Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Orlando Cela is an instructor at Wu Dao Kung Fu and Tai Chi
Today it rained the whole day. Early in the morning at 6 am, there was just a lot of fog, but then it started to pick up. Li Xiang and I were the only ones awake at 6 am, so we went running. We ran for a long time until we arrived at a place called Ying Xian Park. There is a huge pagoda at the top of a very, very, VERY steep hill, with stairs going up. It is Dengfeng’s stairmaster! I could see from afar the uniforms of at least three other martial arts schools. I couldn’t resist the challenge: I was wearing the Shi De Cheng’s school workout jacket, and I am white... this was going to be cool. I went upstairs by myself since Li Xiang was recovering from a calf injury. So I mustered all my energy and ran all the way to... half way there, and then panted the rest of the way up. Too bad the weather was so foggy, because the view must have been amazing. I looked around a little bit, and then I ran downstairs. As I was taking my first steps, I hear from behind “Welcome to China!” When I made it down stairs, one of the students from the other schools, came to me, shook my hand and said in English “Hello! Nice to meet you!” To which I replied, in Chinese “Nice to meet you too!” I bowed to the rest of his group saying in Chinese “Good Morning!” and someone from their replied in English “Good Morning!” Li Xiang and I ran back a little bit, but he was too tired. He told me his story: he had been an art student in college for a year and had just returned to Dengfeng, and he was still trying to gain his stamina back. He also happens to be the caretaker when Ma Hong is not there: he pays for the suppliers, makes phone calls, etc. So I ran back to school where I found out that coach Lily had taken the rest of the students for a run elsewhere a few minutes later. She had me join the class, which obviously was much more torturous than yesterday’s because she was running it. Thank goodness it’s just one hour. Breakfast. Then morning class, when Lily took her short stick, and ran us through some pretty intense “corrections.” After lunch I went to my room to see that it leaking a little bit. Since I saw there was some water damage from the night before, I decided that it was probably a common occurrence, so I didn’t tell anyone. Afternoon class was a little disappointing: I thought I was doing so well, when my leg really started to hurt. A little at first, but then at the end, it really was getting bad. So I decided to just force my way through the pain. I had survived revisions of tong bei quan, xiao hong quan and zhen shan gun, I was now learning new mei hua dao material, I just had to put up with it. It finally gave up! At a gong bu, my leg cramped up so bad that I fell to the ground. I started to rub my leg, and coach Lily sayd “Pain?” I say “A little.” She says “The first day, no problem; second day, no problem; third day, a little pain; fourth day, very difficult. Get up. Again.” Form again. “Again. This time, lower xu bu.” Form again. “Again.” Again. “Again. And hand over the head in this move.” Again. “Again!” And so it went for what seemed quite a long while. Finally the class ended, and I went to massage my thigh for a while. But after a few minutes, the other students – who were doing math at the time of my second class – came down to work out with Di Guo Bo, the other Shifu at the school and friend of Shi De Cheng. Di Guo Bo is always, always, dressed semi casual, with jacket, nice shirt, nice pants, nice shoes, and he demonstrates better than any of the students there with workout clothes. The next hour I saw a class on another staff form that was quite impressive. Di Guo Bo really pushed these guys, but he would demonstrate, with his nice clothes, the most amazing techniques at the most incredible speed. It was extremely inspiring. We talked for a while about the students: he wants them to try for the touring Shaolin monk troupe, but he said they are not good enough. I also asked him about his clothes, and he said that yes, his shoes are not the best for landing after a jump. After dinner, I went to my room, to find out water had spread all over the floor, under my suitcase. Luckily, nothing got wet. But Li Xiang did come to my room after I told him during dinner that there was a leak, and he panicked when he saw it! We brought buckets in, he mopped the floor, he wanted to change my room. But I decided to stay: the water hasn’t gotten to the bed... yet... (Chinese test: what does “ben dan” mean in English?)
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