Monday, September 25, 2006
I am ALIVE!!!
Hey folks, sorry for the long, long, long delay in posting anything. I have been busy doing nothing at all!!! So for my loyal readers I appologize, I will not neglect you again... Its almost been a month!!!
There are a few things to update about but the most interesting is probably my Karate test that happened two or three weeks ago. I was up with the sun and picked up for the long trek to the arena where the testing was being held. I was definately tired but managed to suck it up long enough to impress nobody. There were about 200 people being tested, first we had to our push-ups. We did 50 push-ups with few problems. Pretty much everyone was able to do that pretty easily. Next up was the "squats" jumping, landing, repeat. Sounds easy, try it, 50 of them! Afterwards came the real fun, stretching. We sat with our legs spread as wide as possible and then had to touch our foreheads to the ground. There are some differences in the build of the average Japanese man and the average foreigner I think. Cause there was not way my forehead was gonna make it to the floor, or so I thought. Unwelcome pressure was put on my back and before I knew it I was kissing the floor. It hurt worse than a kick in the sack! I pulled my groin on that test... Sadly the fun was not over. The next test was Kata, essentially all the Bruce Lee type stuff. Completing a "routine" in the right order. Its hard to explain but it looks easier when watching but proves to be much more difficult to actually do. It did not help that I do not understand the Japanese instructions being given. So I was a step behind to start because I was not sure exactly what form of Kata was being requested of us. I am sure that will be why I do not skip levels. Then came the real test, a sparring match. I would hardly call it sparing as Hiroshi, of my dojo fame, was testing us and he was not hitting back. I was shocked at just how sissy the other dudes were. I thought since they are all Japanese and able to do the splits they would throw it down pretty good. I thought WRONG! They were dancing around like sissies in the ring. I am sure they were a little intimidated because Hiroshi is an impressive looking opponent. My turn was pretty fun, a minute went by much to quick and I did well. Sadly I forgot the most important part of Karate, yelling at the end of a combo. I didn't yell anything! So again, that might have hurt my grades a little bit. I am certain that whitey is going to be tucked away in the closet next week when we get our new belts. The only question is, will I follow in the steps of my original Karate mentor and move to the Blue belt, or just Orange...
Socially I have entered into a self imposed exile from the Gaijin, foreigner, community. I had a little bit of a falling out with one of the original Hamma Boys and made a choice not to hang out with the group. It makes for some real uneventful days but in the long run I am sure it will work out much better for me. It made me really homesick the past little while which is probably why I didn't update this thing too much, or at all, for the past month. There was nothing overly positive to write about in my head. I have cleared the hurdle now and am actually quite happy going solo. It's definately a change from University and Korea where I was the life of the party, 24/7. I just hang out at home a lot and watch videos or play games. I should be studying but lets be honest, I am lazy! That will have to change soon...
Last weekend I went up to Sendai and visited a friend that I met at the Sumo wrestling tournament a while back. It was a pretty random trip I planned with two of my friends over here and another joined in as well to make a fearsome foursome. It was a good trip. The drive took much longer than any of us would have liked but it was a good time when we got there. We ate the famous meal of Sendai, cow tongue. I would neither recommend it nor discourage someone from trying it. It was like beef but much chewier. If you didn't know you were eating tongue it would be much better! Afterwards we ripped it up pretty good. It was nice to drink some beers where I knew for certain that one of my student's parents was not serving it to me! Such is the life in small town Hamma... The next day no one was really feeling fantastic, not even McD's was helping that morning. I went to the sauna with Midori which felt great. She was waiting for me for such a long time because I was sitting in the bath for about an hour compared to her 15 minutes... All in all, a good adventure for the weekend!
I also went on a field trip with my students. We went to British Hills, there was nothing exciting about that! Basically its an English village in the middle of Japan. All the staff are foreigners and they run English camps and school there. I was not overly impressed with much of it. I have some photos but will post them later on. It happened on a Saturday so there was not much to really get excited about! I just wanted to sleep all day, that was not in the cards. Even though there was a bar at this place sneaking away for a beer was frowned upon... It didn't stop us from doing it anyways and we had just sat down with our pints when we were busted. Chugg-a-lug! Fasted pint I have had without the help of a funnel or a keg party atmosphere.
Work is still going well. My classes are great. This coming weekend is the Undokai, sports festival. All the students are going to preferm a dance and run in some races. I am pretty excited to see my kids take part. I feel a little bad for the kids because they have got to learn a pretty difficult dance and it must be perfect. So they get pulled around everyday outside while practicing. I don't remember doing much of that sort of thing when I was young. They are worked hard, in my opinion, for 3 year olds. I will try to get some video of the day and post it up.
I've got to make some dinner and then relax for a bit before bed. Its been six months over here already and its going much better than Korea was. Its hard to compare the two countries. I miss Korea quite a bit because it was easier to understand, at least living in Seoul was. Plus, living in Seoul was never boring! I like the situation in Japan much better but could use some excitement from time to time.
There are a few things to update about but the most interesting is probably my Karate test that happened two or three weeks ago. I was up with the sun and picked up for the long trek to the arena where the testing was being held. I was definately tired but managed to suck it up long enough to impress nobody. There were about 200 people being tested, first we had to our push-ups. We did 50 push-ups with few problems. Pretty much everyone was able to do that pretty easily. Next up was the "squats" jumping, landing, repeat. Sounds easy, try it, 50 of them! Afterwards came the real fun, stretching. We sat with our legs spread as wide as possible and then had to touch our foreheads to the ground. There are some differences in the build of the average Japanese man and the average foreigner I think. Cause there was not way my forehead was gonna make it to the floor, or so I thought. Unwelcome pressure was put on my back and before I knew it I was kissing the floor. It hurt worse than a kick in the sack! I pulled my groin on that test... Sadly the fun was not over. The next test was Kata, essentially all the Bruce Lee type stuff. Completing a "routine" in the right order. Its hard to explain but it looks easier when watching but proves to be much more difficult to actually do. It did not help that I do not understand the Japanese instructions being given. So I was a step behind to start because I was not sure exactly what form of Kata was being requested of us. I am sure that will be why I do not skip levels. Then came the real test, a sparring match. I would hardly call it sparing as Hiroshi, of my dojo fame, was testing us and he was not hitting back. I was shocked at just how sissy the other dudes were. I thought since they are all Japanese and able to do the splits they would throw it down pretty good. I thought WRONG! They were dancing around like sissies in the ring. I am sure they were a little intimidated because Hiroshi is an impressive looking opponent. My turn was pretty fun, a minute went by much to quick and I did well. Sadly I forgot the most important part of Karate, yelling at the end of a combo. I didn't yell anything! So again, that might have hurt my grades a little bit. I am certain that whitey is going to be tucked away in the closet next week when we get our new belts. The only question is, will I follow in the steps of my original Karate mentor and move to the Blue belt, or just Orange...
Socially I have entered into a self imposed exile from the Gaijin, foreigner, community. I had a little bit of a falling out with one of the original Hamma Boys and made a choice not to hang out with the group. It makes for some real uneventful days but in the long run I am sure it will work out much better for me. It made me really homesick the past little while which is probably why I didn't update this thing too much, or at all, for the past month. There was nothing overly positive to write about in my head. I have cleared the hurdle now and am actually quite happy going solo. It's definately a change from University and Korea where I was the life of the party, 24/7. I just hang out at home a lot and watch videos or play games. I should be studying but lets be honest, I am lazy! That will have to change soon...
Last weekend I went up to Sendai and visited a friend that I met at the Sumo wrestling tournament a while back. It was a pretty random trip I planned with two of my friends over here and another joined in as well to make a fearsome foursome. It was a good trip. The drive took much longer than any of us would have liked but it was a good time when we got there. We ate the famous meal of Sendai, cow tongue. I would neither recommend it nor discourage someone from trying it. It was like beef but much chewier. If you didn't know you were eating tongue it would be much better! Afterwards we ripped it up pretty good. It was nice to drink some beers where I knew for certain that one of my student's parents was not serving it to me! Such is the life in small town Hamma... The next day no one was really feeling fantastic, not even McD's was helping that morning. I went to the sauna with Midori which felt great. She was waiting for me for such a long time because I was sitting in the bath for about an hour compared to her 15 minutes... All in all, a good adventure for the weekend!
I also went on a field trip with my students. We went to British Hills, there was nothing exciting about that! Basically its an English village in the middle of Japan. All the staff are foreigners and they run English camps and school there. I was not overly impressed with much of it. I have some photos but will post them later on. It happened on a Saturday so there was not much to really get excited about! I just wanted to sleep all day, that was not in the cards. Even though there was a bar at this place sneaking away for a beer was frowned upon... It didn't stop us from doing it anyways and we had just sat down with our pints when we were busted. Chugg-a-lug! Fasted pint I have had without the help of a funnel or a keg party atmosphere.
Work is still going well. My classes are great. This coming weekend is the Undokai, sports festival. All the students are going to preferm a dance and run in some races. I am pretty excited to see my kids take part. I feel a little bad for the kids because they have got to learn a pretty difficult dance and it must be perfect. So they get pulled around everyday outside while practicing. I don't remember doing much of that sort of thing when I was young. They are worked hard, in my opinion, for 3 year olds. I will try to get some video of the day and post it up.
I've got to make some dinner and then relax for a bit before bed. Its been six months over here already and its going much better than Korea was. Its hard to compare the two countries. I miss Korea quite a bit because it was easier to understand, at least living in Seoul was. Plus, living in Seoul was never boring! I like the situation in Japan much better but could use some excitement from time to time.
