Day 12: Kung Fu

Since it is our second week here and we are more settled in our new routine, we got to begin taking classes for ourselves. Today was the first of our Kung Fu lessons, and tomorrow we have Chinese classes. We also get to start our painting class next week! They have such fun things for us to take advantage of and I love that we get these opportunities to participate in real Chinese cultural activities, it makes time spent here more exciting and much more of a learning experience.

Our Kung Fu lessons are held at the basketball courts, which are about ten minutes from our apartments. As today was our first day, we were all over eager to get started, so we decided to head down to the courts nearly an hour early. Preston and Amanda brought their slack line to play around on while we waited, but Jenna and I decided to make friends with these cute little Asian boys that were playing basketball instead. Plus, with my ankle, slack lining might not have been the best idea, not that basketball was better by any means.

By little Asian boys, I don't mean young, they were just little, as most are here. They actually turned out to be much older than I thought, Asians age really well. I began trying to talk with them, but hardly any information was exchanged. I know so little Chinese and they knew so little English, but I was able to get their ages and they they were working, not going to school. There were three of them, they were so sweet and patient with me, and mostly just laughed, laughing always softens awkward situations. I really do just want to learn Chinese so badly, where I can actually communicate with people around town. It's rather frustrating not being able to.

We played a little three on three with the boys, another teacher named Cameron joined Jenna and I, before lessons started. It was so entertaining, we were all over the place and I felt so huge, I was somewhat towering over these boys, they're so skinny and little.

Our Kung Fu teacher then showed up and we left our game to begin class. Earlier today, I didn't think Kung Fu would be too tricky to learn, but I was rather surprised when I realized how much thought and effort goes into it. Our teacher first made us begin with running laps around the basketball court, then doing some running and stretching, etc. We all looked ridiculous because he demonstrated everything before we were supposed to try ourselves, and he was bouncing up and down in the splits, he had high kicks where his leg was parallel to his head, his moves and punches and kicks were so clean and exact; I could go on forever. He was incredible, such an agile little man with such a bendy little body.

By the end of class, I was pretty tired actually, our teacher was pretty stern on making sure we understood and executed each move to perfectionI did alright, but I am hoping that in time, my skills will greatly improve. Mostly, I just hope that when I come home, I will have mastered Kung Fu.

Picture:
Right behind the basketball courts is this beautiful giant lake with two lit dragons in the middle of it. Such a pretty sight we get to see so conveniently.