Serious Sifu
I had to go to Guzhen to finish up the class lessons for Bond. I will have to go again tomorrow on Friday. The school seemed to be preparing for something. They were roping areas off and then putting a bunch of chairs and desks around in it.
Kindergarten went fine today. I picked up four copies of Kung Fu Hustle this evening after the gym. She had to go below the front desk in the off limits cupboard to get these DVDs out, prolly to keep them away from the sight of the police.
I went to lion dance and took a schedual of days that I will be able to be there for practice. The old sifu was there and seemed happy to see me. He was then told by one of the coaches that the headcoach wants him to teach me some new Hong Quan stuff. The headcoach showed up later. I think this is to prepare for the Lion Dance performances during the New Year. He started showing me some of Hong Quan #3. This one has some neat stuff in it. Its got the tiger claw, crane fist, and the crab technique. Chad and I refer to it as the Crab Technique because it looks hilarious, it kinda looks like a crab, when you do it, sorta. I tested it out on the punching bags once. It generates a lot of power, but its done in such a peculiar manner, I don't know when anyone would use it.
So, I was practicing this on my own in the corner, and people were watching me as usual. Then the head coach showed up. He didn’t look very happy. He watched me do it and gave me some corrections. He also showed me the slight variations from the Shaolin Hong Quan and the Wong Fei-Hong Hong Quan (which I am learning). He then told me to make some noise when I do certain tiger techniques. Kinda like the Japanese kia when you punch and kick. Only this is a modification. He showed me, and I imitated, and this brought many more of the Chinese students to watch. I took them (regular students and the lion dancing wunderkind) away from their doing nothing. I dunno but the last few days, these kids haven’t been practicing like they should. So, they came over from doing nothing and stood around staring and giggling. So, I finally got fed up. And shooed them way. “Go on. Nothing to see here. Go about your own practice. You have lots to do.” They got the hint and left.
So, I continued to practice on my own. Then one of the coach’s girlfriend and friend who was a girl visited him. They stood next to the white van that was in the warehouse. I got to the part of the form where I was doing tiger claw and I had to make some sounds. They stood there giggling. I was no more than three feet from them when I stopped and glared at them and pointed for them to leave. They did very quickly. Don’t want to lose face to the gweilo. I got to work on it some more.
Then about 15 minutes before I left, around 940pm, the head coach walked out of his office, apparently fed up with the lack of anyone practicing. He proceeded to yell at everyone for about 5 minutes. I didn't understand what he was saying, but I caught the gist of a few things:
1. You guys are practicing, so I am yelling at you because you are lazy dogs.
2. The only one here practicing and doing anything is Fei-long (Phil).
3. I am also yelling at you because its very rude to stare at Fei-long all the time. (He proceeded to point in my general direction and show how he was teaching the Tiger Claw with the shouting) I am trying to teach him and you are being very rude and distracting.
After his yelling, I heard nothing but silence and the distant drone of machinery in the factory next door. It was amazing.
I headed home.