The first day of training was yesterday. Just so you know what we did and how it seems to work, I’ll tell you. To start, we start at nine and go until about eleven thirty. We get a ten minute break about halfway through and the only other breaks are the slow jogs around the training hall between exercises. We never really stop moving for the two point five hours. Warm-up, like in Silent River, is the most strenuous part so far. We do a lot of things with jumping, foot work and really odd exercises that are really painful. Quick stepping and a lot of hip movement. There are a couple where it looks like I’m skipping through a field of daisies or trying to shimmy out of a pair of shorts without my hands, but they help in warming up and working the core. For warm-up we also play soccer, aka 足球. It was me, Rolf, Tyler and another guy, none of us being pro in soccer, versus the three instructors and a russian guy who seems to play often. The final score was something like twelve to one against us. After that we split up between the three instructors. Rolf, Tyler, Sasha the Russian guy, and I study Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) on the far left mat. A short, quick and acrobatic Indian guy studies Wushu (the flying stuff) on the middle mat. And a crazy Danish guy studies Taichi (slow and relaxing) on the far right mat. Our instructor is in his forties, the oldest one of the three, and agile for a guy his age by western standards. At one point, while we were doing fifty slow side kicks, I saw him pop up into a straight and steady handstand. He’s funny too and patient with the language barrier. He knows a little English but luckily he speaks mostly Chinese, giving us a good chance to learn more. Oh, side note, we train in tiny kickboxing shorts so I show a lot of leg during practice. Sorry for the mental picture, but you have to know. When we get into the actual Sanda the first thing we do is stand in a fighting stance for ten minutes in left then right lead. After that we practice proper punching technique by punching slowly then quickly, one hundred times, both sides. There is a lot of repetition, I find, which is good. We pared up and did some blocking practice with one guy throwing punches and the other blocking and parrying. At one point he got us to put our hands behind our backs with our partner punching us all over, body, face, and we were told to look at him and not blink. Also, a lot of stretching. And running and jogging and walking around. We did some pad work too, kicking and punching them. The teaching style is different too. because communication is tricky he’ll just walk up and move your hand or leg, or show exactly what to do. An eye for detail is handy here, I’m definitely practicing mine. Also, I’m sore and, what with more than two hours formal training every weekday morning, I expect to be sore for a while. I also will be practicing some extra stuff for fun. I bought a meteor hammer so I have to learn how to use it.
Chinese language class started as well. It’s at two in the afternoon for two hours on Monday and Friday and three on Wednesday. It’s very good. We actively engage in conversation with the teacher and each other all class. I think Wed is the conversation class. Writing is on Fri or Mon. It is even better because we have only three people in our class. Tyler, Martin and I. Rolf is with the crazy Danish guy in a lower class. Class here will serve as a good complement to my practical practice that I constantly have just living here and that seems to me to be the best way to learn a language.
It’s really interesting being a foreigner. I notice people always look at me and some full on stare. The Chinese students at school are extra friendly and just last night Rolf and I played with what we like to call a bird-ball. (a birdie type thing that’s used like a hackie sack. Young and old people alike play with it. it’s a traditional Chinese toy. It’s made of four feathers on a rubber base that has some small aluminum washer-sized rings to make a pleasing noise when you kick it.) We were soon joined by two girls and a guy. We tried to talk to them and one of them knew a little English so, after playing bird-ball for about forty-five minutes, him, Rolf and I sat down and talked about Beijing and whatever else came to mind. Friends are easy to come by here it seems. Also, last night while roaming the market for food, four of us, Canada, Amsterdam, Norway and America, were standing and talking when a young kid ran right up to us and just stared at us with a large smile! Chinese kids are cute. I want one. I probably won’t marry a Chinese woman though, or father random half-Chinese children though. I’ll just get a Chinese kid and take him home in my luggage or something. Or maybe not…
1 comment:
It sounds like your having a fantastic time! If you keep training like that, you'll put us all to shame when you return:)
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