Kendo
In science class yesterday we watched a video, and as with most science videos the woman performing experiments was decked out in riot gear to protect her from relatively harmless chemicals. This was a stark contrast to last week’s school festival, where kids were handed huge logs, shovels, sledgehammers, and pick axes to dig holes in the packed dirt field for their murals with little or no supervision. I don't know if Morgantown High would distribute pickaxes to its students without an armed guard at the ready.
Today's computer class was cancelled because the teacher was not in school. Instead the students were given a lesson about SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. It was very similar to a college level lecture I once attended, and consequently right up my alley.
Today was also my second day of Kendo (martial art with the sword), which I am very much enjoying. I have quite a few blisters and my arms hurt, but I don’t have much trouble keeping up with the kids. What better place than Japan to study swordsmanship?
The Kendo room is above the Judo room and after school it's like an oven. I don't really mind and all the club members are friendly, especially the teacher in charge, Sakaguchi-sensei. His English is excellent; probably the best of the teachers in the school, and since there are only 4 students in the Kendo club I get plenty of one-on-one training.
So far I've learned some techniques for swinging the sword, and have seen some Kendo matches between students, so I have a general idea of how the sport works. You score a point, or “ippon,” by striking the head (men) or the stomach (do), and simultaneously calling out your attack and lunging. So if you lunge, call your attack, and strike on either the head or stomach, you score a point. Easy enough, right? There is also another attack called “kote” which is a strike to the wrist. Kote does not make ippon, but kote usually draws opponents off guard so that a kote-men or kote-do can be executed, which makes ippon. There are both lunging attacks and retreating attacks, but I'm just working on the lunge right now. There is also a pretty extensive set of armor that is worn to protect most of the front part of the body. The sword is made of bamboo and bends rather easily, but still hurts if you get hit in the right place. There are also practice swords (used more for performing kata or simulated combat without a partner), that are not used for fighting and are quite solid and heavy.
Tomorrow I'll go to Shun's school festival, and Sunday I'll go to Okayama alone to see the other two exchange students from Canada and Virginia, as well as the outbound exchange students from last year. On Monday there is no school so Masatoshi will take the whole family to Okayama for some shopping.
Today's computer class was cancelled because the teacher was not in school. Instead the students were given a lesson about SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. It was very similar to a college level lecture I once attended, and consequently right up my alley.
Today was also my second day of Kendo (martial art with the sword), which I am very much enjoying. I have quite a few blisters and my arms hurt, but I don’t have much trouble keeping up with the kids. What better place than Japan to study swordsmanship?
The Kendo room is above the Judo room and after school it's like an oven. I don't really mind and all the club members are friendly, especially the teacher in charge, Sakaguchi-sensei. His English is excellent; probably the best of the teachers in the school, and since there are only 4 students in the Kendo club I get plenty of one-on-one training.
So far I've learned some techniques for swinging the sword, and have seen some Kendo matches between students, so I have a general idea of how the sport works. You score a point, or “ippon,” by striking the head (men) or the stomach (do), and simultaneously calling out your attack and lunging. So if you lunge, call your attack, and strike on either the head or stomach, you score a point. Easy enough, right? There is also another attack called “kote” which is a strike to the wrist. Kote does not make ippon, but kote usually draws opponents off guard so that a kote-men or kote-do can be executed, which makes ippon. There are both lunging attacks and retreating attacks, but I'm just working on the lunge right now. There is also a pretty extensive set of armor that is worn to protect most of the front part of the body. The sword is made of bamboo and bends rather easily, but still hurts if you get hit in the right place. There are also practice swords (used more for performing kata or simulated combat without a partner), that are not used for fighting and are quite solid and heavy.
Tomorrow I'll go to Shun's school festival, and Sunday I'll go to Okayama alone to see the other two exchange students from Canada and Virginia, as well as the outbound exchange students from last year. On Monday there is no school so Masatoshi will take the whole family to Okayama for some shopping.
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