16
Location: Beijing
We started the day with a 7 AM wake up and quickly prepared a breakfast of eggs and toast prepared by Mollie and Olivia. We then left for our second lesson of Tai Chi/Wushu. It was pretty great, and we even got to learn some self-defense such as grabbing a punch or dodging attacks and countering them to make the tides of the fight in your favor. At one point when we were learning how to grab a punch then breaking the attacker’s wrist/arm, I turned out to be the practice ‘dummy,’ and for a second I thought the instructor had broken my arm. We learned some Tai Chi movements, and everyone ended up enjoying our lesson.
After Tai Chi, we came back to the apartment for some catch up on some sleep time. The class had ended early around ten, and we didn’t have another activity until 330 when we were to play with the group home kids. The ‘chill time’ was very pleasant, and most were well rested and in a good mood to get out into the Beijing heat to play with kids for two hours.
This time there were a few kids that we had never met before, but nevertheless, we still had a great time swinging, tossing the Frisbee/Football, jumping rope and playing with balloons. The two hours flew by even with the sweltering heat/humidity that led us all to be sweating terribly by the end. After we played with the kids, we went to Wumart to get some supplies for our trip and got some beverages and comfort food. We then came back for dinner and Lifeworks forum #5. Hopefully, we will also have an early night!