Nothing much to mention. Some hard decisions to make on buying the new house or not. The space is ideal, but the price is too high and we found out that we will have to spend quite a bit on overdue maintenance. So we might abandon the sale if the current owner does not want to pay the costs...
We'll see how that works out.... for now, lets just keep training :)
This weekend I joined a 2 day seminar at Shaolin centrum Haarlem from Shi Yan Ti, who came from shaolin temple to teach about shaolin culture.
Both on Saterday and Sunday the day started with an introduction to the Buddhist rituals that are being done in the temple, chanting sutra's. Shi Yan Ti kept it short here. In the temple this goes on for hours and starts early in the morning. After that we started with qi gong. We learned a set of movements from XiSuiJin.
I have to admit that this was pretty hard for the body. All movements only use arms, leg movements are in more advanced sets. But this means you stand in a fairly static position for 2,5 hours while practising. This really is a burden for the lower back.
Luckily after qi gong we had a long break, and in the afternoon we did 3 hours kung fu practise where we learned Luohan shi ba shou. Also before kung fu practise the session was started with chanting.
Before we started on practising form we practised ji ben gong (basics) for a bit. It is always amazing to see the difference with chinese style of practise and western style of practice.... let's say that in chinese style power is much more explosive and movements are far more intense.
After kung fu everyone went home. I went for a nice indian curry and then went back to the trainig hall because it was also my hotel for the evening. In the evening I repeated the kung fu and qi gong form, did some sword practice, did the dishes, and massaged my legs a bit and went to bed early.
On Sunday we did roughly the same training session, and all training sessions were a bit more intense. But that might also be because the day already started with sore muscles :P
Nice side-story is that I finally met some people from Shaolin Kung Fu Tiel, who also joined the seminar. I wanted to meet people from that school for a while now but I lost track of them when I quit facebook... maybe I should get back to facebook to maintain some Shaolin contacts :P
After all of this I picked up my girl at schiphol, she went for a weekend of karate in Norway :)
Anyway, this was a great weekend! Tomorrow will be resting day. My body needs to recover.
My honey was flying to Norway today for a weekend of Karate training with Rick Hotton.
I luckily have the Goffert park nearby so I did not have to travel so far today :)
I took my Jian into the park today. First time training with a sword in this park, hope I won't get police dropping by...
This weekend I will also travel a bit, to Shaolin Kung Fu Haarlem, to join a 2 day Shaolin culture seminar with lot's of Kung Fu practice (Taolu, Qi Gong, Caligraphy etc...). So will be a fun weekend!
It looks like we're heading up to some exciting times again. We found a new house to live in in the coming years. As soon as we moved in, which will take a couple of weeks, I will show you some pictures. But in general: It's a small house, slightly bigger then our previous, but with a much more exciting layout:
Groundfloor: Entrance, storage/washing room, kitchen, toilet and a living room which will be our dojo :)".
Second floor: "Large bedroom (which will be our living room), 2 medium bedroom(s), bathroom"
And a nice little garden, so we will be growing our own herbs and veggies soon (Garden is pointed south-west, so lots of sun :))
In the mean time I started to work o some weight that I gained by living in my parents house (and due to bad habbits in the time before that ;) ). I do want to be fit when I go to china. I am doing a 'test' week in the Gym in Haps, where I did a training session for myself in the dojo and I joined a kickboxing class last Monday. Met an old friend from my childhood, who has been doing kickboxing there for 13 years already. Learned a lot in that single class ;)
Als hurt my fingers, guess I do need to wrap my fingers when I do kickboxing. Now my knuckles are all irritated and I cannot bend my pointing finger anymore to make a proper fist... no full contact punching for me in the coming days I guess. This evening I will be joining a yoga class :)
I'm still struggling with dealing with my new living situation... I can tell you this is the last time I will do things this way. Next time I'll rather live under the bridge then breath all this negative atmosphere. I have my eyes on a new house, but the guy selling it wants way more money for it then I am willing to pay. Sure hope he will give in a little more to create a win-win situation. Else I will be looking for a rental place soon. Anyhow least I will not stay at my current place for long.
Back to kung-fu stories :) I have booked my flight to China! Maybe I'll stay for 6 months if things continue like this over here ;) Since I'm not having weekly house-viewings, visits with notary offices and other stuff that drains my precious time and I have time again to take a bit longer lunch-breaks, I am back to my daily training schedule. Let's see if I can get in the flow again.
