body and some might have said that his physique wasn’t well-suited for wushu.  But admirably,  he never let that stop him.

He went to China in 1997. Then again in 1999 with me and some other friends. And then again in 2000 .. and 2001. He would train at multiple-schools — Cal Wushu, then Wushu West, then Omei Wushu and then with Liu Bo and others.

He never did it in a way that upset any of his instructors though, because they could see that he was working hard to develop his abilities and you can’t really fault someone for seeking out as much knowledge and understanding as they can.

He would see something he wanted and then pursue it with a single-minded determination until he had achieved it. That’s how he got his awesome drop stance. He saw Amy Chow’s drop stance in 1996 and told himself he wanted one like that. And he got it too.

Eventually he went on to start his own school, Wushu Central, after which I didn’t have too much contact with him.  As I understand it, there was a bit of drama here and there, but the David I knew best was the one before all of that happened. The one that was enthusiastic about and dedicated to wushu training. The one that pushed other people to work harder and pushed himself just as hard.  That is the David I remember most.  I’m pretty sure he’s still there anyway…

From David I learned the importance of training hard and embracing all of one’s wushu opportunities.

Cal Wushu

There have been a lot of friends I’ve met at Cal Wushu over the years. More than I could really list out in any adequate fashion. Some of them have been positive experiences, and some of them have been negative, but all in all my time hanging out and training with Cal Wushu has been one of enjoyable growth.

I’ve been at Cal Wushu as a student; training hard and gasping for air and water after a hard session of training. You develop close bonds with people when you’re in that sort of mutually-exhausting environment. After classes we would all go over to Durant Square, a food court just off campus, and bond together over some Korean BBQ or cheap Chinese take-out. Sifu Bryant Fong or Li Jing were coaching back then and it was great to get to know them better too.

I’ve also been at Cal Wushu as an instructor. Teaching beginners or the advanced class and putting them through their paces. You learn a lot about yourself when put in that sort of position — your strengths and weaknesses come to the forefront of your attention when you teach others. But, as they say, the best way to learn something is to teach it, and I learned a lot about wushu by helping others understand its fundamentals.

There have been generation after generation of students at Cal Wushu — too many to count over the years — but one thing remained the same. It is a great place to meet people who are as geeked out about wushu as you are.

For some strange reason .. all of the students stay the same age, but I keep getting older and older. I used to be just a few years older than the students. Now .. they’re all half my age. How depressing is that?

From Cal Wushu I learned the value of wushu fellowship, and the important responsibility you take on when you start to teach wushu.

Patrick Lee

I would be remiss here if I didn’t mention Pat. Out of all the people I’ve met in wushu, he’s probably had the singularly highest impact on my life. I first met Pat through wushu when he was at Cal, and eventually I went to work for him at Design Reactor. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 12 years since I first began working with him at our little web design firm. We’ve been co-workers, business partners, classmates, roommates and friends and I owe him a lot for some of the things he’s done for me over the years.

But, this isn’t about all of that. This is about wushu. And Pat’s wushu, believe it or not, was one of the best that had ever come around.  He originally trained with Zhang Gui Fung in Maryland before coming to Berkeley to go to school, and that early training paid off.

In 1994 he went to China with Daniel Wu to train with the Beijing Wushu Team. When he came back he was a wushu machine. His front stretch kicks were the things of legend and his front jumping slap kick would freeze the room as they watched his technique. Technique that was, at that time, almost God-like compared to the rest of us.

He became disinterested in wushu though.  Work, life and other things took priority.  I also remember him once telling me that, after his experiences training in China he realized that there was no way he would ever get to the level of a Chinese athlete. And, as he put it at the time,  if he couldn’t become the best at something, then why spend so much time doing it?  That isn’t to say he doesn’t appreciate or enjoy wushu.  I think it is more about how the level of committment that wushu requires for you to improve past a certain point makes it prohibitive for some people.

He would return to it from time to time, but none of them were quite as grand as his initial wushu fervor back in the early 90′s, fueled by Cal Wushu friends and a healthy dose of Jet Li’s Wong Fei Hung.

Pat taught me that having natural ability isn’t worth anything if you don’t commit to what you are doing, and that often times hard work can make up the difference for those who might not have been born with the right genetic make-up; either in Wushu, Business or Life.

Wushu West

And, of course, besides the people I listed above, there have been countless students coming in and out of Wushu West over the years. Here are some of the highlights.  It might be a little cryptic to you, but these are my lessons, not yours, so they really only need to make sense to me.

Lindsay: Taught me that just because someone is ignorant, doesn’t mean they are stupid.

Mai: Taught me to never let someone else’s critism let me to doubt my own abilities.

Laura: Taught me that you can never judge a book by its cover.

Anthony: Taught me that you’re never too old to feel young.

Roger: Taught me that having responsibilities for others doesn’t mean you are no longer responsible for yourself.

Mike: Taught me that the only value fear has is when you use it to excuse yourself from living life.

Jennifer & Cheri: Taught me the value of specilizing in a specific area.

Inyork & Hansie: Taught me that the cooler a person thinks they are, the less cool they become. And vice versa.

Bryan and Yolanda: Taught me that life is nothing if you don’t have passion for what you love to do.

Karen: Taught me that putting your heart out on your sleeve doesn’t guarantee that it will be acknowledged.

There are others too, but I think that is probably enough for now. Not that many ofthese people read this blog anyway. And I will be addressing more people when I talk about my return to Wushu West in 2004.

But I’m getting ahead of myself …

Final Thoughts

Sometimes I wonder what my experiences with wushu would have been like had some people not been a part of it. I’m sure they would have been good too, but each person you meet and each interaction you have, colors your life in very specific ways.

And when you put them all together you end up with a very special tapestry for your life. Each thread weaving around in seemingly haphazzard fashion, but when viewed with perspective, its clear that each is as important to the whole as any other.

My wushu friends have been, as I said, one of the two biggest factors that influenced my experience with wushu during this period of my life.

What is the other? Well, that will be the subject of my next blog. It’s a little something we in the wushu community refer to as “sifu video”.

Continued Next Week …

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I’m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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EDIT: 7/28: Added photos from wushu practice

To be honest, it feels like a long time ago that we were in Beijing, even though it was technically only 3 days. I’m going to do a very quick summary of the last couple days. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of Sunday and Monday, so you will have to do with this hastily-written entry. I really have so much stuff from the trip to Zhengzhou (Shaolin Temple) and Xi’an that I want to get to that as quickly as possible.

Sunday

It was our day off. As such, a lot of us had various things we wanted to accomplish before leaving Beijing on Tuesday. A lot of that involved going to Ya Xiu. For myself, I first had a nice lunch over at Patti’s home with a few of her family and some of the Wushu folks who were able to make it. It was a quick bite and after watching some strange sports on CCTV5, Ruhi and I headed to Ya Xiu.

The main task at hand was to figure out our wedding clothes. Coincidentally we also ended up running into Lauren, Ashley, Susan, James, Myles, Jennifer, Wu Di, Pierre and Shahaub there.

After shopping 6 of us headed back to the Singaporean restaurant from Friday night and we all had some great food. It was amazing to watch Wu Di when he’s hungry. A few of us almost lost some fingers. Then it was a taxi ride back to Shi Cha Hai and an evening relaxing and preparing for our last full day of workout.

Monday

Originally we had been told that the morning workout was at 8:00. So naturally we were all up nice and early. But then it turned out it was switched to 10:00, so we had to wait a couple hours. Poor Tyler actually went to the wushu guan. But we finally got situated and then worked out downstairs in the lower wushu hall. For myself, I was creating a Tiger form, so I made the first two sections of that. So far, so good. After class we also had a group meeting about our upcoming departure from Beijing.

After workout we didn’t have a ton of time to do things before our afternoon class. I went across the street with Ruhi to grab some bing from the restaurant I ate at back in 2004 or 2005 with Patti and her brother. It was still there and still delicious.

Afternoon practice was in the upstairs wushu hall. It was pretty empty as we were the only ones in the whole room. I spent some time figuring out my form and teaching Travis a few moves from my nanquan (Southern Fist) form. Ruhi had gone by that time, as she had a dinner appointment and was flying back to Xi’an on Tuesday morning.

Most of us spent the rest of the evening packing and preparing for our trip. Pierre and I also received a visit from Wu Di and Shahaub, along with Jennifer. After a while it was time for bed. zzzzzzzz.

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I’m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit (7/28): Added video of athletes conditioning and swapped out others with youtube versions

Once again I have skipped a couple days in my blogging. Originally I thought Lauren was going to be writing a blog for me. Why did I think that? Probably by the way she asked me multiple times during Wednesday morning’s class “Can I write the blog for today? Pleeeeeease???” and I told her yes (naturally .. I would love it if they would write some blogs in here. Makes my life easier, right?)

Jump forward a day or so:

“Hey Lauren, don’t forget to write that blog for me” I reminded her.

“Do I have to?” she asked.

After a pause: “You asked me to. Multiple times. and I said yes. Multple times.” I replied.

“But I didn’t think you would say yes.” she said.

After considering the illogic of that statement I replied with “Why would you think that?”

To which she replied “Because you always say ‘no’.”

So, besides the fact that she had asked multple times and I had said yes multple times, she didn’t think she actually had to write the blog because she assumed I would say “no”? Well, I think what really happened is she realized that writing a blog requires writing a blog, so she decided it wasn’t how she wanted to spend her hard-earned personal time.

That being the case, you are still stuck with my personal rendition of this trip. Until someone else decides to chip in with some content, I’m left holding the ball (so to speak).

Thursday

Actually, Thursday I was anticipating Ruhi’s arrival to Beijing. (We’re engaged, in case you didn’t know, which is entirely possible since there are lots of people I didn’t tell and who don’t check my facebook status — consider this your notice )

She was flying in around 5AM and would make her way to Shi Cha Hai after dropping her things off at Grace’s house. She finally made it around noon-ish and we went downstairs to grab some food, running in to Patti and Cary in the process.

We went to go watch the afternoon training as well, since she had never seen professional wushu up close and personal. She also got to meet Shahaub and Wu Di. I also got to help Wu Di and Myles with some conditioning.

After class we went down to eat because we had requested 2 dishes from the manager. Unforunately they seem to had forgotten, so we just ate what was there (which was perfectly fine, of course) and spent time with some Wushu West folks.

After dinner she was tired, but we got sucked in to watching “Kiss of the Dragon” on Pierre’s laptop and then I took her to Dongzhimen Station and came back and fell asleep. zzzzzz.

Friday

The morning practice was good. It was the first time my calves weren’t hurting. It might have been because Ruhi brought me some requested supplements (vitamins, mostly), but I wasn’t complaining. The class wasn’t unusual in any way. Everyone is slowly improving and it is starting to show.

It is a little hard to see since we see each other do wushu everyday, but it is a little noticeable. When we get back to the U.S. everyone will have to let us know if we have gotten any stronger/faster/more flexible/better. But from my own estimation, I’m seeing some good growth in Tyler, Noah and Myles. Ashley is working really hard and improving too. And I even see Lauren overcoming some of her arm issues. Jonah is relaxing his shoulders and Jennifer is building up her endurance. Pierre is also getting some good corrections from Liu Hong.

During the morning training I walked over to Xie Zhen Hao (Shanghai nanquan guy) and asked him if he could teach me his form. He said yes! I would start learning it in the afternoon. Cooooool.

Ruhi came over in the afternoon again. We decided to go run an errand to change some of her (our?) money and then grab some lunch. We went to the same small place I took Myles and got the Tang Su Li Ji (sweet and sour pork — the real version, not the stuff you get in the U.S.) and Suan La Bai Cai (hot and sour cabbage — which wasn’t quite hot or soury enough). After eating we walked around Di’An Men Market for a bit and then walked back to the school for the afternoon practice.

I took a lot of photos and after class Xie Zhen Hao taught me his first section. It was probably one of the most complex nanquan forms I’ve ever learned. Whoever made this form was on some sort of nanquan crack. But it is cool to learn new techniques and movements, so I’m not complaining. If I can finish learning the whole thing I’m going to teach it to the Wushu West nanquan folks. Gotta get a video too …

But here is a quick video I took of the professionals doing some conditioning:

We also took a TON of photos during class. Here are some to enjoy …

And a few videos of Ashley’s wushu, per her request:

After class I went out for a dinner with Ruhi’s friend, Josie, and some of her friends. It was a nice restaurant which was 1/2 Sweenson’s (A Bay Area ice-cream and burger place) and 1/2 Singaporean food. It was actually very good. Awesome ice cream deserts and located close to Ya Xiu, so I think I will need to take some of the Wushu West foks.

After eating our fill it was time to head back by way of Dongzhimen station where we said goodbye. Then I came back and crashed hard again.

Saturday will be a half-wushu day with just the morning class. In the evening we are all going to chek out the Bird’s Nest stadium! Photos are definitely on the menu.

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I’m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit (7/28): Swapped video with youtube version

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last 2 days.  Not that much have happened to warrant a single entry for each day, but now two days have passed.  And since I’m waiting for the guest blog entries on the F0rbidd3n City and The Gr3at Wa11 (Pierre and Ashley?  Hellooooo?) I’ll fill some time by sharing what we’ve been up to the last two days.

Monday morning was practice.  9:00 AM in the Wushu Hall.  Actually all practices this week are at 9:00 and 3:30 in the upstairs wushu hall, so at least it is consistent.   Everyone was working hard, and down on the far carpet was Liu Qing Hua’s group.  Since it was just the two of us, we got to be on the blue carpet.  Yay!  For myself, I primarily focused on the first section of my nangun (Southern Staff) form.  I’m working on making a new one this week so each day I’m creating a new section.

After class was lunch and then I spent some time in the afternoon working in my room.  The afternoon class came and went as well, and I spent that time working on more nangun.

I’m not sure what everyone did in the evening, but I spent the whole time working on my computer, so this is why I didn’t end up writing much in the blog.

Tuesday was another morning training (of course). Unfortunately Myles hurt his ankle so had to sit out the rest of the day.  Jennifer said she tweaked her ankle as well.  Hopefully they’ll both be back in full form soon.

After the morning practice I spent 20 minutes or so working on my nangun form after everyone left.  However, Liu Qi and Zhang Ye Xin were still there so I talked to them for a while and had them record a video so they could greet everyone in America.

In the afternoon I went to the airport with Lauren to pick up her mom, Susan and younger brother, Travis.  Once again we were blessed by the airport gods and they came out of the terminal just as we walked up to the door.

We got back to Shi Cha Hai just in time to go watch most of the training.  Lauren quickly changed and I spent some time either talking with Susan and Travis, helping Wu Di with some conditioning, or working on my nangun.  It was Tiger’s last time teaching us, as he would be leaving the next day for a competition in ZhengZhou, Henan.  Actually, we will see him there since he will still be in town when we go to check out the Shaolin Temple.  We grabbed a group photo for posterity.

After class I was asked to go to a Japanese restaurant with Wu Di, who had also invited Shahaub, Patti, Cary and Jennifer.  It happened to be the same restaurant I ate at last November, also with Wu Di.  We had a good amount of food and naturally I took some photos:

After that Patti and Cary went back to Shi Cha Hai, and the rest of us walked down the street to digest our food.  We also grabbed a quick cone at McDonald’s before catching a cab back to the school.

Tomorrow we have two different coaches training us.  I’ll be sure to snap a few photos and post them up.

Edit (7/28): Swapped video with youtube embed

This blog doesn’t really have to do that much with the Wushu West summer trip so I’m going to just post it on narom.net. The school all went to the Great Wall on Sunday. I slept in and spent the morning cleaning up my stuff and chatting with folks back home. But the time I was done Pierre had gotten back from the Wall and I decided to go do some shopping.

I went to the Di’An Men Market, which is sort of like Ya Xiu, but for things you actually need.  I got some hangers, hooks and various necessities.  I also grabbed a quick bite at KFC for lunch.  When I got back home and had taken a shower, Shahaub came over.

Originally we were going to go out to sushi with Wu Di, but they had gone there the night before (originally my plan too, but I had to go to Hutong Pizza instead) so they weren’t really up for it.  But never ones to take an opportunity for granted, they posed for some photos.

We decided to go walk down the street and get some food.  We ended up at a hot pot place around the corner.  The food was good and we enjoyed spending time with each other.  Here are some photos:

After hot pot we walked down the street towards the Hou Hai bars.  As you may recall (all 1 of you) I spent my 36th birthday in Hou Hai at a bar owned by a friend of Wu Di. You can see a youtube video of it here.

Since then the friend has seriously expanded the size of his club.  We chilled out in some nice cushy couches enjoying some soda water and cappucino.  We also took a LOT of photos.  Here are some of the best ones:

After that Wu Di had arranged to meet up with Peggy and Chris.  However, my stomach and the hot pot had other plans so I rushed back ahead of them to the hotel to pay a visit with Mother Nature (yay for adapting back to China food).  When I was going through the lobby I saw Liu Qi and some other athletes playing cards so I said I would come back down and visit with them, which I did.

They were playing a variation on Big 2.  Shahaub, Wu Di, Peggy and Chris soon joined in the lobby hang-out and of course I took some more photos, and even a video:

After that Wu Di, Shahaub and I decided to go hang out in Jennifer’s room to talk about script stuff, so I went up there.  We ended up ordering some Lamb Stick delivery while learning interesting things about each other’s lives.  Here are some photos.

By the end of that I was pretty tired so I headed to bed and tried to get a good night’s sleep for the next day’s practice at 9:00 AM.

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I’m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit (7/27): Swapped out videos with youtube embed and added another one of Zhao Qing Jian’s jump practice.

The day had finally arrived for two more members of Wushu West to join us in Beijing.  But first, we had to deal with some morning training in the upstairs wushu hall.

When we arrived in the wushu hall there were a few of the professional athletes stretching on the main blue carpet; Zhao Qing Jian, Wang Xie and Liu Xiao Lei.  Basically, three of the top athletes in the world.  On the far carpet was Liu Qing Hua’s group (which included Liu Qi).  With the coaches and Patti in the room, I calculated that there were roughly 300 national and international medals worth of athletes sitting in the room.  Not too shabby.

We were going to start the class with some more Basket Brawl, which is basically a combination of basketball and soccer.  After we got the teams organized I asked Zhao Qing Jian (jokingly) if he wanted to join in.  He said sure and joined the game.  Wang Xie Liu Xiao Lei joined us too and pretty soon we had quite a game going.  I took some pictures and got a bit of video:

After warming up it was stretching and basics.  I continued working out choreography for my new nangun form. Across the room I saw Liu Qin Hua’s group working out.  There was one guy doing nanquan, which I naturally paid close attention to.  There was also a girl doing some nanquan.  Very cool.  I don’t really see enough nanquan up in Beijing so I try to pay attention whenever it is going on to see if I can pick anything up.  While they performed their forms I was trying to figure out some of their moves, even fantasizing that I might ask Tiger if I can learn their forms.

I continued with my training, focusing on the class.  After a while Xu Ming Hu (Tiger) called me over. There was one of Liu Qing Hua’s athletes with him  It was the nanquan girl!  I didn’t quite understand what he said, but it sounded like he wanted her to teach me some nanquan.  Wow!  Someone had read my mind.  I agreed and the two of us went to the side of the carpet.

I waited for her to tell me what to do.  She seemed to be waiting for me too.

Women kaishi ba? (Shall we start?) she said.

Hao (Okay) I replied.

Then she motioned for me to stand in front of her.  Wait a sec.  How would I see her form if I was in front?  Then it dawned on me that it wasn’t me who was learning from her, but her who wanted to learn from me!  “Wait … am I teaching you or are you teaching me?” I asked.

Ni jiao wo (you teach me), she answered.

Wow … totally weird moment.

So, it turns out they had seem me do my form 2 days earlier and had asked Tiger to have me teach it to them.  I suppose my choregraphy is not necessarily standard, or perhaps they just want to have more variety in their repertoire, but whatever the reason I was totally humbled and flattered that they were even watching me from way across the room, let alone her wanting to learn my form.  Especially since I was pretty much doing the same with them.

So, I proceeded to show her my form.  After a while I noticed someone else standing behind me.  It was the nanquan guy too!  He had come over to learn as well.  Goodness gracious…

I got to talk to them a bit after showing them my first section.  They had both trained at Shanghai University of Sports, so we knew a lot of the same people.  Her name was Xiao Lan and he was Xie Zhen Hao.  It was a very neat class.  Unfortunately, it meant that I couldn’t pay too much attention to what everyone else was doing, but I did look over and see Zhao Qing Jian and Wang Xie giving some pointers to the Wushu West students so it was nice that they were getting a few tips from the pros.  I was also asked by those two and Liu Xiao Lei to video their nandu (difficulty movements) practice, so I have that here to share too:

After lunch and a shower I had to go to the airport with Rita from the Foreginer’s Office to pick up Pierre and Jennifer.  They were finalliy arriving from the U.S.  Their flight was early and we were running late, but it just so happened that as soon as we walked up to the arrivals area they walked out the door.  Very good timing and pretty soon we were on the road back to Shi Cha Hai.

We helped them get checked in to their rooms and once Patti got back to the hotel we did a bit of roommate swapping.  I was now going to room with Pierre and Tyler was going to room with Cary, leaving Noah and Jonah to enjoy the peculiar smells that their room seemed to be developing.  Jennifer decided to get her own room which meant that Ashley and Lauren could keep it to the original 2.

I spent some time helping Pierre and Jennifer acclimate and we went downstairs to get some dinner as well.  Lots of reuinion-izing going on (yes, I just made that word up).

After dinner was the evening practice.  For this particular practice Tiger had arranged for us to practice jumping in the gymnastics room.  After running, stretching and basics, he had us all practice our twists and butterflies into the foam pit.  Then we went to the spring floor and folks worked on their twists (such as they were) and Loren even got pretty good rotation towards his 720.  Here are some photos and a video:

Towards the end of class I took Pierre and Jennifer upstairs to watch the professional wushu athletes training.  They were both quite impressed.  Then it was back to the hotel so I could finish moving the rest of my stuff to Pierre’s room.  After that I hung out a bit with Wu Di and Shahaub in the lounge downstairs and then it was time to sleep for an early morning practice the next day!

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I’m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit (7/27): Swapped out videos with youtube embeds

It was another early morning for us today.  The first training session was at 8:00 AM in the lower wushu hall.  Today also marked 1/3 of our trip completed.  Just 18 more days until most of us head back to the U.S.  I’m sure it will go by quickly (and yet, ironically, the training seems to last forever).

Everyone was a little out of it this morning, or that might just be my perception since I was having a bit of calf cramping.  I took the opportunity to start choreographing a new nangun set while the rest of the kids worked through their various weapon forms.  After class we stayed to watch some of the professionals train again.  Here is a video of the hall:

After lunch most of the kids stayed at the hotel.  I ran to Ya Xiu for an hour to pick up some things with James and Myles and got back just in time to head up to the wushu hall at 3:30 for the afternoon training.  I also grabbed my nangun and worked some more on my choreography before going back to my room to put up the Day 7-8 blog.  The class seemed like a good one since we had use of one of the nice blue carpets and were training right next to the Men’s A-Team.  Nothing quite like doing spear at the same time Wu Di is doing it on the carpet next to you.  Or Long Fist while Liu Yan is doing his thing as well.  Both intimidating and inspiring.

Wu Di asked me to take a quick video of a jump so he could see what he needed to work on.  Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

After I finished uploading the blog from Day 7-8 I went down to grab something to eat.  Then, back in my room, while I was answering work e-mails, I was asked by Lauren and Ashley to take them to the Hypermarket so the three of us, along with Loren and Ryan, headed out around Hou Hai to do some shopping.

While they shopped for stuff, I went next door to the appliance and electronics store and bought a cheap version of my Magic Bullet blender.  Since I can’t use the MB due to wattage/voltage issues, I thought I would get this and then bring it to Xi’an with me to leave there for when I eventually return to China in the fall.  Now I can make smoothies again!

After we walked back I spent the evening relaxing in my room and writing in this blog.

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I’m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit 7/27: Swapped out videos with youtube embeds

First, sorry for the delay.  I haven’t had as much time to blog these days.  I’m going to recap Day 7 and 8 here.  But first, here are a few pictures from Day 6 that I didn’t have time to post earlier.

Here are some nice taro treats that they served during lunch.  Sifu Patti asked me to take some pictures of them:

Next, I was really surprised to run into an old friend of mine here.  Liu Qi used to be on the Shanghai Wushu Team and trained in the hall near mine.  We used to hang out quite often back in 2006, but she went back to Gansu with her coach and I haven’t seen her since then (or heard about her).  I was super surprised to run into her here and we had a nice time catching up.  Here is a Pepsi she gave me when we first ran in to each other.

In the evening I went to get a massage with Myles and we also got some Qian Bing and Tang Su Li Ji (just for you, Jenn! ) which he had never had either of before.  It was delicious!

Now, back to Day 7.

Since the quaratine is over, we are able to train in the wushu halls next to actual other human beings. A nice change of pace.

The morning practice was in the underground wushu hall. We started at 8:00 AM, which was rather early for us. At 9:00 AM some of the professional-type athletes came in. It was Mr. And Mrs. Zhang’s group (two old teammates of Patti’s who are coaches here).  The Mr. coaches taiji athletes and the Mrs. coaches kids around the teen-ish years. The kids were doing conditioning for their class, but the taiji folks were in full force so a bunch of stuck around after class to watch them.  Very amazing.  The Macau Team was also there training and we got to see them go as well.  Also very good.

Our workouts were no longer quaratined, but our meals still were.  We hadn’t moved to the big lunch room yet, but that was okay, because the small one is kind of nice.  We get all the same foods, without the same crowds.  Plus, Myles loves his Yogurt drinks.

The afternoon practice was in the main wushu hall.  It was our first time training there, and we were doing it next to the pro’s, no less.  Here, Tyler shares his thoughts on the training so far.

And just because we can, here is a picture of Wu Di’s abs …

The evening was spent hanging out in the hotel.  Not too much to report about that.

Day 8

Finally we could eat in the main cafeteria.  Here are some pictures of us, as well as Noah hiding his new haircut.

The morning training at 9:00 – 11:00 was in the main upstairs Wushu Hall again.  I think this is the best hall to train in, because you are next to lots of professionals doing wushu.  The downstairs hall just doesn’t have the same feeling of “awe” for me.  (Plus it kind of feels like a dungeon.)  Myles was kind enough to record a section of my nanquan for posterity.  Hopefully this is the last time it will suck quite so bad:

After lunch I went to Noah and Jonah’s room to record their messages for the folks back home (i.e. you).  Here is a video of them:

The afternoon training was, once again, in the upstairs wushu hall.  Since I don’t train in the afternoons, I just made sure that all the Wushu West students got to class on time (2 people were late — the same 2 that were late the other day…) and once I had done that I went to go pick up some shirts that I had ordered at Ya Xiu.  Yay for tailoring!  After that we came back and had dinner in the cafeteria.

In the evening my room became the social hub for Wushu West, with people playing games on one laptop and watching movies on the other.  Liu Qi and Wu Di both dropped by the room as well.  I got a bit over stimulated so I grabbed a book and went down to the lobby to read for a while.  Soon enough it was time for bed.

And thus ends Days 7 and 8.

This blog entry is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I”m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit (7/28): Swapped out videos for embeded youtube versions

I checked with the other Wushu West folks and they said that the training last night was a good class.  Well, by “good” I mean they got a good workout, so perhaps it didn’t feel “good”, but I’m pretty sure the results will be “good”.

As part of this blog I will be posting up some interviews with the Wushu West students to get their impressions on their time in China training in Wushu.  The first one was with Miles.  I caught up with him during breakfast and he said a few words about his experiences on the first 2 days of training: (click the link to view the video)

Today we had class in the morning.  This time around it was taught by Xu Ming Hu (a.k.a. “Tiger”).  The class started with the standard warm-up and then went right into stretching and basics.  Tiger was able to “help” a few people with their splits and soon enough we were going through lines of kicks, stances and techniques.

This time around we also worked on our forms.  Since I was mostly gasping for air the whole time, I didn’t catch a lot of the action, but he seemed to be giving everyone lots of corrections on their forms.  The great advantage of having him coach us is that he can show us effortlessly the correct way to move.  These younger professional athletes really are quite amazing!  I will try to post up some video of them in future entries so that you can see what I mean.

At the end of class he had us play basketball for 20 minutes, which was quite a bit of conditioning.  Usually playing at the beginning of class is a good warm-up, but playing at the end of class — after having done forms and lots of basics — is quite another story.  We all left the class tired and exhausted, but in high spirits.

As usual we all had lunch and for myself I took a nap.  But based on the sounds of giggling and smiles on the faces of the Wushu West kids, I think they were having a good time hanging out and enjoying their time together.  Let it never be said that the endorphins caused by exercise don’t have a positive effect.

After dinner (where Shahaub, James and Miles made sure to get their greens and we all ate much too much watermelon) it was time for our evening class.  Since I am only training in the mornings, I’m able to snap some photos and video so that you all can see what the experience is like.  First, here is a link to a video where I show you the current training environment in the Multi Purpose Hall.

As you can see, they are getting some good training.  I also took quite a few pictures which you can see here.  After training everyone went back to their room and it was time for bed.  Another day of training tomorrow!

This blog is being written for Wushu West’s website, wushuwest.com. However, since I”m the one writing it, I thought it might be of interest to other folks too. If you would like to learn more, please visit the Wushu West website.

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Edit 7/28: Swapped Tyler’s birthday video with a youtube version

This will be mostly pictures instead of words, since it is late and we have training in the morning …

This was the first day of our training.  Everyone met in the lobby at 7:45 for mandatory temperature taking.  It is a little machine that you put your forehead against and it takes your temperature.  Everyone got the go-ahead and we made our way down to breakfast.  Here are a few photos …

After breakfast we all go ready for our first training.  Our coach during our trip will be none other than Xu Ming Hu, or “Tiger” as he is known.  A main member of the Beijing Wushu Team, he is known for his amazing straightsword and spear technique.  However, since he just got back from a trip out of town, we were being lead this morning by another Beijing Wushu Team member, Luo Hong, who’s long fist is absolutely stunning.

The class started with group warm ups and runs around the practice area.  After that we played basketball for a while, then stretching and finally we did a lot of basics.  As it was the first practice they took it a little easy on us to help us ease in to things.  But I think everyone found the class challenging.  Unfortunately I had a slight muscle pull during the running, but that is good news for you since it meant I could take a few pictures of blurry people running around …

After practice we all went back to our rooms to get ready for lunch.  Once our temperatures were taken we headed down to the lunch room.

Sifu Patti had arranged a nice birthday cake and long-life noodles surprise for Tyler, who’s birthday was today.  We all sang Happy Birthday, which you can see a video of here:

Here are some pictures from lunch:

After lunch a group of us went to the bank down the street so that everyone could change money.  It was hot outside but we braved it for the sake of our financial well-being:

Unfortunately in the evening I wasn’t able to go to class as I had a prior engagement.  But when I find out how their second training went, I will be sure to post it up.

Day 2 Finished!