I think I’m learning Japanese. . .
Edited to add pronunciation for those who want to learn along with me-see below.
I just spent the last 15 minutes looking online for that song. Does anyone else know what I’m talking about? Back during the days of converse sneakers, and Cyndi Lauper-like hair, I could have sworn there was a song that repeated over and over again to some electronic music, "I think I’m learning Japanese. I think I’m learning Japanese; I really think so." Ringing a bell? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
(How funny is it that I finally found the song I was thinking of, and the lyrics are "I think I’m turning Japanese. . ." not "learning Japanese." Just another classic lyric mishap by yours truly. Anyway, I found it! Feel free to click play while you continue reading.)
I wanted to have a little music to go along with this post that tells you that Big I and I are learning Japanese. Last week, we had almost an entire class that was taught in Japanese. How cool is that?!? We did blocks and punches and learned the correct names for them as we did them. We spent much of the class doing moving drills and repeating "gedan barai" for downward block as we moved around the dojo (I’d tell you the names for the other blocks/punches but I can’t spell them to save my life). It was a lot of fun.
In addition to that, we have a Japanese woman coming to teach Japanese lessons to anyone in the dojo who is interested in learning. The lessons started today. Big I and I learned some basic greetings and pronunciation, and had a blast. Our Japanese teacher is named Chia (I’m fairly certain that is NOT how you spell her name, but that’s what it sounds like. Chia, as in "Chia Pet"). She does not, however, look like a chia pet. She’s a bubbly, pretty, extremely nice person and I think it’s going to be really cool to learn from her.
One of the instructors at our school has been learning from her for a while now. It’s quite obvious from the conversations the two of them have in Japanese that left Big I and I sort of staring in awe. During this particular instructors’ classes, we don’t start over at "ichi" (one) once we get up to ten. We continue counting correctly in Japanese as high as we need to go. It’s quite amazing to listen to the kids in the dojo who know how to count better than some of the adults (and by "some of the adults" I mean me). I’m working on it though.
I figured I would make Big I attend one class and then she could decide if she wanted to continue or not. She is SUPER into it! We spent the entire day talking to each other with the few words of Japanese we learned. Our brief conversations went something like this:
Me: Konichiwa (Hi) [koh nee chee wa-remember to emphasis the koh, not the nee as Americans will often do. . . and by Americans, I mean ME.)
Big I: Konichiwa
Me: Geski desu ka? (How are you?) [gehn kee dess ka]
Big I: Geski desu. (I am fine.) [gehn kee dess]
When I tucked Big I into bed tonight I told her "Kombanwa" (Good night) [kon bahn wa-that’s a long "o" in kon. I have no idea how to type that!] . I told her that we’ll say Ohayo Gozaismasu (Good Morning) [ohio go zai ee mahs] tomorrow morning. As I was leaving her room tonight, she said, "I’ll probably be the only kid in my school who can speak Japanese. Is that cool?" She was grinning ear to ear. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Don’t worry though. I won’t start posting in Japanese or anything. . . at least not for a while. 😉
Sayonara [sa yo na ra]!
Valued
I have been at my new dojo for about a month now. I had no idea what to expect in the beginning. I was nervous. Would the people there wonder who I was and treat me differently since I walked in there as a 1st kyu and not a white belt? Would the instructors think I was any good? Would Big I adjust ok? I had a lot of worries and concerns. This is nothing new for me; I worry about everything.
Five weeks after starting, I can now say that the worries were completely unnecessary. I can’t tell you how happy we are to be at our new dojo home. Every single person there: kids, kyu ranks, black belts, and instructors have welcomed us with open arms. We have great training partners, great teachers, and are making some friends too.
Coming in to the new school, I figured I would just lay low, and get my feet wet gradually as I got to know everyone. I wanted to make sure I didn’t step on anyone’s toes or make any assumptions about anything. I’ve been approaching my training with eyes wide open, learning new things, and getting comfortable in my new surroundings.
So when I was asked to teach an intro lesson by myself to a new white belt this week, I was floored. For the past few weeks, I’ve been asked to help on occasion by holding bags while the kids kick and helping out in that respect. That has been flattering all on its own. This was something new.
New students at our dojo get three private lessons where basic blocks, punches, stances and self defense are taught. They are also introduced to general dojo reshiki (courtesies), the meaning behind bowing and the shinza, etc. So, the new student and I went to the downstairs training room and got to work. I really enjoyed it, and couldn’t believe how fast the time flew.
A couple weeks ago, one of my instructors gave some statistics. He said that you learn 10% of what you hear, 20% of what you see, and 90% of what you teach. I used to teach high school English and often had the students learn something and then teach it to the rest of their group, so I’m familiar with those percentages. When you’re teaching someone else basic wrist grab self defense, you have to really think about not only how to do it, but also how to explain it. Explaining it and demonstrating helps you to develop an even deeper understanding of it yourself.
When the lesson was over, the woman I worked with thanked me and said I had done a good job. I knew I was a capable English teacher, but I certainly didn’t know how that would translate into karate. Apparently, teaching skills are transferable between different subject matters. Good to know.
The new student had also done a good job. I certainly remember those first few weeks in karate class when EVERYTHING felt so awkward. The private lesson is nice for that very reason. You only have to feel silly in front of one person.
When class was over, my instructors asked me how it had gone and thanked me for helping out. I figure if they’re asking me to teach someone else, they must think I’m doing o.k.
It feels really nice to be able to help out after being welcomed into my new dojo so warmly; and it feels even better just being asked to help out by my new teachers. Apparently, they must be seeing something in me that "brown belt syndrome" isn’t letting me see in myself.
Happy to Hurt
I am working harder than I have ever worked. I am sore for days after each class I attend, and then pile on more soreness with each subsequent class. I am loving the hard work and the learning. I also have a feeling I’m going to love putting a swimsuit on next year.
We have one of those Tanita body fat scales at home. I personally have hated the thing for all the years we have owned it. You program in that you’re a man of my height, stand on the scale and it says your body fat percentage is about 2%. You program the same height, but now also program in that you’re a woman, and you’re suddenly a third fat. It’s not cool. I know it programs it differently for a man and a woman, but when both sexes have two feet, legs, arms, and one head, then what’s the deal with that?
You’ve seen pictures. I’m a skinny girl, so thin in fact that I was frequently accused of having an eating disorder during high school and even into adulthood. I once told my Mom that I was going to tell my aunt who is always quizzing me about my weight that "Yes, I am a bulimic. . . (wait for her shock and horror to set in). . . I just forget to throw up." I love food entirely too much to avoid it and or barf it. Plus, it’s not healthy and stuff, but this isn’t a public service announcement, so moving right along. . .
The other day as I was getting into the shower, I thought "why not?" and hopped onto that scale. I usually just kick the 5th option and have it give me my weight only. Body weight has proven to be much less depressing than body fat percentage. Anyway, a number flashed back at me that almost made me fall over (I won’t say it because I don’t want to brag or anything). I will just say that it is the lowest body fat percentage that I have EVER recorded on that scale; and I attribute it entirely to the hoards of kicks we’ve been doing (seriously-like at least an hour and a half of kicking tonight), the insane amount of jumping jacks, the push-ups, the crunches and everything that comes before, after, and in between.
I have been trying to soak up everything I can during the past few weeks. I know that in time it will sink in and be absorbed completely. Right now though, I’m just kicking this body back into shape the old fashioned way, with lots of sweat and hard work. Feels good.
It’s the Little Things
I was exhausted from dealing with a sick toddler, so when I got to karate last night I was already dragging. To top it off, last night was probably one of the toughest classes I have ever done. I thought it was just because I’m still getting back into shape, but the consensus after class seemed to be the same: we worked.
We spent a lot of time in stances: seisan, nai hanchi, fudo dachi, cat stance, etc. By the end of the two hours, my legs were feeling like lead. It was the perfect time to start another bout of "brown belt syndrome." There is just so much to know, so much to learn, and so much to prepare.
I never realized how much was involved with getting into a proper nai hanchi stance before. I didn’t realize that you were supposed to drop your weight, reach out with your foot, and then transfer your weight into nai hanchi. I also never thought about curling your hips up under your body to make a proper stance. It makes a huge difference in your stance, just doing that one thing.
So you take just those two minor things and then think about transferring them into every single thing you do. Every kata that you thought you knew you’re now adding to. This is nothing new. As you learn, you’re constantly adapting and adding new things into your kata, your stances, your overall technique. Maybe it’s the six week break, but I’m feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day to work on everything I need to work on.
It doesn’t help that my neck is feeling more sore than usual, which is just so frustrating. I don’t want to hurt; and I don’t want to take anymore time off. Yes, this is a dichotomy that makes perfect sense to me (if you recall my syndromes post). I have appointments coming up with my chiropractor and massage therapist and I’m hoping they can get me fixed up again and fast.
We also worked on self defense last night. It’s not like riding a bicycle. If you don’t do it, you start to lose it. I was fine with wrist grabs and lapel grabs. But when one black belt came up and choked me, I didn’t react, I thought about it instead. Thinking is not good when you have just seconds to get those hands off your neck. I got him off by twisting his one hand off my neck, but I had parts of all these other techniques floating around in there and just didn’t move fast enough.
When I came home last night I could barely life my legs up the stairs, but I took about 15 minutes and worked through some different self defense scenarios with Mr. BBM. I need to make it part of my routine if I want these techniques to just be there inside of me, without thought.
***A long-time reader, commenter, and internet friend Deryck is having a very rough time of it lately. His daughter Persephone has been in the hospital for quite some time and is very sick. If you’re the praying type, please remember Persephone and her family as they could use all the prayers they can get right now.
***Thanks to KarateKim for making a donation to the Humane Society. It’s not too late. If you’d like to help out too, see the left sidebar or click here.
***My other blog, Birth Story, is in desperate need of some new material. If you’re a mother, father, whatever, and you have a birth story to share, please see the submission guidelines on Birth Story and send it on in! I know I have a lot of male readers; and I’d love to have birth stories from the daddy perspective, so please get writing!!!
***Hey ladies, are you in the market for new shoes? See that ad over there on the right hand side from RYKA? Well, they really are giving away shoes, because I registered and won a pair of $70 sneakers! WOO HOO! What are you waiting for? If I can win (the person who wins nothing-evah) then you can definitely win.
Sore
Filed under: Mental Strain for Mama, Tales from the dojo
Wrap your entire house in bubble wrap and foam, and I guarantee you that my toddler will find a way to hurt herself. Lil C was playing in my bedroom while I was blow drying my hair when this happened:
Lil C, meet nightstand knob. Nightstand knob, meet Lil C. Why did she have to hit the knob at that exact spot??? WHY? WHY? WHY?? As if the dive into the nightstand wasn’t bad enough, you know? It took about an hour for it to stop bleeding. It wasn’t a fast bleed, more like a little build up that would drip eventually if not wiped.
I don’t know the last time you tried to dab blood off of a toddler, or put ice on a toddler’s injury but it doesn’t elicit a very cooperative response. Even after finding a Cinderella washcloth and pleading with her to "Please let Cinderella ‘kiss’ your boo-boo" it was pretty much a lost cause.
The good news is that we have no need for purple princess eye shadow when playing dress up, because Lil C has got the natural kind of eye color going for her right now. The gash is a nice burnt red, and the layers of rainbow-like goodness go down from there. Today, we have shades of purple, blue, red, pink, a bit of green and I can almost guarantee that tomorrow will bring with it a bit of buttercup yellow.
We are just one month shy of the big number two birthday, which means that the pictures may have been spared. She’ll look less like an UFC fighter by then, I’m hoping. I guess she just decided that she’s celebrating the NFL kick-off with her own personal flare.
She did this on Thursday. I would have posted about it earlier, but I have been unable to do just about anything without being in pain. My neck is fine. It’s the 100+ jumping jacks, the 50 killer crunches with legs in the air, and the multiple push-ups at the beginning of some classes that are making my life a bit unpleasant right now. It’s all part of the getting back in shape process so I’m dealing; but it’s not really cool when your husband knows he can poke you just about anywhere and you’re going to shriek in pain.
I spent time in karate classes this week working on moving drills, break falls, open hand kata, more weapons kata’s (bo, tekkos, etc.), and some cool self defense vital point striking with both open hand and some small dowels.
Yes, the neck injury girl said break falls. For non-karate-ka’s, practicing break falls means practicing the proper way to fall so that you minimize the potential for injury. Falling in the proper way means going against the natural instinct to break your fall with your hands alone when falling forward, or when falling backwards to go down on your spine, neck or head, all of which could cause serious injury (Trust me-I know). When you fall down on your side, the proper thing to do is keep your body in tight, and make a triangle between your torso, your leg (from hip to knee) and your arm, which slaps the ground a few inches away from your knee. I don’t know who this guy is but he does a pretty good demonstration if you’re interested:
We spent an entire class this week working on break falls, and I was happy to do so. I wasn’t brave enough to start from a standing up position, but I did make it up to my knees and that was plenty of practice for now. We also did karate rolls in class. I sat out for that part because I still need to be careful with my neck.
Although I don’t think that a proper break fall would have helped me when I got injured in July (because I don’t think I even had a chance to exercise proper technique with the way I was thrown), it was definitely a good thing to go over in baby steps, as we did. I did not understand the little nuances of the break fall before. I know I didn’t have the proper angle when it came to my slapping arm. I didn’t know that it mattered where you slapped, and was slapping out perpendicular to my body instead of angled V-like down toward my knee. It was the same with the back break falls. I thought you were supposed to put your arms out in a T position, when a V-position works much better to stop your momentum.
I ended up working out at the dojo for about six hours this week with three different instructors. It feels so good to get back to it, that I can’t seem to get enough right now. My injury break was like being stuck out in the desert. I’ve now found an oasis.
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