Hello,
I started Shaolin Kung Fu about 4 months ago. Before I did I came here and posted some stuff about the school I'd considered starting at. Nothing was too glaring it seemed, but having been there for 4 months I'm getting a little discouraged by the way things work there. The problem is it could be totally just my perception of something as bad, when it's the way it should be or a good way to do things. So I'm just gonna explain how things are going, and hear what people have to say.
I'd never done any martial arts before, in fact, this is pretty much the most physical thing I've done since high school (regular PE, not a sports guy). So, needless to say, I suck, but feel I've improved over the 4 months I've been doing this stuff. Here's the deal.
The biggest problem I have with the school is the language barrier. Please endure my explanation... There is no written material at our school. Not that I expect there to be, but that means everything is verbal. Our Sifu is an elderly chinese fellow, with one hell of an accent, and fairly broken english. He can get the point across quite well, seems to know what he's talking about, and the few times (I thought this strange as well) I've seen him do forms he is very elegant and would appear to a layman such as myself to be quite skilled. But when he says the names of our forms, I'm not the only one confused as to their pronunciation, much less their potential spelling. How could I look any of this stuff up to see if it's legit when I can't even spell it much less speak it? Anything you see here with a (???) is something I am totally guessing at the spelling of.
Anyway I start as a "white belt", learning 4 kicks (stretch kick, snap kick, turn kick, side kick), and 5 basic moves (horse stance punch, bow and arrow punch, open hand block, bong shwei(???) which is like a closed fist block in a bow and arrow stance, and reverse punch.
The forms we learn as white belt is first fist (a series of horse stance punches, a push, reverse punch, return and back again), second fist which is more complex throwing in a kick for good measure, and Tontui(???) #2 and #5. Apparently Tontui's are like short forms consisting of only a few moves, which we usually repeat 3 times in practice. There's like 12 of them I think. 3 months went by and I'd practiced these things the whole time, showing some pretty good improvements. I think they can be done better, but I try my best. Test time comes up (tests are every 2 months) and Sifu makes me a yellow belt.
Now I learn a form called Wushu(???). This is where I am very confused. Having done some research during my enrollment in Kung Fu, I've learned that Wushu is a word meaning "Chinese Martial Arts". So why is it also the name of a form? Ahh well. It involves some fairly simple moves, is about as short as one of our Tontui(???)'s, and involves the "Dragon Stance" and "Cat Stance" which for now is a little difficult for me. The next form I'm working on is Boshu(???) which I'm going to need to do some more stretching and exercise to do correctly.
We do sparring every session for about 20 minutes. I get in about 3 engagements usually, and learn something every time. I have alot of fun sparring as a result, as aside from some sibling arsewhooping as a kid, I've never been in a real fight.
The black belts here are very good. Or at least a whole hell of a lot better than I am. They seem to know dozens and dozens of forms, and I'm beginning to wonder if I will be able to remember them all if I ever get that high. It's good that their so skilled as they are the ones that teach me. And this is my next biggest worry. Sifu doesn't teach me anything. When I need to learn something, he grabs a blackbelt, sends us to the back of the room, the blackbelt (and he does a good job about it usually) shows me the form, move, what have you. When I'm comfortable doing it on my own, the next time Sifu calls that form I get up and try it by count (1, 2, 3, etc). Once I've really got the hang of it, I go ahead and try it by my own speed.
What I want to know is:
* Does any of this sound familiar to you?
* Does any of this sound horrid and unnacceptable to you?
I started Kung Fu because it's an interesting art to me. I need the exercise. I need something in my life to do other than work, eat, sleep, and sit at the computer. It's fulfilling my needs... but is it true Kung Fu? I feel embarassed at the urge to want to ask, as though I doubt my Sifu. I don't want to, I just don't know the difference.
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Does anyone know which dialect is mostly spoken in HK? All I know is "thank you" in chinese at this point 
It is only lulling you into a false sense of security if you let your ego get the better of you. Sparring is not fighting. Sparring has rules to some extent. Anything goes in a fight. (mace, broken bottles, ect, don't usually show up in a spar)
