Dartboard

How nice to have a busy day. I teach three classes and have a radio broadcast on Fridays so the day usually goes by quickly. I didn’t even have time to study Japanese with Yamanaka-san today. I made up fliers for my children’s English Night and passed them out today. I’m going to start an English Night for the children of the teachers at Nakagoto HS. It’ll be every other Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. for just an hour or so. My first “class” will be next week and I'm hoping it stays low key. I have only planned on bingo for the first night and in the future want to sing songs, practice vocabulary and hang out. It’s going to be at my apartment this week, but I would like to change locations each time. Hatakeyama’s going to host next time—he’s really excited about this idea. The parents are going to come too which would just be too much traffic in my apartment every week.

Daniel downloaded the newest episode of Lost and so we settled down to watch it as soon as I got home. We had a quick dinner before going out to meet Asagami and look at our bikes for our weekend ride to Arikawa. I didn’t even tell you—DT and I are going to bike to Arikawa (about 30 kilometers one way) tomorrow and return on Sunday after the Kujiradon Festival. Catherine has lent us her bike and Asagami has gotten a bike from a friend in Wakamatsu for me to use.

And finally, what you’ve all been waiting for… The results of the karate test!

Well, I actually don’t find out until next week, but Hatakeyama unofficially told me that everyone passed the test! I am a karate green belt! I was a little bit nervous during the test because I haven’t been practicing for as long as any of the others, but Matsuzono-sensei wouldn’t have recommended I take the test unless I was ready. I felt like he was watching me the whole time, but I tried to ignore it and do my best. Daniel told me afterward that I was one of the more solid testers (there were six of us in all). Green is the sixth level out of ten (adults get to skip the first five) and it takes about 2 years to complete if I’m diligent and go to practice twice a week.

Hatakeyama got his black belt tonight too. He had to break one tile with his fist and three tiles with the side of his hand as well as do his kata. Of course, once he started punching tiles, everyone wanted to do it so we got to see a couple brave souls damage their hands. That’s when I learned the meaning of “itai” “It hurts!” Then, they pulled out a cinder block and decided Use-sensei, who is in charge of Tuesday night’s dojo, is going to do a “sofu” (side kick) to break it. Well, he didn’t manage, but I think he could have if it had been on something stable rather than in the hand of four grown men which tend to give more easily.

Use-sensei attempting to cut a cinderblock in half with a side kick. That’s Matsuzono-sensei, the most visible guy holding the cinderblock.

Then, after the kids went home I got to spar for the first time. I was really bad at first because I'm hesitant to kick or punch anyone as hard as I actually can. I really don’t want to hurt anyone. But Daniel—and everyone else for that matter—was cheering me on and telling me “daijobu” “It’s okay!” Finally Daniel said I couldn’t win unless I really kicked at my true strength because I was slowing myself down. I started kicking harder and really focusing on punching or kicking where Matsuzono-sensei wasn’t expecting. It was really exciting once I was brave enough to stop pretending. I never did kick really really hard, but I think once I realize that’s the point of sparring I’m sure I will get better. I just wouldn’t want someone to attack me—even if I’m wearing padding—so I don’t want to attack him either.

Love,
Sierra