The Week in Review (12/5)

Just to keep you all in the loop with my bloging habits, I have set up the following schedule for the topics of my blogs (at least for the time being). On Monday – Friday I will blog about wushu, specifically about the training I have on each day, posting up any photos or videos that I might take. On Saturday I will blog a week-in-review of my non-wushu related activities (i.e. the other 22 hours of my day), and then on Sunday I will post up another chapter of my ongoing Wushu Retrospective.

On any days that I don’t have w...Read more

起来！起来！起来！(12/4)

Grace, one of my Chinese language tutors, suggested that I blog more in Chinese to work on my writing skill.  So, starting today I’m going to start incorporating a bit more Chinese in to my blogs, just for the practice.  Keep in mind that, if you are fluent in Chinese, a good amount of what I write may make no sense at all.  :-D  For now, though, I’m just going to do it for the titles.

孩子的练习 (Kid’s Practice)

Today, since I arrived about 40 minutes early to the wushu guan, I was able to see a bit more of the kid’s practice th...Read more

10,000 Meters (12/2)

As I saw some wushu folks leave the wushu hall building I showed one of them the schedule I had on my camera and asked them what the slot for this afternoon said.  My inclination that it was running outside, just like last Wednesday, turned out to be true.  So I headed over to the track to wait for my comrades in arms.

Perhaps because the weather was so nice (blue skies and lots of sun!) or maybe it was already on the schedule, but there were quite a few groups out on the field today.  One large Sanda group was playing soccer and...Read more

(Sm/F)og, Three Things and a Bonus (12/1)

Before I blog, I wanted to share something that I saw today.  You may recall that I mentioned that the winter smog from the coal burning and polution gets pretty bad here in Xi’an.  But we also get a bit of fog from time to time.  And when you combine the two things together, like we had today, it turns in to a pea soup the likes of which I never saw in my 14 years in the Bay Area.

Here are a few comparative shots from the morning and the afternoon so that you can get an idea of what it looked like from our l...Read more

Back to Wushu Forms (11/30)

I was running a little late to class today so I called up Yuan Ming to ask him to let Zhang Laoshi know that I would be a few minutes late.

Then, as my cab pulled up to the front gate of the Sports Center, who was in the cab right in front of me but Yuan Ming!  He had run an errand for a coach to get something for one of the kids.  He met up with Xin Rue right in front of the medical building and they walked in so I think one of them might be sick.

In any case, it turned out I didn’t need to worry. Zhang Laoshi was...Read more

Wushu Retrospective (Part 2) – 1995: The Honeymoon

I picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is Mark there? I’m returning his call.” a woman’s Chinese-accented voice said on the other end.

I figured it was someone from the school’s office or maybe a parent that helps with registration.

“Yes, I’m interested in taking Wushu classes?” I said.

“Have you taken any martial arts before?” she asked.

“No”, I admitted. I hadn’t, really and certainly didn’t count the 2 months of Jungae Moosul when I was 19 and half year ...Read more

Strength Training Redux (11/27)

I will say right now that I didn’t take any pictures or videos today during practice, so if you are just here for that, you can go now.

The reason I didn’t get any media is because I was busy getting my butt kicked with some serious strength training and conditioning.  It was basically a repeat of Tuesday, but unlike Tuesday, this time around I actually participated in as many of the exercises as I could.

In fact, at the beginning of class I was feeling pretty good.  Probably because of the day of rest on Thur...Read more

Xi’an Vignettes (11/26)

Since I didn’t have to go training today, I thought I would post up a few pictures from the past few days of non-wushu-related life in Xi’an.

Making Noodles (10/25)

First though, I realized that I forgot to post up a bit of footage and photos from waaaay back on the 25th of October after Ruhi and I had visited Garnett and Umesh at the Xi’an Translation University (西安翻译大学). When we got back home we dropped by the local market village and got some noodles at one of our favorite little restaurants. This time around, s...Read more

Track Training – 跑步！跑步！(11/25)

Shaanxi Strength Training (11/24)

Today I was feeling it in my hamstrings.  Those two weeks off of wushu due to travel and sickness had really lowered my physical condition and now I was having to start back up from scratch.  AGAIN.

I got to the wushu guan a bit early just so I would have a few more minutes to warm up and get myself stretched out.  I was dreading doing basics and kicks, but it turned out I needen’t have worried at all.  Today wasn’t a wushu training day.

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