Knitting, Kung Fu, and More

Living without Katsumoto, I have discovered, really stinks. I've had to use the school computers for emailing, and when I want to talk to my family I have to borrow my friends' lappies. It's been a big hassle. You never realize how much you love something until you have to give it up.

Let's see. Much of this past week has been occupied with more knitting. Since I finished my scarf, I haven't been doing a lot of knitting, especially because I could not find needles or yarn anywhere here. I've seen ladies knitting here a lot, but I just didn't know where they were getting their stuff. Last week I found this great little shop that has tons of yarn and needles for cheap. Yarn in the States is really expensive, so I'm going to stock up before I leave.

I've been working on a pair of socks the past few days. It's my first attempt at making socks, and so far it has been going well. Of course, I've only been doing the easy part. I have just gotten to the part with the heel where it starts getting tricky. I will be able to figure it out ok, I think.

Tonight for kung fu we're going to be doing the form we learned and Laoshi (teacher) is videotaping the class. Should be a lot of fun! I've been going to the school-offered kung fu classes every week. It's not the same as taekwondo with my friends back home, but it's still martial arts. It's really cool, because the school kung fu teacher teaches this class once a week for the ILP teachers and we can go for free.

Actually, in addition to kung fu, Laoshi does Olympic taekwondo. I'm not bragging or anything, but I have always been the best in our class, which is perfectly natural considering my martial arts background. When Laoshi found out that I also do taekwondo and am a red belt, he was really excited. One night, after he had shown us a new move in our form, he had me come up to the front of the class to be part of a demonstration. The move was something like an outside block that you do with your foot behind your opponent's leg so they fall backwards. Laoshi's assistant, Kyle, stood behind me, and Laoshi did the move. As expected, I fell right over. Instead of Kyle catching me, though, he lost his balance as well and we both went toppling into a hedge. It was embarrassing.

Then, to further the embarrassment, the next week in class Laoshi made me spar him. Yep. I had to fight this teeny Chinese guy who's been doing taekwondo since he was a kid (I asked him). The worst part (other than everyone watching me make a fool of myself) was that since he does Olympic taekwondo, my technique and style is drastically different from his. The whole time he was trying me to do the kicks like he was, which goes completely against my training. It was awful!

Other than those humiliating incidents, kung fu has been great. Even though Laoshi thinks my taekwondo is rotten, I'm still best in the class and Kyle the assistant laoshi has a crush on me. :) Tonight I'm going to take my camera and get some photos of everyone. I'll post 'em when I get the chance.