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Published: August 27th 2008
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Table Tennis Table!
Yet to be used, the chinese kids have a monoply over it! The Academy As you approach the acadamy, Ye He Ancient Castle crests the ridge looking over the valley, while very impressive the 'Ancient Castle' is only 10years old odd, and was the set of some Chinese movie that ive not heard of. Nevertheless its a major Chinese tourist attraction for the area, and the students train in there for a part of every-day - one of the perks to the academy is free access to the Castle!
Upon arrival at the academy I was given a brief tour of the facilities, which were marginally better than I expected. Including real toilets which was a pleasant suprise as I had fully been expecting a large trough or selection of pits. I was also introduced to my new room-mate Ivan whos a cheerful Norweigan guy with a similar 'timetable' to me just on a greater scale, his year to my month. It appears we also share a liking for fantasy novels and computer games, which is always promising!
Shortly after breakfast* theres a gathering on the steps, reminisant of assemly at school, where all the students gather and are chastised for being late to lessons or having
Meditation spot!
Lots of incense here, constantly burning. Yet to the room to holy purposes thou! messy rooms - it seems there are daily room checks, just like in scouts, however unlike scouts untidy rooms can be rewarded with a good beating from a stick. To my suprise I was due to make a brief speech at the assemby about me - always the easiest subject for an impromto speech. At the end of which I recieved my brand new orange outfit - about 10 sizes too big and aparently I was supposed to train in it but I swiftly discovered the outfit is ceremonial and only to be worn for pictures and testing.
My first training session started immediately afterwards - at this point I would like to remind the reader of the perilous journey id recently finished, where id achieved a maximum of 4hrs sleep on a 40hr+ trip. The session started with a game designed to build agility and stamina, which involved someone running, with someone else chasing while mimicking the runners movements. This all went rather well until people ran out of good ideas of things to mimick (twirls, acrobatics etc) which culminated in a 55+yr old man scampering up some bars near the roof supports above the gym, where
Library
Lots of english books - an especially good selection of fantasy books (Full Robert Jordan set, some terry brooks etc) Ive already read the Harry Potter 7 from here, fortunate since that was the book that I was on but it was abit bulky to bring out! i was supposed to follow. Needless to say, not being one for pointless acts of bravery/suicide I came to the conclusion that my feet were best off on the ground. Which delighted the 55yr old (who i later discovered was an ex-marine) who came to the decision that the wise course of action would be to pull down his pants flashing his rear and genitalia to me and the rest of the group. Clearly the shaolin monk present wasnt hugely impressed with this display as it signalled the end of the games and the start of the structured lesson. Which for me consisted of learning the basic stretches and kicks, soon after I staggered outside and was well and truly sick - which was unusually bright pink due to the number of watermelons eagerly gobbled at breakfast. This magnificantly heralded the end of my first training session, the next starts in 10min, oh what have I got myself into! 😊
*
Breakfast Its 6:30am which can only mean one thing, time for breakfast! Which im reliably told is the same every day. Fortunately its better than expected with the main attraction being a soupy thing akin
Showers
Slightly dingy, always wear flipflops in here! Also has a resident frog which is abit strange, shower time is 7:30-9:30 but best to avoid it at 7:30 as it can be 2 to a shower if you catch it at the wrong time! to Porridge once milk powder and sugar are added (Conji?). Also up for grabs are hard-boiled eggs, water melon and a sweet bread.
Lunch While exciting, even yummy, for the first few days it soon becomes clear that lunch doesnt change much - ever - . Chicken and vegetable mix with rice is always on offer and of course the ever present watermelon which I eat a full bowl of 3 times a day! Tofu and bamboo shoots are rarer dishes that come out once or twice a week, theres also a egg dish on offer too.
Dinner Much the same as lunch but different specialities such as a strange 'sweet' chicken dish. In general always edible and better than every Chinese ive had in England but nevertheless it loses its appear after a week and purely becomes a source of sustainance. In the end as long as you like rice/chicken/watermelon then you'll have no problems while at the academy.
Anyway time for me to sign out, should add another part next week!
~Lukey
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SteInMetz
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!!
So this is why you arent playing?!