First time in Shaolin

For the first time I publish entries from my diary, the first and last personal ones. A living diary that I filled myself. Some pages of this diary are still empty, and that pencil has already managed to be lost somewhere.

July 24

08:05
Today I already feel the support of the guys from the school. When leaving, everyone helped as much as they could. They left me: household items, teapots, basins, lots of medicine, food. This really helps a lot now. There were those who cried, as if seeing off their son, even those who just patted me on the shoulder, they help me a lot now. Thank you to those who helped financially, if it weren’t for you, I would have had to go back already, but with your help I will be able to stay here for some more time.

July 25

Here in Shaolin, something is always happening. Everyone has met that mystical monk who says something important. Something important specifically for you. He also started talking to me about kung fu. In Chinese, he introduced himself as Shi Yan Hui. This is the second thing I understood after the word kung fu. I didn’t understand many words, but his hand gestures complemented it. He pointed his finger and said something like: “Look, can you do that?” Turning around, I see another man in yifu standing under a tree and gently hitting the leaves above his head with his toes. With his eyes, he asked me to look in the other direction, and I see another man in a gray yifu walking along a path and waving his arms and head like a praying mantis. The monk sits nearby, his hands folded in front of his heart, and without words, just with his eyes, he says to me: “Look, this is a great master, catch up with him.” All I see is like a cap has been thrown over the top with a new series of events and people. As if it were always among us, but I do not see it, and now is the very moment when the door has been opened for me and I only need to step. Why today? I was sitting under this tree and waiting for my time? What hour, moment or event is mine? I was waiting under the tree to go to the meeting at 9:30 with the young shifu, as we agreed yesterday. I thought my training would begin there. With my hands folded in front of my heart, I said goodbye to old man Yang Hui and ran away. The clock showed 9:27.

July 30

Today I saw Natasha off on the bus. I walked to the tea shop. On the way I bought my favorite apples. It seemed like the city was small, about the size of Kolpino. The shops are usually themed, you can buy not only retail but also wholesale. Chifan chose, as usual, Noodles with egg, they poured soup as a bonus, and it cost only eight yuan. When I got to the tea shop, I spent a long time choosing a portable tea cup. In the end, I bought one like the one the shop owner’s son had, on his recommendation. While I was choosing, we chatted. He treated me to a peach, but refused my apple. The conversation turned to the tea business in Russia. I asked him to help with this. Apparently it was time for lunch, and he invited me to his home for lunch. A nice, solid apartment. I told him more about myself and my parents. It was raining on the way home. I got off the bus, changed into slippers, and pulled on a raincoat. Walking in the rain is no problem. It’s also warm. The water in the puddles is sometimes even hot, so it can even be a pleasure. Now I'm sitting in a cafe without electricity, oh yeah, there's no electricity in the whole village.

The light was turned on for a few hours and then turned off again. Now it is dark in the village. The darkness dissolves a little from the light from the mobile phones of the locals and not so much. So I lit up my shower. Now I am clean and again wet from the humidity lying in the tent. I am writing with one hand and trying to squash a mosquito with the other. I have no idea how many unforgettable moments you can experience in your life, but this is definitely one of them.

The tent is in the bushes in a clearing 30 m from the training ground of one of the schools. I hope it is not visible, either from the ground or from the road nearby, because I leave all my things in the tent for the whole day. Probably, while I was enjoying the puddles in my slippers, rain dripped into the tent through the mosquito net. The sleeping bag got wet, the rest just needed to be wiped off. (Oops! A mosquito!) The light that reaches the damp sheets of my notebook is emitted by a bottle of water that I picked up in the hostel, and water that I climbed on foot to get from four springs. The first and last time I brought 8 liters of water from there.

July 31

Today Ruth met a Chinese Canadian who cares about me. She asked how I was going with my search for a place to study. She told me how she met the master, that he gave her the phone number of a certain Linda (not Bruce Lee's wife, as it turned out later), who could arrange a place in school.

Linda turned out to be an employee of the department for people like me at the Tagou school and announced the price of 2600 yuan for a month without food, only to live and train. And since this is all the money I have, not counting the money I have saved for the return trip, this option suits me with a stretch. Unless the food comes from somewhere on its own, which in principle I no longer rule out in Shaolin.

After a long conversation, the price remained unchanged. I seemed to have already agreed, but something inside was bothering me. The second meeting with my dear Ruth was a bit strange. It turned out that the things, provisions from the guys, were stored in the building and even opposite her door; and once again she complained to her heart's content. She called that Shifu and spent 15 minutes explaining that I needed an option with a lower price. Of course, the conversation was in Chinese, so I don't know what she was saying. It seemed to me that it was time for her to tell a little more about herself, so when she hung up, the words were already pouring out of my mouth.

Almost all day, what I did was sort out that same food. A heavy bag, only a first aid kit. Tried some goodies. Took a break with cocoa and powdered milk. Went off to do the laundry. In between, I went to the school where I lived the first weeks and to a cafe to see this strange family that I really like. Fay started smiling at me. Left them some presents. I don't understand where to go in the morning. Still have to pack the tent, when she should be the first one in the bag. Everyone has their own problems, and I would like more air in the tent and to get some sleep by five in the morning.

August 1st

Today I slept well, because I didn't pack for Tagoo. Dear Ruth supported me once again. I woke up and calmly went to breakfast, without packing the tent. So, I threw my things around a bit. After breakfast I met Ruth, we chatted a bit and finally decided that I wouldn't go to Tagoo, but would go and walk around the schools here.

The first school, the one I lived in for the first time, they jacked up the price like crazy, I left right away. I walked to the one by the bridge, remember, with the big playground where I sometimes watched the training. I sat down in the same place and, a little later, I met the young Shifu with my eyes, who recognized me.

I handed over the phone, on the screen of which after the translator it was unclear what was written, but in Russian it was something like this: "I want to learn kung fu, sleep and eat. I will give all 2600 yuan. I have no more money." He seemed very happy, shook my hand and said: "Tsou ba."

I don't know what will happen if I use the word Shifu so often, but I'll try not to get confused.

We went through the main entrance, up the steps, and I already saw two old men through the window. One was very old, like one of Ip Man's sons, his arms were swinging. The second one had a beard, also like from the movie. In general, they took me with their color.

We seemed to have come to an agreement, shook hands, I handed over the money, gave him some nuts in a box. About an hour passed, we did the housework, even spread a blanket on his bunk, when suddenly an old man runs up and waves a phone with a message:

We cannot accept foreign students.

At first I was upset and looked for support: if you have doubts, wait.

I walk on, looking at the signs. I think it's written all over my face, but a man in civilian clothes comes up to me and waves his fists. I'm yours, blah-blah, yes, I say, kung fu. He scoops up air with his hand, as if to say, follow me. A kind smile.

We went to one master with him, he doesn't speak English, we went to another. The other one also doesn't speak English, but his wife knows the language, she can help translate. But they are not at school now, so we'll have to wait.

The school turned out to be for foreigners. The people on the porch were like those at the Quicksilver surfing battle in California. The local administrator, Frenchman Matthew, suggested that I either rest in the room or return by 19, which I chose.

He says that he passed on everything to Shifu about me and that he doesn’t know how I can stay for this money, because their accommodation costs 1000 $, but Shifu will be waiting for me with his wife.

Returning to the tent, this time I feel calm. I don't know how, but I feel like this time in this place everything will be decided. Schedule: meditation, qigong, taiji, sanda, wow, what a fire set, I thought.

A little faster than usual after lunch, I went to finish packing my bags. I didn't pack the tent, but it turned out I could. "Sometimes" began to turn into "more often" when I talk about my feelings. When I returned, they were already waiting for me. Shifu and his wife and the students were already waiting on the porch, as if they were listening to a short story from Matthew's lips.

I started shaking hands in greeting in a chaotic manner, because my wife (I won't remember her name) greeted me by jumping up from her chair about 10 meters away, so I was already walking from there with my hand outstretched. The second or third hand in mine turned out to be Shufu's. Oh, it was so awkward. Oh, these civilians!

Having moved to the teahouse, I told my story in great detail and slowly. As I told it, it was clear from my wife's eyes that she had become imbued with me. Shifu had also become imbued, but not from his eyes, that was clear, but from his actions.
- How old are you?
— 26.
- Wow! Do you know English well?
- It's very good for the Chinese.

I quickly packed up the tent, loaded a large bag, a small one in the back, and another small one in the front. In my left hand I had three yoga foams, in my right hand I had Gun, and on it were 8 liters of water from the springs near the temple, which Natasha and I had gone to get on the day of her departure.

I threw the stuff into the trunk of the car, and my gait was like that of a bird - I walk and fly. Either from my mood, or from the heavy bags.

So I'm lying in bed, the air conditioner is blowing. Clean and not sweaty. From Monday I'll start training for one month and 20 days until the ticket. As I wanted.

What happened there? Shifu called his friend and asked him to accept me for the modest money I was offering, and as a token of my gratitude I would teach English to Chinese children.

Well, well. There is a "Russian" guy in this school. He is really 12 years old, his parents are Russian, he is Latvian, they live in Switzerland, their apartment is in Thailand and all that stuff. And the first thing he asked me was if I play Dota. I told you, and all that stuff 🙂

He's a nice guy, he'll have to learn a lot here besides kung fu.

August 3

The first "working" day. The morning training is over. It was difficult, but quite manageable, although there is a feeling that the body will still say "thank you".

The children line up in a long line and approach the large pot one by one to get food. The older groups, of which there are four or five, serve each other and put their own last. Once they have taken their place at the table, no one starts eating until the last person has sat down. When the last person has come to their place, everyone stands up and reads something like a prayer, although it is probably a poem. Shifu said that these words mean something like this: “We appreciate the work of the cooks who prepared the food, we appreciate the work of the people who gathered food in the field, thank you for the opportunity to eat this, we treat it with respect.” Shifu also said that he gives the children the opportunity to practice in the field themselves - to gather those very vegetables. By the way, they grow a lot of things here themselves.
Before the training at noon, everyone was given ice cream at the lineup, and the training was postponed for 30 minutes because of the intense heat. It turns out humane. I rub the stick and rub the carrot.

August 4

It's raining in the morning. As if someone cares about me here too. I'm not that weak, but 4 workouts a day have made me this way. Everything hurts like never before. Literally like never before, because it's never been like my whole body is covered in needles. Small, but heartfelt. The morning rain saved me, and we're not running today. I can go to sleep until breakfast, which is at 7:00. Thank you!

August 6

Chinese children seem tireless. Even during breaks, they run around playing games. Other entertainments are cards and palm games. Like clapping faster than each other or pinching your finger. And I keep counting needles and sleep like a baby in any free time.

August 7

Yesterday evening there was no water. At all. That's why, when before training at about 10 o'clock a hose with water was dragged from somewhere in the field, people came running with basins, having filled them up, they immediately started washing. The girls carried 19-liter flasks to their rooms themselves. Themselves! And not only did they not ask for help, but on the contrary, when help was offered to them, they ran away with a flask, refusing! From the outside, you might think that I was taking this water away, but they actively refused. There are many things here that are not like ours.