Kenpou: Grading test for 1kyuu

1kyuu kata

1kyuu kata

Nice punch

It can get pretty rough

070422, Sunday

Early in the morning the Waseda kenpou fighters gathered at Meiji Daigaku at Ocha no Mizu in Tokyo. We went here for the same reason as before; to try to get graded to a higher level. At the last test, in December, I managed to get graded from muukyuu to 2kyuu and my task for today was to try to get 1kyuu. In the morning kata was performed. The 1kyuu kata is done with a partner. The judges were rather firm and were not late to express their discontent. Then it was my turn. I performed the kata together with another Waseda kenpou fighter. He is very good at kata so I could not have had a better partner. Thankfully it went well and all the judges said was: "It was good". Great! Having done the kata I could relax a bit while watching the others perform. After having had a light lunch it was time for the fights! Like before you have to score as many points as possible during three minutes. Three minutes might not seem like a long time...but trust me, it is. Last time my uncle came to see me fight and today he came again to support me. Along with him came my aunt & her husband, my cousin and his family and a teacher that I had last semester. Since they had come all the way to cheer for me I really wanted to do my best to give them a good show. Nevertheless, to my big disappointment I lost my first fight :( Maybe I was too nervous this time and could not really focus? Anyway, I lost. Waiting for a couple of minutes for my next fight I knew I had to shape up! I managed to focus and won the second fight. My friends had told me that it was enough to win one fight to pass. However, I was not satisfied at all with my fights. Although I won one fight I was not sure if I would pass or not. I thought that I would not. This made me really sad and I could not hold back the tears :( Fortunately I passed! Hence, I was able to get 1kyuu :) What a big relief! The Waseda fighters performed well today! A girl got 3kyuu, 2 guys got shodan and a girl and a guy got 2dan :) Great!

B-day

Cute pineapple dish

070413, Friday

One of my friend's had her birthday today. To celebrate, about 10 people got together and enjoyed dinner at a thai restaurant. The company was nice and the food was spicy and delicious!

Starting school - second semester

070409, Monday

Today school started again. Just like last semester, during the first two weeks we are able to check out different classes to see which ones we want to attend. It feels strange being back at school again. It is almost as though we did not have a break at all. Strange, but I guess one just adapts very fast.

Seeing relatives

070407-070408, Saturday-Sunday

070407
In the evening I went to one of my cousin's. There he, his wife, his sister and her daughter, my aunt and her husband waited for me. Since I had other plans during the day I was the last to arrive. A couple of minutes after my arrival we all went to have dinner together at a restaurant. I had delicious sushi and soba :) I hadn't met my cousin and his wife since their wedding in February so it was great seeing them again. After the dinner I went to spend the night at my aunt's.

070408
Since I was really tired I slept in :) Then for late lunch we went to a restaurant along with my cousin, her husband and their daughter. After this nice time I went back to my place in the evening.

Class registration

070406, Friday

Today we signed up for the classes we want to attend for the new semester. School starts again on Monday and it feels very surreal. I will go back to school with mixed emotions; on one hand it will be great (although tough!) to study again to improve oneself because I feel that I have forgotten a bit during this long break. On the other hand I know that once school starts time will pass by very fast which means that I have to leave Japan soon.....and I DON'T want to leave!!!

Sakura x 2

Cherry trees on both sides of Kandagawa

Beautiful view

070402, Monday

Since my friend and I really enjoyed the hanami yesterday we decided to do it again. This time we went to nearby Kandagawa to enjoy the beautiful view. As yesterday we were lucky with the weather :)

Sakura

A lot of people gathered

The weather was great

Beautiful cherry blossom

Performers

070401, Sunday

Together with a friend I went to Ueno Park to see the cherry blossom. One can easily tell that the hanami (cherry blossom-viewing) is an important event among the Japanese. It was really, really crowded! But I definitely understand the importance of this event, the cherry blossom is indeed truly beautiful!! The weather was also great which made it even better :)

Workout

070323-070329

During a couple of days my kenpou friends and I had workout in a nearby park. Meeting up at 9AM we started with jogging for 20 minutes. That was followed by different kinds of excercises that pretty much trained most muscles of the body ;) Afterwards we ran even more. After 2-3 hours it was over. It was indeed very tough but still very fun to workout together. The 25-26th were off and I had to stay home on the 27th since I got sick. Nevertheless I was able to join them again on the last 2 days. Hrm...no pain, no gain I guess ;)