The flying Dutchman and the towering Frenchman

October 25, 2011. Written in Dengfeng

On Thursday afternoon, a foreigner came to watch our training. I had been told that he was supposed to enter the school that day, but after training he had already left, and when I asked the Master he told me that the foreigner would come back the next day. Michael was still in Beijing, which made me and Hanwei the only foreign students still at the school (Hanwei not even completely counting as a foreigner.)

During the next early morning training, the foreigner did not show up, which was not really a surprise, since training starts at 5:30 and ends at 6:40. After having had breakfast and rested for some time, the Master made me kick a tree from 8:00 until 10:00. In the meantime, the foreigner arrived and I saw him being guided by one of the students that speak a little (very little) English. When he passed by near me and my tree, I told him that I would be right with him.

When my training was finally finished, on my way back to the room, I bumped into the foreigner again and introduced myself. He turned out to be a Dutch guy as well, aged only 1 year older than me and called Rutger. We were both surprised by this coincidence, especially because I had heard that he was introduced by an American lady. Together we had some lunch, and talked about each other's travelling stories. He was travelling through China with another Dutch friend (who apparently did not feel so much for a week of hard Kungfu training), and had now entered the school for one week out of pure interest. He was not really a Martial Artist, but just a young sports-lover interested in Chinese culture.

He joined me and my Sanda class that afternoon. It was quite different to have another foreigner in the class, especially someone from the same country. He had never punched before and therefore hurt his arm while hitting the mitts, which resulted in his not being able to do any push-ups and punches with his right arm for the next few days.

The next Saturday, we woke up together to go to early morning training, leaving Hanwei in his bed. This day, the Master had not woken up for early morning practice (something that had never happened before) and we left without him. Without the Master's presence though, many of the students were not as serious as usual, which resulted in a mild early morning training.

During the morning training starting from 8:00 until 10:00, my Sanda class kicked some more mitts, and I felt my peak of tiredness coming. Good thing that Saturday was only a half-day, as Michael had told me.

Just when I came back from morning training terribly exhausted, the Master knocked on our door. Oh no! Please tell me it's not the tree again!
He told us to come with him, and lead us into his room. Inside, there were four or five foreigners, one being a huge black guy. The translator in the room told me that he was a French professional NBA player called Mickael Pietrus. He had come here to have a look at the training, and asked me what I had come to do here. The school organised a special show for him and his crew. Me, Hanwei, Rutger and some other students from the school also came to watch this show. Just like the day that the American camera team came, the performance was a lot different from normal practice, but definitely the perfect way to show off. Mickael was really impressed, and said that he wanted to practice too. We talked some more, and I took a picture together with the giant.

After the giant had left, we went back to our room to have some rest. Saturday was supposed to be a half day, so we were now free until Monday morning. The exhausted Rutger fell down on his bed and was sleeping before we knew it. Me and Hanwei were enjoying a few games, until suddenly the school bell rang.
"Isn't the training done for today?" I asked Hanwei.
"Yes, it is," he said, but I knew only too well that for him training never starts.
Shortly after that, I started to hear the students running outside. Somehow, training had started again. I woke up Rutger to tell him this, but he was too tired to go on. He had just arrived the day before, so all this training coming at him at once just was a bit too much.
I left off to Sanda class, and had my afternoon practice from 2:00 to 5:30. As always, my lazy partner didn't want to train, and made me do all sorts of crazy things while he was just resting himself. But somehow, I didn't feel so tired. At some point, when you go beyond your peak, you just forget about everything, and go on and on.

Late that evening, Michael came back from Beijing. Now, for the first time, our room was completely full, and with the 4 of us, I knew that in the next few days we would become a great team.