Hello all. This is just a quicky, but I'm losing my internet connection today. I will be traveling to Qingdao on Sunday to enjoy some beer and beaches, and just a week after that, I'll be back State-side. Its been a wild ride, and its ending all too soon, but with the promise of a new semester and new challenges, I'm sure life will be just as fun back home as it is here. I will be looking for internet bars once I turn my modem in, so I will not be completely out of touch, but it will definitely be [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello all. I know its been a while, and I have a few free minutes so I thought I'd write a quick update. The past couple of days have been rainy, and the past week and a half I've been working pretty steadily on researching my wushu's history. I've found that my Chinese language skills are helping me to understand my history much easier. The names make more sense to me and I can better formulate an idea of who my martial ancestors were. I also believe that I can detect errors in some of the history reports. Some people are [View Full Entry]

---

---

The 9th Shanghai World Grand Wushu Festival was hosted on May 1-4, 2008. I was invited to compete in this annual event, and I signed up to demonstrate three forms. The first would be a Taiji form that I learned from Zhou Laoshi, my Taiji teacher here in China. The second two were to be representative of my true love, Chen Jia Wushu, which I have learned back in America. I signed up for a Gun Fa and a Nanquan, respectively meaning a staff form and a southern first form. I was invited only one month before the competition, so in [View Full Entry]

---

---

The "9th World Grand Wushu Festival 2008, Shanghai" is coming up next weekend. I am competing in two events. One is the traditional bare hand category, where I will be representing Chen Jia Wushu by performing a form (Taolu) that I learned in America from Sifu Tom Akers and DaiSiHing Robert Sheffield. I am nervous about this one because I remember most of the form, but not all, and I'm still waiting on videos from back home to supplement the rest of my bad memory. I will have to spend much time this week on this form to ensure a good [View Full Entry]

---

---

Below is an excerpt from a letter I recently wrote to a friend of mine. I thought my subscribers would like to read some of it: My language skills have greatly improved. I have a few Chinese friends, and the taji class is very helpful for me because I always hear the language being spoken. My responses are still very slow because I have to think about what I'm saying and it takes a while for the vocabulary to be pulled from storage, but I am definitely making progress. My friends have noticed as well. Lets see- Chinese food is very [View Full Entry]

---

---

I know, I know. I need to update more. Its hard man! I have ADD and I'm lazy. Writing is difficult for me and I don't like doing it. Anyone who has written me an email and had to wait 2+ weeks for a response... I'm sorry. But you're not the only one! Now for an update: I'm still alive! I have almost fully recovered from my surgery, with only small amounts of pain when I'm working out. And I'm doing a lot of that lately! The SISU Wushu Club meets every Sunday and Wednesday, and their workouts are almost as [View Full Entry]

---

---

I know the title of this blog will worry many of my friends and family, but those who know my past history understand that I have special insight into long distance relationships which become serious. I have noticed a phenomenon here in Shanghai: there are two friends of mine who have become engaged while staying in Shanghai. Through Facebook, I know that another friend is in a similar circumstance. Her boyfriend is on my current side of the world while she is back in South Carolina. I wonder what the point is. One of my good friends plans to marry his [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello everyone! I am very sorry for the long wait for an update, but life here has been kinda hectic yet mundane at the same time. As some of you already know, I was hospitalized for 4 days recently. My appendix was the culprit- I went into emergency surgery to have it removed shortly after arriving at the hospital. The stay in the hospital was boring and I didn't even have access to the internet. I watched Chinese TV for the first couple of days until my laptop and movie supply arrived. The second two days I watched two full seasons [View Full Entry]

---

---

Traveling abroad has been an interesting experience to say the least. I'm in Shanghai, China, and I don't speak the language. Granted, I'm better than most tourist with one semester under my belt, but there's still so many things I'm confused about. Right now, I'm pretty sure that my laundry is being washed in dish soap. Oh well. At least I got all the bleach powder out first... Its all coming a little easier for me now though. I'm not as nearly turned around as when I first arrived here. I didn't know North from South, and was seriously worried about [View Full Entry]

---

---

Just a quick update: Nothing special has happened for the past day or so. I met one of my neighbors- a Jewish German Israeli named Nir Meyers. Apparently my Schneider lineage is Jewish, who knew? We hung out for a while last night. Looks like I’m going to have a friend to get into trouble with… This morning was a good one. Woke up early for breakfast, then went to see Wang Zheng who confirmed that Winthrop’s money order has come in and that I am good to go for the semester. He also gave me an envelope for my letter [View Full Entry]

---

---