be happy with it – flow naturally into life
China Revisited
青岛 – Qingdao
Mar 22nd
Yesterday in the morning we (Hanno and me) arrived in 青岛. 于斌 was already waiting for us at the trainstation and after some food and watching his pictures of 西藏 (Tibet) and 杭州 (Hangzhou) while having a good 崂山茶 (Laoshan tea) at his place we got some cheap and good accomodation right around the corner. In the afternoon we had our first training at the parking lot of the hotel. While Hanno got his 小翻车 (Xiao Fan Che) corrected, I was bound to start learning 拦截 (Lan Jie), which according to my 师伯 is the oldest 套路 (form) in 螳螂拳 and therefore called the mother of 螳螂拳.
After training we got invited to 火锅 (hotpot) with some chinese friends of my 师伯 and too much beer. So training today in the morning was accompanied by a little hangover. At noon we (together with a korean taekwondo master and two men from chinese customs duty) got invited to lunch by some co-worker of my 师伯. The rest of the day is still not planned out, but it’s also good to have some time for relaxing (and writing blogentries) right now.
Back on the Tanglang Train
Mar 17th
Today I called my 师伯 于斌 (gongfu uncle yu bin) to speak with him about when to visit him in 青岛 (Qingdao). So, this Thursday night we (Hanno and me) are goona take the night train to 青岛 where 于斌 and his student are gonna pick us up at the train station. My 师伯 was really happy to hear from me and me, I’m also really looking forward to meeting and training with him again. Hanno’s only gonna stay for the weekend, but I’m maybe staying a little longer to enjoy some more of the 山东螳螂拳 (Shandong Tanglang Quan).
Also I contacted Ma Wei Ling Laoshi today and will meet him tonight together with Hanno for some 马家螳螂拳 (Ma Family Tanglang Quan). I hope my 4 摘要 (Zhai Yao) are still correct and ok 
This is also a good opportunity for Hanno to get to know some other style of 螳螂拳 and be able to train some of it while in 北京 (Beijing).
Yesterday I met up with my gongfu brother Rene, who also used to train with Ma Laoshi and Mike Martello. He’s living in Beijing now and as the Massage Junkie that he is, he invited me to a nice Oil Massage, which was suprisingly light and unpainful. Afterwards we had some 韩式烤肉 (Korean BBQ). We’ll most probably meet up soon with him and Zhang Xin Bin Laoshi for some talks and 通背 (Tongbei) training. So it seems like I’ll be having some pretty gongfu filled time coming…
China revisited
Mar 14th
So I’m back in Beijing for more than a week now. Not much has changed – only some new buildings and the lack of restaurants I used to go. The weather is really nice and the air I got used to quite fast.
I’m staying with german friends (Hanno and Marcel) who live close to 五道口 (Wudaokou), which is my old neighborhood, so I can easily find my way around. They’re pretty cool folks so I’m most probably staying with them longer than planed. We get along quite well – training and partying together.
The first day already started quite nice. I arrived at 11 am and after getting some food and fixing my mobile, we already had Taiji training. Afterwards we invited my teacher to 火锅 (Hotpot) and had some beers. Then we went to meet some people at Lush and had more beer and some absinth And as it wasn’t too far we moved over to Propaganda for some dance action. Even this club hasn’t changed much, stll HipHop music and full of Koreans… ^^ and it was still fun, so that we were home at about 7 am. More >
