Well I turned 18 this past Friday...it was AWESOME.
On Friday our entire academy had to climb Kunyu Mountain, the tallest mountain in the area, which is basically a 15 km trek from our school. It took several hours, but with the help of MAN power, I reached the summit, exhibiting my manliness for all to see. The next day I awoke at 4:50 am to get to a bus I would be taking, with some friends, to the port city of Qingdao which about 4 hrs. away. We dropped our bags off at a youth hostel that cost $3/night and went out to see the town. We actually didn't end up sleeping at the hostel at all, except for a slight power nap, and pretty much stayed up the entire night. The World Cup Final of Rugby between England and S. Africa was on, and because 4 of the 5 people I was with in Qingdao are English, we stayed up to watch it live at sports bar, the game started at 3 am in China, haha. Another really amazing thing we experienced was we stumbled upon a Chinese tea house, where they served tea in the traditional Chinese tea ceremony fashion. When waitress who pours the tea for you begins the ceremony for the next hour or so she her hands meticulously and with the looks of a martial artist. It was truly an experience, and the tea was amazing. Anyways I've been up for over 40 hrs. straight now, with on 3.5 hrs. of sleep prior to that, so I am going to go to bed. Goodnight, I miss you all.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
LETTER
Here is an e-mail I wrote to my Uncle that basically sums up how I'm doing out here in China. I apologize for any informalities in the language and any inside jokes you may not understand:
Haha, well I'm going to be beginning my 4th week at Kunyu Mountain Shaolin Martial Arts Academy in China. The living quarters are quite dismal, but other than that the training is great. I am studying Mantis boxing at the moment, and my master likes us to train in the mountains above our academy where we at least once or twice a week I have to condition every part my arms by beating them against trees. I feel that my progress has been amazingly fast, probably due to my previous kung fu experience. I've made lots of friends here at the academy, and have become resident translator for when we go out, so my conversational Chinese skill has been increasing exponentially.
I’ve also been constantly thinking of new riffs, because I brought that traveler guitar with me, and recording them on my computer. Also, my first week and a half, I ways having major writer’s block, probably because for the first week and a half I was at the academy it didn’t stop raining. But after the sun came back out, the lyrics began to flow. I have a sweet journal I’ve been writing in. I also completed that basic Buddhism book, and have began reading Lao Tzu’s Tao de China, which is some really deep stuff. It took me a week of pondering to understand the first poem! Anyways, I’m really glad that I came to China to study Kung Fu. I’m surrounded by mountains, and the mountain we actually run up and down every Friday and have my mantis class at is one of the holiest places in Daoism, the cave of the 8 Immortals is right there. In fact Daoism was actually born in this area of the Kunyu Mountains, so that is really cool. You can be training kung fu in the mountains, and you see a Daoist monk pass by, and then you realize he is chatting away on his cell phone, haha. Talk to you soon Uncle J.
MUCH LOVE TO EVERYONE, I MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH
Haha, well I'm going to be beginning my 4th week at Kunyu Mountain Shaolin Martial Arts Academy in China. The living quarters are quite dismal, but other than that the training is great. I am studying Mantis boxing at the moment, and my master likes us to train in the mountains above our academy where we at least once or twice a week I have to condition every part my arms by beating them against trees. I feel that my progress has been amazingly fast, probably due to my previous kung fu experience. I've made lots of friends here at the academy, and have become resident translator for when we go out, so my conversational Chinese skill has been increasing exponentially.
I’ve also been constantly thinking of new riffs, because I brought that traveler guitar with me, and recording them on my computer. Also, my first week and a half, I ways having major writer’s block, probably because for the first week and a half I was at the academy it didn’t stop raining. But after the sun came back out, the lyrics began to flow. I have a sweet journal I’ve been writing in. I also completed that basic Buddhism book, and have began reading Lao Tzu’s Tao de China, which is some really deep stuff. It took me a week of pondering to understand the first poem! Anyways, I’m really glad that I came to China to study Kung Fu. I’m surrounded by mountains, and the mountain we actually run up and down every Friday and have my mantis class at is one of the holiest places in Daoism, the cave of the 8 Immortals is right there. In fact Daoism was actually born in this area of the Kunyu Mountains, so that is really cool. You can be training kung fu in the mountains, and you see a Daoist monk pass by, and then you realize he is chatting away on his cell phone, haha. Talk to you soon Uncle J.
MUCH LOVE TO EVERYONE, I MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH
Sunday, October 7, 2007
fall
Fall has finally set in here at Kunyu 4 seasons Mountain Resort. Overnight it has dropped close to 10-15 degrees F. I'm starting my third week here and its really flown by. A couple, Garry and Claire, that I became really good friends with during my short time here left this morning, putting a damper on things because they were in the center of most of my friends here. Another thing, when we go out here I've become the Translator, which is pretty funny because my Chinese is pretty crappy. Oh another thing, I went to a DVD shop with some friends where each DVD costs about $1. Haha, oh and the other day I finally broke through my writer's block and wrote some lyrics. It's been pretty depressing not being able to write. And I've just me recording every riff that comes to my mind onto my computer. Well I'm out for now, PPPPEEEEEEAAAAACCCCCCEEEEEEE.
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