-Monday afternoons from 2-4 is a required culture class. So far we have discussed poetry, art, and differences between China and the Western world. Our teacher speaks very good English and we learn a great deal every week. Further topics include politics, history, and education.
-Mondays from 4-5:30 and Thursdays from 3:30-5:30 I take an optional Kung Fu class. On Thursdays there is an actual class of around 16 students; I am not enrolled in the class but I get to go join. On the first day, we did lots of stretching exercises and then taught the first few positions of a movement sequence. After about an hour, everyone seemed to split off and do their own things. While most of the students were just talking, I was practicing each of the positions over and over again. As a result, I earned private instructions from one of the teachers. When I go to Kung Fu, I no longer have to join the class but instead get to work in the corner of a room with a few other students who have private projects! Yay!
Working individually means I have to work hard! I want to impress my teacher, as well as avoid being knocked over when he demonstrates that my posture is not well-balanced. I wish I knew my teacher's name because he rocks! He's much, much smaller than me but is extremely skilled. Other than me calling him "laoshi" (teacher), we really can't communicate so he just moves (usually hits!) different parts of my body into the proper positions. It's strenuous. I get into a pose and then hold it for minutes on end while he makes minute adjustments, then I go back to the basic position and then move into the pose again while he fixes it. Over and over. I can feel myself sweating from the effort of keeping my body poised exactly right. It's like yoga on steroids and I'm pretty much in love with it!
-Tuesday afternoons is an optional painting/calligraphy class. Hunter, Andy, Josh, Drew, and Madison are also all taking this class. All the students essentially work by themselves while the teacher comes around to help. We are practicing making strokes in the proper way (extremely hard!) and creating bird and flower drawings. I like painting more than calligraphy, but the two are connected so it is important to practice both. As part of my birthday present, Hunter gave me painting books for inspiration and paint. I created a very pretty painting of a branch with red flowers. According to Chinese rule, I also left room on the side for calligraphy (probably a poem) but am leaving that blank until I am better at writing!
Oh, pictures of Qingdao coming soon! I haven't taken that many yet because I've been so busy being a good student, but I am spending the weekend exploring the city so I'll get to take some pictures. It's a 3-day weekend because of 清明节,also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. Lots of students are travelling but we're going to be exploring our own city!
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