Backpacking day one

Packing was interesting: I ended up with two bags of extra clothes I could't fit into my two backpacks. I spent several minutes relearning how to adjust straps to desired lengths. I found an esky that I had left in the top of my cupboard and completely forgotten about. I found out that a friend lived just opposite me from the main road and that he was willing to store my extra stuff (Thanks again!).

Walking around in the hot Canberra weather, I learned how to use my backpacks. It took me a while to realise that I could wear one on the bag and the other on the front; that you can use the straps to support the weight of the packs; that there are always two straps that can be strapped over the front of one's body. I will be able to bring 30 KG on Malaysia Airlines, so this is the first time that I have travelled overseas and not worried about the weight!

It will be freezing in Hénán, so I'm bringing the sleeping bag that I bought for participating in the ANU Mountaineering Club. And when I wrapped it up by rolling it out tightly as I sat on it, I was reminded of my one camping trip in the Snowy Mountains (in which I only brought one change of clothes for the whole weekend and had to borrow stuff from everyone. Let's hope I'm better prepared this time).

I am also bringing some cash, travel EFTPOS cards for HK, a MP3 player, a cellphone, an international student ID, travel itineraries, warm clothing, a seat pillow, a watch (that I can't figure out how to tune), running shoes, gloves (I hope they're still in there!), socks, underwear, passport/visa, earplugs, face masks for pollution (which I got in the mail on the day I moved out), a waterproof jacket, a padded jacket, a medical kit, medicine, extra bandaids, notebooks and stationary, travel insurance and accommodation details, and finally, a travel diary my mum gave me... which included a sense of adventure and a book in its "To bring" list. I should have thought the sense of adventure was automatically included! In any case, I should probably buy protein powder, creatine, icepacks and power transformers as well...

I was given a lot of advice about travelling in China: I should only speak Chinese, I should never drink tapwater, I should stay away from street food, I should plan the taxi to the hotel before I arrive, I should always look like I am going somewhere. 

I am now a student backpacker.

Tora Shotokan Seminar with Ana Xepapas Sensei Pt. II

Day two of the seminar.

I arrived with a boken tucked under my arm and initially felt awesome. Of course, it was a borrowed boken, and I was returning it to its owner, but that didn't stop the fact that I was carrying a wooden sword like a boss to, and carrying it to karate.

I had the same problems as I did the previous day. I still struggled with hand/feet coordination, not so much with punches and kicks this time as with blocks. I realised that the hand that is blocking should end up on the same side is the front leg, but start on the opposite. It's like one is covering the area in which is not protected by virtue of the other hand punching.

I identified another weakness of mine: I have the flexibility of a dead branch that has been left for a day. Dead branches that have just been cut are a little bit like dead animals: They still have a lot of fluid in them and are therefore relatively flexible. I am still alive, of course, but my flexibility is atrocious.

My left arm was feeling like death from playing Twister the previous night with the other karateka. supporting my whole body weight on the left arm while outmanoeuvring my friends on the floor had been fun, but the sore shoulder and arm not so much.

It was a hot day. We started off with 5 sets of running on the spot, high jumps, star clap jumps and mountain climbers, and before we knew it we were all dripping with sweat.

The seminar was still awesome. I especially enjoyed doing Heian Shoudan in different ways and increasing my knowledge of Heian Nidan and Sandan. When we formed into groups and did the katas in sync, I was forced to recognise that even though I do need to work on my timing, I am capable of ending the kata in the same position I started. When we had the brown belts use punching pads against us as we did our katas, we got to see the practical applications of the movements.

Practical application of Heian Shoudan

• Begin in the position of holding two katanas diagonally across one another, as though ready to fend off attacks from both sides.
• View attacker from the side, face them.
• Imagining that one's feet are on tracks shoulder-width apart, lunge the forward leg and let the back knee bend a little, with the back foot at a 35° angle, while...
• Swinging the attacking arm diagonally down, across and over the body, allowing range of motion over the largest possible area; twisting the edge of the arm in case contact is made and a small pushing away motion can be made. Congratulations: Gedan berai completed.
• Lunge forward again while...
• Moving the hikite hand into a punch, hip into square and knee strait (all at the same time). The Senseis always tell us to use the earth, and I take that to mean that I need to kick the ground with my foot before I can kick my opponent with it.
• There are now attackers behind you. So bend the knees, perform a 180°pivot while doing gedan berai again.
• The approaching enemy was too far for gedan berai to be effective and has grabbed your striking arm. Oh no! Instead of panicking and pulling your hand away the same way you blocked it, roll your arm out of the attacker's grip, lift it above your head as though you were about to bonk them in the face with a boken, and hit.
• Punch.
• 90 ° turn, reach, 3x ageuke, first kiai.
• 270 ° turn to gedan berai.
• Forward middle punch (Chuudan zuki).
• 180 ° turn into gedan berai.
• Chuudan zuki.
• 90° turn into gedan berai. Imagine that this is Fight Club.
• 3x chuudan zuki and second kiai.
• 90° turn into back stance block.
• 45° turn into the same.
• 45° turn into the same, but in the opposite direction.
• 45° turn into the same.

The pattern should look like this:

 ___

  |

\_|_/

Tora Shotokan Karate Seminar with Sensei Ana Xepapas

This weekend, I have finally got the opportunity to be taught by Ana-Sensei from the Tora Shotokan Dojo in Tasmania. Senseis Catharine, Ben and Andrew are methodical and thoughtful in the way they teach. But it's also great to have different Sensei come and teach us new exercises 'cause they all have a different perspective on teaching. ; Sensei Arie focused on strengthening and flexibility exercises; and Sensei Ana showed us  exercises that are good at showing the weaknesses of all the belts.

As 9th Kyuu, the kata that I will be grading in when I return to Australia will be Heian Shoudan. I'm not sure what shoudan means, but 平安 means "peace," which always confuses people. The first character can mean "flat" or in the broader sense, "unchanging," and is a simple character with no further meaning  one can derive from radicals. The second character means "safety" in both Japanese and Chinese. The components of the second character are a woman under a roof. Despite all this knowledge about language, I have no idea why the first kata of karate is a peaceful one.

I will try to explain the kata and what the movements mean to me. I invite any other practitioners of Shotokan to comment, because there is never enough time to discuss this sort of thing in the dojo.

• Zenkutsu Dachi (前屈立ち）: Front stance (first character means front, third character means stand). The purpose of the stances is to have the correct balance of stability and movement. The lower and wider your stance is, the more stability you have, but if it is too wide or low, it may become too slow and irresponsive.
• Gedan berai (下段べらい）: The low block. You are turning to the side and covering the region from your legs to your stomach from kicks or punches. You are moving your hips forward because you want to prepare to punch or kick and use the force from your hips, legs and feet to do so. You are timing your breathing with the moment so that the breath is as fast as the movement.
• Churn chokuzuki（中段直ずき）: The power of the forward mid-height punch depends a lot on the previous block.
• The high block after the first 180° turn: grabbing free of an attacker who is clutching your arm and hitting them on the head with the edge of your forearm.
• Ageuke (上げ受け/lit: rising block): Using the edge of your arm to drive away strikes directed towards your upper body.
• Koukutsu dachi (後屈立ち: lit back bending stance): a very narrow stance that can be stabilised by lowering, but enables one to approach their attackers from various angles (the two 45° stances in the kata being a good example).
• Nukite block: the block that accompanies Koukutsu dachi. 

In the Seminar, we did blind katas. This was interesting, because even some of the black belts froze or hesitated mid kata due to being unsure. And despite this, as Ana commented, most of us stuffed up our kata at some point and then recovered, before finishing. This reminded me of when I was a white belt and I was told to close my eyes whilst doing movements so that I could focus on what my body was doing. This had involved being guided into the perfect starting and ending positions for movements. This hadn't entirely worked because my problems arose from the way I moved and lack of arm/leg coordination rather than the static positions. But doing the movements blind worked from the point of view that I attained the concept of trying to do a certain thing with my body, but in such a way that I do not lose too much stability in my stance.

We also did katas in which we dragged two people either side of us. One thing I noticed was, how it was more effective to drag the people after stepping into stance and how similar this was to how the Senseis are always telling me to punch or block after I step.

Another thing we did was punch into the open hands of our partners, who had to push against the punch once it became stationary. I felt that if I pushed my blocking hip forward, my stance became stronger.

Doing the katas in the opposite direction was confusing for nearly everyone.

My biggest challenge in Karate at the moment is hand and feet coordination. I understand that in many movements, unless there is an exception specified, that the hand that is blocking or punching should be on the same side as the active leg (forward stance = active forward leg), and that the best way to block someone is to begin by matching the position of their forward leg. But I'm terrible at listening to instructions, often mixing up my right hand with my "other right hand."

Preparing for my trip to YunTai Mountain International Culture And Martial Arts School

Where do I begin? I will be going to a school in Central China in Winter. It will be freezing. There will be no heating or hot showers. I will be training for at least 4 hours a day. I will be able to practice my Mandarin and perhaps learn more French and German while I'm at it. And the journey may be dangerous at times. But I'm not the type to give up, so I figure that I might as well prepare for the experience as well as see what people like me, who have never been athletic or fit, can learn from this experience.

This is the first time I am travelling overseas, and as a young female, I will have to exercise utmost caution! Like arrange transfers from the airport before I arrive. So I book a hotel. I can use Uber to get to the hotel. But what about all the exploring I'll want to do in Beijing? I can't stay in hotels, schools and transit the whole time!

It will be freezing. And I do not respond well to cold. When you're cold, your muscles stiffen, you're more prone to injury. The showers will be cold. There will be snow. We may even get wet. We will have to clean our clothing by hand in cold water.

But everyone there will be experiencing the same amounts of coldness, and I can prepare for it by bringing heat packs and adequate clothing; as well as getting myself used to cold. In the beginning of November, I did two things: I began sleeping with the window open so that it would be cold in my bedroom (which didn't work because I couldn't get to sleep in the midst of doing exams), and I stopped wearing long sleeved clothing (which I actually coped with better on cold nights).

The biggest challenge for me at the Martial Arts School will be trying to get to sleep when I have been exercising all day, have just forced my body under a cold shower head, and am lying there shivering to death. It will be vital to get completely dry and wear as much clothing to bed as possible. My sleeping bag isn't that great, but it might help.

Another challenge will be adjusting to the food. I read that it's quite common for travellers to get diarrhea. But that'll be fine: As long as I am careful, stay away from Zhengzhou street food and get to the martial arts school safely, I will be fine (probably).

It's quite lucky that I decided to get into skiing this year, because I got an idea of what sort clothing you should bring to a location in which it is snowing and one is exercising. At the ANU Mountaineering Club, we went to camping skiing trips, where we had to bring food, tents, sleeping bags and LOTS of non-cotton, breathable clothing. Another extracurricular thing that prepared me for this trip was orienteering. We spend hours and hours running through the coldest hours of the day and through all types of weather. Therefore, probably the biggest lesson I've learned is that if you buy gear that is shitty and doesn't suit you, expect to buy 5 more of the same. I already spent a lot of money on thermal underwear and waterproof jackets. I have read that you can buy very good quality clothing from the academy itself, but I still want to be prepared before I go.

Speak of the devil: money. Everything to do with travel seems to incur a huge cost. I wasn't expecting to go on exchange when I paid for my return flight to China, so there will probably be an extra cost there. Because I misread something on the CUHK application guidelines, I ended up wasting money on a bank draft they didn't want. I included vaccines cause Hepatitis A and B, and Typhoid are listed as health risks for China. Here, I'll write up a list (in $AUD):

• Chinese Visa ($110)
• Passport photos for China Visa, HK Visa, CUHK application and identification at the martial arts school ($22)
• Hong Kong Visa and CUHK application for later ($610)
• Unnecessary bank draft that I had to reprocess ($100)
• Bus to Sydney Airport ($30)
• Plane from Sydney to Beijing ($1300)
• Fee for changing the return flight to May
• Plane from Beijing to Zhengzhou  ($160
• Plane from Zhengzhou to Hong Kong
• Vaccines ($150)
• Travel insurance for China ($190)
• Waterproof jacket ($70)
• Other warm gear ($200+)
• Protein bars ($
• Travel power adapter
• 60 L backpack ($200)
• Enough contraception pills for 6 months ($28)
• Phone credit
• Heat packs
• Misc ($30)

So many costs! And then there's the constant exercise! And there's the language barrier! In any case, keep your eyes peeled for posts on Tora Shotokan Karate (I'm doing a seminar this weekend), Beijing and adapting to life at the martial arts school!

Mandarin Review: 成／to become

One of the chapters in New Practical Chinese Reader is called 你快要成“中国通”了/you are almost becoming a "China hand". It is pronounced as chéng, and the character has the same pronunciation and tone as 诚 (indeed/if).

Example sentences of 成 also include 成了明星/he became a star. In the meaning of "accomplish," example sentences are 成不了大事/cannot achieve great deeds; 他是个能成大事的人/he is a great achiever. You can also use 成 to indicate that something is alright. E.g.成！就这么办 / ok, go ahead or 没有你可不成 / (we) are not ok without you. 成 can also mean "one tenth" as in 三成／ thirty percent.

Synonyms include

• 成为 （為）： 成为热门话题／become a hot topic (conversation).
• 变成: 把水力变成电力/the water was changed into electrical power .
• 为/為: 一分为二 ／ divide into two。
• 做： 用这间（這間）房子做教室／turn this room into a classroom.In Japanese 成 (the na in nasa) can mean to achieve or make. e.g. 大事をなす / to achieve greatness, and 意味をなさない / doesn't make sense.

In Cantonese, 成 means "succeed" and is used in the word 䏲成 ／regard as.

It seems to have a positive connotation of completion.

下年我成四年级学生。也留学生。所以，我会在大学宿舍住。

Mandarin Review: 宿舍 (dormitory/hostel)

宿舍 means “dormitory,” or  “hall of residence.”（I'm writing this with with the pinyin keyboard and trying very hard not to inadvertently write characters).

It is pronounced sùshè, which, if one wants to be clever in the literary sense, has the same pronunciation as 速射，which means "rapid fire."

宿 on its own means "stay," basically, as in 借宿一晚, to rent for or ask for a night (of lodging). 宿 can serve as a phonetic marker (as in they all have the same pronunciation) for 缩（contract），樎（rare character），蹜（also rare).

舍, on the other hand, does not have its own meaning and generally comes at the end of words that are associated with some kind of building, such as a hotel 旅舍，school building 校舍, personal home 舍下，or a humble abode 寒舍.

The two of them combined together come to meaning something like "a building to stay in."

Other means include use as a precursor for younger siblings (Oh! now I can say 我有三个（個）舍弟妹 — I have three younger siblings), or with a third tone, "give up," e.g. 舍药（藥).

A synonym includes 招待所 ／ Zhāodàisuǒ ／ guest house. I suppose the 所 is generic term for some sort of place, but whatever place it is, because of 厕所, it sounds like it might be a hole. But it is certainly not! They are much like the the famous Japanese 旅館/ryokan, usually very upmarket, and sometimes especially marketed for sexual deviants. It seems that 所 is just a very generic word for "place." This is mirrored by the Japanese 宿屋/yadoya which is specifically a Japanese style 旅館 (nice to know! Even if the etymology is Chinese *evil grin*)

Another synonym is 旅店, which means hostel. It literally translates as "travel spot," but it actually seems to mean "motel" based on a quick Google Image search I did.

In terms of writing, I always found 宿舍 difficult to remember because it has few phonological similarities with other characters. This, however, makes it easy from the point of view that you can't confuse it with other words. When I was first learning it,  I always remembered 宿 as the character that had "100 people under a single roof" and 舍 as a tongue wagging under a different type of roof. 宿 means "inn," which is self-explanatory, but 舍 actually means "cottage," and it is a type of place in which communication occurs.

Alas, there is no written equivalent in Cantonese (or my dictionary, which only offers 饭店 for "hotel," just sucks). Like, how am I supposed to talk about my awesome international dorm with the new Cantonese friends I make?

Mandarin Review: 年级 / 年級 / niánjí / level, grade

While I'm in Hong Kong, I will be studying Mandarin/Pútōnghuà. And my Chinese final exam is on Thursday. So every day this week, I will do an article on a new Chinese word with pronunciation, example sentences, character meaning, etymology, usage, special notes on stroke order, and if I can manage it, usages in popular media, twitter and/or literature where they are relevant. I want to learn Traditional characters, so wherever the traditional commonly differs from the Simplified I shall include them after the simplified or in brackets where there is only one or two different characters in a sentence. My assumption in these articles is that they are not for absolute beginners of Chinese: Ideally, they are suited for people at my level: People who have been studying Mandarin for one year outside of China.

My first object of analysis is niánjí 年级, which is the word that you use when you're talking about which "year level" or grade of school you are at. It's a counter word, so it always comes after numbers and before nouns, as in the sentence 你几年级？／ Nǐ jǐ niánjí? ／lit: you how many year level? / trans: what is your year level? 是三年级学生 / Wǒ shì Sān niánjí xuéshēng / I am a third year student. Next year, after I complete my exchange, I will be a 四年级学生. 我的妹妹唸几（幾）年级？Wǒ de mèimei niàn jǐ niánjí? 我想。。。我的姐妹都在TAFE唸一年級。

Synonyms include 等级, Děngjí, which I guess, since 级 means "level" by itself and 等 can mean "grade/class" on its own e.g. 共分三等 /Gòng fēn sān děng / (something that has been) classified into three grades, indicating a more general meaning than 年级, which literally means "year level." 品级 / Pǐnjí can be used for "grade" as well, but since 品 means goods, it may refer to the quality of merchandise or something. 级别 / Jíbié refers to one's level within an organisation as opposed to their year level within the marking system, e.g. 教授级别 / Jiàoshòu jíbié / professor level. or 学生级别 / Xuéshēng jíbié. For instance, 可以申请教练级别的对应关系 / 可以申請教練級別的對應關係 / Xuéshēng jíbié kěyǐ shēnqǐng jiàoliàn jíbié de duìyìng guānxì / Students may choose the teaching level curriculum (That's not the literal translation, but if you check the website, which is one of many martial arts schools in China, you can tell the meaning from context.) 年度 ／niándù refers to the the calendar year, e.g. 年度计划 / 年度計劃 / Niándù jìhuà / annual plan.

Now for the characters: 年 can be tricky for beginners to write nicely because they don't realise that the vertical line through the middle must go last. But as a basic character with a similar pronunciation to the Japanese nen, it is self-explanatory. 級 has the phonetic component ji which it shares with 及 and极 (as in 好极了）, and the radical means "silk," which I have no idea how to explain. I mean, why on earth would you use a wood radical for 极？

You may notice that a lot of words have two characters with the same meaning, such as 等级. I'm not sure myself yet why this is the case, I think it has something to do with how Classical Chinese has had to adapt to European style writing. Another thing you may notice is that when reading Chinese and trying to get the meaning, you often have to read the entire sentence (at the very least) to get the meaning of the various components. This is because Chinese, like English, is highly inflected, meaning that meanings are dependent on the location in the sentence.

The meaning is the same for written Cantonese (pronunciation: nìhn4kāp1), but not for Japanese (nen), which omits the 級. The first part of 三年学生　sannen gakusei sounds almost similar to Mandarin!

＊Note: Example sentences are taken from the Cambridge Chinese dictionary or scribe origins.

10 Things I learned from applying for an exchange programme

1. It's always worth applying for and finishing exchange programmes even if you don't think you'll make it.
2. Institutions that are involved in the exchanges are primarily concerned with filling spaces with reasonably adept candidates.
3. It's always monumentally easier to get all paperwork done in person if possible.
4. It can be difficult to find teachers to give you academic recommendations, but this is easier if you do the exchange later on in your degree.
5. Some universities have 2 semesters, whilst others have 2 terms. Timetabling always varies.
6. Many courses in Hong Kong are taught in English.
7. Cantonese has a lot of glottal stops.
8. Hong Kong is not a popular place to go on exchange in Australia (everyone wants to go to China or Japan).
9. It's like a job application: You have to explain what you have to offer and why your exchange is worth all the fuss.
10. The more communication with staff from institutions and fellow exchange students, the easier it is to fulfil all the requirements.

The Journey to the West

The Journey to the West (西游记 xīyòujì）is a famous Chinese story in which a Tang Dynasty monk, Xuánzàng (玄奘), undertakes a journey to India to obtain Buddhist sutras. The traditions of martial arts and philosophy (including Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism) have long been connected. Indeed, according to the Yijing (易经), Tai Chi (太极）means "the origin of all things."

As I travel west (of Australia), the first step in my journey will be in Zhèngzhōu, Hénán. I'll be enrolling in a martial arts camp for one month to learn Shăolín (少林）and possibly Tai chi as well。Then when I am Hong Hong (the home of Jackie Chan), I will be looking for a dojo to continue doing Shotokan karate.

But why martial arts? I started doing karate this year and generally becoming more interested in martial arts when a friend asked me to go to karate with him and also introduced me to the idea of studying kenjutsu and shaolin. My friend's form in martial arts is beautiful, and it is inspiring to see people move with such grace and intent. The first time I became inspired to do karate, however, was many years ago when I read "The Idiot's Guide to Karate" and found out about karate-do as a lifestyle and a way of connecting with oneself. At this time, I was unable to attend any karate dojos, but I was becoming interested in Japanese culture and language in general, and eventually tried out judo. Which ended up becoming a liability for my back and spine because I was unable to do proper break falls (I have a terrible fear of heights and of falling). Even in karate, which has relatively little contact and is relatively low impact, I am identifying health problems (knee pain) caused by incorrect form. I still have a long way to go in terms of understanding how my body can achieve the beautiful movements that inspired me, but I am hoping that after spending five months in China, learning martial arts in its locations of origin, I will come back with my mind and body in closer sync with one another. My current challenge is curing myself of flat feet.

I am a student at Australian National University, studying international relations and Northeast Asia (mainly China and Japan, the culture, history, and languages). I am specifically fascinated by Chinese culture, written tradition and self-development. As part of my degree, I am going to Hong Kong, which happens to be one of the most awesome cultural centres of martial arts.

So, why do I write this blog?

1. I want to share my view of the with the world, with dual my pessimism and joyaux de vive.
2. I see writing, revising and sharing my thoughts as a method of cognitive behavioural therapy.
3. I want to share the way I see the world: how I learn, how I put things together in my mind.
4. I want to share my writing and get feedback.