Kendou

Hi!

Today we had a tea party to meet our Japanese pen pals. Sadly, none of mine could make it :( But, I did make a lot of new friends among the Japanese students. They were all really nice. :)
Then...
Wow.
Kendou was SO fun. We got to wear the uniform (yay hakama!). Mine was all white and looked very cool. Our sempais (upper classmen) taught us the proper etiquette on bowing and sitting and getting up. Then they taught us some of the basic strikes:
1) men - an attack on the head,
2) kode - an attack on the wrist,
3) dou - an attack on the stomach,
and 4) tsuki - an attack to the throat.
They also taught us the proper way to walk in kendou - one foot drags and the right foot is always in front of the left. Everyone was really, really welcoming. I met a girl named Satomi who was ridiculously nice and had practiced judo for 14 years! (She's my age!!!) Wow.

The boys and I (I was the only ryuugakusei [foreign student] girl who joined kendou) went back home on the bus and then went out to an okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza kind of thing) place. I had pork on top of yummy soba (buck wheat noodles) with bean sprouts. Mmmmm. We all had some sake too, to complete our Japanese culture-filled day. Then we all grabbed some conbini (convenience store) ice cream and headed home.

It was a wonderful day!

Yay kendou!

I'll be practicing at least three times a week and I can't wait to get started!

I love and miss you all!

Love,
Christy