Our First Trip to China

Hello All!

It's been a while since our last entry. We are constantly on the go so we haven't spent much time in the room to blog except at night to get ready for bed.

It's been a very rigorous training schedule for our little man. We are up by 7 am each morning to report to the dining hall for a team breakfast. Each morning the hotel serves a very nice Chinese-style breakfast buffet...there is usually "jook" (rice porridge), assorted toppings like "jah choy" (hot and spicy shredded radish), cucumbers, steamed dumplings, spongecake, "hom dahn" (salted eggs) and regular hard-boiled eggs. No Cap'n Crunch or Frosted Flakes to be found in Chongqing!! And get this...not one Starbucks anywhere!! No kidding!! In fact I went on a caffeine-quest for blocks and blocks around the hotel and came up with nothing...no one even serves coffee in bakeries or restaurants...just tea...of course.

So...the training schedule is brutal...6 days a week and every other day is a 6am start. On the mornings when they have a late start (9am) they extend the training until 9pm. This is considered an "easier" schedule for our visiting US students. The China students have it alot tougher...and it shows when you watch them perform...absolute WuShu perfection in motion. They are intense and just incredible!! It's like watching a gung fu movie..but you know there's no strings or wires attached. These kids live and breathe WuShu...some are recruited from outside of Chongqing and most are living away from their parents. They are very hardworking and driven and demand perfection from themselves! They are very inspiring to watch.

On our second night we got to visit a local Wushu School that is a "feeder school" for the national team. Only a select few are chosen for a place on the regional Chongqing team. They train on a similar schedule described above and they also have to work in time for school. They sleep 6 students to a teeny tiny room with NO air conditioning in 100+ degree weather...no parents...no toys...no television...no nintendo...no snacks...no appliances (they have to do their own laundry by hand and hang it on a clothesline strung across the classroom/dining area outside of their bedroom door). If they're not in school or having a meal or sleeping, they're in the non-air-conditioned gymnasium training...HARD! And despite living in abject poverty they are amazingly cheerful and positive - - the sweetest, happiest and most gracious children I've ever met! One of the girls asked one of our kids if they would like to come and train with her and her classmates. Our Sifu answered that our kids wouldn't last...that they would die if they had to train the way they did...she replied "If you work hard you won't die" - - well...it sounded much more poetic in Mandarin.

We are so lucky to have the lives that we have!

Our Sifu gave our spoiled, materialistic and lazy kids a lecture about how these kids have less than nothing and how happy they are about it. All that 's important to them is that their Sifu recognizes that they are giving their very best effort to their training. He told his students that he thought it would be a good idea to have an exchange program and trade places with them and live like they do and train like they do. I saw the whites of the eyes of everyone on the US team!!

Here's a group shot of all our kids together:

Our training facility is beautiful!! It's about a 10 minute bus ride from the hotel. No air-conditioning but it's very large and surrounded by beautiful lush greenery and cool old pagodas built into the hillsides.


When it's extremely hot and there's no air current it smells a bit like a porta-potty (ack!)...my only complaint. Otherwise a very nice facility with great views from the track and field. Weather permitting...I've been trying to walk/run the track to work off the fabulous meals they've been serving us.

You would be proud of our little man...he's hanging in there and trying to keep up with the older kids.

That's all for now.
Hope everyone is well.
DDubbs