Friday, April 29, 2016

Nanjing, Day 8

Day 8

Back to training. I went early to the park to practice the Chen broadsword set I knew I would be tested on later in the day, but then ran into my old teacher Gao Xiao Ming. I had brought him a gift as well, so it was an auspicious meeting. We worked through the forms he had taught me, and he gave me some very detailed corrections. Lots of good information to practice when I get home. His class began to gather just before 7:30, and I went off to practice my other forms. 

My new teacher showed up right on time, but I did get to run through the broadsword form once before he got there. We went through the form a few times, and surprisingly a lot of his students began to show up even though this is not their regular training day. One very nice older woman drove for an hour just to meet and train with the American!! 



After running through a few forms with the class, we started a new sword form, the Combined 42 straight sword form. Most of the class seemed to be working on this for the first time which was nice, everyone at the same level, not so much attention on me. They all picked up the form so fast, I was struggling to keep up. We got through almost half the form in one day!! That's a huge amount of information, but I took video, and notes….


Melody and I spent the rest of the day seeing the sights of Nanjing. A little Fu Zi Miao, shopping for gifts for family and friends, and a delicious lunch at Nanjing Impressions, a chain restaurant in which the staff wear Qin era costumes. It's a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney World, but the food is surprisingly excellent. Ordering was interesting, as not one person on staff spoke English, and it was kind of the end of the lunch service, so everything was rushed and a bit hectic. 

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