Adventure in Shaolin wk2

Sorry, my stories are taking a bit longer than expected. I started rebuilding my new house and have no internet access... so have to do one story each weekend...

Time for week 2 of Shaolin! : .......

Sunday resting day, and I needed it. Went to a get a massage, Sifu had recommended one to Bart in the past, so we went there. It was a good deep massage very nice for the muscles. After that I said goodbye to Bart and went exploring DengFeng on my own. After 2 hours of walking I literally found nothing that I was looking for :) except bananas. But my hip started hurting so I went back to find the bus station. Later that day I did some laundry (by hand , also good training, in the same sink where the dishes are done, and the fish is cleaned, see the kids in the picture below :))

In the evening a kid got attracted to my "Learn Chinese" app on my phone and all of a sudden I had a private Chinese teacher who kept telling me whole stories... my answer 99% of the time being ' wo3 ting4 bu4dong (I don' t understand).

Then the 'working week started again'. I cannot run or do kicks with the current state of my hip so I decided to bring my upper body and core to shape again with a regular ' build-up' scheme consisting of 3 sets of: various planking exercisers, push-ups, crunches, and bench ups. Did this training I did 3 times a week on the first training block. the other 3 days I did qi-gong practice. The other training blocks I did Xiao Hong Quan practice and Gong Fa practise. But I also took a lot of breaks and watched the kids train. Man they have too much energy. Even after 6 six hours of training they still act like kids on a sugar high (and they don't eat much sugar)! Also noticed how they discipline kids here... old school style, I really cannot get used to that and did not like that. Also seen with my own eyes that it does not work and even has opposite effects. So I don't understand why it is still done this way. Anyway, guess culture needs to catch up about 20 yrs here... During diner I got some more Chinese class from Ie-Ze or however you write my diner-friends name. In the evening there was no training cause the kids had to present what they learned in a demo to Sifu... Sifu was in very late though so only half of the demo's are done...

Tyson and the kids waiting for Sifu to arrive for demo-night...

On Tuesday I started 1st training with Qi gong after a bad night of sleep to to heavy thunderstorms in Xishilipu village. Later in the day I continued Gong Fa and Xiao Hong Quan practice and we started with a new straight sword form, Qi Xing Jian  :)
Later in the evening there was again no training but the second half of the demo's were done.

Wednesday I woke up after a good night of sleep. Starting to get used to my wooden bed :). Did my upper/core workout in the first training block. After that I continued with Gong Fa, Xiao Hong Quan, and Qi Xing Jian. Later that day I went to DengFeng and this time I found all the shops and the bank that I was looking for. I also went to buy tea. That was fun. I got invited to taste various tea's, the owner was selecting some local teas for his shop. Spend an hour and a bit chatting and drinking tea with the 2 brothers who owned the shop (yes, they spoke English pretty well :) ) and after that I bought some tea and went on to finish shopping for some groceries. In the evening I did some more practice. Even with the hip problems I still want to train 6 hours at least... Then off to bed.

"Tea tasting at the tea shop with one of the owners"

Thursday I started with Qi Gong, hip is not feeling so got even though I took some pain killers last evening. So taking it easy today.... Second block of training my hip was feeling better already so I went a bit deeper again. Focussed a bit on the movement dynamics today and I have some things in the movements that I do not quite understand yet (you basically combine 2 circular motions, one on Y-axis of the body and the Z-axis, both come from the hip, but I do not see the added value of the Z-axis rotation). Later in the afternoon, I ran to the hills to do some training there. When I ran out of water I went back and took a little break to watch Sifu teach his class. And after that I continued training. This time a high-intensity training, training my own known TaoLu from holland at full energy level. In the evening training I focused on some Qi Gong and Yoga exercises. My muscles are tired but are getting longer due to all stretching that I do here.

"Sifu training his students"

Friday I wanted to leave early and visit Shaolin Temple. But unfortunately the gate of the school was locked (I realized that in the middle of the night... luckily, I did not get up at 4.30h to find that out). So I'll visit the temple another day. Today is core/upper body workout day again in the first block and luckily on the 3rd day of this schedule the amount of repeats go down a little... cause I am really tired today. During the second block I tried to do some kicks again, since my hip is feeling a little better after all the core exercises. I noticed that on days that I do the core workout my hip feels a little better... do I have a hernia then after all, and not piriformis syndrome? Who knows... In the afternoon I went out to the fields to do training at a quite place. When I ran out of water (which happens quickly when you train on a sunny 35*C day) I went back to the school and did some more training there on my spot on the bridge. Eating is problematic, I am getting sick of eating the same stuff 3 times a day 6 days a week, and the temperatures here are also not helping.
In the evening I practiced all my Taolu on 'qi', did a good stretching and went to bed.

"Practising Gong Fa on the bridge, here I am starting a double punch from the behind leg, through the hip, to the fists)

Saterday was not a good day. Started out with Qi Gong. Can do ' tree-standing' exercise now for 60 breaths... (started out on 60 seconds), so is about 5 times as long. So that was fine, but my body doesn't feel good today. Completely stiff and my hip is acting up pretty bad. Since we have no training from Tyson on I decided to try and find the little temple Bart was talking about on a track in the hills near the school. It was a bit busy with Chinese hikers, who all want a picture with the Laowai but aside that it was a nice trip. Made some cool mountain pictures to :)
3rd Training block I trained Taolu. It is bloody hot today, and the humidity went up to 70%, in contrast to last weeks 20%. Last training I focussed on stretching, and qi gong. And that was the end of the week again.

"Posing, eagle stance, in the mountains :)"

Do have to admit that I am starting to feel pretty homesick and am getting a bit depressed from that (miss my girlfriend, miss my ' regular food', feel shitty that I cannot train to my max, get really annoyed with certain Chinese habbits), but hope that' s just temporary.

Amituofo, or as Ie-Ze would say "Peace"