Hello everyone! I arrived safely and made my way to the hotel; I'm headed to the Dojo very shortly, so I'll post a more detailed update later. For now, enjoy these pictures of the area near where I stayed!
The flight from Japan to the UK had one transfer in Beijing. This little initial flight was small enough that I mostly rested (it also didn't have electricity available for me to get work done). I remember that after the uchideshi experience I'd had, the plane seats did feel luxurious (as one friend said they would), and I did greatly enjoy the in-flight food and the general experiences of the flight. In Beijing, I had several hours of layover, so I spent the time walking around the airport, debating whether to buy a Chinese power converter so I could type/get work done, and getting work done on my phone (there were USB chargers). I also did the usual things--refilled my two water bottles, did some stretches, made sure I was at the right gate, etc. Since I didn't have data in China and the airport WiFi wasn't working, I had to wait until I landed in London to communicate with anyone. The airport was nice, and I did get a kick out of a sign by a fountain (...
Ah exile to the coffee shop again--poor me! Coffee, CHAIRS, and a power supply so I can type--it's a tough life. ;) In reality some parts of uchideshi life are tough here, and some are not--the last few days have been drastically more relaxed than any I've spent here so far, and as I round out three weeks here and am letting my knee recover, that is a welcome reprieve. This morning started like all mornings, with cleaning, but it was drastically later than usual at 8AM instead of 5:30AM. We ended up heading out with soshihan, but due to heavy rain we didn't get to hike a mountain with him. Instead, we road a train a little over an hour into the mountains and went into a traditional onsen (hot springs bath). It's a good thing that I've had several cultural experiences like this already, so being naked with a bunch of other guys (including soshihan) wasn't actually that weird. The hot water was also quite excellent for my bo...
So first good thing to report--my knee is doing quite a bit better overall. I can fully bend it now and use it at close to normal levels. I'd legitimately call it an answer to prayers (thank you to those who have been praying for me). It also may have been helped by Himi-san's ultrasound and electroshock therapy, and I do think it is primarily an overuse injury, not a deeper/more permanent injury (at least that's my hope, but the pretty extreme improvement in so little time would seem to support that; I originally had trouble walking, now I can almost go normally up and down stairs and it's only a few days later). I plan to still take it pretty gently as I haven't tested it under ukemi conditions yet (falling in techniques), and I definitely don't plan to strain it with suwariwaza or seiza yet (techniques done on the knees and kneeling--putting direct pressure on the knees). I now tentatively hope to be taking regular ukemi (falling) though before I leave J...
I want to see a picture of the hotel. Did you rent a "sleeping pod" of some sort?!?
ReplyDeleteP.S. Glad you made it safely. I was wondering. :)