While home, I thought to attend 1-2 classes at the dojo. Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a clinic and grading with Master Okazaki. Delighted, I expected only to participate in the clinics, as I haven't trained at an actual dojo since leaving and my short visit in Spetember. After the clinic, Sensei Tony comes up and asks if i'll be grading. Well no, I was just here for training. He inists and goes off to get my records. EEEEEK!! A frantic look to my freind Rae for 3 seconds and we're downstairs rapidly going through Teki Shodan. Before my nerves can set in I've gone through the grading, amazed at how much sparing and japanese instructions you just instictivly remember. Everyone assured me I looked great, and sure enough I am now a brown belt. Now my purple belt, worn twice as much in three days than I had ever worn it before, belongs with the rest of my belts, and I must go find a brown one. :) I will continue to train at home, although it will take a lot of actual serious training to ever get near black, and I look forward to the frist time I get to wear my brown belt, of course in a dojo. here comes practicing Basai Dai. O.o
Side note: I was a green belt untill I left for Vancouver. The last class before the grading I was staying for, I re-sprained my knee and couldn't participate. I was shocked when I attended my last class after grading and (in t-shirt and jeans) was raised from 6th kyu to 4th kyu, 2nd purple. In tears, of course and in front of the entire brown-black class. I will nevere forget that very humbling moment.
I look forward to hearing how all my friends do in the Provincials on May 5th and wish them all the best luck, even though they don't need it. ;) I'm also ragingly jealous of all who get to go to mastercamp and hope they all do very well and enjoy such a great experience.
Please visit the Halifax JKA website:
http://nsjka.ca/