Last Week of Leisure

After receiving a call from my Dad, Daniel told me to use his room until the Internet is boosted. He’s normally away from the school, since he has an apartment and another business to run, so I can use it practically every evening, hooray! Yesterday was the last day of the Spring Festival, a big party day for the Chinese, so afternoon classes were cancelled. The cook was away celebrating the occasion and somebody else filled in for dinner. Daniel should hire this man. He laid out some delectable dishes for us— thin sliced pork cooked in a garlic-y sauce, some Hoisin and soy-sauce cabbage with beef, steamed buns, thin sliced potatoes (hard to describe), egg fried rice, and some sweet rice dumplings in a dish of thin, opaque sauce. The rice dumplings were chewy on the outside, incredibly sweet and strangely starchy on the inside, and had a flavor I just can’t pin down. Afterwards, I spent the better part of the night happily watching Starcraft for the first time in forever. Normally the others torrent movies, thereby clogging the bandwidth, but they were away. About an hour after their departure my DL speed rose from around 15 kbs, on average, to near 200 kbs.

Last night was a special occasion, so I made an exception, but starting this morning I’m going to watch what I eat more carefully. The food is so good and abundant here that it’s easy to overeat. I have definitely gained weight since my arrival, despite the extensive exercise, and I won’t tolerate it any longer. To be truthful, this has been sneaking up on me since the holiday season began back in the states. It shouldn't prove too difficult to correct things though, not in this environment.

Gah, I’m glad it’s finally Friday, this week has gone on long enough. My body didn't want to loosen up this morning, probably on account of the leg exercises I did yesterday. I couldn't even stand in the relatively easy Chi Gung pose without feeling immediate fatigue in my legs. What will I get up to this weekend? I’m not sure, but I won’t complain if it’s not too intense.

Starting on Monday the master will be here full time, and I haven’t any doubt training will get tougher. It’s a lot easier to slack when he’s not supervising. He’ll also be bringing me a pair of Feiyue Kung Fu shoes which will make practice easier, not to mention more beneficial, just by the wearing of them. The master also intends to secure a conditioning tool— a bag full of small metal bits and Chinese traditional medicine to whack my hands against. He says after a week of that I should be able to break a brick (the bricks here are weak though), and after a hundred days I should break a slab of rock. He has to request that his old master he make one for us, so it will be a time before I start. That's fine by me. The others are also doing a similar conditioning, but their bags are full of beans.

Lastly, good news to top off the week! Andy’s mother didn't like the idea of him working so far (I guess it was going to be far) away. He’s going to stay here at the camp after all. Also, according to Daniel’s mother in law, there should be a new Mantis Fist student coming in about two weeks! This is good news because motivation grows with company, and I’ll have somebody besides the master to practice drills with. He tries to tone it down, but his arm is like a metal bar— not so comfortable to drill with. I just spoke with Bernard at lunch. He confirms that another student is coming. A friend of his, in fact, who “never did any martial arts, never even any sports.” I think his name is julian (I can copy-paste the j, but I can’t find a capital one, sorry julian).