Training.... and also a surprise party for my birthday. 14.03.09

That was the best training session I had in my entire life. Really. Two special guests came to train with us, and they were Aimi and Nurlin, both 2nd Dan. In addition to that, Abul also came; so that makes 4 2nd dans in one training session! I have never experienced this before.

On the left is Nurlin and the right is Aimi.

Oh yes, they are GOOD with a capital G. I'll upload the video I took about Aimi's match against Hakim. Vicious.

We did the usual cuts again and again and again. Well, practice makes perfect. Then we practiced in pairs, hitting and receiving strikes. We alternated partners, so we had a chance to practice with everyone else, and not just one person. I remember gawking at the speed and synchronization of Aimi and Nurlin's haya-suburi. Eye candy for me. Davis however, warned me not to try to copy their speed. Must always do at your own speed, and the speed will develop as you practice. Must always learn to walk first before u run.

Then came the best part. Bogu prac! I put on my tenegui the same time as Nurlin did, but once I finished wrapping it around my head, she had already finished tying the men....

Okay. Since my brand new bogu is expected to arrive next week, God's willing, this would be the last week I train with the school's crappy bogu. Bogu training starts. First we did three sets of continuous haya-suburi, sayu-men style, while going forwards and backwards. I still remember it was then that my super-huge blister on my foot burst, and leaked blood. But we had only started wearing the bogu for half a minute, so no time for complaining now.

Ouch.

Aimi taught me how to do taiatari-hiki-men. When in tsubazerai position, keep applying pressure on the opponent. When ready to strike, push the opponent UP. He or she will react instinctively by lowering shinai, giving you the oppurtunity to strike men. I need more practice for this one.

Next up was feinting. I'd have to say the four 2nd Dans are really good at feinting. I'd swear that they were gonna attack men, theen suddenly change to do. Aih. How they do that also I don't understand.

Foot stinging, I braced myself for the worst; whoever scores a point first ends the bout. I went up against Hakim and Aimi twice, and Nurlin once. I just lasted under a minute. No sweat. Must improve more.

Candid photo. Dunno why its senget.

Anyways, after training was over, Aimi went up against Hakim for a round of nippon shobu. Aimi scored two ippon, one nice gyakudo and the other was a bit hard to see cos it was a tad too fast. Seeing those two in action cemented my resolve to be better, and faster, and stronger than ever. Makes me love the world of Kendo even more.

Oh yeah and Michelle threw a surprise for me. She asked Foo Yen to give me something. It was a heart-shaped note telling me to go to the concourse. I limped to the concourse. There, some other girl gave me ANOTHER note. This time to go to the Form 3 corridor. Limped there again. Then met Peng Mun. Another note asking me to find Kevin and Hema at the guard house. Found Kevin and Hema, must go to canteen, find Ming Key. Found Ming Key, FINALLY must go to the Form 6 block. Arrived there, everyone from the previous stations jumped out and sang Happy Birthday!

What a nice surprise. Thanks a lot, love you......

So! Recap:

TRAIN HARDER AND WORK ON CONFIDENCE!!! Marcus says I don't have enough confidence. It's quite true really.

Aishite iru!!!!