So another week done and once again thankfully we are both still standing. A little less energy left than last week maybe but less aches and pains so something must be working. It started off really cold again after a slight temperature raise at the weekend but it has warmed up again a bit and today I even managed to take my coat off and I think we caught the sun on our faces too. It’s gorgeous when the sun is out and there is no biting wind and we’ve both enjoyed training a lot more outside this week. As soon as the sun disappears though we are shivering again. Roll on the promised 16 degrees of Thursday!!
This was nearly a full week but we did have Thursday morning off from training to go into Yantai and renew our Visas for another month. Luckily we just made it back in time for the afternoon session, boooo! Renewing the visas was an experience; a group of us were taken by a driver and the office girl from the school and basically we stopped at 4 different places and just get herded like sheep to the various desks and get asked for money a lot. No one knows what is actually going on and even though we had given two photos each that we had pre-prepared in an organized fashion we still had to have more taken at the visa office (which obviously cost more money!). The prices of visas in China are a reflection of how much you are hated by the Chinese! The Australians pay 250 Yuan, British 520 Yuan and Americans 950 Yuan!!!
I was proud of myself on Monday morning as by the end of the 2nd session I had learnt all the basics that I need to know, which was quick according to other people here. I was just pleased I’d learnt 3 new things in one morning. When the master asked to see them though his impression was quite different! ‘You are very unskilled,’ I was told, ‘and must practice more.’ I smiled and replied through gritted teeth that I had been concentrating on learning the steps but hoped I would improve with more practice! The day did not improve after that and during sanda in the afternoon I received a spinning back fist to the throat from one of the guys after not moving out of the way quick enough. I think this week has been one of mental overload for me.
Once again the acrobatics class was the funniest. After failing miserably again at jumping spin kicks we had to balance on one hand and throw your legs up in the air with a little heel click, a la Singin’ in the rain. I decided this was very much like breakdancing which was a good ploy for distraction as the master loved this, saying he used to breakdance and then proceeded to show us some of his moves which we were then all trying to copy. Back to the acrobatics; two of the more skilled guys in my group managed 2 person forward rolls! I declined the offer of having a go at this but felt I had to show willing for the 2 person cartwheels! ‘What am I doing’ was going through my head as I clutched Ben’s chest tightly. Both of us had to cartwheel together with me on his back and using no hands! It wasn’t as bad as I thought, we landed in a bit of a heap but I did try it again and improved slightly.
Stances and power training were both tough sessions again, standing in a horse stance (squat) for over 10 minutes with weights and then moving straight on to holding the wall bar while standing in a horse stance with Ben standing on my legs. This was so unbearable as you couldn’t stand up even if you wanted to and I was nearly crying, when I did manage to straighten slightly to relieve some pressure Sifu Rong hit Ben instead of me! Needless to say I went straight back into position even with my legs shaking uncontrollably. More frog jumps, hopping and wheelbarrows in power training. Excruciating pain in Power stretching where you are left in a straddle split position for so long you think you may never walk again. Even the translator was getting involved in moving our feet out just a little bit further and a little bit more and OW!!!!
Mountain hell seemed harder this week for both of us and as if it’s not hard enough some people who’ve been here for a while choose to bear crawl down the steps. I managed 7 times this week, after 6 I waited for Monica and we did a team effort on the last one. A group of us went to the Little Pagoda on the way back as it was such a clear day. It made John and I realise once again how lucky we are to have this opportunity as the views were truly stunning across the Kunyu mountain range and beyond.
John has learnt a complete footwork and stances form this week and is half way through another empty hand form Which he’s hoping to finish by the time we leave. The power training and stretching was as hard as ever for him but the good news is all this stretching every day seems to help relieve some of his back pain for a while. Definitely something to keep up when we leave.
The food here is not great, after 2 weeks we are bored of eating the same thing and although it is healthy there’s not a large variety and you are often left unsatisfied. Last night we tried the little café next door (glad we went with someone else as it just looked like a rundown farmhouse and we probably would have turned around!). The food was good and extremely cheap. The meat and fish is served on sticks and you order the number of sticks you want, so John ordered 2 squid. When a plate full of sticks arrived he didn’t think they belonged to him but this seems to be the only dish that is different and instead of getting 2 sticks he actually got 2 whole squid! The locals were laughing a lot so clearly thought he was incredibly greedy…little do they know! We had 2 whole squid (about 15 sticks!), 2 fish fillets (like 2 sardines), 5 chicken wings, a plateful of fried rice and a plateful of dumplings, 2 sprites, 2 fantas and 3 bottles of water for 67 Yuan (6.37GBP!!).
We are now enjoying the school more in general, the friends we have made, the routine and the beautiful surroundings in the middle of nowhere in China with no worries at all.
Sometimes though we are reminded you are still in China and the language barrier is a difficulty. We tried to top up our China mobile today and were directed to a tiny stone house in the little village.
The first time we had to leave as stupidly we had not written down our number. We came back the 2nd time and spent 40 minutes in there while the woman phoned her son who John had to talk to as supposedly he spoke English, although he didn’t really!
It was all very confusing and even more so when a random man came in, lit up a cigarette, offered one to John and me, laughed when we declined, sat down next to me and starting jabbering to me. I said I didn’t understand but he continued. I tried to guess what he was saying, so pointed to the school and said Kunyu academy and he knew this and started doing Kung Fu moves and smiling. I gave it the thumbs up. Clearly I’d guessed right because he then took this as a sign to continue chatting to me in Mandarin and laughed when I couldn’t understand! Finally we admitted defeat, aborted the mission and went back to the local shop to buy a new simcard with credit on it. Why didn’t we do that in the first place?!
Again it’s nice to relax at the weekend and we did a bit of shopping in nearby Muping yesterday and bought some tasty street food. You get together as a group, order a minibus taxi to take you there. It waits for you and then brings you back and this costs less than 2 pound each for a roughly 4 hour round trip! Jersey taxi drivers could definitely learn something. Then today was such a beautiful day a group of us went on a 4 hour trip walking to the base of Kunyu mountain, which is in a stunning national park, and back. Amazing views and it’s lovely to see the locals out walking too, working hard in the fields and smiling and saying ‘Ni-hao’.
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