Farewell dinner...

Now that our movers came to gather all of our belongings, my cooking days have come to an end in China, however, my cleaning duties continue....

Yesterday, since I cleaned underneath the beds, dusted, mopped floors, and did laundry it was nice that we were taken out for dinner.

My taiji teacher, Yang and his family invited us out for a farewell dinner. The choice was Xinjiang restaurant, and one Mark and I have not been to, so it was nice to try something different before leaving Xiamen. The food was excellent. We had beef skewers, spicy chicken with potatoes, meatballs with broccoli, cantaloupe with celery, soup, lamb, beef and bread. Typical Chinese fashion, there was way too much food but it was delicious.

It was great meeting Yang's wife and their 2 year old son and a good time was had by all.
I will miss my classes with Yang, but if we ever come back, I am hopeful that I will be able to get in a lesson or two.

Pilates and Taijiquan

It's hard to believe that less than a month we will be leaving our adopted home to move back to the U.S. Though first we decided to get one more trip in before heading back.

During the past couple of months, knowing that we are returning I wanted to continue with some sort of a routine, basically to help with the insanity that will ensue.

I've been taking Stott Pilates for the past month, and love it. Katz, my trainer is wonderful, not only does she like to see you in pain, she loses count quite often. As much as I give her grief, she knows her stuff, she's patient, speaks three languages, and is very creative with your workouts. She is very good explaining what moves will they do to help your body.

If you are ever in the area, would love a good workout while improving your balance and posture, drop her an email. I'm sure she will be more than happy to help you.

Kat'z email - kat.azanza@gmail.com



On another note, I have finally finished my taichi routine (Chen style), that only took two years, and though I'm continuing to improve on this, Yang, my teacher has decided that I should learn the sword before moving back. We're half way through learning this and hoping that I will be able to finish the routine before heading back.

Like Katz, if you are in Xiamen and would love to learn taichi, I would definitely recommend Yang as he has been studying taijiquan for over 20 years, and knows Chen, Yang, and Sword style routines.

What I love about learning taijiquan is the theory as well as the routines, and he knows his stuff. I also get a history and cultural lesson on China and the people of China.

Yang's email- yangaimin26@hotmail.com

Birthday Luncheon

Last week a few of us had the opportunity to celebrate three birthdays, granted Tone's was belated, but Pam and Alicia's were in the same week.

The restaurant that Pam had chosen happen to be one that Mark and I wanted to try, so it was a great excuse to check it out and of course to see the gals again. Mama's House is located next to the ferry terminal, which meant the view would be overlooking our little Gu Lang Yu. It's a Thai, Western, Chinese and Japanese restaurant. Pretty much caters to most peoples palates.

Kim, Katy, Pam, Tone, Alicia, with Amy standing

Birthday gals, Pam, Tone, and Alicia

After a nice lunch, a few of us headed to Zhongshan Lu thanks to Pam knowing which store sold swords. The conversation came up because Mark and I tried to find a store near Zhongshan Park that sold swords and couldn't find it the weekend before, but Pam, who is quite versed at finding the oddest places around Xiamen happen to know where there was such a beast.

Having finished my Taichi routine, Yang, decided I should learn taichi using a sword. Many people use the smaller swords that extend out, but Yang was insistent that I needed a sword of a specific length. He neglected to tell me how heavy this puppy was going to be. After finding what I needed, I started with the negotiations, which of of course the shop owner saw a laowai and decided that she wanted to over charge by more than 200 RMB. It became clear to her that I wasn't about to pay those prices and quickly came down to a reasonable price.

Now I just have to strengthen my wrists!

Taijiquan

As of last week, I finally finished the entire taijiquan sequence that began back in August of 2007. Yes, it's been quite a long learning experience and I'm glad that I am able to learn from someone who truly is a 师傅 (master).

Though I still continue practicing each day and working with Yang, we are now breaking the movements down, so that I start learning more the theory and understand the history, and the mental part of doing Taiji. All in the name of channeling your qi, and ensuring correct balance when doing the movements. Unlike Yang style (which is actually a later version of Chen and more popular) there are movements that are explosive as this style is used for martial arts and requires a lot of balance.

I suspect this will be harder than learning the actual movements. Next up...swords. Now, that should be fun!