The Final Wushu Recap (8/29)

Now that I have left the Bay Area, my wushu training is, at least for the next month, on the back burner.  In the meantime I will focus more on other things and activities.  Once I’m in China I’ll get back on the bandwagon.

But since this is a temporary break from wushu, I wanted to go out the right way and write up my final Wushu Recap.  Enjoy!

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Tuesday and Thursday

Tuesday’s class was the last time I would be teaching before Hao Zhi Hua returned from China. To be honest, I don’t remember the specifics of the class, so that must mean it was fairly run-of-the-mill. As I recall, on this particular day I focused a bit more on section combos. I spent some time teaching new nanquan to Pierre and Johnny too, as well as some more long fist for Kevin and Eddie.

On Thursday HZH was back in class. I suggested that she mostly observe so that she could see what sort of workouts we’ve been doing and what level everyone is at. So I ran the warmups, stretching and basics. We did sections as well.

After class she told everyone that we had improved quite a bit and that we all seemed much stronger.  Thats good to hear.  She also told me that I had lost weight and improved since China too, which is great since I was mostly worried about not building on all the stuff I had done in China.  Nothing worse than spending all that time and money in China and then just wasting it by not doing anything when you get back to the U.S. (* cough* Noah * cough*).

I was originally planning on going to Ding Wei’s on Saturday but it turned out that they cancelled the Saturday class so instead I spent the time at home working on the new Wushu West website.  You can check it out!  For a quick redeisgn I think it isn’t too bad.  At least it will be way easier to update now that it is on the WordPress CMS.

http://www.wushuwest.com

I spent a bunch of time updating the content and last weekend I trained Cary on how to update it so he at least can do things instead of me from now on.  I was going to train James as well, but time wasn’t permitting, I guess.  Anyway, Wordpress isn’t exactly rocket-science.  I’m sure things will be okay.

Sunday

Sunday’s class was fun, but probably because I didn’t have to teach at Wushu West for the first time since early June.  HZH had us focus a lot on basics and stretching and timed us for front stretch and continuous front slap kicks.  For front stretch (zheng ti tui) I did 15 in 11.28 seconds.  And for the continuous front slap kicks it was 15 in 8.82 seconds.  Not too bad, but I’m guessing I can improve if I keep at it.

One thing I noticed is that Lauren and Tyler have both improved quite a bit.  Lauren is way more stable and her basics are so much better than they were when I first saw her in the early spring.  And Tyler is much stronger and starting to show a bit more emotion in his wushu.  I can’t wait to see how they look the next time I’m in town.

Actually, everyone has been improving quite a bit.  And I’m afraid I can’t really take all the credit for that.  They have all been working pretty hard too, and that, more than me, is the reason for the growth.  I hope they can all keep it up.

Wushu Longevity and Mastery

After talking with Justin Ho online about longevity in wushu, I realize that the path I’m on and the way I’m training is a good one.  I am trying to develop my wushu not to accomodate the nandu rules or the acrobatics and new-age choreography, but in a way that allows me to continue enjoying wushu in the future without killing myself by doing things that aren’t suitable.  I can focus on certain aspects of wushu without worrying about others that aren’t going to help me out.  Training has become more cerebral or intellectual for me now, focusing more on specific ways to keep my foundation strong and my training long-lived, than on playing around with tricks and the latest fads.

I suppose that is probably true of any art form, when you think about it.

I can tell that I’m not as strong as I once was, but I’m definitely stronger than I was when I started this return to wushu in November.  And each month I will grow a bit more, improving and reclaiming a bit more of the ability that my lack of training has brought about.  I don’t want to become some super amazing athlete or anything, but I would like to at least know that I can improve my skill and increase my level.

After all, the real motivation for a student shouldn’t be whether or not they are learning lots of moves or learning new forms all the time, but should be whether or not they feel they have improvements yet to make.  I don’t mind not learning anything new, as long as I feel I can improve on what I have already learned.  Learning lots of things isn’t development.  It is just trying to stuff more food in the bowl than it needs to hold.  If you want a good meal of wushu, then quality, not quantity, is going to serve you better in the long run.

And when you focus on quality over quantity, then you are working towards mastery of the given subject.  You are developing gong fu.  When you prioritize quantity over quality, then you are fighting against it, and you will never have that high level skill in anything.

Just my two cents.

After Sunday’s class we had a BBQ over at Lauren, Tyler and Travis’ home.  It was a lot of fun and I ate a ton of really good food. Thanks so much to them and their parents, Susan and Michael, for inviting us over.  I also got a wonderful framed picture with little notes from everyone at Wushu West wishing me a good time in China and thanking me for teaching.  It was very touching.  I’ll stick a picture of it up on my blog when  I get some time (and am unpacked).  In the meantime you can see these photos I took at the party:

Wushu West Changes

I should also mention that there are some changes afoot at Wushu West.

First, the schedule will be changing for the fall season.  I believe beg/int wushu is 5:30 – 7:00 and advanced is 7:00 – 9:00.  sunday is the same.  They are also going to start offering some incentives for people to sign up for class and from what I understand they are also reducing the tuition.

Whenever I talk to people about Wushu West the first thing I usually hear after “Yeah, it is a great school”, “you have china carpets!” or “hao zhi hua is a great teacher” is “ but it is really expensive” .  Well, that is no longer a factor as prices will be slashed across the board by over 25%, if not more.

They are also implementing a discount for college students and this month they have a half-off-your-first-month special for new students.

In any case, you can get more information from the website, or you can drop by for a free trial class and ask questions for yourself.

Tuesday

And so my last day of wushu training had come.  Not a huge class on this day but that suited me just fine.  I wanted to really try to put everything I could into the class since I wouldn’t be able to do wushu for a while.

And boy did I.   I got really wiped out from the basics and after the first several lines I had to start taking short breaks.  If you were there you probably heard me huffing and puffing.  It wasn’t pretty.

We focused a lot on basics for this class, which is great.  But the best part of the class was that I got to finish two things:

First, I got to finish teaching the new nanquan stuff to Pierre.  We hurriedly got through the rest of the section. Sure, he’ll have some practicing and remembering to do.  But at least we got that finished up.

The second thing is that I also go to finish teaching Eddie the Youth Compulsory Long Fist form.  I was there his first day of class and taught him the first moves of this form.  So it was a nice bookend to be there to teach him the end of the form as well.

At the end of class I ran conditioning.  And it was brutal.  LOTS of frog leaps and wall sits.  Lots of ab work and V-Ups.  I really wanted to push myself.   I was pretty sore by the end of it.  And worse of all, I had to stay up all night packing and preparing for my train ride to Salt Lake City in the morning.

I ended up sleeping most of the train ride, but we arrive at SLC around 4:30 AM so I have to wait 3 hours for the shuttle up to Idaho Falls.  I slept on that too, of course.  Anyway, I was picked up by my mom, we did some shopping, ate some lunch and by the time I got home I was pretty beat and ended up crashing rather hard.  Now I have a ton of unpacking and organizing to do so that I can be the most productive possible during the next 10 days.

Thanks

I also wanted to give a big thanks to all the folks in Berkeley who have put me up over the past year.  Shahaub, my brother-man, has been a big help to me allowing me to crash in his home on multiple occasions.  It has been wonderful introducing him to the world of American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Fringe, Dollhouse and more.  Don’t forget Shahaub — get some Alias on the playlist.

And then to James and Myles for putting me up at their home in Albany for this past month.  And a big thanks to their house-mates too; Amanda, Scott and Adam, and of course Jesse, in who’s room I stayed while he was out of town.

Also to my teacher, Hao Zhi Hua (who will probably never read this) for letting me crash in her living room whenever I needed to.

And thanks to all my friends who I’ve been able to spend some time with here and there.  And to the students at Wushu West who made working out fun.  And .. well, to everyone. I am very grateful for my experiences here in the Bay Area and all the people who make those experiences possible.

See you all next year!

I never know where to start with these kinds of things… but I guess

I should start with the most important thing:  THANK YOU!

The kindness of both friends and strangers that has been shown over

the past week has humbled me more than anything I’ve ever experienced.

After going through all of my struggles with red tape at school and

funding and such, I was really starting to feel discouraged about

whether or not this was the right thing.  When I finally thought

everything was ready to go, I realized I was faced with the financial

aid SNAFU, I didn’t know how I would possibly be able to fulfill my

dream of studying in China.  I was completely discouraged, and felt

that maybe it

wasn’t the right thing to do.

Enter Mark. When I first read what he put up on his site, I cried.

Not because I thought I would get any money, but to have a friend

write something so nice about…  I mean, it’s like you always have

these things that you hope your friends

(and other people) think about you, but to actually see them written

down where other people can see them… it’s just stunning. That to me

was one of the greatest gifts anyone could have ever given me.

Then, much to my surprise, people started donating money.  Friends,

people I’ve met online only, and people I didn’t even know donated

money.  It was the clearest evidence to me that this really was the

right thing to do.  That it really was meant to happen.  And now, just

over a week later, I’m here in China.  I’m completely jet-lagged

because I took a morning flight (which I’d never done before), but I’m

so happy.

It’s interesting to me because although there are a number of cosmetic

changes to the city, the general feel of Beijing feels the same.  I

feel almost as if I never left, or if I did, it was only for a matter

of days rather than years.  I feel like I’m at home.  I landed in a

new terminal at the airport, took a new shuttle to customs and the

baggage claim, went through customs in a different place, but the

general hum and process was the same. I got to my hotel, checked in,

and went exploring to find something to eat.  I found a chain noodle

place that I had liked in the past, went in and ordered the same thing

I used to eat, and enjoyed my first meal in what is to be my home for

the next 11 months.

I spent yesterday meeting up with old friends and going to places I

have been in the past, reacclimating myself to the “new” Beijing.  It

is everything I had hoped for. I bought a cellphone and talked to the

salesperson, asked my questions, listened to their spiel and realized

that my Chinese was going to improve immensely this year.  I have no

choice but to speak Chinese. No other way to communicate.  I don’t

have anybody to fall back on to help me explain what I’m looking for,

or what I’ve been told.  It’s exactly what I need.  It’s still

slightly unreal.  I can’t believe I’m here.  I can’t believe I’ve

actually made it.  It’s been so long coming, and something I’ve hoped

for for such a long time. To have it finally be real, I can’t thank

all of you enough.  When I get my financial aid, I’m planning to make

a donation to Giving Anonymously (www.givinganon.org) because I hope

to do for someone what all of you have done for me.

To those of you who donated money, and those who didn’t but held me in

good thoughts:  Thank you.  You’ve made all of this possible.  I’ll do

everything I can to make this the best, most fruitful trip possible.

~Jenn

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