Week 8 (22 February - 28 February)

Monday morning we had to clear all the snow that had fallen the previous day, luckily everyone was helping today so it only took about an hour, we had the rest of the morning free to warm up, luckily the heater in my room works pretty well. In the evening we practised the Nan Quan some more and I also started learning a new form called Xiao Hong Quan (little red fist), I was getting rather frustrated and could barely keep my eyes open. After training I shaved my head, showered and was asleep by 21:30.

Tuesday 23 February, we had to do a whole bunch of exercised outside, including jumping in and out of holes in the ground whilst wearing a 10kg weight jacket. Then we had to do 3 sets of 50 upside down pull ups.

The rest of the week was very hard, probably the hardest week yet. It included some very hard training and a lot of snow shoveling, the weather was constantly changing.

The 25th marked a celebration of the end of new years and in the past two weeks there have been constant fireworks, this was the last of them and they all went full out.

During the weekend I did a lot of reflecting, I noticed that during that week I had barely spoken much to to anybody just focusing on myself. Speaking to others is draining, so much negativity and constant complaints. People came here with good intentions, many came to stop smoking and drinking but with a shop within the academy grounds selling cigarettes and beer this is extremely difficult. Of course students caught drinking or smoking are beaten but there is only so much the masters can do. The only action that truly works is self initiated action, by taking the decision not to walk to that shop and buying things to help feed addictions and habits. But I know it is easier said than done especially being in a foreign country, seeing and doing the same things day in and day out, these repetitive actions can drive even the most sane person up the wall.

I have learnt a lot in the past 2 months that I have been here both on a mental, physical and spiritual level however I was expecting a lot more. The problem is that most of my energy is consumed by trying to be "normal" and sane. The biggest problem is the cabin fever and the winter, this leads to low energy levels which is then non localised to everybody within the academy. There is a strong inverse correlation between the consumption of cigarettes and alcohol and the level of morale. Despite this I just hope that others will find what they have come here to find.