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These few days surprisingly even with more sleep, the group seems to be
more and more tired. Students such as Charles find that here in
Zhengzhou more effort must be used to understand the Chinese that their
host families speak, while still using the same amount of energy to eat
the food and just pay attention to the tours and teachers.
Today was a bit different from other days at the Zhengzhou Experimental
School. Instead of playing basketball with students or attending our
host students’ classes, today the class made a trip to Shaolin Shi.
Personally I had always seen Shaolin Shi as just a place of martial arts
and monks that seemed to have invincible powers. Yet after seeing the
temple and taking a tour the temple was much more.
Early in the morning I rose from the couch that I had been writing my
journal on the night before. Breakfast here for others seems to be a
great ceremony but I appreciated the way my host was simple in his
preparations. Today we found breakfast in a bakery, a few blocks away
from school.
Getting on the bus, many students seemed to have a false notion that
Shaolin Shi was at most only a couple minutes away from the school.
However as the bus seemed to drive on endlessly, it became evident that
Shaolin Shi was located in the remote areas of Zhengzhou, in a small
village of Dong Feng. Nearing the end of our 2 hour long drive the
class saw beautiful mountains that seemed to resemble those found in the
ancient Chinese paintings. On both sides of the street, schools of
martial arts stood as if they were impenetrable because of the talent
and skill held within the school walls. The class was fortunate to
catch a glimpse of the students many of them already starting the
rigorous drills that would one day make them masters of martial arts.
Getting off the bus, the reporter girl and her camera man psychic were
found again trailing the class. A master monk named Master Yan Tong met
the class and was there to give a tour. Master Yan Tong started at
Shaolin Shi 7 years ago and is currently 24 years old. He was extremely
nice and kind as he led us throughout the temple. Some of the
attractions that the class visited included an enormous pot that was
said to cook food for thousands of monks. Monks were said to even
practice their skills of martial arts even when they were cooking. Some
times they would hang from the ceiling and stir the great pot. Legend
has it that one day a young monk that was stirring the pot fell in
without any of the other monks knowing. While having their meal the
monks at Shaolin Shi thought that the meal was particularly tasty. When
they neared the end of the meal they found bones of a young monk at the
bottom of the pot. They later buried the bones in the great Pagoda
Forest. Each pagoda in the forest is dedicated to patriarchs of the
temple or to monks that influenced the temple greatly.
One of the most awe-inspiring and extraordinary events of the day was
the performance put together by the monks. They performed various forms
of martial arts including qi gong and hard gong fu. Whips
cracking and spears and swords slashing throughout the air, the audience
was captivated by the skill brought forth by the monks. One performance
was a monk who snapped a thin metal bar by hitting it forcefully against
his head.
Tonight the class has gone to the Industrial School for Kids. Here the
class will strive to help the children with their English and teach them
how to speak in conversations. Hopefully the class will be able to make
a good impression to the kids and parents at this school.
Shout-outs:
Abraham: Hey mom, dad and Aaron. Hope your having fun with grandpa. I
miss you guys a lot! There’s only one more week! |
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