10/18
Three older men showed up at practice today at CKS Hall. We’ve moved from the opera house down onto a grassy field by one of the lakes due to construction work. The three men were from Tainan, Teacher X told me later, and were part of a group of people studying tuishou by themselves without a teacher down there. The three, Seven-Samurai-like, had come up to Taipei to seek out a real teacher. Presumably their village isn’t under siege by bandits.
Teacher X talked with them and gave them a few lessons. For some reason. No Lose Guy decided to impart a few lessons of his own, with less than stellar results (let’s just say his nickname isn’t a terribly great description of the encounter).
The three had their pictures taken with us and then left. I talked with Teacher X about a group with no teacher, how that could possibly work. I also asked him about the Hung-men group, which I’d seen on a Discovery Channel program recently. “It’s a KMT-group, founded back in the days of Sun Yat-sen,” he told me. “They’re a good organization; they help each other out.” I was surprised to hear this from Teacher X as he is generally as pro-DPP as they come, but then again I shouldn’t be surprised to find a more subtle understanding of this society from him as compared to English teachers who can only hiss and spit whenever the KMT is mentioned.
Politics aside, the day was clear and bright, with a refreshing breeze. Teacher X taught me some more form moves, including a rather difficult one that involves quite a bit of knee work. I’ll have to get used to that one gradually, I think. “When doing tuishou, remember that you have many joints in your body,” he told me. “Usually, flexibility in just one is all you need to deal with anything your opponent can throw at you. Of course, two or more is even better.”
I didn’t get to do any tuishou, unfortunately. After the others left, I went through the sword form a couple of times, more difficult on the uneven ground, and then went to take pictures of the floats for the upcoming Dream Community parade, which was starting from Liberty Square.
Sometimes you leave me wondering: what happened to No Lose Guy?
Comment by Steven — October 19, 2008 @ 3:00 am
He lost.
Comment by Poagao — October 19, 2008 @ 3:07 am
LOL! Reading your Tuishou journal is like reading a serialized novel.
Comment by Daniel — October 31, 2008 @ 9:07 am