Um, that title isn't really referring to anything except that it feels CRAZY that there's only two weeks left in China (less, even). You get extra points if you can name the musical that it's from. Also it was my last week training with Young Sifu, and it just sped by.
Monday! Hurray, Basics and Forms. For most of the lessons in the week, Sifu was just trying to get everyone to learn their forms so they could practice it for the next two weeks and be awesome when he comes back. On Monday I learned how to do a direction-change using my leg on the chain whip. Apparently I need to kick higher (story of my life). But I feel like chain whip is going pretty well, now. There was a move that frustrated me for a little while cuz I JUST DINNA GET IT, but now I do, so…. there… Sifu said that I was getting "better, more practice".
The Wudan Straight Sword Form continues to go pretty well. Honestly, it's kind of easy. I think that it's easier for me because the first form I did was both longer and more difficult. The only hard part is remembering to practice it in between classes so I don't forget anything.
Tuesday we had more forms practice, and then no Jumps and Rolls. Instead we did some Wing Chun, which was pretty cool as usual. I realized that there's no way I'm going to finish the form that we do on the wooden dummy. I am disappointment.
Then in the afternoon we learned some of a two-person Shaolin Short Staff form. Hardcore. It felt more practical to practice a form whilst going against an actual opponent. You certainly can't forget to block.
Wednesday was the usual Basics-Forms-Bagua (Wudan!) formula. I spent a lot (see: all) of my free time drawing.
On Thursday, we had a short Meditation lesson from Sifu, and then meditated for a while. Meditating is SO hard because you have to clear your mind, and then you're thinking about needing to clear your mind, and then a song gets in your head and you're thinking about trying to get the song out of your head, and… ugh. More practice needed.
My Grammy submitted a question about Qi Gong. Basically what it is, is a type of breathing meditation. There's no chanting involved in the forms we do (so far, anyway), but a lot of it is relaxing and slowly stretching your muscles into different poses, breathing through your nose and collecting your chi in the lower part of your stomach. I keep spelling it 'chi' because that's how I first saw it spelled a long time ago so I don't want to confuse myself, but it's the same as the 'qi' in 'Qi Gong". Qi is the combination of your breath and the energy in your body. Besides being great for your health, Qi Gong helps you learn to control and channel your chi into different parts of your body. It's useful for when you're cold.
Of course we had conditioning. Of course. It was in the Training Hall this week, and all the other Sifu's students were in there as well (it was a bit windy outside), so we got to watch everyone else get kicked and punched and stuff. Why is that so funny?
For Power Training we literally did 500 sit-up type things. He mixed it up, of course, and we got to switch and hold our partner's legs, but… yeah. Doesn't make your stomach feel great.
For Wudan Straight Sword, I went over my form and then basically just hung out and talked with people who were also hanging out and talking. One of the guys who just came back from Christmas break from Germany brought out some German chocolate for everyone to try, which was awesome. It was awesome. It was awesome. I ended up doing a bit of qi gong and going over my Wudan short staff form (I'm on the verge of forgetting it oh noes).
We had Mandarin every night this week because Nellie left us for her Chinese New Year holiday for the next two weeks. Most of the time she had me memorize a page of words that I should've memorized three months ago and quizzed me on them, but halfway through the week I realized that what I should've done is just make her teach me a ridiculous amount of words so that I could study them for the two weeks she'll be gone. Oh well.
On Friday I didn't realize that it was "Friday the 13th" until, like, dinnertime. It has no particular significance. My last Power Stretching with my Sifu was about as painful as usual. I have pictures. Oh! I should attach that as the picture for the e-mail. I'm not making a very flattering face, though.
Saturday was my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday, Aubrey! To celebrate, I went to a Chinese restaurant that everyone calls "The Korean" for dinner. That was nice. Saturday was also the day my Sifu left, so he said goodbye to everyone in the morning.
Sunday I dialed into church and then spent most of the rest of the day re-reading Tarzan of the Apes (thank you, Project Gutenberg). Now I have to decide between reading Lorna Doone (my awesome aunt's suggestion) or finding out if JANE AND TARZAN WILL EVER GET TOGETHER. I could do both.
In the evening we were suddenly informed of getting a new roommate, so Mintoi and I had to scramble to get all of our stuff cleared off the extra bed and desk. It's two American girls, actually, though the other one is upstairs. They're only here for a week, and are both very nice. It's nice to be able to speak American with someone.
Anyway, that's it for this week. Sorry I was late!
Love you all,
Sarah
PS I was even later than I thought I would be this week because my internet decided not to send it through yesterday. Sorry for the delay!
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