Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Welcome to Pai Lum blog readers.
As I get more posts on this blog, I would like to hear from any readers that have trained in Pai Lum. Inparticular, those who have trained under ShinZan SenChuan or PaiLiLong branches of the family. Through my education I do not accept the Don Wilson branch of the family to be a valid branch and I am not willing to discuss it here. I do not believe that I am right about this beyond question, this is not where I wish do discuss it. If you want to place an opposing opinion find my e-mail address it won't be hard.
Saturday, 28 April 2007
Mid sem Oral
Friday morning was the second and last of my mid-semester tests.
An oral exam for my Chinese class (only class). I had to perform with a partner a 5ish minute dialogue followed by some q&a in Chinese that we were given a guide as how to prepare, something like go over what you have learned. My partner 大马 （coincidence) and I have been working on it for several weeks an it was above and beyond what we had to know but covered everything we had learned. It was hard to bring all that together in a relevant fashion without extra stuff. We could have changed our lives etc to fit the texts, but then we wanted to learn more words relevant to our lives, so we did. The q&a session wasn't too good as the tutor that was helping out was still getting used to the questions (we were the first ones he had interviewed) and was using vocab that we hadn't learned, but I don't think that that will count against us too much. The words weren't actually important, rather gap filling, phrases you say while you think of what you actually mean, like "um" but more like "well..." I can't remember them as I was kinda trying to block them out but they did make it hard to answer. I will type out the dialogue in another post v.soon. I am sure...
An oral exam for my Chinese class (only class). I had to perform with a partner a 5ish minute dialogue followed by some q&a in Chinese that we were given a guide as how to prepare, something like go over what you have learned. My partner 大马 （coincidence) and I have been working on it for several weeks an it was above and beyond what we had to know but covered everything we had learned. It was hard to bring all that together in a relevant fashion without extra stuff. We could have changed our lives etc to fit the texts, but then we wanted to learn more words relevant to our lives, so we did. The q&a session wasn't too good as the tutor that was helping out was still getting used to the questions (we were the first ones he had interviewed) and was using vocab that we hadn't learned, but I don't think that that will count against us too much. The words weren't actually important, rather gap filling, phrases you say while you think of what you actually mean, like "um" but more like "well..." I can't remember them as I was kinda trying to block them out but they did make it hard to answer. I will type out the dialogue in another post v.soon. I am sure...
星期六的课
I was reading a blog I recently found here and was leaving a comment that turned out to be quite long, so I decided to leave it here and link there.
星期六课
This is an exercise that I taught today to help some of my students keep their body in balance when moving.
Stand at least an arm's length from a solid wall (or something that can take your full body weight) bend you knees to lower your weight as far as you can keeping your body straight* and balanced extend one foot forward as if stepping down onto it but stop yourself with your arm your body should be as straight as if you were standing normally, your head should feel like you are standing completely normally. Then bend your arm to let you go forward, but don't let you shoulders go forward or backward without being matched by your hips (don't lean). Then increase the amount that you push with your legs to increase the load on your arms you should be able to go all the way forward, pushing as hard as you like with you legs without going up or down. Repeat for an equal number or reps each arm each leg (4 sets). Holding your body straight with right arm and left leg will give different affects as will using both arms (a 5th and 6th set) if you want. The latter may also be done as a shorter version, it will be easier on your arms and body but legs will still get the same sensation. This is a good finishing set because your legs may require longer to get a proper work out.
*Be aware of your back, to stop it getting pushed in the wrong direction, tuck up your pelvis and sink when you lower you weight, if you don't know what this means then ask me or another martial arts instructor who should be able to tell you (in my experience it is a very common practice).
星期六课
This is an exercise that I taught today to help some of my students keep their body in balance when moving.
Stand at least an arm's length from a solid wall (or something that can take your full body weight) bend you knees to lower your weight as far as you can keeping your body straight* and balanced extend one foot forward as if stepping down onto it but stop yourself with your arm your body should be as straight as if you were standing normally, your head should feel like you are standing completely normally. Then bend your arm to let you go forward, but don't let you shoulders go forward or backward without being matched by your hips (don't lean). Then increase the amount that you push with your legs to increase the load on your arms you should be able to go all the way forward, pushing as hard as you like with you legs without going up or down. Repeat for an equal number or reps each arm each leg (4 sets). Holding your body straight with right arm and left leg will give different affects as will using both arms (a 5th and 6th set) if you want. The latter may also be done as a shorter version, it will be easier on your arms and body but legs will still get the same sensation. This is a good finishing set because your legs may require longer to get a proper work out.
*Be aware of your back, to stop it getting pushed in the wrong direction, tuck up your pelvis and sink when you lower you weight, if you don't know what this means then ask me or another martial arts instructor who should be able to tell you (in my experience it is a very common practice).
Return of 小马
As usual, I had a fairly busy morning. I woke up at 10:30am, cleaned the house for a while, then at 11ish went into the airport to pick up 小马 coming back from KL where she has had a week on the town at the expense of the office... so not really busy, this is because the student who had booked me for several hours this morning, canceled yesterdayHad lots of booze and fun, slept soundly through the seminars and partied hard through the nights. Then she came back (through duty free without getting me whiskey) with presents for me and Styley who marked the passing 
of the her year on Friday. She brought me 茶, one 250g bingcha of 10 year old 普 洱 pu er and a gift box of another undisclosed younger pu er.
This is a picture of samples of all my pu er cha, the ones on the bottom right are the two packets that 小马 brought me. the two in the top left are from ZenCha in Sydney the others are from the store that introduced me to gong fu cha.
of the her year on Friday. She brought me 茶, one 250g bingcha of 10 year old 普 洱 pu er and a gift box of another undisclosed younger pu er.This is a picture of samples of all my pu er cha, the ones on the bottom right are the two packets that 小马 brought me. the two in the top left are from ZenCha in Sydney the others are from the store that introduced me to gong fu cha.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
First exam
A little late however, Monday this week was my first Chinese exam. I think that it went well... but won't know until results are published. The only mistake I can remember making I still can't decide if it was an error in the situation. I think that I missed a possessive character but I am not sure it was appropriate. I said 我的女朋友做语言教授工作。 Do I need a possessive between yuyan and jiao shou? If I say that she is a language professor that does not mean that she belongs to that discipline, does it? But as far as these things go I think that if that is my biggest mistake I should be fine, however because I don't know I got anything else wrong, having done some more study is that because I have absolutely no idea and I acutaly got nothing right???
Careful what you wear.
I found this article while reading another gong fu blog and I found it quite amusing, especially since 小马 is currently in KL for work. I don't think however she will be spending too much time in school yards.
Mischief managed.
What is done is done. 小猫 did his grading last night. He passed however due to frustration from earlier in the night not as well as he later wanted to have. Learning the difference between performing for the satisfaction of others and performing for the benefit of yourself, is difficult. If you are being tested and you view the test as the former, you are more likely to resent everything they ask you. If you see what they are asking of you as a chance to assess your ability and understanding under pressure, there won't be a conflict of ideals stopping you from performing. Usually people who enjoy the activity that they are doing like to be tested, as even a fail will help them improve, it will tell them that what they are doing is not working and they need to change their stratagem (or develop one). That there is a good way to look at a test is what 小猫 learned last night. That it took me several hours to change his perspective enough to learn the lesson becomes quiet incidental once he understood it.
The end result of the less adequate but less than possible pass has not made him value place value on the rank (rank not being something that he believes in) but it placed value on the process of gaining rank. I think that this is a healthy way to gain respect for those who show their achievement by symbols as well as proven ability. The latter being harder to display without pain in a martial context. He also stated that next time, no matter what mood he might be in, he will put his all into his next grading. I hope it is soon and successful.
The end result of the less adequate but less than possible pass has not made him value place value on the rank (rank not being something that he believes in) but it placed value on the process of gaining rank. I think that this is a healthy way to gain respect for those who show their achievement by symbols as well as proven ability. The latter being harder to display without pain in a martial context. He also stated that next time, no matter what mood he might be in, he will put his all into his next grading. I hope it is soon and successful.
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