Impacted Tooth

Recently my tooth started hurting. Actually it is the root of a tooth that is no longer there. I had it pulled a while back when I didn't have dental insurance. I paid in cash and it was a reasonable price. The ghost tooth hurts now because My wisdom tooth is now pushing against the root. At least that's what I think.
I put this idea together not just by pulling it out of thin air or off the internet, it's just snippets of stuff I remember from dentist visits. "You'll have to take all your wisdom teeth out for" (insert a a very high number for a high school student here. My mom was alive for that visit and looked worried when they told her what "could" happen.
"Just leave it, that's all bullshit" I told her when she got that "somehow I'll get the money" look.
What seemed like an entire lifetime later, I had pain in college, and when I was living at a Kung Fu school. S friend of a friend told me about a Dental office in Chinatown that was reasonable for patients without insurance. Except I can't even remember where it was. He told me something about extracting those Wisdom teeth too but the price was so high, and a root canal,  and he said he could just pull the tooth for today for a cheaper price.

Then just recently I got a free cleaning in JP and they told me that all my wisdom teeth were in (yay) and then something about how one was impacted and that if it started to hurt it would have to be removed.

I brushed off that last comment thinking, "whatever pain is in the mind." Well my mind can't seem to block it out too well, so I guess I'll have to take care of this now.

Bye bye Gong Gong and A-mah

Well the grandparents have left, tearing up road no doubt after family dim sum like escaped prisoners, A-mah asking Noah one last time if he wouldn't like to come and live in New Jersey with her, and of course very specific instructions were given me regarding various items left, various items taken, Various items (toys mostly) she was curious about and perhaps wished she was taking, and of course, how we were to eat our meals and in what order and where various food was eaten.

Now it is time to get into the Christmas spirit by hanging stuff on the tree. We can hang up our Santas village ornament we got this summer. Time to put the playlist on the speakers and play Christmas music throughout the house and quickly because the children are now screaming for attention now that they are having grandparent withdrawal.

Cheung Family Thanksgiving

We just had our first round of Thanksgiving dinner today. Soy Sauce Chicken, Roast Duck, some veggies, some soup, a half a squash stuck into the microwave with butter and sugar and Grace made Sticky rice. I made them take a picture of the family (well most of it) and the food (well most of it. Then we all (well most of us) said the Our father, and part of what they said for grace at Groton for a prayer, holding hands and heads bowed, because it's not really a holiday if there isn't an Awkward prayer that makes at least part of the family slightly uncomfortable. And I was always uncomfortable with those moments as a kid, not knowing if I was Buddhist or something else, and that Awkwardness is something important to pass on to the next generation. We only had 5 minutes of hectic confusion, and yelling instead of probably what would have been a whole day of that, had we tried to cook a Turkey. And really only in those five minutes of rushing and chopping and screaming did I get a sense of the true essence of what a Holiday feels like. Because that little adrenaline rush and chaotic rushing of plates, food, and cutlery (Chopsticks in our case) is the same feeling I had at my Gandmother's and Grandfather's House at Christmas, except sustained over days, and with that feeling came the feelings that went with it, of togetherness, playing with lots of cousins and meeting Aunts and Uncles and all of that Family sort of thing. But it makes sense too that our family has the five minute version in this day and age.
Well we are to watch a movie soon and then on to the second round of Thanksgiving dinner I think.

Thanksgiving Party

Today was walking through the rain, a Kung Fu Panda Class, a trip to and empty Kung Fu School, a trip to dim sum in Chinatown which Jonah thoroughly enjoyed, and then off to the Thankgiving party at BCNC.
The children all sat there quite nicely eating a very healthy Thanksgiving lunch. There was Turkey, salad, corn, pizza in little children slices, fruits, and a pasta salad that tasted like it had Tuna fish on it. It was a pretty healthy "American" style meal. I didn't have that overstuffed feeling I usually have, because there weren't potatoes and stuffing and that sort of thing. Noah wanted to leave along with Gong Gong and A-Mah who also came to the little party, and of course that isn't Jonah's school. But since there was only one car seat it meant that I had to carry Jonah on my shoulders through the rain again, sheltered by coat and umbrella.. where h eat some point fell asleep, and almost stayed asleep in the house, but then decided he was too excited and wanted to see Gong Gong and Noah.
Then he started acting irrationally so I tried for an hour to put him to sleep again to Dai sai gwa and other children's songs in Chinese with no success. Now he just fell asleep leaning against Noah as they watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow the food planned is a soy sauce chicken and half a duck from Chinatown Cafe. Some veggies and that's it I think. We are still a small group so no need to over do it. None of us are crazy about Turkey anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods and White Behavior

I've been reading a whole bunch of Neil Gaiman's children's books and just started American Gods which is not at all for children. But it is very much a like a modern fairy tale for adults. It will really help you get into the Christmas Spirit in a more adult way, as Odin features heavily in this book, though there are gods from other cultures as well.
Why do I say Christmas spirit? Because Santa Claus is Odin, and also around this time of year I think everyone starts feeling a little more Nordic. Find a non Nordic person (i.e. Hispanic/Black/Asian) and as the weather gets cold here in Boston, they will begin to behave more Nordically, hanging up trees and wreaths. Christmassy stuff.

A lot of nonwhite people, both in America and indeed people from former colonies, tend to be very confused about White behavior, even today. Especially the nonwhites that emulate white culture. They think that being good Christians means putting away the Kwan Gung altars of heathen idolatry and hanging up pictures of Odin's incarnate (Santa). They tend to see all the human sacrifice and backward superstitious and horrid aspects of their own culture and be embarrassed by it. They are happy that whites brought Christianity and saved them from their backward ways. Though of course they are angry about the atrocities carried out by greedy business men who must have not followed the Christian way or true European ideals (which they take to be either Enlightened Atheism or bland Christianity that ignores the old testament)

Or

If they are first and foremost upset about the White Power structure when they complain about whites and their behavior, or satyrize the depiction of non-whites on Upworthy showing some whites rioting and saying that you can't focus on "the bad apples" to portray a population... but they kind of miss  the mark on white behavior. They believe that "racist whites" are a different species and culture from Nordic culture or white culture or white American culture. They think that whites rioting is hypocritical, or that types of white savagery is a momentary lapse, something that is not part of real European Culture, or something that White people left behind long ago before they rose up to conquer the world with ships, guns, steel...

Jamaica Kincaid wrote something in "A small place" about the white tourist believing that the world is as it should because his ancestors were smarter or more ruthless... And I am going to stop there because ruthless is the world I am looking for. A lot of non-whites do not understand that most aware whites do not really believe they are more civilized or that it was civilization that got them ahead of the game. It was ruthlessness.

The reason why this is confusing is because modern white culture constantly represents itself through Greece, Rome, and Jesus, and then the Enlightenment. They write stuff in Latin and they harken back to ancestors in Rome. But if they did have Roman ancestors it was only through raping Soldiers, and through that same method, most Whites in America, and England and Ireland, and therefore the Whites that went out and colonized Hong Kong and America are more related to another group of people. Vikings. And culturally that's really who the mysterious "white man" is.

Basically if you are white of that mixture and you always felt the meta-narrative fed you about Greece being the cradle of Western Civilization (which implies culture) and didn't quite feel like that matched your culture, or if the Jesus meta-narrative (the greco-fied version meant to convert Romans) of love thy neighbor and handing over your stuff to strangers and living like a hippie never seemed to quite add up to what your parents taught you of how to behave outside of Church or indeed how any man taught you to act or, admire in other men.. then take a look at the Norse myths.

If you are non-white and have been confused at times by how White people taught one set of values in school but seemed to have a different way of thinking (a way of thinking perhaps closer to your non white culture) and you were confused by this or no angered by it's hypocrisy.... take a look at the Norse myths.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods is a nice little novel blending not only traditional values of many cultures, but also the newer things Americans worship as a society. And that's a nice entertaining starting point too I think.

Don't dry your hands on Strangers!

So yesterday me and Noah went to the Central branch Library to learn origami even though it was ridiculously cold and the wind almost blew us over. It was actually pretty crowded there. We finished up and I took Noah to the children's room where he went to the bathroom and like Daniel Tiger, flushed and washed and we were on our way. He even dried his hands at the hand dryer. But I guess in the moment my eyes left him, something interesting happened.
"Excuse me sir?" said a woman, a mother, older than me, but I'm not sure by how much, "I just wanted to let you know that as your son was coming out he dried his hands..." and she gestured wiping her own hands on herself and so I assumed that the rest of the sentence was that he wiped his hands on his pants. Which is something I might often do, you know, to save paper towels and the environment and all that.
"Okay." I said, now looking for my son with my eyes.
"I'm not sure if that's something he does but if it was a behavior my child did I would want to know about it and that's why I'm telling you." Her face was very serious. More serious than one would expect for someone who had just seen a kid wipe his hands on his pants so I started to think maybe I was missing something.
"Wait what?"
"Your son.."
"Okay."
"Was coming out of the bathroom.."
"uh huh."
"and he wiped his hands.."
I nodded.
"On me." She said
I sort of laughed but maybe that's not appropriate but what does one say in a situation like that.
"Sorry."
Now I had to find Noah and ask him why he did that. He does wipe his hands on me... but that's different. i'm not a stranger. And can you imagine doing that as an older kid? His only response to why he did this was, "I don't know." And then embarrassment and trying to change the subject.

Meditating Children

This morning I walked into the living room to see Grace and the two children.  the two children were sitting crossed legged hands folded in meditation position. The weren't exactly meditating. Their eyes were squinched up like they were trying to meditate really really hard. Both that they were trying hard and trying to meditate hard. It was pretty funny.
Believe it or not I actually have a sort of meditation chi gung breathing exercise I do for the preschool class. For the kids it's more a way to center their attention, and calm them down by making them sit. For me.. I actually need to warm up.

I remember the first time I saw someone from Woo Ching White crane do some serious chi gung meditation. He was shaking really hard, and I didn't know what to make of it. I actually wanted to laugh. Most kids, upon seeing someone shake in this way (including when they see me shake) will laugh. Sifu would always tell them not to laugh and to take it seriously. Because of this confusion and disruption to class, in the past I have tried simply nt to shake when meditating in front of kids. Technically they shouldn't see me shake if their eyes are closed, but what kid really follows that rule? Also, if as a teacher, you close your eyes to a room full of kids you are really just asking for it.


Recently I have actually gone in a completely different direction. I just start with the breathing exercise that comes after the meditation and if my body shakes, I let it shakes. And the children always laugh and try to copy the shaking.

If your goal is to teach a student the proper way to meditate and to know why you are shaking and teach them the secrets of Kung Fu, then my Sifu's way of telling them to take it seriously, and not to copy the shaking but to let it happen on its own, and a bunch of lectures and explanations combined with years of practice is appropriate. But even in the traditional school setting, kids and even adults are not necessarily interested in all that. Even the ones that ask questions might only be mildly interested.

My goal, when teaching preschoolers, or any children, is to entertain. Oh right, and expose them to Kung Fu and traditional training methods and culture and all that. But really first and foremost, to keep their attention. (If you lose their attention you have lost everything.) And that means entertaining them even if it means jumping through hoops and bending over backwards.

Luckily Shaking during meditation is not only very entertaining, it is easy. It is easier to let it happen then to prevent it from happening, and Since I'm actually doing a bunch of Kung Fu that they will be half doing, I need that little mocha shot of chi as the only little warm up that I'm going to get.

If they laugh and copy.... great! They aren't going to "jau fau yup mau" from shaking a little bit for less than a minute once a week. If they tried to imitate the shaking seriously for 6 hours a day straight without proper guidance.... yeah they could get into trouble... but they won't. They can't. And if you play candy crush for 6 hours straight. you will also run into trouble so meditating "wrong" or by "forcing it" is not the worst thing out there. Running wrong, or sitting at a desk wrong is probably more dangerous nowadays. "jau fau yup mau" is really only a real hazard for monks on Shaolin Temple who are trying to achieve certain Chi Gung things they learned from a book but no longer have the master's with the oral history part of it. And since they've been around since the 70's they might have even had enough monks that went through these problems that they have now figured out what they were doing wrong and reinvented some safe guards.

Besides there are other forms of warm ups for kids in music classes where they sing and "shake, shake, shake their wiggles out." So essentially we are doing the same thing. They are warming up with a game. I am warming up with chi gung. And in the process, they are introduced to the idea of chi gung and meditation.

Mulan Phobia

We have the movie Mulan and we've watched it before. But for some reason, when the movie was on TV tonight, Noah started freaking out and turning off the tv saying he was scared of it. It was right at the beginning where Mulan is doing the "You'll bring honor to us all..." song where they all have painted faces and what not. As I'm writing this I just realized that most likely Noah has a fear of Asian women with painted faces. Actually it was seeing Grace with green night cream on her face that sparked his fear of the Hulk and green people (like the Statue of liberty) in the first place.
I have to say I'm not too much of a fan of the Disney Mulan movie. I mean I'll watch it and I guess enjoy it, and I suppose every other movie they've made about other cultures is glaring with stuff that might rub the wrong way, and actually most Asians I talk to like Mulan..... but still, why are ALL the ancestors like New York Jewish people? Why is the old lady more like Yentl the matchmaker? What's the relation there? am I missing a joke? I guess I could say the same thing about Aladdin, and I never thought about that much as a kid... but at least that movie was supposed to take place in the Middle East.. sort of. (The traditional story took place in China. Aladdin was a Chinese Muslim.)

Also the Huns are people too. I guess they would be most related to modern day Mongolians. Why are they represented like monsters.

Plus you have to admit that the overall movie is just not as good as the Lion King or Disney's other movies. Maybe because in the end, Mulan is a war movie, with troops and battles, historical events. It's hard to get that down into a kids movie. But it was much better than the movie they were going to make. (China Doll, according to Wikipedia) Kung Fu Panda was much more culturally Chinese, in terms of the food, the songs, and how they added in Chinese words and Chinese places into the lingo. But I guess without a Mulan, there wouldn't have been Kung Fu Panda.


So not that anyone cares but here are some things that I remembered about the Mulan as represented by my KKCS textbook and a HK cartoon about her. She was the raised as a boy, which meant she knew how to ride shoot bow and arrow, and was trained in all manner of weaponry and hand to hand fighting. So basically she wasn't timid and afraid. If her war buddies could make t-shirts, they would have made T-shirts with Chuck Norris slogans, except they would be Mulan slogans. (come to think of it maybe some should start making Mulan T-shirts like that.)

She was never outed as a female in battle. She was outed when her war buddies came to look for her/him. They found her and didn't recognize her and actually started flirting with her. She then invited them in and kicked there asses then they recognized her bad assery and they laughed about it and started drinking and what not. Anyway that's the story. But if the Mulan in the movie was all beefy I guess it would be harder to sell little princess dolls. (Btw even though the actresses in China and the tastes in the cities tend toward the skinny model types like Hong Kong, a lot of country guys tend to be more attracted to stronger women, who look like they can do farm work, and can bear children more easily.)

If you read Romance of the Three Kingdoms or the Water Margin stories, or just watch the movies, the women that are "manly" i.e. fight and do Kung Fu, are seen as sexually attractive, but are not portrayed as skinny and petite. Nor are their personalities demure and quiet the way the "you'll bring honor to us all" song in Mulan suggests that Mulan was being forced to be. There are cultural norms, but that doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions. I'm sure if Mulan's father trained his daughter (and the fact that a general would have only one wife let alone only one daughter is somewhat exceptional in itself) in the arts of war, means that he probably had other thing sin mind for her besides what the Disney movie suggests.

Sam Hui

I've Been watching Sam Hui's movie, The Private Eyes, while Jonah sleeps. Even though Sam Hui is more famous as a singer than say, a martial artist, his moves are good enough. I've noticed that actors that can act and do a little bit of martial arts, usually ends up making a better movie than martial artists in a movie, who don't particularly know how to act. This movie is a comedy from the 70's, and it's just great. When you watch the big budget HK /mainland Chinese movies nowadays, they have a lot of great actors, who are really experienced, but the movie itself usually is something you have to just meet them half way on. The plots won't make sense, it seems like they just couldn't edit out parts that they should have. All in all the modern Chinese movies are almost like a film student got a hold of a big budget and made a movie, and was kind of lazy about it. I'm not saying all the movies from the 70's were good. A lot of them were terrible too, but those usually weren't high budget. Anyway, back to watching my movie.

Playground hawk

After a pretty fulfilling little panda indoor kung fu class, or as I like to call it, Kung Fu panda class, Jonah and I hopped on th orange line back to  JP. At the playground, there was a big Hawk just hanging out by the spider web climbing structure. It saw us. Eventually Jonah saw it. It took a while because when I told him to look, he kept looking up, where the bird of prey should be, He didn't seem to startled to see us there. We didn't walk right up to it, but still, we were pretty close. Since it was as pretty close in height to Jonah I was wondering what would happen if Jonah ran neat it and the bird took him as a threat. I have heard from mothers that the geese do bite kids. I heard this as Jonah was running towards one and the mother mentioned a goose had nipped her son.
Having seen that old Kirk Douglas Viking movie where the Hawk actually claws out his eye, I kept oblivious Jonah on the other side of the playground.
When we left, the Hawk was still just chilling there on the fence.

Another time in Chinatown th playground by the round church actually, I saw a Hawk try to catch a rat as the rat ran right under the play structure. Simultaneously, some other small bird kept trying to dive bomb into the hawk until it left it's territory. I saw a similar interaction between probably the same species of small bird and a hawk by Jamaica Pond also. I never saw many Hawks growing up, but they seem to be all around now. Lounging around playgrounds and what not. Or maybe as a child I was just as oblivious as Jonah.

Childish Tastes

I'm noticing that my tastes in what I read, and watch is no longer, "adult" I looked for a bunch of titles at the library and found that they were listed as Juvenile, or teen fiction. Which makes sense since I'm also starting to read more comic books, and even the movies I want to watch have to be sort of magical and light. Anyway I got a bunch of stuff by Neil Gaiman and I think it's what I've been looking for. I'm not sure if this is because I have children and am craving something only slightly more adult then they are, but not quite adult.
It's strange because when I was the age when I was to read teen fiction, I was reading Hemingway and Michael Crichton. But even science fiction with swear words in it is to adult for me now.
I suppose this is how, when a teenager and a grandparent are watching tv that the grandparent can be the one to say, "Oh this is too violent." or inappropriate, or sexual or whatever, even though when the grandparent was younger they watched and did all of those things perhaps to more extreme measures than even fictional tv shows show. But after going through raising a few children and being indoctrinated by various children's programming, after stopping late night outings and what not, that stuff becomes a little too much.
Maybe I should read those Hemingway books again, sometime, but then again they are a little depressing. Just like Mishima's books really in that you can kind of see by reading about all the death in those books, that yes the author would eventually kill himself. I probably shouldn't have been reading that kind of stuff in middle school. It probably made me all cynical and depressed. I also read the Hitchhiker's guide in middle school though and loved it and had no idea that that was Neil Gaiman who wrote that, and that all these new books out that people are raving about had to do with him. Oh well, off to plunge into a fantasy world while Jonah sleeps. If I can only reach the book without moving the elbow he is resting his head on right now.

Stick workout

Yesterday and the day before that I decided to do a new workout. (I've noticed I constantly have a new gimmick that I'm doing but at least they are my own gimmicks, and at least there all related to Kung Fu. So I guess I just need to keep changing things slightly in order to keep practicing everyday. But at least I practice everyday)
The new idea was working out with a stick, a rather heavy branch. I wanted a way to work out my forearms I guess because my arms are starting to look particularly skinny.
I basically stumbled out of the house in layers and in flip flops (so as not to have to put on socks) and did slow free style movements with the stick branch. For a stick it is heavy, but for a weight it is light. It was freestyle because I don't have a lot of space in front of my house to be swinging a stick, or doing a whole form in order. So I just did Mein lay jum (tai chi -ish moves) Then after I was bored of that I planted my self far enough away from anything so the stick (which is around a baseball bat weight I guess) wouldn't break our own property and swung it in horse stance in a sort of a punch out, except a stick out. Then the next day I did the same thing even though my forearms were sore. I mean my forearms were sore and so was a lot of my upper body, but it's not like I was lifting weights right? The stick is light. I mean heavy for what I'm doing I suppose. Anyway this morning I thought I would warm up by doing the mein lay jum form and then only do the mein lay jum stick, not fast stuff. But I decided to skip the stick after all. I guess I should have done day on and day off, even though it is a light stick and even though I didn't not really workout for that long of a time. My body just isn't used to it and needs to adjust and rest. I'll try to keep it up though because it was really good for the forearms and kind of fun too. Plus it's probably good prep for when I have to start shoveling snow in the same out door area.

Dim Sum Fall out

As the carts passed by there was a new item, little green balls that had caught Jonah's eye. They turned out to be durian filled pastries and believe or not the kids like them fine. The problem came when Noah and Jonah started talking about where they came from. (Noah did not come to Friday Dim Sum because he had school.)
"I got this from yum cha!" siad Jonah happily.
"Noooooo!" said Noah with the o's going down then up in a sing song voice that come to think of if is specific to Cantonese. "You got them from the box!"
"I got them from the yum cha!" said Jonah again smiling and walking away. Noah just looked at him like he was a fool. How could he possibly have gotten them from dim sum when I Noah wasn't also there at dim sum? I just saw you get it out of the take out box. (never mind where the take out box itself came from)
What did I say? Of course I said nothing and snarfed my breakfast of last nights leftovers. Eventually the durian pastries would be eaten and the problem would be solved. Let's all get ready to go to Kung Fu Park children! Moving On!

Friday Dim Sum

Today Grace took the day off work, which meant that that after we dropped off Noah, we got to go to Dim Sum with Jonah. Of course we couldn't talk about this in Front of Noah. I'm sure he would be very upset if he found out. Jonah was really happy. Hei La Moon was practically empty and calm. Immediately Jonah started asking for food (even though he had eaten breakfast at home and I had given him a Bao left over from BCNC's open house.. also this morning) The carts were moving very slowly though. probably because they didn't yet see the point. Most of the customers were old people who looked like they'd already been there a while and were all set.
The thing about dim sum, is that during crowded times, it seems very difficult to have children. Hot carts moving around, hot tea, hot dishes.... but when it is quieter it is literally a tea party. We always get the Chrysanthemum tea so that Jonah can actually drink it. And there are a bunch of different dishes that have many colors, textures, and flavors... all very exciting for a two year old. Plus you can teach them the different names of the dishes like its a little game. If we have both kids together, it is usually pretty difficult, but Jonah seemed so happy today to have the attention of both parents, and to be able to Yum Cha.

Where's Jonah?

Last night we were all doing puzzles before bed time when I suddenly exclaimed, "Where's Jonah?" at that moment he came in with goop all over his fingers and face.
"What is that?"
"I don't know what that is." said Grace.
It turned out to be Grace's very expensive face lotion/nightcream/moisturizer or whatever you would call it. Jonah was actually using it just as he was supposed to. He even replaced the cap on the little jar. It's just that he used so much of it. So we all started taking it off of him and putting it on Noah's face as well as our own faces and hands legs and arms so as not to waste it.
Lesson is don't leave expensive face cream out I guess.

Inside vs. Outside

This morning was pretty cold, so I prepared to do the little Panda class inside. This meant that I brought the drum gong and cymbals. It was nice, being able to do it inside. I got a good stretch. But the toys in the room were a little bit distracting, and the space was more limited. I mainly did it inside because I thought that was the responsible thing to do. I would be fine, and my son would be fine, because he had snow pants on. But not all of the other kids had that type of gear I don't think. But then the little kids still ended up going to the playground to play. I think I heard some of the teachers wondering aloud, "Why didn't we go outside for Kung Fu?" But my mandarin isn't so hot so it could have just as easily have been, "No wonder we didn't go outside for Kung Fu." The truth is, by the time they went out it had warmed up a bit, and at that point, yes it would have made sense to hold the class outside, but the class was already over.
I have noticed too that sometimes when it is too cold, the kids actually move around less and seem not as in to it. That's sort of counter intuitive because if they moved around more, they would be warmer, but they are small children. Actually maybe it's just Noah that does that. In any case, last night our little playground Kung Fu class was so disappointing that I took him home and told him he would have another chance to earn his graham crackers by practicing Kung Fu art home. But as it stood right then he wasn't getting any. There was much crying involved and he claimed he wanted to stay at the playground. (I don't see why, he wasn't doing anything there) But at home he did do a good job performing Kung Fu by himself while I accompanied him with drum. So he ended up getting his graham crackers.
The little Panda class did not do as well inside as I would have thought. I think it has to do with the fact that we usually aren't inside and so they aren't socialized to the inside format. When space is limited, lining up matters more. Sitting to the side so the person doing Kung Fu matters more. Not crowding the teacher matters more, and individual performance is a larger part of the class. Nobody really felt that comfortable doing Kung Fu by themselves. Some kids did eventually warm up to it but they were much less mobile than I would have thought. Mainly they just did punches while standing there. I was surprised. But everyone wanted to play gong and cymbals so it wasn't like they weren't interested. I now make it so that, in order to play gong or cymbals, you first have to do Kung Fu, and I just make to people do Kung Fu at once.

Kung Fu Shoes

For the past two days in the afternoons I have gone to pick up Noah while wearing Kung Fu shoes. Not athletic Kung Fu shoes with laces. Not Wu lik, or the new types with rubbery soles, but the old hard soled ones that nobody can really believe were ever meant to be more than slippers. Why? My feet are very wide and when I do Kung Fu in any type of fancy cross trainers it is only a matter of time before my foot's shape, and the movements that my feet are doing (especially sweepy type movements) destroy that shoe. So At first I was like, "If I'm going to destroy a pair of shoes, let's destroy a cheap pair." And then more optimistically I thought, "Maybe the slipperiness of the shoes will be a good thing for sweeps and such."
It is.
In fact there's nothing wrong with practicing with said shoe except that they might fall off and are slippery, but that can be seen as a bonus since it makes you be careful of your footing. The real issue is walking a long distance in them while pushing a stroller. The last time I walked a long distance in that type of shoe was a double ten parade when I was in the 1st or second grade of Kwong Kow. I remember my feet hurting and thinking that maybe children were not meant to march in parades wearing that type of shoe. I've worn other types of Kung Fu shoes around, with rubber soles, and laces, and the more popular wui lik. I bought this pair of cheap ones planning to use them Mr. Rogers Style, changing into them for practice only, and then changing back into normal shoes for walking.
I actually found that walking in them is not that bad. You just have to walk on your toes. The real question is how long will they last?

When I was not taking care of kids, I would never wear those shoes because I would feel unstable and vulnerable. It is difficult to run in them and I would imagine you would be at a disadvantage in a fight because of the lack of traction. However the Wui Lik shoes were great for running, kicking, and fighting if necessary. So oddly, I am now comfortable wearing slippery shoes because I don't really plan on getting into a fight while pushing a stroller. Their not nearly as uncomfortable as some of the shoes women wear to work. In fact there is a comforting feeling of wearing something that feels like a slipper outside when it is cold. Like you are secretly at home, while everyone else is outside, and nobody knows it but you. It is odd though, that they are called Kung Fu Shoes, when the only reason I can wear them now is because I don't plan on fighting. Well I guess Kung Fu is more about the practicing part isn't it? And they are fine for that.

Light training and the middle path

The weather is starting to confuse me and I'm starting to doubt my t-shirt and shorts method of training. Anyway, today at the playground I decided that instead of not training at all, I would just do light training. Lighat and more internal, but I still use the most practical self defense moves. This is not so much because I believe in only practicing what I would probably use in a "street fight" which I don't plan on getting into anyway. It is because those moves are the easiest to do while helicopter parenting and watching my son. If I tried to get really into some of the more advanced mein lay jum moves, or tried to do the full technique or study the technique or work out all the little details in the footwork, or even tried to do be more ture to the form, I find that my son has now left me behind and is climbing something dangerous, or is simply asking me various questions about whatever.
So why train at all?
No I just train very lightly to get some light exercise in, moving slow enough that I won't hurt nearby children if they happen to run near me unexpectedly, and I keep a pace, where yes I can talk. So I'm not exactly "wun hei" they I would if I were really focusing on certain types of breathing. But even when talking I still do the dan tian thing and work on circulating chi and all that. So it's not at the same level if I was completely focused on that alone. But that doesn't mean don't do it. I guess at this point I am training for health, and I am still below my 45 minutes of cardio a day goal I suppose. But doing some light training is better than just not training.
After the playground at Green st, we went to the tot lot and I hit (okay more like massaged) the tree there when Jonah wasn't moving around too much. Hitting them like a punching back like I might if I were by myself before I had kids is a) probably not a good idea necessarily and b) scary and perhaps inappropriate while young children are watching so closely nearby. But again, since I have to stand here and watch Jonah anyway, might as well do it as a sort of meditative exercise.  Some people might think spending hours a day developing iron palm is both difficult and stupid when it is so easy to pick up a knife or a gun. But if the option is between standing there and doing nothing, and developing just a little bit of iron palm with no pain involved, or boredom and again, it is done sort of as a mental calming exercise more than a stressed and intense need to fulfill a real iron palm goal... I don't see the big deal.
Just because you may not have time to do train like Shaolin Monks do, doesn't mean you shouldn't do a little. After all, Hung Hei Goon, didn't have all the time in the world to train after he was out of Shaolin Temple. He was on the run, and had children, and was trying to train an army. I doubt he stopped training. He had to fit it into his life somehow. Nor did he have a lot of space or a nice training facility with squeaky clean floors. He was on cramped boat most of the time right?
Which actually reminds me, just because you are moving slowly doesn't mean you aren't training hard. You can focus on Gung instead But I wasn't feeling that type of training this morning. But I'll do that for my little afternoon session with my kids at the playground.

Who wants to start the water?

Last night Jonah got some time alone with mommy because Noah had passed out on the floor. As soon as Jonah realized that Noah was out he started prancing around and playing with trains and blocks excitedly. Then Grace suggested that perhaps Jonah would like to take a bath. At first Jonah didn't want to. But the thing is, every night, in order to get the children upstairs we hold a contest. It is called, "Who wants to start the water?" The answer is both of them racing up the stairs shouting, "Me! I want to start the water! I want to start the water!!!!" Usually Noah wins. But no matter who wins, both children end up protesting and crying because they wanted to start the water. Why do both children protest? Because the child that did not start the water will turn the water off and then turn it back on. Thus starting the water as well. But the restarter will still cry because even though they have restarted the water they under stand that it is not as good as starting it for real. Furthermore, the child that did start it for real, feels that their starting of the water has been unstarted by the other child turning it off and starting it again. He will then want to unstart it again and restarted. This is a nightly occurrence that usually involves pushing and fighting until they realize that I am trying to undress them for a bath, at which point they decide that running in circles to avoid me is a prefferred activity.

At any rate Last night Jonah knew that since Noah was asleep he was bound to make it to the water first. So he did and he started the water.. uncontested. He then realized that victory was not as sweet without a competitor. Apparently while Grace was giving him a bath, Noah woke up and called out for me (Baba was at a lion dance), but he didn't really wake up, just sort of. Grace asked Jonah to call out to Noah and ask him to come upstairs. Jonah then  mouthed the words exageratedly as if he was yelling but instead whispered the words, "Come upstairs Noah!!!"
"Louder." said Grace.
Then he simply mouthed it without saying anything. Why would he want Noah to come upstairs when he had mommy all to himself?

A Wedding Lion Dance

Today I performed in the usual wedding lion dance. There were only two unusual things about it. The first was that the groom was the brother of one of my Si Hing's. The second was the bride and groom did a cool, synchronized dance routine to a medley of different songs. Okay and really the main reason why it was different for me is that I haven't actually done a regular Chinese Wedding Lion Dance in a long time. Most of the ones I've been to recently are rather strange requests by people interested in Lion Dance as a representation of Chinese culture. Chinese culture being a culture either other than their own, or the traditions being something that they are less familiar with. At this wedding we actually knew the people we were dancing for, and it was down the street in Chinatown.
I played a secondary role. The leadership roles being taken over by kids that I taught when they were children. Still I was involved in the dance as head and tail, and we did combos, but instead of giving cues, I was taking them.
It kind of reminded me of some of my first lion dances. I could feel the pace of everything through a sort of beginners lens. Except it was much easier physically. I mean this is actually what we train for, so it was easy, even though practicing with my teammates consisted of a brief warm up at the restaurant. There were some curve balls (for me), as to how the order of the combos actually happened, or maybe just a misunderstanding. But our system of safety procedures (i.e.) always checking before you do a combo and various signals, meant that it all went smoothly without a hitch. I was going to bring Noah to this one, but he fell asleep in the car. In hind sight, it would have been really difficult if he had come, but since he didn't, it was incredibly easy.

Oishinbo

Yesterday I talked about a bunch of Manga I can't read with my kid. Oishinbo is one that Noah really likes. I was disapointed that he couldn't care less about Calvin and Hobbes. But he would sit there for this Manga and have me read it all the way through. Oishinbo is basically like an Anthony Bourdain version of Manga. Except I think it predates Bourdain's fame. It's about a food critic, with cooking skills of his own, who is working on the Ultimate Menu for a newspaper. But it still has all the clan rivalry, challenges and that sort of thing because he is at odds with his father, who is writing for the Supreme Menu for another newspaper. It's pretty awesome.
Did I mention that Noah loves cooking?
Noah always plays at cooking when Grace is cooking. When I cook I will actually give them the ends of vegetables to cut up with a butter knife. I've just found it to be easier.
Noah had all these questions about how to cut the fish, why the guy is cutting the fish, etc etc.
I guess I should try to borrow the rest of these Oishinbo Mangas. I might even try and buy a couple, but something tells me they are expensive.

Noah has also recently been carrying around this book that came with a toy. It's basically one of those advertisement type things you throw away. It's the size of a card and he calls it his book card. It fits in his pocket. What is actually written on it is quotes from various children that are funny. But it has become his imagination book. He has been reading recipes from it much the same way Grace reads recipes off the internet while cooking. Maybe I should make a little book with him of teh same size. Maybe a manga of our own. It will probably involve cooking. It's nice that it fits right into his pocket too. He even slept with it last night and brought it to school today. Well that's a little project for this weekend. I guess I can cut some thing cardboard, like from a cereal box, for the cover, and then out some pages in there and then we can draw some stuff and write some words on it. Shouldn't be to hard. If I can find the scissors.

Manga

I have just recently gotten into "Path of the Assassin" by the creator of "Lone Wolf and Cub" I also read one of his other ones called, "Samurai Executioner." SE is a lot like Law and Order, except in old Edo (Tokyo). One of the most interesting aspects of this particular Manga, is the stories about the executioner are like the detective story, except it starts with the execution of the criminal. You are never introduced to the characters surrounding the crime. Instead the criminal has some last words or wishes and then this executioner tries his best to carry that out, however strange, so that he can understand the person whose head he cuts off at the beginning of the story. That's really an interesting concept. So much more insightful than Criminal Minds.
Path of the Assassin is semi historical and has lots of martial arts and strategic applications, but since it is linear I am afraid of reading it out of order. In fact I haven't read the first one, I started on number 2. I guess I should have borrowed a ton of them, but for some reason I thought I would only be mildly interested. When reading these things, I didn't realize that they were kind of old, because they seemed so.. timeless I guess is the word. It wasn't until I youtubed Lone Wolf and Cub while Jonah was sleeping that I realized it was actually a show in the 70's. So that manga was a contemporary of Bruce Lee, Westerns, and Kung Fu the series. I tried to find and English dub but actually couldn't stop watching the episode in Japanese (without subtitles. Every time I wanted to switch it looked like something bad ass was about to happen. Low and behold, the main character is approached on a bridge by some thugs while he is pushing his little cart (stroller) with his child inside. As soon as they get within range and start to draw swords he cuts them all down. The little cub has to duck. Watching as a parent I'm thinking all these things like, "Cub is not really developing much language skills like this."
But in truth I guess I shouldn't be watching this show. It might give me wrong ideas.  I already want to make the theme song my ringtone, and honestly I thought of that cart idea before I saw it on the show. I swear. Think about it, my kids don't really need to be strapped in. Plus they can like play with toys while sitting.. and if they have blankets, maybe even fall asleep lying down. It would be good for Chinese New year. But then it's kind of bulky for the subway... stop see what I mean. I shouldn't be allowed to watch this show.

Plus I was tempted to watch it with Jonah when he woke up. Then there was a punch of shooting and killing. I guess it's not a good idea. I read a couple of the mangas a while ago, and I think I'll do that again.

Chinese Children's songs

I recently stopped playing the rr cherry pie videos before Jonah's nap and have replaced them with Children's songs. He knows the whole genre of Chinese children's songs as Dai Sai Gwa. And from there I discovered other ones. There is the pin wheel song (guk fa yuen) which is in spoken Cantonese. I had a very strong reaction to this song the first time I heard it. Maybe it's because the title of the video is Dai Sai Gwa which is deceiving and has a black and white picture of Chinese kids on a playground in the 70's. I can only guess it is Hong Kong (where else would it be?) I simultaneously loved and hated this song at the same time. Loved it because of the melody and because I could understand the words. Hated it because the lyrics were not all that, and the style and the photograph reminded me of my childhood and stories of my mom and dad in Chinatown. I know that before I would have thought of all that very nostalgically and with a wish to return...but I guess my life is just so much better now that what I used to love I've come to find depressing.
But getting the song stuck in my head, I have already sung it in front of both kids and they seemed to like it and want more. So now it is favored again.
There is a bunch of groups like Timi Zhou, Four Golden Princesses, these weird cartoon squirrels from China. And they sing a lot of the same songs. There's the mushroom girl. Selling Tang Yuan (I like that one) and some pro education song that I recognized from Wong Jing's Fong Sai Yuk movies. Some of the songs seem to put the Four Golden Princesses (all little girls, and then in some later vids they are pre teens) in somewhat, well....Let's just say I'm pretty sure women's Lib people would have a lot to say about those videos. Myself, I have a lot to say about most of the cute little girls dancing routines I've seen in general. I never got why that art was more popular with mothers than Kung Fu. When Kung Fu and folksy dances can be just as beautiful and flexy bendy, and the girls can be pretty without being.... suggestive? But I guess it's because I'm not a woman or a mother. If it were up to me all the girls would be doing Kung Fu dances instead. And I think Disney agrees with me. The last few heroines were way more tough and had clothes that were less suggestive than the Disney movies I watched. Just compare the new Snow White with the old one.
Merida and Rapunzel are both princesses. But they have training sequences as part of their montage introduction songs.

Mai Tang Yuan (selling Tang Yuan) comes close. The scene is one of those side of the road hawker places in what could be anything in the Ming Dynasty and before. Those places so common in Wuxia movies. There's no Kung Fu, but the place is familiar. The girls are dressed in those loose fitting clothes playing adults both male and female and the trained performance gestures are all about selling Tang Yuan so Crystal Ong is doing big masculine like movements, and its cute. But the mud doll song (I like the melody) and some nurses song... It's kind of like toddlers in Tiaras. But Jonah doesn't seem to care. His favorite is still Dai Sai Gwa though.

 I wish they had a whole bunch of Kung Fu songs by little kids, where the simple movements that they do as a dance, are Kung Fu moves instead.  I guess I'll just have to make these videos myself. Only Wheels on the Bus, is not really a Chinese song. I guess I'll just steal all the melodies I happen to like and dedicate each song to a particular style or animal. But then that sounds like a lot of work and my video editing skills are not so hot.

Going to the movies

On Saturday Grace and I got to go and watch Gravity in 3D at Superlux. We even got to eat dinner while we watched, which sounded so awesome. But in practice, it is difficult to eat a full meal while watching a movie in 3D. I think I was stress eating the entire time, plus since it was like a date night I kept worring I would get ketchup on my clothes or something. Plus afterward we wanted to go eat but ... we weren't hungry anymore. We should have just split an appetizer. The tickets were sort of expensive but itwas worthit. actually the most expensive part of the night was our babysitter. She was Noah and Jonah's old teacher though so they were really excited about seeing her.
This was the first time in a long time that we had been to the movies and I started thinking about when I could bring the kids to a movie, and how much it would cost.
The next day was Saturday. In the afternoon I brought Noah to the Central Branch library, Jonah stayed home and napped. Low and behold they were playing a movie in the Rabb Lecture Hall. This is like a real movie theater, and the movie was Wreck it Ralph, which was really awesome. Noah loved it and so did I. I couldn't believe it. Now you can watch these awesome movies for free. I think I knew about this before but I just didn't feel it would be different than watching a movie at home. But it is. Itw as really an experience for Noah and me. And you can't beat that it was free.
The first movie I remember going to was Police Woman, with my dad in Chinatown. My dad didn't feel well and we had to leave early with me kicking and screaming.
The next one I remember was with my mom and it was the ninja turtles. I liked it a lot, but I don't think I would take Noah to that necessarily.
Actually I think the movies at the library are not only better because they are free, and not crowded, but they obviously are going to pick family friendly movies and if for some reason it doesn't work out, we cane just leave, no harm done. Plus it's so convenient to get there. I have the schedule taped on our wall. Nov 17 they play the Princess Bride. Whatever that is, I'm sure Noah will love it. Jonah will nap because it is his nap time, and me and Noah will have another little library movie adventure. Can't wait.

Kicking oranges

Last night I watched CNN's The inside man, where the guy from "Supersize me" goes and does different jobs. Anyway, he was an orange picker and wanted to see why, if the unemployment rate is so high, why most American citizens don't take these jobs, and also to see who does do them. Apparently mostly undocumented workers do this, or workers with paperwork to come here from Mexico specifically to work and then go back. But most companies just hire local "documented" workers but what kind of documentation is a free for all, because the owner explained that if he were to question certain documentation he could be sued for discrimination etc.
Anyway, after seeing how difficult the job is, it occurred to me than on Chinese New Year, we just take these very oranges and kick them in the air and let them land on the ground like they are just garbage. Not sure if I want to do that anymore, (unless the orange is already bad I guess) but then what am I going to do eat them all? Just seems like a waste, and yet oranges are so cheap. But if those workers were paid more I guess they would be a lot more expensive. Then probably most of the owners would try to re-use each orange (which is probably bad luck but nowadays most of the businesses in Chinatown are just celebrating a tradition and don't believe in all the superstitions necessarily.) and then to imagine that the oranges are probably the cheapest thing given out on New Year anyway. I mean one orange isn't worth $10 and $10 is considered to be a low red envelope for Chinese New Year.
Well anyway, something to think about.

Halloween Monsters

I noticed a huge difference between the sweet little children that I accompanied going store to store and door to door politely saying trick or treat and saying thank you and happy Halloween....and the children who later rioted when e wouldn't give them a lollipop until they finished their dinner. Smiles and giggles turned to screaming and crying. Then when they finally did get their fix of sugar there was more joyful rioting. I think Jonah did around 15 laps during story time. I tried to keep the intake down, but when it came down to it, they had a lot more candy then they are used to. I usually sue one of those small packs of gummies over a course of week, bribing them with one gummy for say, getting into the stroller and being good on the train. Bust somehow they thought the rules were different since it was Halloween. Okay. They knew the rules were different because they saw that we had bags and bags full of candy that were just being given out on the street. I tried to do less this year, but somehow I was still tired, and we didn't hit the Church and Whole Foods until it was dark. I remember waking Noah out of his nap last year to start early. So I guess I was a little behind this year.
I also heard that there is some street that really gets into it with decorations in JP... Dunster street or something like that. Well we'll have to stop by there next year. Really I think it's more about the carnival atmosphere than the candy. After all I'm not actually going to let my kids consume most of that.  I think Grace brought a bunch into work. When you think about it most of that candy really is junk, and if I wanted good candy, it's not exactly that hard to get. But it's fun to go door to door collecting something like you're in a video game.  They could give out acorns and the little kids would care. They would just go with it.
Actually one bakery was giving out cupcakes and a child who we were sort of travelling with complained. I said, "Are you kidding? These are way better than candy!" Think about it, cake or fruit needs to be picked or made and has a brief shelf life. But hard candy is all preserved sugar. How cheap is sugar if you were to buy a pound of it? But kids want what their used to. Well, now what sort of festivities do we have to look forward to? Noah asked me if we can do Christmas tomorrow.