Shi-Shong Orlando's Shaolin Diary - 2010 - Part 2

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Orlando Cela is an instructor at Wu Dao Kung Fu and Tai Chi

I’m awake at 6:45 am, looking for a functional bathroom (the one in the fifth floor doesn’t work) and everything is super quiet, like nobody is in the building. Then at 7 pm I hear a woman screaming “chi fan!” (“eat!”) so I guess breakfast is ready. They have made me a western breakfast: four fried eggs, white sliced bread (the one for toast), milk and some sweets. Class starts at 9 am, and I meet Julien, a French man who has been studying already here for two months. But nobody prepared me for Lily, the coach/teacher. She is a sweetie when she hangs out, but when she is teaching she is tougher than nails. She keeps screaming “kuai, kuai!” (“fast, fast”) for everything we do. She keeps yelling instructions as students go by. There are 10 students all together, and we went through the run, the warm-ups, the stretching, and all the ji ben gong in about an hour and a half. Then rest. Then, Julien had to do his test: he is leaving tomorrow. Not only he performs, but other students are asked to do the same. I was asked to do tong bei quan. After a few students perform, Lily takes Julien and I, and an older man, another coach, remains with the Chinese students – he has been around the whole morning, giving minimal corrections. Julien was asked to go practice, and Lily took apart my tong bei quan, and almost killed me in the process. She pushes very, very hard. After a half hour of misery, lunch, and a nap. After nap, everyone gets the afternoon free... everyone except me! It’s Lily and I. Since it’s just me, we go through warm-ups, run, warm-ups, stretching and all ji ben gong in 45 min. By now I’m exhausted! Rest, then reconvene, and she worked in more Tong Bei Quan, Xiao Hong Quan, Zhen Shan Gun, and we began with the sword Ji Ben Gong. After two hours alone with Lily, I’m pretty much done for. Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday and everyone gets a free day... Oh, wait! Everyone but me! When not training, I sit around talking to the students, watching Lily’s son play, and just resting, and drinking all the water possible.