Jinan - Day 6 (11.18): Wushu Lessons and Organization

2006.11.18 - 22:30

china. shandong. jinan - hotel room

If you’ve been reading this blog (you have been reading this blog, right??) you already know my morning routine by now; wake up, shower, eat, get online, go to the wushu guan. So let’s just get to the meat of the day, okay?

The workout was pretty good. It was the 5th day in a row for me so I was somewhat running on fumes. There are 9 things I learned during class today. Here is the list:

1. Recies Feces . There is a restroom just outside the wushu guan and down the hall. Never, under any circumstances, use that restroom! There are things going on in there that would not be appropriate to post and that I would never want to post photos up on even the most aggressive of blogs. Just trust me that you do NOT want to go there. It makes the bathrooms in every other wushu guan I’ve been to seem like roses in the spring time.

2. T’aight Wrapping . My ankles are improving. But I have to stop wrapping up my ankle brace so tight. I really makes the bottom of my foot cramp up. My left ankle is actually feeling fine now so I can go without that one (it was just a bruise, I think) and my right is healing up nicely. Maybe another week and I’ll be okay without that one too.

3. Volley Catch n’ Toss . Sometimes it doesn’t matter what game you play, as long as you break a sweat. Today I played a game with Zhang Ling, Li Wei and Li Chun with the big rubber ball — sort of a cross between volleyball and catch. There was no scoring, but we had teams. You don’t want the other team to catch the ball, but you don’t want to hit it away from them either. It was sort of strange but I worked up a decent sweat.

4. Head to Doh! Standard wushu workouts are good for my flexibility. With the workouts here in Shandong, even though the temperature is cold enough to see my breath, my flexibilty is definitely improving. I’m not at head-to-toe again yet, but not too far either. If I worked hard at it I bet I could get it in a week’s time, but I’m not really working that hard at it, so I probably won’t. (hahaha!) But my splits are a lot closer and I can get my foot on the higher bar now, so things are looking up.

5. We See These VCDs . People like VCDs. I gave copies of the VCD to Li De Hua, Yang Laoshi and Other-Coach-Who’s-Name-I-Always-Forget and they seemed pretty happy. I got a lot of “thank you”s, but they haven’t actually seen it yet so I’ll reserve my excitement until I know what they think of the videos.

6. Chore-O’s — Breakfast of Champions . It never hurts to ask. Towards the end of class I asked Yuan Feng Ling if she could teach me her nandao form next week and she said “sure!”. So next week I get to learn a new form. If you’ve been keeping score, this is the 3rd nandao form I’ve learned in the last year. Why so many? Because I’m still not happy with my own individual yet. I was asked by Jennifer online why I don’t just have a coach or someone make a form for me instead of learning different ones and creating my own from those. The answer is sort of complicated (and yet … simple) but basically, there is only so far you can go having someone else choreograph your forms for you. Ultimately they’re making a form that they think is a good representation of your strengths, weaknesses and personality, but that only works for so long. After a certain point the form needs to become an expression of who you are yourself. To me, the process of choreographing a form is a fairly personal one, and perhaps you think I’m taking it a bit too seriously, but for me the choregraphy is an extention of who I am as a person. It’s a representation of my inner self, just as much as my personal flavor or how I execute certain techniques. I can learn movements and basics from another person, but for me to have the “right” form for me, I need to create it myself and really spend the time and focus the energy on developing something that speaks to who I am. This is also the reason why I prefer not to choreograph forms for people until I’ve gotten to know them and their wushu a little better. So, if I offer to choreograph your form, it means I’m willing to put in the time and effort to make something I think will suit you well. (Not that it will .. just that I think it will.)7. Duilian Banjos . I realized that the main difference between Li De Hua’s group and the other coach’s group is that all of Li De Hua’s students compete in Duilian and all of the other group don’t. I was told that Li De Hua is the men’s team coach, but that confused me since he had 7 women in his group, and the other group had several men as well. But after figuring this out it makes a bit more sense. I guess Li De Hua might be better suited to coach duilian or he took on that responsibility. In any case, I think this is the reason the teams are split up the way they are.

7. A Smattering of Flattering . While the duilian groups were practicing I was talking to some of the girls on the side. Zhang Ling asked me “Are you tired?” to which I replied “No, I’m just old”.
   Liu Xu Xu said something to the effect of “For someone so big you really train well” and Zhang Ling mentioned that Li De Hua was talking to them about my nanquan outside of class and told them that my “gong fu” was very good. Liu Xu Xu also said something to the effect that my understanding and execution of nanquan techniques was better than theirs. (Apparently she’s never seen her own nanquan.) What I learned from all this is that, while it’s nice to hear nice things being said to you, it’s also kind of embarassing. There has to be some way to hear someone flatter you without feeling like you want to curl up in a ball and roll away. But, until I find that way I guess I’ll just have to grin and bear it (assuming it ever happens again).

8. A Meigui by any other name … I’m getting tired of saying “the nanquan girl” or “one of the guys in the group” in my blog, so each day I’m going to try to commit two names to memory from the group in the wushu guan. By the end of my stay (another 5 days or so) I should have most of them done. Today I learned the names for Li Wei and Liu Xu Xu. Li Wei does straightsword, is somewhat quiet, but super friendly and reminds me of a soft-spoken elf. Liu Xu Xu does broadsword and nanquan. I really like some of her techniques and her nandu are quite good too. She is sort of boy-ish, but then she does nanquan so maybe that works to her advantage.

After class Yuen Feng Ling took me to the school’s store but they didn’t have my size in wushu shoes (stupid big feet) but i picked up some laces (my shoe’s laces are all messed up) and I can just switch to my other pair I brought along. I also got some laundry detergent to clean my socks and underwear back in my room.

Yuan Feng Ling changing her shoes after class

On the way home I also got another ankle brace at the store next to the school’s gate. I saw the kid’s coach there and while I was inside there was some guy using their phone. He asked me if I practiced wushu. I said yes. He said “sanda?” and I said “taolu”. He said he was a taolu athlete too. He looked to be about the age for a retired athlete or coach but I didin’t learn much more than that. I’m guessing if Wang Wei was there they would have known each other but I didn’t know who he was. In any case, we talked for a few minutes before I left to get some food. I grabbed some bings and a couple of cooked eggs (2 for 1 RMB) and ate them in my room while working on my blog and chatting on IM.

In the afternoon I took some time to clean and organize my room.  Yes, I know it’s a hotel room and they already clean it, but I was referring mostly to my own things.  I did some laundry as well and had that squeaky, clean, organized feeling that gives a person warm fuzzies inside.

To reward myself I went downstairs to partake of some Roast Duck, but for some reason tonight’s duck was a pale imitation of the one from earlier in the week.  It was not as warm, the skin was not as crisp, the wrappers were chilly and stale … I’m not sure what happened, but this duck wasn’t so great.   I might hold off until I reach Beijing to try some more duck.  To be honest, duck twice in a week is a bit much anyway.  It’s really more of a once-every-other-month kind of food, but since it’s been several months since I’ve had it, I can probably live with another duck in Beijing before heading to Korea.

Speaking of Korea, I did some calling to travel agencies and wasn’t super happy with the fares I was hearing about.  I might have to do a bit more research before buying my ticket.  Perhaps I’ll ask Wang Wei to help me with that when he gets here next week.

For most of the evening I spent time organizing various projects.  I actually got a lot done and spent about 2 or 3 hours working on taking care of things I’ve been wanting to take care of for months now.  It feels good to make headway.

Around 10:30 I went to bed.  Sunday is a free day so no workout in the morning!  I can sleep in (if my body lets me).  I have a few errands I want to run tomorrow but aside from that it should be a fairly relaxing day.

Maybe I’ll get a massage …

Click here for my 2006 Shandong Gallery