The Chinese teachers

The training we did in China was very different to what I was used to. They didn't explain anything in details or what it was for, they showed you the rough shapes. In the first place he didn't teach me so much cos I was a woman, and everything I did was 'very good' (again cos I was a little woman). Being out here has made me understand what skilled teachers Damo and Paul are, I didn't think that any of our teachers we had out here had managed to come to the same level in their training. Some of the chinese teachers we had moved very gracefully and were very bendy though.
I also realised how much I like Yang style. During the first month we solidly trained Hun Yuan Taiji so I didn't have time to do Yang style very much at all. I was very surprised when I started again how much my body had stiffened up! It felt very different just after one month. So I'm very glad I can focus on Yang style as much as I want now.

The first month in China

The first morning in Beijing we went up 5;30 to go and see if anything was going on in the parks. Very many people started coming around 6 a clock and started doing all kinds of different weird exercises. There was all different kinds of Qi Gong and Martial Arts there, even big areas that looked like playing areas for kids but they were full of old people doing there exercises with the tools. It was very crowded everywhere with people rubbing there thighs on fences, traditionell dancing, even some kind of disco dancing, standing meditation in front of trees, socialising, every now and then someone was screaming and really going for it, cricket, a lot of badminton, people walking around clapping their hands and some very strange looking Qi Gong. If people were doing that in the parks in europe people would think they were mad :P
I was really fascinated by everything that was going on, I think the parks was the one thing I really liked about China.
I was not very impressed by any of the martial arts we saw in any of all the parks we went to(maybe with one or two exceptions). Most of them just followed along in big Taiji groups. Yang groups looked very dancy and wet, and the chen stylists was obsessed with trying to move there arm or any other part of there body very fast at times to show how much internal force they had. They just ended up being very tense. And non of them even cared about alignments.

After Beijing we went to one of Damo's teacher to stay for a month. He lived out in the biggest shithole I've seen, I really don't fancy going back to his nearest town again if I don't have to. Most parts of it was like a bulding site, very messy and run down buldings everywhere, very poor, very bad smell wherever we you went, not surprising though cos we had to look out while walking on the streets so we wouldn't stand on any of the pooh piles (human pooh piles) or vomits that was spread out a bit here and there. :P
The people were not used to white people either so there was a bit of subtle rasism going on, they stared very much and was very unfriendly, some restaurants wouldn't serve us and when we were at our teachers place they were watching us all the time cos we were white and they don't trust us. We tried an attempt to get out of the school ones to get to town and get toothpaste and toilet paper (cos they just use water when they've been on the toilet here), and we got one of them to call a taxi but they stopped us just as we were about to get in. They said that we could go later when they could follow us, of course that didn't happen that day...
They didn't really care whenever we had a problem like when Damo's phone got stolen out of our room. I found chinese people on the whole being very strange people, polite but not caring. It was interesting though cos they were beahving so differently compared to other people I've met. We met a British/Chinese girl who described it very well, she told us a joke a comedian had said about chinese behaviour;
"If one person is standing holding a wall that is clearly falling down,
I won't offer my help to hold it,
but at the same time I won't kick it down for you."

"If a poor person is having his poor small meal with no meat,(not many poor people can afford meat here) and I am having my big nice meal with lots of meat,
I can't give him some of mine,
I'll just eat mine quieter".

I think they actually describe the chinese very well. If they know you though, then it was totally different, then they would step on others to help you. We did meet some nice people there though.
One of our friends told us very proudly of one of their chinese sayings when a very poor woman with no teeth and ripped clothes came up and begged for some money:
" Don't help someone that's poor,
cos they will still be poor tomorrow,
instead help someone that has a problem,
cos then they can help you back."
(We gave her some money)

It was interesting meeting people from totally different cultures.

Starting our travelling tomorrow!

Tomorrow are we starting our travelling by going to London over the day, and the next day after we're flying out to Asia for almost 6 months. We are beginning our travells in China for 3 months, and the two first months we will be training mainly Hun Yuan Taiji with my boyfriend's trainer.
Starting to get really excited now!!
Don't think I will be able to write on here the first month though since we won't have any computers nearby.
I promise my family I will write to you as soon as I get a chance though.
Speak to you in a while!