Everybody Tai Chi

So even though I could be studying, I go to Tai Chi class every Monday and Friday at 4:20 in the International Meeting Building.  We just do it in the lobby because it's usually empty, and it's less hot than outdoors, which feels like the exhaust port of the planet it's so hot. 

That is not to say that the lobby is not hot.  When I'm sitting still, it's ok, but when I'm practicing one of the Tai Chi moves, I am drenched in sweat.  Yes, I know you shouldn't really break a sweat in Tai Chi, but it's not the exertion, it's the heat.  And a little bit the exertion. 

We are very close to the end of the first twenty four moves, and everybody is excited.  Last class we did the hardest moves of the set, which are not hard to do, but are hard to learn and kind of strenuous if you keep repeating them.  Also, my legs were sore from all the stairs last weekend, so I wasn't as stable as I probably should have been. 

So we learn three or four moves per session from our teacher, Si Laoshi.  He is awesome, and he speaks in dialect.  At first I pretended to understand, but now I just let the others pretend to understand.  Sometimes one of the Chinese roommates shows up and interprets for us, that is to say, interprets into Mandarin for us.  And I pretend to understand. 

I'm sure he doesn't know it, but Si Laoshi has a definite Yoda vibe about him.  It's the big eyes, and the wisdom, and the baffling grammar, and the whole jedi energy thing going for him. 

I hope to continue with Tai Chi after I'm done here in Hangzhou.  It would be easy to do in Seattle, maybe a little awkward in Shanghai.  It's all old people, and it's all at 7 in the morning.  I hope to get an apartment in the same neighborhood as the office, so I can go to the park and Tai Chi by the lake with the old people.  I will need better shoes.