Happy Halloween

From us at the Retreat Center...

Happy Halloween!

We did go trick-or-treating this year... at Sifu's house. We crept upstairs to his study room and knocked on the door. When he asked who it was, we all showed up and shouted, "Trick or treat!" He thought he got out of it because he had no candy. It's a good thing we're thought ahead and brought some candy of our own for him to give us. His only response was, "Ah.. you guys are so funny" ...that and a "disappointed" shake of the head.

L-R: Stephane, Ricardo, me, Tom, Patrick

The Sixth Disciple of the Retreat Center

Sifu adopted a sixth disciple last Friday in Garberville right before our demonstration. His name is Xiao Hu (Little Tiger) and he's a dog. Yes, a dog. Apparently in a few years, after our four corners training has become somewhat proficient, we have to spar with someone (or something) that provides a real challenge. That's when Xiao Hu comes in. 75% Queensland Heeler, 25% Rat Terrier and 100% awesome. He had his first sparring lesson today with a neighbor's dog. His fighting strategy is quite genius and I believe his skills will surpass all of ours in the near future.

Well, here he is. Number 6. Xiao Hu...

He looks cute, but he's pretty deadly (or soon to be.. maybe)

Already chewing on the bones of his prey (aka our leftovers)


After taking a break from comics..
they begin once again. Here goes:

2008 Tai Chi Chuan Championship

Being able to attend the 2nd World Tai Chi Chuan Championship was a new and exciting experience for me. It introduced me to the competitive world of martial arts, both physically and mentally. I'd have to say, the week before competing, I was not nervous. However, once I was up and performing in front of all the judges, I was a little bit shaky.

Upon arriving at 8am at the stadium for the second day of competitions, the routine day, I found out that my group was one of the first ones up and that I was supposed to compete first within it. I ran down to the registration table to hand in my name tag and found out that my category was about to start. I had to rush around to the other side of the stadium where my arena was to give them my name before I got disqualified. Luckily I got there right in time when they were looking for me. I barely had time to put my competition top on before I was up. I didn't even have time to switch from my street shoes into my kung fu shoes. Being rushed into the competition and having my adrenaline already going, I guess I wasn't too nervous. Well no.. I was, but I guess I didn't really have time to think about being nervous. Things happened way too fast for me and by the time my head had caught up to the events, my routine was already over. I'm still not sure if this was good or bad. Although I wasn't nervous or anything during my routine, my mind wasn't fully into it. Oh well, I did the best I could under the circumstances and according to Sifu, I didn't do too bad. That's good enough for me.

Taiji sword and Taiji saber weren't until the afternoon so I had plenty of time to bum around and watch everybody else. I'd have to say, the other styles there were nothing like what I had learned in YMAA. I shouldn't say "nothing like" because there were some similarities. However, most of the other styles seemed way too stiff and rigid.. and the ones that weren't like that seemed a little too.. "movie-ish." Anyways, sitting around wasn't so bad, besides my muscles getting cold and stiff from my lack of stretching in the morning. I was able to watch my fellow YMAA International teammates compete in Taijiquan and moving push hands.

My mom and uncles stopped by an hour too late and missed my Taijiquan routine. Oh well, I guess they'll get to see it when we get the video clip out (whenever that may be.) I was able to hang out with them while I waited for my turn to compete. I introduced them to Grandmaster Gao (who apparently lived on the same street as my uncle. Turns out they live almost directly across the street from each other... funny how things work out. My uncle is now taking Taijiquan lessons from Grandmaster Gao. I guess that makes him not only my uncle, but my martial uncle too? Weird.)

After lunch sometime, it was finally time to compete in Taiji sword. I stood there, in a pool of YMAA people next to the arena, waiting for my name to be called. I guess I wasn't as nervous for this routine either, mostly because I had Corlius (YMAA South Africa) competing next to me. Yes, next to me. For all events, they had two people competing at the same time... even in the weapons categories. It was a pretty scary thought of either being impaled by someone else's sword or accidentally decapitating somebody with my own. I felt a lot better when Corlius was assigned to compete with me because that meant we were doing the same form, which provided less of a chance for collision. We began, and after about a minute, he was at a different place than me. Luckily (for me), we didn't cross each other and nobody was hurt (..I say for me because Corlius had managed to buy himself a massive battle sword for competition. It was heavy. It seemed sharp. And it was intimidating.) I have to admit, I almost laughed mid-competition. When Corlius and I started our routines, one of the judges asked the other one in Chinese, "Are they doing the same form?" The other judge replied, "Yes. They have the same teacher." I found it amusing and I'm glad I didn't lose focus completely at that time. It could have proven to be bad.

A few hours later, I was up again for Taiji saber. This didn't go very well for me. For some reason, I was extremely shaky during this routine. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm sure it's because I didn't have the confidence because of lack of practice. Somehow I managed to finish the form without the judges noticing too many mistakes. I was the first of four YMAA people to compete in this category. After me were Nicholas Yang (YMAA Boston), Fredric Talandier (YMAA Paris), and Patrick Manriquez (YMAA California.) It must have been weird for the judges to see the same form so many times.

YMAA International did pretty well overall. Our pushing hands needed some work, but our routines made some placements. For placement information, please click here. I think the best part of the tournament was the end. Two reasons. One: It was over, and two: Grandmaster Li patted me on the back and said, "Good. Good." I'd say that made my day.. and trip.

2nd World Cup Tai Chi Chuan Championship
Taipei, Taiwan

Friday - 10/17

Danshui.



On our way to Kunyang.


Thursday - 10/16

Family trip to Taichung.

Tuesday - 10/14

Today Sifu took us to Xinzhu, his home town. Our first stop was the residence of Master Cheng, Gin Gsao's oldest son, where we were invited in for tea. A few more visitors popped in, who we later found out were also Master Cheng's students, the generation above Sifu.



Our second stop was Master Cheng's tomb. We lit incense and paid our respects.



After visiting the tomb, Master Cheng's son took us to a nearby temple.


There was a giant statue of General Guan as well as his guan dao.

After the temple, we were taken to the temple where Sifu used to practice White Crane. It was interesting to see what it had become. The temple was still there, but built over and around it was some sort of shipping warehouse.






It seems as is if a streak of bad luck has struck me. In addition to the extremely slow transfer rate of our camera to Sifu's computer, I have lost my left contact lens. I don't know how, but it the only explanation I have is that in my extremely tired and sleepy state during last night's attempt to get sleep, I didn't put it in the case when I thought I did and it slipped off my finger somewhere.

Monday - 10/13

Patrick and I interviewed Master Gao yesterday. It was a pretty good experience and kind of funny at the same time. Beforehand, he had agreed to speak in English for the interview. However, once we got there, it seemed as if he was extremely nervous. Once the interview began, he started speaking in a mix of Chinese and English. Patrick, who was asking the questions, had no idea what he was saying and did not know what to ask (our questions sheet mysteriously disappeared as well.) Even with our bad luck, I'd say the interview went pretty well. I thing it will be interesting putting subtitles into the documentary for this portion.

Yatish taking Master Gao's portrait shot for YMAA International schools


Patrick and I with Master Gao

Saturday - 10/11

Our first day in Taiwan was an eventful day. Sifu had us meet for breakfast at 7am so that we could have the whole day to go around town. We left our hotel at 8am and headed towards his mother's house. After meeting his mother, our group sat in the living room to give Sifu some time alone with her. For about 20 to 30 minutes, we sat there watching cartoons with Sifu's nephew (by the looks of it, he's probably 7 or 8). I thought it was pretty funny if somebody saw a bunch of guys cramped up in a small room watching children's anime together.

After a while, Sifu didn't want us to wait for him and sent us off to Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall, about 15 minutes down the street. It was really big and beautiful there. Patrick and I went for a walk around the main building and found a path made up of small stones. I guess the purpose was to walk across barefoot to massage the feet. We tried it out. It hurt, but we made it across the whole thing. At the end of the path we looked up and saw Sifu and Nicky looking at us. Sifu, with a smile on his face, shook his head like he was disappointed. He must have thought we were stupid or something :P



Around 10am, we all met up in front of the hall. It was pretty good timing because as soon as we were all together, the guards inside were having their post change. It was amazing to see them perform their changing ritual because it was so long and they managed to keep all of their movements together and accurate.




After the change, we went to Chiang Kai-shek's Memorial Hall. Patrick and I again walked around the outsides of the buildings. We found many groups of people practicing various martial arts. Around 11am, we headed back to the gate to meet up with the group. Sifu had also arranged to meet up with his first Taijiquan teacher, Master Gao, Tao that morning. We sat there waiting for Master Gao to arrive for a while, all of us anxious to meet him. I looked up at Sifu and saw for the first time, a face of nervousness and anticipation. Finally, Master Gao arrived. Sifu was the first to spot him and took off instantly. I had to film the meeting and when Sifu walked away unexpectedly, I had to hastily grab all of my gear and run after him with the camera rolling. It seemed as if I was a mile away and the shot didn't come out very good, but at least I got it (I'll just keep telling myself that.) They came over and Sifu introduced him to our group. He seemed very excited and pleased to meet everyone. After chatting for a while, Master Gao took us to see some of the people from the World Tai Chi Chuan Federation, who were practicing in the park just outside of the memorial.

Our group, Master Gao, and some of the WTCCF people


Master Gao, Sifu, and some important guy from the WTCCF who I don't know


We ended up having lunch with Master Gao and the President of the World Tai Chi Chuan Federation. The food was good :)

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a short break and then around 3pm, we went to go visit Sifu's Long Fist teacher, Master Li, Mao-ching. For me to finally meet him was pretty amazing because most of my martial arts knowledge came from him. He shared many pictures of himself with us as well as documents he had written. As gifts to each of us, he gave a copy of his Lien Bu Chuan book and a copy of a painting Master Han, Ching-tan had done.





Surprisingly, both masters were very nice. I had expected them to be very strict and demanding, but they were the exact opposite. Both were extremely warm and I enjoyed spending the time that I had with them.

--Sorry Ricardo, Tom, and Mike. I forgot to tell them that there were three more of you to see. I will be seeing both of them again soon though and I'll let them know this time :)

Sunday - 10/12

I woke up at 6am again this morning to get ready for the day. I got breakfast at 7am again and then headed out with Sifu and the group at 8am. We walked about 15 minutes to the World Tai Chi Chuan Federation building and began setting up the room for Sifu's Chin Na seminar. The Chin Na seminar was fun, or at least the morning part was. I could only stay for the first three hours because I had arranged to have lunch with my dad and grandfather. In the seminar, there were groups from Taiwan, Germany, and Indonesia. There was this one guy from Taiwan in particular that caught my attention. He must have been 70 or 80 something, but when he got to practice, there was nothing but the look of pure happiness and satisfaction on his face. I couldn't help but film him for a good while, just to catch his expressions. It was both entertaining and heartwarming to see that even while he was held in a Chin Na, his mouth held a smile from ear to ear.

Yatish from YMAA London


At 12pm, my dad and Pat came to pick me up. We went downstairs, and my grandfather was sitting there, waiting. I had not seen my grandfather for many years (since 2002, I think) and it was a very exciting moment for me. He took us out to lunch where we had the chance to talk and catch up a bit. After lunch, we dropped him off at his hotel so he could go rest. I'll see him again this Thursday, when our whole family meets up.

Upon arriving back at our hotel, I passed out and didn't wake up until around 3am this morning :P

Taiwan :)

More to come later in the week.

Just a few more days left until Taiwan. We will be departing on Thursday morning for Sifu's sister's house near San Francisco before flying overseas. We have prepared a shopping list for all of the delicious Asian foods that we are unable to buy here and plan to bring lots of it back to the Retreat Center (yum). Afterwards, we will be getting onto our plane and flying non-stop to Taipei. I'm excited for this trip and can't wait for the experience to come.


One of our guests, Jennifer, left us on Friday. She had been staying with us for just under a month and had made a lot of donations towards our program. Thanks Jennifer for providing us with additional funding for our books and other materials needed for our training.

We also have another guest staying with us. His name is Stephane and he's from Canada. He will be staying with us until December.


He's only been here for a couple of weeks but he already knows his role in the kitchen.

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