Baba! Teach Me Kung Fu!

Break of dawn. The morning has come.
My son opens his eyes and rools over.
"Baba!" he calls in a hushed but excited tone.
"Let's Fight!"

Bows opening and fighting stance prepared.
Kung Fu Soap opera moves carried out with stength (to the air)
and fluff to the person. At least in my case.

Hai! and Ha! and NGRRRAa!
"Quietly" I say, "It is still morning and early."
Indeed The younger one and Mommy are  still sleeping.

Enough is done. sets of 100s to warrant rest and heavy breathing.

And then the question.

"Baba how did you practice when you first started training for real?"


And I answered him.

It was a story, ajourney for me, as well as a physical summary of the class.

"First we meditated like this. For 20 minutes and then we breathed in and out. Then we stretched."
 and we stretched Father and son and did all that we had done when I was a beginner student from Calisthenics to Basic movements and bowing and breaks, though in less numbers and less time. As one does not need to rest for 10 minutes when one has not been really working out for that long. I told him of stories told and rituals done.

At the end were forms. And at first he simply wanted to watch. But then he did those too. And so it was a story of Kung Fu and a practice of Kung Fu. All before 8am.

"And then we would eat dinner." I said,"Because our classes were usually at night instead of early in the morning. And my son began to pretend to eat.
But why not really eat?

"Let's eat breakfast and pretend that it is dinner." he said

"Okay."

A wonderful way to start the morning.

October 1st Flag raising ceremony

Today we went to the celebrate friendly China U.S. relations at city hall and the founding of the PROC, which many Chinese Americans wish never happened, but it did and things are getting better and better as China becomes a world power and so if other Americans can celebrate it, I guess we should too. That being said, My grandfather was Kuomintang for sure, and my kids grandparents are Taiwanese, so we will definitely be going next week as well.
I went to help out team Wong Keurng, though I wasn't much use since I had the two kids, and enough people showed up that I wasn't really needed.
But it was good to show up just in case I was needed. My plan would have been to do tail while holding Jonah (because he kept running away.) Noah however was pretty behaved and played swords with the teenagers of the team. It was good to see friendly faces and chat about nothing of importance. I say it's good for Noah and Jonah to be involved with and part of as many teams as possible. It shows what a reagt social time you can have through lion dance. And more than anything we went to support Wong Keurng because they supported our team, that is to say, my Si Hing's team, and besides they are cool.

We just watched the lion dance (instead of performing, though Noah held is baby head and danced next to the drum) and it was fun to show our support for this team and also entertaining to see real lion dance. (as opposed to lion dance with cardboard masks that I do every week.) Maybe you think my kids see enough lion dance. But how often to I get to just watch and enjoy as a spectator? Not often. They heads and the drumming were powerful and it really brought the whole ceremony together. Before the lion dance the music Chinese Piano music piping in the background was very China. As in it brought you right back to the actual place. Specifically some sort of hotel or something like that. The music was very.. I want to say 1920's but back then  the PROC didn't exist. But it gave you that feel of being in some sort of parallel universe. Especially since we were in City Hall.

After we saw the lion dance we left early (because Noah wanted to) and we got pizza and fruit from Haymarket which we ate on the way back to Stony Brook. Next week I will probably just bring Noah again, like last year, and we will stay longer. The show is better and after all we will be really celebrating the ideals of both flags. Whereas today, many Chinese Americans, were really representing the American side of China U.S. relations and our friendship with the country and especially are friendships and relationships with people who are from that country, as opposed to cheering for it as our own country or ideals. Most bystanders at such ceremonies will see Asian faces and a Chinese flag and not realize some at the ceremony might even feel conflicted about being there. Because the White or Black Americans will think such a ceremony to be a fun cultural event.

I could hear many people saying in Chinese, "No, no I want an American flag." Jonah and I were given the China flags. When you are white, you can get away with it.
I saw a white guy dressed with a Chinese fishing hat and white Chinese outfit. "That's me." I told myself.
But really I should not feel any conflict at all. Especially if America doesn't.

 Of course there were a lot of people there who came to the U.S. straight from PROC and don't see any conflict whatsoever. They are proud of the flag they were born under, and proud of the flag they are not living under. And I suppose I wanted to celebrate for my friends among them as well. After all, all our little playmates at the playground in Brookline are from the mainland? And don;t I enjoy learning from them and studying the new chess games I hadn't seen before which are actually enacting PLA battles? And isn't our own government often questionable in their actions? And yet these actions do not make us love our country less. What is a flag? China is China, and America is America. let's celebrate together. That being said, next week we will probably celebrate harder. With cheers and screaming and Kuomintang flag waving.

Double class.

Today I taught two classes back to back at Noah's after school program Jonah was not to happy about it, because I guess he fell asleep when he spent time away form me and therefore was awoken in an uncomfortable state. He may end up staying with me next time. But I must say I ended up being high off endorphins or something. Or perhaps it was the success of the group, or the fact that the kids all liked the class. Nobody has been able to really learn my simple lion head combo. But whatever, they have a year to learn it. I think they will be able to pick it up by then right? And at any rate, they are having fun with Kung Fu. I was surprised out how different the two classes were. I couldn't really say one was better than they other or more well behaved than the other. If anything, the younger kids were better behaved. But the older kids could better understand what was going on. A lot of the kids found it really funny how we were doing Kung Fu in a circle in a sort of dance and even questioned my Sifuness. After all, Sifu's don't teach like this. They teach in strict lines. (at least the Sifu's and Sensei's you see on tv. Unless they are with just one student or you are watching a Chinese language film.) I think they could believe that we were actually doing what we were doing, the way we were doing it. Now it got harder when I tried to make them perform on their own. But still I had fun and they had fun. I guess that's the most important.

Hiding

Dai Dai has taken to hiding from large machines like trains. The first one was a truck moving through the school playground. He ducked behind some wooden pillars and covered his face. He also wanted me to hide with him. This made it look like I was sort of some creepy guy just hanging out at the playground without a child so I did hide with him. I was reminded of the time during Chinese New Year, while eating at a Chinese Bakery, when the lion head came into the bakery. It was a black and white head and I thought it would eat us. I made my mother hide under the table with me. Well there is really no reason for my boys to be scared of lion heads. They have even taken naps under the tail in the living room. But I guess large machines are suddenly scary to my younger one. He even covered his face while the train arrived today. But when we were on it he didn't have a problem. Maybe it's just all pretend. But it seems real. I mean I have to really deal with his squirming in my arms violently. As for at the playground I usually go near him. When Shao got out they hid together and that was kind of cute.

Four Square

Over summer it was baseball. But now it is four square. The game that dominates Noah's mind. Four square is pretty Kung Fu when you think of it. You hit a ball and you never know where it's coming from. The thing is we play with this miniature soccer ball so it is sometimes hard for me too. I genuinely lose sometimes without even taking it easy. It was hard for Noah to learn how to lose at this game. But after one session with a ton of older kids, and seeing all of them (most of them) lose in stride, today when we played he readily admitted when he lost and it was okay. I suppose the only thing I don't like about four square as a sport is that there is no running involved. But baseball has recently become just batting as well. We get our running done through games of tag, laps, and Kung fu sprints.

The importance of Teaching

My Sifu was once talking to my student and mentioned that he would be better at Kung Fu if he had a few students of his own. That basically by having students you are forced to become better at Kung Fu and it makes you more of a master than if you simply practice on your own.

Often in legend and pop culture there is a moment in the Sifu disciple relationship where the student becomes the teacher. This is always a big moment after years or some sort of catastrophic event. But actually you can learn from your students right from the beginning. And if you spend all your time learning from your students while you are teaching them, you spend a lot of time learning and improving. No great student or person simply practicing by themselves can learn as fast as someone who is constantly learning from so many fresh perspectives. It is learning and adapting to all these minds that actually gives you that aura of a master. Probably more so than your actual skill (which is of course also important)

But that means that teaching cannot simply mean performing in front of 200 people and having them follow along. A video recording can do that. Just as they are watching you, you are watching them. What is easy for them to do? What isn't? When do they listen and why? When don't they and why?

But in a class structured where there isn't any talk back, the Master doesn't learn much from the student. It is those one on one encounters, questions, and outright talking out of turn that improves you.

Here are a couple quotes from children that have changed the direction of my teaching style and art significantly.

On basics, from a trouble maker
"He says it's Kung Fu but it's not real Kung Fu it's just kicking and punching."

On push hands, right before I am bout to explain how to do it, from a girl who is the "model student" type
"Wait can we just do it instead of learning how to do it?"

But these tidbits cannot compare to real conversations.

A while ago I started teaching and learning from this elderly woman in the park. I haven't seen her since Noah started school. But Mainly I was teaching her push hands. She says that she found my advice extremely helpful. But she would also have a lot to say about what she thought about this concept or that concept. Because she was talking more about concepts, and using her own language, instead of parroting things she heard or talking about specific moves, I actually found that I could take this information, ponder on it, and actually use it. I.e. I was learning from her! And I told her so.

Recently in practice I actually learned from something she said. It had to do with the tree leaves deflecting the wind. What is faster than the wind? Well more on that concept later.

She also talked about Pouring weight instead of shifting it. I found this good terminology too. After all. It's cool to say stuff in Chinese that rhymes and then translate it, and to talk about animals that you only see sometimes in the zoo. But it's nice to have stuff from everyday life in America to draw from as well when explaining something.

In my after school program class, I am learning more and more from those children by trashing my old curriculum. They are still following what I am doing, and we do a ton of basics. Except the basics are on in a circular fire dance. and so even though we are now dancing around a cafeteria, around the perimeter, we have plenty of space.

Also one girl came up to me crying because someone colored over her portion of the lion head (yes arts and crafts are part of my class) and the conversation I had with her was something I wouldn't even be able to have in my old classes. In the military style follow me form type classes, if you cried I would ignore you while a teachers helper comforted you. At most I would just ask you to sit this round out.There simply wasn't time for that.

But nobody is crying in the circle dance. (Well one kid but it had to do with sharing. Since we switch heads, that's easy enough.) Plus this coloring over my part made me realize how fundamental the making of the heads is to the spirit of what I am trying to do. Every child expresses themselves their own way, in the dance, and in decorating the head. But ultimately we come together as a group because the dance is a group dance, and many people work on the same head.

Also the heads that they started making themselves were pretty cool. I mean, we have a robot head.  That;s cool. I am excited and learning a lot. From my kids, from my students, from random people at the park.

Teaching is a very very important part of you Kung Fu.

Being Five

I recently asked Jonah what he wanted to be when he grew up. "Five" was his cute little response. This is most likely because Noah has just turned five recently. Noah was very excited about turning five and was very excited about his party and gifts which realy were very simple things. Pizza, cake, family (we just had the party in our house with the people in our house) and gifts. The gifts were simple too. There was a helicopter thing which we still haven't been able to work and a couple books, But the highlight was Frozen Easter egg kinder surprise chocolate eggs.
Grace is the best at picking gifts. But the key to the perfect gift is not so much in the gift itself.
It is in the prep work for that gift.

Basically these children have been watching Kinder surprise videos on you tube for the past six months or more. It has been a calming mechanism. Here you want to do something besides wrecking the house or place of business where we happen to be? Zone out in a corner watching these videos with the woman's voice as your mantra. The woman's hands open the eggs (you never see her face.) Basically, these kinder surprise videos have been their religion, and they have been devout monks or at least practitioners.
This is what they have moved onto. Last year it was all about RR Cherrypie.

Basically what I am saying is with the creation of youtube you can actually choose what the craze will be for your kids. That great Christmas gift? What the next THING is? You can decide what that GOTTA HAVE IT item is through the 6 months of prep work. If you wanted it to be a book you might have to make the videos yourself. But the brainwashing is what makes the kids want something. As far as what it is that they want, it could be anything. It could be a pet rock. That really happened.


Anyway when the party sort of died down (I imagine we will still do something this weekend too right?) Noah no longer wanted to be five. He wanted to be four again. I'm not sure if he just misses the party or if he actually has started to want to be younger, while Jonah wants to be older. Well I guess I can get them excited about my birthday instead. After all, just because it's my birthday doesn't mean that we can't gear the party toward them anyway right?