HK Day 12 (Mon Jul 9)

woke thinking 'why did Anna turn the light on in here (living room) and not turn it off before going to work?' after my mind cleared a bit i realized it wasn't the living room light, but the big light otherwise known as the sun. oops! :P somebody needs more sleep...

talked to Mel for a bit yesterday morn (her evening) but she was kind of busy at work. i remember spending some time on the computer but can't recall what exactly i was doing... probably chatting and surfing the web? i guess that's obvious.

went to meet up with Sifu Robin at the IWTA office and chilled a bit as he finished up his workday. Went with him and his si-dai, Jerry, to grab a quick dinner before heading to the Baptist University class. it was a well-known authentic Hong Kong restaurant, which i actually hadn't really had yet, so it was a nice change of pace.

in class i got more involved than previously (where i had mostly watched, done a little chi sau, and given some simple corrections). i got to do some chi sau with GM Leung Koon (GGM Leung Ting's younger brother) which was very cool. he gave me some corrections that were very helpful, and it was also just a great experience getting a chance to work with the fourth-highest ranking WingTsun practitioner in the world. after a bit one of the students was lacking a partner so i started working with him. it was a good experience because he was very good at goh sau (freefighting chi sau), which i am not so good in. i'll place part of the blame on the fact that it was never emphasized as much in the states as compared to what i've seen in Hong Kong. the other part rests with myself, since i've always known i'm not as good in being aggressive and haven't really challenged or tested out my skills enough. but last night was a good step in improving myself in this area, and i hope i can have enough opportunities in the near future to find people that i can work with to improve myself in this area. i initially struggled very much, not being accustomed to using much force and being too slow to respond to my partner's strong and quick attacks. fortunately, with some helpful insight on mistakes from GM Leung Koon, and some self-analysis on how to take advantage of my partner's weakness, i was able to make some improvement as we kept training. again, a good start on the path of improvement, but barely the tip of the iceberg. fortunately, the experience made me very motivated to improve this aspect of my WingTsun which i have let lay dormant for far too long.

Anna also came to try out class and was under the watchful eye and thoughtful explanations of Sifu Robin. It was also good to see my "old friends" (of four months) again: Sifu Jon (for only the second time so far on my trip), as well as Doris, Ming, and Mak Yu, and newer faces as well.

coming to HK i wasn't exactly sure why i had come. it was a mix of visiting friends and hoping to train some WingTsun and also to get to know HK better. i have gained an orientation of HK, but still am not so familiar with getting around. i have seen a couple of friends, and spent much time hanging out with Anna. but most significantly, i have spent much time hanging out with and talking to Sifu Robin. he's been a gracious host, a caring si-hing, and a good friend. i hope in this last week i have remaining, i get to spend more time with him, despite his always-busy schedule.

time to get up and get today started!