Japan - arrival day
Okay, back, after a semi-long break.
So you wanna hear something about my trip to Japan? Do you really want to? Okay, here it is.
I will write about it in more parts to keep you interested and also to avoid endless entries on this blog page.
All in all, I can say that it's been a kind of "wake-up trip" for me; it opened my eyes on many ways, mostly training-wise.
Aug 3.
After packing up everything in the morning and having a good breakfast I left for the airport by walk (I live nearby).
I was lucky to arrive early enough to be the 3rd person in the check-in queue, which is really an issue if you have to take two flights in 24 hours, and the second one is a 11 hours long flight. I told to the lady at the check-in desk to gimme a seat next to a corridor and as far from the window as possible. Also, no wings please. So I had to swallow the thoughts which came to my mind when after boarding I realized that I am sitting just next to a window, and if I want to stand up a bit, I have to crawl over two people. Anyway, I told my neighbours (a Jap guy and a British girl) to be prepared for that I'll be moving a lot. They did not have any objection against it (I am wondering if I was way too explicit :-) )
The flight to Amsterdam was veeery shaky due to the bad weather above all Europe - they even stopped servicing. Arriving to Amsterdam "Shithole" I realized that I had only 10 minutes to get over to the other end of the airport for checking in for the plane to Tokyo, so I was running like a madman. Luckilly there were too many passengers waiting there so I arrived in time.
That flight was very good, although I almost tore up the tapestry from the chair - I was so nervous. I won't ever be able to get used to flying. I flew KLM, it was very convenient (even with my wrong seat), time went by with watching movies, playing a bit on the built-in computer and fighting for a little sleep, which I could not make despite taking some tranquilizers.
Aug 4.
Arrived to Narita in the morning, a few minutes before the due time. That airport looked completely abandoned - not a single spirit floating around, except for us. At the customs section the lady asked for my letter of invitation. I was kind of surprised and told her I did not have any - I came for Budo training. She nodded and had let me go. (Did she get scared?)
After leaving the airport I tried to find the train line I was supposed to take to Abiko. Found it pretty easily and took the trains.
I arrived to Abiko around 1 pm and called S. to ask whether or not I should wait for his lift. When I heard his sleepy voice I thought "sh...t, I woke him up again - he'll kill me". I could not really hear what he was trying to say because of the noise at the railway station, so I told him I go and find the guesthouse alone. Probably he felt relieved and after telling me to call him in case I got lost, he passed out again :-)
Thanks to the great itinerary photos and descriptions, I found the guesthouse very easily, in about 15 minutes. I knocked on the door and I was allowed in by a guy who called himself James. He seemed to be a bit lost as he saw me there (probably I was too straightforward again?) but after a quick introduction I threw out everything from my backpack and prepared my training gear necessary for the evening Hombu training. Meanwhile I have learnt that there's another guy here from Israel, SH, in the other room with the airconditioner. However no sign of that guy yet.
I was thinking about going upstairs to let S. know that I am here and safe and alive, but I dared not to risk waking him up again - I thought if he was really so much concerned about my safety he would come down and check if I was here (ah, men - I am still living in a dreamland :-) )
So I decided to quickly take over the top section of the bunk bed in James' room and passed out for an hour or two.
James was kind enough to wake me up before leaving for the dojo. I just only started to come to life again when S. entered the apartment. I dunno which one of us were more surprised. He rebuked me for not calling him and he was complaining about waking up in every hour worrying where on earth I might be. Hmmm... I am not lucky with this guy. No matter how hard I try to avoid - I keep being the cause of his insomnia :-D (meow ;-)))))) ) hehe
Anyway, meanwhile I met SH too, but only for a few minutes as he did not join us that evening, so James, S and me left for Hombu at last.
The trip to there was about one hour with switching trains, which was still a bit too much for my newly-arrived woman-brain to remember, so I was quite confident that James would later on remember the way to get to Hombu.
After arriving to Hombu and entering the dojo I had to realize that there were way more foreigners there than I previously expected - there were about 70 people in that small room. I still dunno how we could fit in.
I quickly moved to a small changing room and I had to be very quick cos Soke was supposed to change there as soon as he'd arrive.
When I finished and enetered the mat area I was stopped by some unknown people who asked me if I was E. I was a bit worried about how the hell they know me while I dunno who they were. Well, forums can make you really popular :-). I went for meeting JG who looked a bit surprised when I told him who I was. I also met some other Kutaki creatures and introduced myself to DH too.
Then Soke arrived and training started. Since there were many of us there that night, we had to work on a very small place. Training itself was very relaxed and light, and full of fun. Soke was in a great mood I think. I was surprised to see how lightly and naturally we were supposed to do the techniques. Something I have really been waiting for, for long long times already, but never had the chance to practice this way. I enjoyed every single minute of the training.
In half-time there was a break and Soke started painting calligraphies. I was just watching - it was beautiful. The way he played with the brush - it was dancing in his hands. A real virtuoso. This is really an art - now I saw it. I was a bit sorry that I did not have a paper to ask for some nice writing. In that moment someone tapped my shoulder. It was Sh. sensei and told me to go and ask for a calligraphy. I told him that unfortunately I had no paper. Then he rushed into the stockroom, appeared again and put a HUGE white paper in my hands and said "go".
I could not say a word from the sudden surprise just smiled like a pumpkin - I thanked and went to Soke to ask for a calligraphy for my old dojo in my hometown.
After the break was over all the brushes, papaers and paints disappeared from the tatami and we continued training. The end of the training was approaching so Soke asked if anyone wanted to take the "Big Swing". Some guys (2 or 3) wanted so we all sat down and watched them doing it. I think they passed or maybe one of them failed.
After this training was over, we changed back to normal clothes and left.
I don't have too many memories about what happened afterwards but I guess we did not go out as we were supposed to go to attend S's trainnig next morning and Sh. sensei's afterwards.
So if my memory serves well we went back to the guesthouse and passed out. At least I did :-)
Later more... stay tuned ;-)
So you wanna hear something about my trip to Japan? Do you really want to? Okay, here it is.
I will write about it in more parts to keep you interested and also to avoid endless entries on this blog page.
All in all, I can say that it's been a kind of "wake-up trip" for me; it opened my eyes on many ways, mostly training-wise.
Aug 3.
After packing up everything in the morning and having a good breakfast I left for the airport by walk (I live nearby).
I was lucky to arrive early enough to be the 3rd person in the check-in queue, which is really an issue if you have to take two flights in 24 hours, and the second one is a 11 hours long flight. I told to the lady at the check-in desk to gimme a seat next to a corridor and as far from the window as possible. Also, no wings please. So I had to swallow the thoughts which came to my mind when after boarding I realized that I am sitting just next to a window, and if I want to stand up a bit, I have to crawl over two people. Anyway, I told my neighbours (a Jap guy and a British girl) to be prepared for that I'll be moving a lot. They did not have any objection against it (I am wondering if I was way too explicit :-) )
The flight to Amsterdam was veeery shaky due to the bad weather above all Europe - they even stopped servicing. Arriving to Amsterdam "Shithole" I realized that I had only 10 minutes to get over to the other end of the airport for checking in for the plane to Tokyo, so I was running like a madman. Luckilly there were too many passengers waiting there so I arrived in time.
That flight was very good, although I almost tore up the tapestry from the chair - I was so nervous. I won't ever be able to get used to flying. I flew KLM, it was very convenient (even with my wrong seat), time went by with watching movies, playing a bit on the built-in computer and fighting for a little sleep, which I could not make despite taking some tranquilizers.
Aug 4.
Arrived to Narita in the morning, a few minutes before the due time. That airport looked completely abandoned - not a single spirit floating around, except for us. At the customs section the lady asked for my letter of invitation. I was kind of surprised and told her I did not have any - I came for Budo training. She nodded and had let me go. (Did she get scared?)
After leaving the airport I tried to find the train line I was supposed to take to Abiko. Found it pretty easily and took the trains.
I arrived to Abiko around 1 pm and called S. to ask whether or not I should wait for his lift. When I heard his sleepy voice I thought "sh...t, I woke him up again - he'll kill me". I could not really hear what he was trying to say because of the noise at the railway station, so I told him I go and find the guesthouse alone. Probably he felt relieved and after telling me to call him in case I got lost, he passed out again :-)
Thanks to the great itinerary photos and descriptions, I found the guesthouse very easily, in about 15 minutes. I knocked on the door and I was allowed in by a guy who called himself James. He seemed to be a bit lost as he saw me there (probably I was too straightforward again?) but after a quick introduction I threw out everything from my backpack and prepared my training gear necessary for the evening Hombu training. Meanwhile I have learnt that there's another guy here from Israel, SH, in the other room with the airconditioner. However no sign of that guy yet.
I was thinking about going upstairs to let S. know that I am here and safe and alive, but I dared not to risk waking him up again - I thought if he was really so much concerned about my safety he would come down and check if I was here (ah, men - I am still living in a dreamland :-) )
So I decided to quickly take over the top section of the bunk bed in James' room and passed out for an hour or two.
James was kind enough to wake me up before leaving for the dojo. I just only started to come to life again when S. entered the apartment. I dunno which one of us were more surprised. He rebuked me for not calling him and he was complaining about waking up in every hour worrying where on earth I might be. Hmmm... I am not lucky with this guy. No matter how hard I try to avoid - I keep being the cause of his insomnia :-D (meow ;-)))))) ) hehe
Anyway, meanwhile I met SH too, but only for a few minutes as he did not join us that evening, so James, S and me left for Hombu at last.
The trip to there was about one hour with switching trains, which was still a bit too much for my newly-arrived woman-brain to remember, so I was quite confident that James would later on remember the way to get to Hombu.
After arriving to Hombu and entering the dojo I had to realize that there were way more foreigners there than I previously expected - there were about 70 people in that small room. I still dunno how we could fit in.
I quickly moved to a small changing room and I had to be very quick cos Soke was supposed to change there as soon as he'd arrive.
When I finished and enetered the mat area I was stopped by some unknown people who asked me if I was E. I was a bit worried about how the hell they know me while I dunno who they were. Well, forums can make you really popular :-). I went for meeting JG who looked a bit surprised when I told him who I was. I also met some other Kutaki creatures and introduced myself to DH too.
Then Soke arrived and training started. Since there were many of us there that night, we had to work on a very small place. Training itself was very relaxed and light, and full of fun. Soke was in a great mood I think. I was surprised to see how lightly and naturally we were supposed to do the techniques. Something I have really been waiting for, for long long times already, but never had the chance to practice this way. I enjoyed every single minute of the training.
In half-time there was a break and Soke started painting calligraphies. I was just watching - it was beautiful. The way he played with the brush - it was dancing in his hands. A real virtuoso. This is really an art - now I saw it. I was a bit sorry that I did not have a paper to ask for some nice writing. In that moment someone tapped my shoulder. It was Sh. sensei and told me to go and ask for a calligraphy. I told him that unfortunately I had no paper. Then he rushed into the stockroom, appeared again and put a HUGE white paper in my hands and said "go".
I could not say a word from the sudden surprise just smiled like a pumpkin - I thanked and went to Soke to ask for a calligraphy for my old dojo in my hometown.
After the break was over all the brushes, papaers and paints disappeared from the tatami and we continued training. The end of the training was approaching so Soke asked if anyone wanted to take the "Big Swing". Some guys (2 or 3) wanted so we all sat down and watched them doing it. I think they passed or maybe one of them failed.
After this training was over, we changed back to normal clothes and left.
I don't have too many memories about what happened afterwards but I guess we did not go out as we were supposed to go to attend S's trainnig next morning and Sh. sensei's afterwards.
So if my memory serves well we went back to the guesthouse and passed out. At least I did :-)
Later more... stay tuned ;-)
3 comments:
Cool stuff. 70 people isnt bad! To me thats empty. When I went there was 164 people! We all managed to train. I think that's why local buyu stay away from DKMS. :)
164?? That's something!
I had the feeling that I can't drop down even a hairpin, it was so crowded. But I see that I still have no reason to complain :-)
Anyhow, I just keep myself away from DKMS for the same reason :-)
I rather sweat during the summer than fighting people for more space ont he tatami :-)
That James guy sounds cool.
Post a Comment