Shengri Kuai Le

November 4th was my Yiquan teacher Master Yao’s birthday. 100 of his students, friends, and martial arts peers gathered to wish him a very happy birthday. It was quite a massive party; we rented out a nearby restaurant to accommodate everyone. Crates of beer and many bottles of bai jiu (chinese hard liquor) ensured much merry-making.

I was looking forward to just relaxing and enjoying the scene, when I found out several hours before the party that Master Yao wanted me to give a 5 minute speech on behalf of the foreign students as part of the small opening ceremony. In chinese. Newsflash: My chinese is crap. Well, after some initial panic, BL and I worked on putting something together in pinyin, and DT gave it a once over as well. I think in the end, it went alright, but frankly, I’m not sure – after the first few sentences I kind of blacked out. When I sat back down, my Chinese friend Hailai helpfully reassured me, “I think most people understood it.” Most people? Did that include Master Yao?

Man. I don’t want to do that again.

The rest of the party, thankfully, involved no further acts of public embarrassment. :-)

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1. Happy Birthday Zoe
2. Wind’s a Blowin’
3. First two weeks in Beijing
4. Back from HKG