Kung fu brothers 2
Hi everyone,
This photo-shoot day was a good opportunity to take lots of photos of everyone. So here are some more profiles…
Roomie Stephen
As you can see Stephen is one cool cat. Until 2 weeks before I left he was my room-mate. He arrive the day after me. He is German, of course, the place if full of them!
He’s 20, just turned while he was here, and a rather good basketball player (in a team and everything!). We got on really well laughed a lot at our daily situations, especiallt when I moved into his group with Tai chi Shifu.
He is really a clever young fellow, sensitive too, but he is also a toast addict as you can see from the photo. He bought a toaster here, although just recently they have been banned. Stephen has therefore gone underground with his secret toasting and stashes of chocolate spread.
Before coming here, Stephen had done 9 months in the army. Sounded tough but ok, and Iwas glad that it is no longer obligatory in England. He’s doing 10 months Hard labour and good luck to him. It’ll be a hard slog especially as the weather starts to get hotter and hotter and hotter, but good luck Stephen and hope the Schizzel manizzel clears up soon!
Tai chi Shifu
Well, what can Isay about this one? He is a strange mix of accomplished Tai chi practitioner, Kung fu expert and teenage fashion victim. Take this for instance… on the same arm he wears Buddhist prayer beads and a rubber band saying “G-Unit” (a hip-hop gangster fashion accessory).
He is quite crazy on the basketball court, a wild teacher with some super jumping ability and a Tai chi teacher all rolled into one. These things don’t quite go together but they do with him.
He was my teacher for the 2nd month of my stay when I decided to concentrate more on Tai chi. His group is fittingly quite crazy and a lot of fun too.
He is very young and it shows sometimes. Other times he can be quite mature in his teaching. His teaching practices are somewhat unorthadox and need to be taken with a pich of salt. These include staring at the sun for 10 minutes everyday to improve your eyes and shaolin soccer picnic outings. He also prefers ‘Biat!’ (spanking) to regular kung fu punishments. Again, what can I say?… Bizzarre, funny, unbelieveable and strangely interested in the amount of body hair Westerners have. Only in China.
Steven
Steven is a jolly-good young fellow. He’s already been there 7 months and I think wants to stay at least another 6. He is from the US and an honest, straight-forward chap. He is now beginning to specialise in Sanda, God only knows why, and is getting rather good… I happenedto be on the receiving end of a few of his hooks – blimey!
His parents trained yoga with Swami Vishnu-devananda, the Swami who brought the Sivananda style (which is what I studied in India) of Hatha yoga to the West and started the Teahcer Training Courses (which I did in India too!), so was nice to talk with him about that.
When he returns to the US, he reckons on becoming some sort of Forestry, or National Park ranger or worker or something to that effect. Nice one Steven!
Matt and Levi with Tai chi Shifu
Matt and Levi are a funny pair. They are both from Bristol and met up and decided to come here to do Kung fu. They had both done some before they came.
Matt is 19! and Levi 27. They are room-mates and good friends. Levi is the joker of the group and Matt often plays the quiet but quick-witted side-kick. Both are are in Tai chi Shifu’s group and well suited to the mayhem that occurs there.
They want to stay until just before Christmas this year. Levi, hope you ankle recovers soon and Matt, don’t bounch too much in your power-stretching. Give it some time and breath!
From Left to Right: Samed, James, Daniel, Norbert, Laurian, Josh, Stephen, Levi, Samed, Fionn…
Samed’s from Turkey, 21 yrs old and done a lot of Martial Arts before, his Dad being a Martial Arts instructor and all. He is a really nice guy, but thinks too much when he is learning new stuff.
James is another new import from England, very funny and very scatty too.
Daniel from Bavaria has some amazing Tattou-age (?), and very nice guy.
Oh, my dear friend Norbert, good luck with the knees and see you in the summer hopefully.
Laurian, another part of the French Connection, a very pleasant, quiet guy.
Josh, Josh, Josh. Left after only a few weeks cos of a knee problem. A brilliant Australian accent and a surfer to boot. Gone off to Sweden sort out woman problems. Keep on Rootin’ Josh!
Fionn! No pwoblem! Jai you! Fionn. Fionn is a really nice German guy with a bit of a nutter in him. He loves it at the school and I don’t think he wants to go home. Nice to meet you Fionn.
From Left to Right: Lisa, Simon, Small Jerome, Matthieu, Daniel’s fist, Chao Shifu, Yuen Shifu, Arek
Lisa and Simon arrived jsut a bit before I left… the only couple out of the Foreign students and Lisa now the only girl after Jen and Chantal left. They have both done Kung fu before and want to saty a month there, and then head to Dengfend to another school.
Mathieu, French Connection of course. Believe it or not, we both had the same Shifu in Montpellier… Pierre-Yves. We went to that same school there although at different times. Mathieu is from Lattes, just outside Montpellier…. a small world n’est pas!! Mathieu is a good Martial artist, a nice guy and only 18 I think, he had a lot to learn but I think this experience will give him teach him a lot. Bon chance.
Yuen Shifu is the newest of the Shifu’s and the quietest of them all. even quieter than Chao Shifu! He seems very nice and is a sensitive and thorough teacher.
Arek, although looking very grumpy in this photo was a really nice. He was the first student to specialise in Tai chi about 7 months ago. It is really nice to watch him so the second Tai chi form and he was very helpful to me with all my Tai chi questions. Arek is Polish and about 32. I really liked Arek though he was a mature and sensitive addition to the whole group.
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