"If you don't love bubblewrap, you're dead inside." - Kirsten from Denmark
I am 5'11"/180cm, and was 180lbs/82kg when I arrived at Kunyu Shan. My goal was to hit 160lbs/72kg. I weighed myself on 3/26. I was 71kg/157lbs, so I celebrated by eating a Snickers bar.
I'm planning on transferring to the Shaolin temple in May. I will be switching from Mantis to Shaolin because the temple doesn't teach Mantis. It will be a very different experience as the temple only has about 12-14 students at a time, whereas the sister school here at Kunyu Shan normally has about 70. I'm told that the facilities at the temple are inferior to those at Kunyu Shan and the lifestyle there is more simple, but it's a more intimate setting and even harder training with the small group. There will be some trade offs. Kunyu Shan is like a Kung Fu university; there are several styles of Kung Fu available here: Mantis, Shaolin, Wing Chun, Bagua, Xingyi, Baji, et al. At Kunyu Shan I've been able to learn a little BJJ and Krav Maga from other students here who hold classes on their own, and I don't think there will be such opportunities at the temple. Kunyu Shan is an excellent training facility with all the training equipment one could want including heavy bags, stretching bars, weights, and a sparring ring. The temple is for Shaolin only and it doesn't have the modern workout equipment that we have at Kunyu Shan. As the temple has far fewer foreign students, however, it is culturally much more Chinese and I look forward to that. I will train at the temple for at least one month. If I like it there I will remain for a total of three months; if not I will return to Kunyu Shan for my last two months.
Mantis group has been fragmenting since the new Sifu took over. There are several contributing factors to this, but many Mantis group students are moving to other groups or transferring to our previous Sifu Qu Hai's new school. Aussie Alex and I have requested to be accepted into Master Xu's Shaolin group. Xu Sifu turned down the last student from our group that asked to train under him, so we were a little nervous. As we approached Xu Sifu, Alex, who is ex-Australian Army Special Forces and not generally intimidated by much, expressed that he was intimidated by the idea of asking Xu Sifu to joing his group, because Xu Sifu is just that scary. Fortunately, Xu Sifu accepted both of us. There was another Sifu I had as a backup who I am confident would have welcomed me into his group if Xu Sifu had not accepted me, but I'm relieved that I got my first choice. He's a lot of power in a small package and has a great sense of humor while still remaining intimidating to most of us. I intend to train under him for only about six weeks before transferring to the Shaolin temple, but I look forward to learning what I can from him in the short time that we have.
Week Thirty-Two we did the Big Mountain Run for the first time in several months, although it is more a hike than a run. It was really windy but a pleasant hike nevertheless and, as usual, several of us took advantage of the opportunity to take some pictures at the top of the mountain. My pubu is too high in this one, but the backround is awesome.
