Drink Vodka

The Russians arrived a couple of days ago. There are 4 guys, one being their instructor, who is Yondan, he also happens to be 6'4" and 20 stone. One of them speaks quite good English so communication isn't a problem. There was a lot of talk about how rough they would be and how bad the food that they would cook would be. It turned out to be quite inaccurate, never believe the hype. They are not rough and they can cook, although they do it as a collective as I think only a couple of them know what they are doing. They are a little slow on the uptake when it comes to cleaning and have been told off my the instructors at Shibu Dojo for trying to leave before the cleaning has finished. They are all lovely guys, although come across as being a rather abrupt. To me this is a cultural thing so don't take offence, although being in Japan which is such a polite society, where even the language has deeply inherent layers for politeness, it is quite a stark contrast.

The Italian couple left this morning, starting what will become the trend for the rest of my stay. This takes the number of people down to 11, in what is a small, house with one toilet, one shower and a small kitchen area, no chairs mean that meal times can become quite interesting. This communal leaving is also part of the training and awase (blending) becomes a more natural state of being. Everybody having to weave through the crowd of people in order for the cleaning to take place and early in the morning at breakfast time.

Training is continuing to go well. Yesterday with Nemoto Sensei we covered Ikkyo-Yonkyo from Katate dori, and this morning Ikkyo-Yonkyo from Kosa dori. In the evening class we covered katate dori iriminage from lower-middle-upper break outs, and a variation from ki no nagare. Weapons training it seems that we have now moved onto the Jo, today covering the 20 Jo suburi. Hopefully tomorrow we will move onto the 31 Jo kata. My ukemi training is continuing, my ushiro ukemi seems a lot smoother than when I first arrived and my mai ukemi is smoother too. The high fall training is continuing very slowing, but has shown some improvement. I think learning more slowly on a hard surface is maybe better than haphazardly throwing yourself around on a softer surface, as ultimately a "better" fall will be achieved, although the path is a lot more of an arduous one. The mats don't seem to be half as hard as they were when I first arrived. I guess it will only be on return to Perth will I be able to see any progress, as its difficult to notice when training everyday with different people in a different setting.