My old mumbling bundle of qi man with cap is back in park and 5am seems an ok time to start. True to primordial chaos the retired taiji group that I've become a part of - halving the average age, as Guye pointed out - spontaneously meets and moves around the various spots around the campus to avoid the wenzi or each other as some prefer to be more primordial than others with the 'bang bang' dao jia (daoist tango).
I just shed my first farewell tear running up to the 7th floor with my 'guo bao rou' = sweet & sour pork doggy bag - luckily it wasn't 'gao' = dog especially as the guest of honor was laoshi's dog!
There were farewell speeches from everyone starting with Cao Laoshi, then Qiao Yu my teacher and Chinese buddy from London (we used to meet in my break between taiji and qigong classes at Morley to practice our languages), Guo Qiang (the only male in the party and our first taiji teacher who will inherit not the earth but by ziqingche = bicycle named heiselee), Lilly the only natural light-haired Chinese girl who would call out Xining and give me a wave and a smile around campus), then two teachers, a Dr and a nurse student who taught me the first class I came on my own once my classmates and Yang Yang left) and finally Xiao Qing my youngest 18-year old teacher who doesn't eat as she wants to lose weight! Then it was my turn by which time most of the company except my weight-losing friend and fellow tea-drinking teacher were rather ruddy faced and able to understand and appreciate my Mandarin speech which went something like:
I am very lucky to have an even bigger taiji family extended to China. Before I started I didn't know where Harbin was or even that it was in China. Then I looked on the Internet and saw the ice sculptures and thought I'll never be able to cope with the cold. Then when I came it was fine as the Harbin people are so warm and I'm lucky to have net you all and to have so many good teachers. I was impressed with the level of martial arts here which is a reflection of the excellent teacher....
I was rather dismayed by the fact that with Guo Qiang's help I had ordered about 12 dishes for 8 people and we hardly touched the sides of most plates. I was very touched when the teacher paid and relieved (maybe I was a war baby in a previos life) that takeaway containers appeared in force.
I got a hug from the teacher, farewell waves from three students and then walked to the front door of my accommodation by the two old faithfuls Guo Qiang (the only man in the company who was entrusted to escort Qiao Yu to the front gate to call a cab)
and Xiao Qing. Guo Qiang then presented me with a beautifully wrapped present - a bamboo pen holder with chinese writings from a daoist sage.
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