25.06.19 postscript

It’s very weird. I feel like I’ve already been here for a month. I have all the common symptoms:

I start to get used to the training, I miss german food like dark bread, natural yoghurt and fruit salad. I start to get to know the people better and I start to think about what my next adventure will be like (and if it will be similar to this one).

So there is one thing that I want to write down so that I won’t forget it: The Shifus here, they never say you did something good. Honestly – never. In Chinese culture there is no such thing as ‘good’ if you aren’t perfect.

Two examples: The son of the headmaster of the school is training with us for his summer holidays. He is 10 years old and very cute (I gave him the nickname: Panda Baby). So because I am new and just learned the basic stands and kicks I should teach him what I learned. He was very perceptive and managed to follow my lead very fast so I told him that he was doing good (in chinese: hao – 好) and he looked at me as if I just transformed into an a giant cobra or something.

Other example: We do a lot of acrobatics in Kung Fu (they don’t do combat here, which I am really sad about) and one of the other students did a cartwheel over a block and landed on the mats. I thought: Wow, that was much better than the first time she did it, she is really making progress. What Shifu said was: Stand up staight! You don’t move your second leg right!

After training I told her that I thought she was pretty good and after we talked for a while I realised: They honestly think they are not good. The kids here do flips and jump rolls and everything, but because it is not perfect they think they are not good.

So I’m writing this down for me and for everyone out there who does sports or does anything else to challenge him or herself and tries to get better: You are doing good! You are trying and therefore you are doing good! Never forget that.