I can’t say they didn’t warn me
Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
Everything hurts. Everything. The first day I arrived at the Kung Fu training center, the two cheery German boys across the hall from me told me on day 4 of the first week, I’d want to die. Today is my fourth day and it’s actually much better than yesterday when I really did want to die.
Training begins at 6:00am. We train for an hour, eat breakfast, take a short break, and then train again from 9:00am – 11:40. After lunch and a long break we train from 4:00pm-6:40 pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we train for another hour from 7:50pm-8:50pm. Then it’s lights out at 9:30pm. This is my schedule for the next month. Everyday except Sunday.
The living conditions are… rustic… but we’re moving to a fancier school tomorrow. The school we are at now will be bulldozed to the ground by August 5th so a public road can be built. Presently half of the buildings are torn down, so there’s rubble and garbage everywhere. It really is a pretty extreme situation and definitely a challenge.
The training is difficult. Really. These people aren’t playing around. There are hundreds of Chinese students that stay and train for years and about 60 foreign students that stay and train anywhere from one week to one year. I am one of 5 or 6 girls. It’s only for a month, and I hear everything is great after the first week, which everyone agrees is a very painful week.
Amanda