Nature - training

Nature, hmmm...

Sensei might have known something when he chose this year's theme.

Nature gives us a hard time recently in Europe - especially in Hungary, as two great rivers divide the country to three equal parts in the Carpathian Basin.

This last winter was a long and hard one as I already wrote, with a huge amount of snow in Europe, especially in the Carpathians. In the past few days we have been fighting against the flood which started with the melting of the snow in the mountains all around Hungary. It came all the way along on the Duna (Danube) river - this is the one that cuts Budapest in half. This last night the depth in Budapest broke a record: 861 cm. The flood has never been so high in the capital. Some night shots about the flood here on Index.hu.

Weather forecast says it will be worse in the next few days, as more rain is to come and melting will be faster in the mountains too, due to the warmer weather. Also the other river (Tisza) will flood in a few days, and I think that will be even worse as it runs along a very flat land. I guess we can forget about wheat export for this year, and prepare for really high prices at the markets.

Training

Yesterday and last week I was training with a beginner - A. made us go through the very basics again, Sanshin and Sangpo no kata, and some other Goho no kata stuff.

The guy has been training here with us for about 2,5 months. He has talent I think, but he is having serious problems with getting into close physical contact with the opponent. Which is a crucial point at taijutsu I think. After a while you (have to) get used to being touched, grabbed at parts or to being in postures which, you know, might be kind of a tabu in civil life. This guy was panicing every time I got close to him, be that ganseki nage or tai hodoki from behind, or anything else, and always tried to pull himself away from me. I was kind of understanding for a while, but after a certain time it became quite problematic, so I decided to go mean and not to let him escape. In the short break I told him to loosen up cos this kind of fear will be a great obstacle for him later on. I explained that after a while being touched at certain spots by others (even by females) will be so natutral for him as natural it is for us now. And that it is really not about having any interest in the other person's body (even if s/he is the opposite gender), but the principles about how the human body works. The entire human body. Chest, armpit, hips, inner and upper parts of the thighs included. He looked a bit embarrassed but he will be over it :-) Cruel me :-D

Otherwise these past trainings went on a normal manner... like a woodcutter's job: just do it, do it, do it, and more, and more, and more, basics, basics, basics, and mistakes, adjusting, sweating, trying, doing, doing... So you know how it goes :-)

Japanese language

It seems that I found 2 teachers who can help me learning Japanese this year. If everything goes well, I can start learning this Friday. I can hardly wait for that. Luckilly I am gifted with learning languages very quickly, so I really hope to take it to a level by August where I can say a few words or understand and answer some basic everyday questions properly, without an interpreter.

So many other things on my mind now, but lack of time and space ... Maybe in the next entry. Enjoy Spring! :-)