Brunei Inter-School Kendo Workshop *UPDATED AGAIN*

*editeditedit*

Here's my favourite pic from the Kendo workshop! Well, not my favourite, but it's the best pic with me in it!Credits to Kuroi for the pic! It's a pity Lylah and Muafah went home early!

I am so tired right now. It was a fun first day, I got blisters at my feet. And turns out that the Shoshinsha examination is going to be tommorow! Not sunday as we were all told! I am so going to suck if the blisters are still going to be there tommorow! I can't slide that way!

Oh, my parents are home.

THIS SHALL BE UPDATED THE NEXT TIME I HAVE A CHANCE.

*updated*

I just got home from the second day of the workshop. So many things happened. So ;et me start with day 1. BEWARE, LONG POST AHEAD. Because I am going to go in every detail I can remember! >D

Day 1

Firstly, thank you Kaza for giving me a ride, although we were so late. Fortunately, the workshop has not started and we had time to wear our hakama. Then, we were grouped by schools, and the MSians that came were Muiz, Ramzul, Nazmi, Kaza, Muafah, Riku, Lylah, Olivia, Wendy and me. Other schools present were Maktab Duli, Sek. Men. Rimba, PTEB, and PAP Masna. As usual, we did mokusou (meditation) and junbi taisho (warm up). After that, Lim Han gave a little speech about kendo and welcoming us, and then, the best part of all: We were split into groups and had a senpai to teach us about stuff.

Luckily, we got Yazin and he taught us about the etiquettes and discipline and well, more to the soul and mind stuff. He was getting annoyed by the other groups for screaming so much (well, that IS kendo, so what do you expect? XD), he decided to disturb them. What did we do? LOL It was fun. He told us to run around the gym while screaming at the others, blocking their way, distracting them, whatever that can ANNOY them. We only did one round. When we got back to our spot, we continued talking, but the way Yazin talked was just unenthusiastic enough, and then Takeshi-senpai suggested us running again. This time three rounds, shouting Men, Kote, Do each round. It was oh so fun. The others of course got annoyed and some even screamed back. XD wth

After all the running, even Yazin-senpai was dog tired so he gave us a rest and we went to grab cans of 100plus. We were all exhausted, man. But it was fun. After the break, we got Combat as our next senior and we did kiai-ing. I love kiai-ing. But when he went around to check out everyone's kiai, he missed me. I was the last girl. LOL whatever. haha Then he went to tell us somwe stories during the time he went for ikkyu grading in Malaysia, how he shiai-ed with a Japanese sensei who was just so...awesome, despite his age. We were all in awe listening to his story.

Next, more break. And this time, we get to eat. hah. What else was the $5 fee for anyway? XDD I took some more 100plus and Milo. Hey, it was hot. I was dehydrating. Although that term is scientifically incorrect for my current state. It's more like an exagerration. yeah. Whatever. And then, after we switched groups, once again, with Combat-senpai. This time we did Do cut. And me no likey Do cut but still have to do because..well..because.

Then, as far as I can remember, we were rearranged back according to schools, where Lim Han then called out each school up front and demonstrated what we have just learnt on that day. After that, closing mokusou and rei. Then we were done for that day. With a surprising announcement. The Shoshinsha examination was to be held the next day, not Sunday as planned. It just felt-----GAHwhattodowhattodo~

Special thanks to Riku for the ride back home!

...What, my dad was busy. I got no other choice. I still want to go!

Day 2

This time, my dad sent me. And it was so early. XD Took my time to change into my hakama, then Kaza came, then Muafah and lastly Lylah. You know the basic stuff by now, bowing, meditating, warming up. Yeah. And then the crazy training began. First, it was each school versus the senpais, where we had to run through them without getting poked, and this was said to decrease the fear of being hit. And then, GAH. The craziest training ever. They said this one was taken from karate (banarkah, Wan?), which is, skip like a blabla, hop like a rabbit, jump like a frog, fly like a bird(more like running with arms spread wide) and march like a Nazi. XD yeah, more or less that. And that was the end of it. Fuhhh.

After that, we were grouped, but this time without a senpai, it was just us, and we plan by ourselves what we're going to do, with the senpais walking around helping out with anything they can. There were some in our group who had just trained for one or two and even some who just started training when the workshop began! Whoa. So, we did ashi sabaki(footwork), which was very painful to me because I had to slide across the floor while the soles of my feet were aching like hell. I think it was blisters because the pain didn't stop since the first day. But now it's fine, surprisingly. After about 15 mins of ashi sabaki and uchikomi geiko, the senpais gave us a 30 min break before DUMDUMDUM~ the exam begins.

Obviously, I was panicking. After gulping down a can of 100plus in a hurry, I pulled Muafah up and asked her to train with me. I did too much chopping, too little fumikomi and my kiai was shitty. I just couldn't concentrate. I guess the reality just suddenly hit me. BOOM. Just ;\like that. Few weeks ago, I was like, "what the heck, who cares about the test! If I pass, I'll love the world, if I don't, the world still doesn't care!" But then, I don't know, I can't say I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because the test was everything to me, but I guess it was, I don't know, I just need some proof that I can do what I love doing?

30 minutes flew too fast. All of a sudden, the test was beginning. We recited Al-Fatihah led by Shiro and mokusou to calm our minds. It sort of worked. And I was in the first group. My number was C02. I know I don't have to go into details but hey, I don't care. The others in my group were Nazmi, Muafah, Liilah and Wendy. Kaza, Muiz and Ramzul were in the A rank test because they were the captain n vice-captains. For C ranks, we need to know the procedure of junbi taisho, and then haya suburi, joge suburi, men&kote&do&sayumen suburi. We also need to know uchikomi geiko for men cut and kote cut. I'm glad we didn't have to do Do cut. Yeah, so many unfamiliar terms to you guys but I just hope I'll still remember what they mean in 10 years time if this blog still exists.

After that, there were other groups and we had to remain in seiza position, as in we have to sit on our legs, which people would normaly call "duduk antara dua sujud atu bah". And we had to sit that all througout the whole test, which took place around an hour or two. So obviously, Iwas tortured and panicky at the same time. The combination of those two is not a good feeling. When the training and tests finally ended, with the results announced and we had to do the final mokusou, even after I walked arounf a bit before that, when i went back to Seiza position, it still ached.

And the results? Here they are, along with congratulations!

Congarts to Muiz, Ramzul and Kaza for passing the A rank test!

Congrats to Nazmi, Muafah and Riku for doublegrading to B rank!

Congrats to Olivia, Wendy and myself XD for passing the C rank test!

Congrats to Lylah for passing the C rank re-test! You made it through!

But you know what, looking at it again, I'm not that happy anymore for gettng a C. Call me ungrateful but seeing the others got As and Bs just felt...hah. Well, the three who got A was because they applied for it. You see, each test has different qualifications. The B rankers were doublegraded because they did well in the C rank test. Hence, I just felt, I don;t know, left out when they were busy cheering, since I don't have anyone to cheer with for passing my testbecaue I'm not that close to Oli and Wendy and Lylah was busy training for the retest and Kaza was preparing for the A rank test. I can't just say, "Yay! I passed the C-rank test!" When others were screaming. "I got doublegraded to B!" That will just make me feel GAH. Like,it's too useless to celebrate because others were better. Same goes with school tests. Rarely show or talk about my marks because I know others did better, and I prefer to just celebrate their victory rather than mine, even if it had to be fake. If some marks are worse than mine, I also don't talk about my marks just to not make them feel down like I do. *shrug*

Man, now I feel so---------GAH.

On the brightside, more kendo workshop tommorow and that will be the last. Wait, that;s not a bright side. I want more. Sigh. I'm gonna miss it after all this ends. No worries, I'm going to be happy as usual tommorow.

TO BE UPDATED FOR THE THIRD DAY.

Day 3

Yes, the very, very last day of the workshop. Only two days ago, most of the other kendokas were unfamiliar to me, but now I know more names than I can remember, but I'll still try to. Ganbarimasu!

Anyway, on to today's events, The workshop started later than usual, around 9.30 if I'm not mistaken. Today, I still cannot seiza for even a few minutes, or walk normally for that matter. That was why I couldn't really calm down during the mokusou. After the junbi taisho, we were made into a big, big circle and as usual, divided into five groups, and once again, Combat was our senpai. He first taught us how to do haya suburi correctly. And here, I would like to note that he praised my haya suburi. Hehehe, I don't normally get praised, you know, especially in kendo! Haha But then, he was told to teach us ipponme kata. And this time, he taught us in detail. The whole session was for ippon me kata while other groups were already doing nihonme kata. Oh well, at least my ipponme kata looks nicer now. Doomo arigato gozaimashita, senpai!

And then, break time. As usual, tuna sandwich and 100 plus and milo is the menu. And in the mean time, I helped Olivia and Lylah to improve their kata as well as mine. It was quite tiring doing the kata, even though we didn't do any hitting. haha and it was indeed fun!

After break time, we swtiched groups again, and this time, after seeing who our senpai was, Muafah and me were like, "Alamak! Not him!" Guess who our senpai was? Yes. Ali. Sigh. And we were taught to do three wazas. Firstly, kaishi waza. It's where we defend by blocking the cut with our shinai and attacking them in return. The waza was branched into...I don't remember how many. Men kaishi men, kote kaishi men, kote kaishi kote, men kaishi do. I wonder if there was a men kaishi kote. It was effin difficult and I keep on forgetting the steps, especially men kaishi do. And they said that was actually advanced technique and yet they taught it to us. Shrug. After that, harai waza. Now this one is a little bit easier. There's harai men and harai do. I'm glad there's no harai do, God knows how much I'll have to repeat doing that. Here, we hit the opponent's shinai hard enough to make it move to the side so that we can attack. Really easier than kaishi waza. After, we have maki waza. As in, we have to turn the opponent's shinai until it's out of the way and attack them. I got confused at this stage. Boohoo. I -giggled- endlessly at my first attempt as Nadzif-senpai repeatedly showed me the correct way. In the end, he gave up, just gave way, and all I could kiai was, "koh...teeeh.." while holding back my laughter as he stifled his. IT WAS HARD, I TELL YOUUUUU. Then the target switches to Ali again, and somehow, most of the time I did my cuts, all he says is, "Ah..sou da.." Well, what I mostly hear from animes is, "Sou da" means, "I see." So I asked Eddie/Idi (I'm steal confused about his name -_-) he said that what he meant was "Good." WTFFFF I'm confused. And also, he seems to have this very evil smile everytime I hit him. I don't know why...


Anyway, we had a break, and after having 100plus again, well, there I was, with Muafah, doing the wazas again and again. Not working because she's not wearing a bogu. Shucks. Then, Naif substituted for awhile and help us with Kaishi waza, this time with bogu, turns out it was much more difficult because we have to run through him. GAH. HAH.


Now, skipping all the training, we've finally reached the end of the workshop (NOOOOOOOO), and there Lim Han was, asking all of us to sit in a circle, as close as possible. Why? It's time for introductions! Yes, finally, after three days, we finally get to introduce ourselves! XDD With a mic! GUHUHUHU. Lim Han had funny comments for each and every one of us. And he laughed the most. It was just....amusing. XD

After that, all of us who were still there to pictures with Kuroi's camera. Everyone was there. Pity that one of the pics had my face covered. Haha. And pity that Muafah and Lylah went home early and didn't get the chance to take photos. Haha


I am just sad that the workshop ended so fast. Since this is the school hols, I have nothing else planned. Before the workshop started, all I did was staying up til 8pm and waking up at 1 pm the next day(NOT KIDDING). Now, after the workshop ended, all I want to do is kendo, bcoming almost sleepless every night reminiscing the memories of that workshop. Now, all I can do is forcing my sister to be the dummy. For now, I'm just going to continue joining the weekly training. I am even willing to walk there. The sport complex is just a few metres away, I suppose. Besides, all this to fill in my time and just for me to have fun. Wouldn't want my cuts to get rusty by the time the school re-opens.


And that, my friends, is the end of my so-called kendo workshop report. If this was the English exam, my marks are gone 10 times over. And I thank you all for taking your time to read this. For a more summarised version, just go visit their website then. XD