Friday, November 20, 2015

Nanjing, day 3

The next morning, broadsword in hand I got to the park early again, about 7:00am. Gao Shifu was in his usual spot, so I went over, and with just a bow and morning greetings we started tai ji walking drills across our little section of the park. Almost as if on cue, a man somewhere in the distance starting playing erhu, the Chinese two string violin, as we walked. With just a few people in the park we were mostly alone, just Shifu and I walking in silence, our steps and our breath in sync, moving as if were caught up in a river or the tidal change of the ocean. Once again I was overcome with emotion, and my heart just exploded open. I had rarely experienced such serenity. After quite a bit of walking he turned and said "Yang 24." Today my form was on point, much better than yesterday. When I finished he smiled, and said "very good, but you know yesterday the Yang looked terrible." We both laughed, and moments later Da Shifu walked in to the park. We bowed, I said "xie, xie," and I went over to my new teacher. When I turned to wave goodbye to Gao Shifu he was already gone. 

Da Shifu told me to stretch while the kids class warmed up. There was a funny moment when some of the senior students noticed all the mom's were dressed up for todays class, much moreso than yesterday morning. Da Shifu pointed to me, and said I was the cause. A few of the mom's blushed and we all laughed. The kids were very distracted by this new foreigner, and would run over to rub my beard and try to speak english. All the senior students worked through various forms and Shifu would offer corrections. He was very hard on them. We jumped right back into the broadsword form, reviewing the moves from yesterday, and adding a few new ones each time he felt I had them committed to memory. After a bit we took a break, and the other students would ask me to do forms with them, usually Chen forms I had never practiced before. I would follow along as best I could, and they would break out small sections for us to work on. It was great fun, and I was learning an incredible amount observing and moving with them. At various points in the morning a crowd would gather to watch us, and often just me practicing solo. At one point we had about 100 people watching as I was learning new moves. Often they would wander right in my path as I was swinging the broadsword with full force. The Chinese are not always completely aware of their surroundings. 

I had an amazing forms partner who tirelessly trained with me. She is Da Shifu's 7 year old prodigy. She would perform with me for the crowd so I wouldn't get lost, and offer corrections whenever possible. By the end of the class she was riding on my back, taking pictures with me, and I was calling her mei mei, little sister. It was also the first tai ji class I had ever been in that took regular cigarette breaks. After about 4 hours of work I had progressed well enough that class broke and we decided to go for lunch. Small issue, everyone had a bike except me and my sword partner from yesterday. They all rode to the restaurant, and we ran. Four and half hours of tai ji practice and then a 1.5 mile run with backpack and sword in hand. I was already in pain…

The restaurant was owned by one of Shifu's students named Li, so he ordered and prepared an incredible menu for all of us. I was asked what I liked and I replied anything but dog, they all laughed. Soon enough we were all joking and carrying on like old friends. Shifu called a few more of his students over for lunch to meet me. There were many toasts, and praises to each other, and of course thanks to Shifu for his teaching. We did our best to communicate with each other using translation apps. At one point the students toasted me, and called me their new gong fu brother. I was very touched. And then the wine came out, followed by more toasts, and we all joked about drunken tai ji in the afternoon though we were all a bit reserved as Shifu said we would definitely work hard this afternoon. About half way through lunch, a group of Australian students walked into the restaurant and I was asked to play translator and help them order. It was nice to speak English for a minute. After about 2 hours of good food and wine we headed back to the park, but this time I was on the back of a scooter. I would love to have video of that moment - me on the back of Li's scooter, a foot taller than him, carrying two broadswords, cigarette hanging in his mouth, both us with a bit of wine in us. Judging by people's reaction, we were a sight to see. 

Back in the park it was just Shifu, Li, and me. We worked through the next 1/3 of the set for 3 more hours. Every 15 minutes or so a new group of Chinese people would stop to watch, and ask Shifu about me and the form. Sometimes he would stop me and have me start the form from the top so they could see the whole thing. It must inspire the Chinese to see a foreigner do tai ji, because Shifu was handing out business cards all afternoon. Li was an incredible help. He is one of Shifu's senior students, and also a national champion. His forms are magical, and his coaching perfect. Again there were many cigarette breaks, and Li would often demo the sword movements with a cigarette instead of the sword. Just when I thought it was over Shifu said "we can leave after you get through the set 10 more times." I was toast, but determined to impress Shifu and Li. With just a few breaks I got through the 10 repetitions, and we said our goodbyes for the day. Shifu told me to come to the park tomorrow even if it rains, it is essential that I finish.

I stumbled back to the apartment to pack, and then ran out for some last minute gifts for friends at home. Ran might not be the right word. I was walking like an 80 year old man. My legs were jelly, and every time I stood they would shake. As I was getting ready for bed that night the rain started, and it poured all night until about 5am. 

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