Berkeley: Back in the Bay (11/12-14)

Finally touching down on U.S. soil.  It felt a little strange.  I realize I was just here in June for my sister's wedding, but that was a short trip and this had more of a "permanence" about it.  I would be staying in the U.S. for more than just a couple weeks ... I would be here at least for a few months.  It was taking a bit of time to get used to.

I was picked up at the airport by James from Wushu West.  We trekked across the Bay Bridge, made a pit stop for some caffeine and money in Emeryville and then ended up at Patti's home in Berkeley.  As usual, I set up camp in her living room and got myself situated.

picked up at the airport by james

She fed us a bit of pizza but pretty soon we had to go.  James left to go to work and I went with Patti to her Chen Taiji class.  I knew that being back meant it was time for me to get back in shape with exercise.  With those two months of leg joint issues and constant pain even walking had been a challenge just a few weeks ago.  Thinking back to just my time in Beijing and Xi'an, where it was a challenge for me to walk for an extended period of time, my recovery has definitely been progressing along.

I was surprised that I could remember a lot of the form from when I was learning it back in 1996.  I guess my muscle memory isn't so bad after all.  My thighs were sure burning though and I wasn't even going very deep into the stances.  It was good to do some sweating and moving though.  Definitely will do more of that when I get to Idaho.

a familiar face from taiji class - laura!

After the class Patti and I went to Seasalt where we met up with James to get something to eat.  Good food there as usual. 

awesome devilled eggs

delicious salad

Then back to Patti's (James went home) and I spent most of the evening reorganizing my luggage and things, tossing a bunch of stuff I didn't really need and redistributing things that I did.  I also prepared one suitcase to leave in Berkeley since I'm planning on being back there in February and didn't need those things during the interim period in Idaho.

almost all my clothes in the world.

I ended up finally getting to sleep around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m.

Naturally, that meant I woke up a bit late -- around 1:00 p.m.  Jet lag does that to you, I guess.  After I showered and changed Patti helped me run some errands to REI, Walgreens, etc.  Then a quick return to the home to change before heading out again to wushu.

the view from patti's front porch

My legs were a little sore from the taiji the day before, but I didn't want to give up the opportunity to do some exercise.  So, during the beginner's class from 5:00 to 7:00 I followed along as best I could and did some of the warm up with them.  Joint warm ups, some jump rope, squats and stretching.  By then I was already beat. 

good ol' wushu west

lynda at wushu

james teaches some wushu to a child

Compared to the days when I would train regularly it was hardly enough to build up a sweat, but considering that just 2 months ago I couldn't even walk, I was happy to just get my heart rate up and move around a bit.  I didn't push myself too hard because I knew that it would be a long climb to get myself in any reasonable shape to do any hard-core exerercising.  Let alone attempt any wushu.

I remember after my surgery in 2004 it took me about a year of slowly (SLOWLY) increasing my exercise each week until I could participate in a full wushu class again.  At first I could only do the warm ups, just like now.  But after slowly adding a few more things each class, after several months I was able to do more.

The trick is to not try and kill yourself the first time back.  That's just an invitation to injury and total body soreness that will never make you want to train again.  It has to be gradual and you have to pace yourself.  Some people are better at it than others, of course.  And sure, the inclination to go gangbusters and really push myself is there, but I knew the price I would have to pay if I did that so I took it easy.

Anyway, enough about that.  After the beginning class Patti asked me to lead the advanced workout.  Aside from Linda having a slight knee injury (fortunately I don't think she tore anything, but it was still kind of scary) the class went pretty well.  Lots of basics and some good form work.  It was simliar to the class we did back in June.

After class a bunch of us went to Daimo to grab a bite to eat.  Lots of fun and food and the time passed quickly.  After that we said our goodbye's and Patti and I went back to her home where I spent some time packing up my things and got to bed around 3:00 again. 

mr. nanquan at daimo

pierre and james

patti and felicia

steamed dumplings

cary and patti

The next day I woke up around 11:00, quickly showered, ate some breakfast and then Patti drove me to the airport where I would catch a plane to Seattle to spend a couple days with my sister, mom and step-dad before driving over to Idaho.

But I will leave the next part for another blog ...

familiar sign

light at the end of the tunnel

the bay bridge

you can see the photos from this blog here.