Kendo Training, Tapas and Hot Chocolate

So after I found my friend who was graduating yesterday after class (it wasn't easy as she wasn't answering her phone, she's not very big, and there were lots of other people wearing the same clothes...), I did some computer work before heading down to kendo training.

Our dojo's instructor came to the training session, which is unusual as he usually works during our normal weekday training sessions. He spent a lot of time with the beginners, most of the session actually, individually pinpointing weaknesses in our basic cut, before we moved onto footwork for kihon cuts (a bit more advanced, I guess). I've started keeping a diary with notes to myself about my kendo and have been reminding myself in training to remember certain things in each session. Certainly in the past few months and definitely in the last few sessions, I have felt improvements, but in all martial arts, there is always more to work on.

After training I tried on someone else's Do (equivalent of a breastplate) for measurements after some confusion about my order.

I promised my friend that I'd join her for dinner to celebrate her graduation and headed to the Spanish place in Glebe. I was early and only one other person (the other 'host') had arrived. It turned out that I'd probably met her before at another friend's 21st a couple of years back as that friend and a few others I knew turned up too. Totally unexpected. I hadn't seen them for a while, since before they'd graduated, so that was really cool as I didn't really expect to know anyone at the dinner. After everyone had shown up we finally got to ordering the food. There was a bit of confusion but we ended up getting tapas. And sangria.

The food was really good, the ingredients were fresh - we had a bit of seafood/shellfish, so you could tell. Kind of nostalgic seeing as I was only in Spain a few months ago. Towards the end of the meal, there was a Spanish dancing performance. There was one male and two female dancers and each had a different sort of style. They danced together and also individually. One of the female dancers was really fun to watch and performance-wise was kind of flirty. The other female dancer was a lot more intense in her style. At the end, they each got a diner to dance with them, one of which was one of my friends. It was very interesting and I love the music. Unfortunately as I was seated on the opposite side of the table, I couldn't see their footwork, which if you know anything about Spanish dance you'd understand, sounded good and complex.

We had a bit of time sorting out the bill, but it all worked itself out in the end. The place is probably one of the middle to high-end range for Spanish in Sydney. There was the usual photo shoot outside (it had stopped pouring for a bit by then), before the others headed off. I went with the friend I'd originally organised to meet to get hot chocolate at San Churro which was pretty much just across the street. It was pretty busy. It was getting late then, so I got a take away and we went to catch the bus to the train station. From previous experience, San Churro's hot chocolate is really hot so I waited until about 15-20 minutes after I got the drink before I actually drank it. It was as thick and chocolately as I remembered, if a little sweeter than I now prefer. I think my aversion for sweet things has increased.

I got home a bit before twelve and was really tired. I was still tired when I woke up this morning, but I decided to go to kendo training anyway while I wasn't yet stressed by too many pressing things to do. That will come all too soon. I got there a bit early and was puzzled to find no one there. Was training on? Where was everyone?

Well thankfully, people started to arrive about 15 minutes before the start and they were also puzzled at the lack of people. We started and people trickled in. So many people arrived late. Our instructor made everyone review our basics as warmup I guess and there are so many things I found that I need to think about. The rest of the session, we were doing a lot of fumikomi and kihon cuts. My concentration lagged towards the end.

After training the others went to play soccer and I left to go home. I don't know how much they played, cos it started to rain again a bit after I left. Can't say I really enjoy soccer much because of my bad knee, but I have a few friends who really enjoy it. One of which won her competition last year. I went to see the match and it was fun to cheer for her. I can cheer for other people's competitions and want them to win, but I can't do for myself. Weird.

Anyway, I ate lunch then fell asleep on the train. After I got home, I oiled and retied my shinai. Then I had a nap. Everyone should catch some sleep when possible. It can't hurt.