Oh my god, already one month as passed but it seems that I arrived yesterday.
The first month here is over and I want to make a small balance of everything:

- The relationship between the 5 of us is going well. Sometimes we discuss a little with each other, but that’s part of a healthy relationship to. I only think we should organize better in some things so that everybody wins.

- The training is mental stimulating and physical harsh. The morning time we do mostly internal training, training which a like a lot and really want to develop. It’s basically Meditation, Qigong and Taiji. I love Taiji and I do feel some good improvements. Maybe not as actual accomplishments but at least on realizing where do I want to be. How can you reach your destiny if you don’t know where you want to go?
In the afternoon is running up the mountain (not easy) and basic conditioning for the legs, torso and arms. We also train reaction because it’s the root and the basic skill that we need in a fight.

- The relationship with Master Yang is very good. He is a very nice person and teaches us a lot of stuff. I’m very glad to have him as my master. I think he will lead us towards the right path.

- The punishments are going well. I’m the only one until now who was punished. This last Monday I felt asleep and got late to meditation, so I had to be punished. To be honest, I’m glad that I was punished. This was the type of punishment that I needed to be more responsible on my schedules. It was for all the times that I got late to an important meeting, exercise, class, or whatever.

- The Chinese lessons are going very well. I already understand some things and we can have short conversations with each other. I think that maybe in one year we will all be able to only talk Chinese daily.

- The Qigong lectures are great. I love the way Master Yang explains and the effort that he puts on us to be good. The subjects are very interesting and inspirational. If everything runs the way it was planned, I think that we will finish the program with a very deep mind and concept about life.

To conclude, so far so good. I like what I have here and I wouldn’t return back to Portugal now. My mission here is big, bigger than most of the people really realize it is. Most people think we came here just to learn the Chinese way to kick and punch. It’s far more than that. I know what I came to get, but I don’t really know what I’m going to take back. I only know that it’s bigger than what I expect…