Weps 2

I just realized that I had forgotten to post after Wednesday's class, however it wasn't much more than a repeat of Monday's course work.  Kyle got assigned to me to continue my work on the Chatan Yata staff kata.  I'm pretty sure that's not the way the name is pronounced, but until I get an authoritative response from Sensei I'll go with Noah's best guess with spelling/pronunciation.  

Ironically, Kyle showed up early to work on the kata anyway so we worked on it until MaryAnn Sensei showed up to start the class.  My new word is Say-deit-say.   Again I have no idea as to the spelling or pronunciation, but it's said at the beginning of class to call the students into formation.  Blackbelts not instructing stand on the right of the Sensei perpendicularly.  Instructing ones face us and the students are in a line facing the Sensei.  

After bow in (Go-zi-mash-e-tah) Kyle spent the rest of the class helping me get through the first third of the routine.  In addition to the chatan yata move (the figure eight set) I learned a second routine that requires me to switch hand grips while the staff is over my head.  I saw myself in the mirror and realized it looks like a parody of a martial artist.  I definitely need to be practicing this a thousand more times.  Even 45 minutes of practice sets my shoulder on fire.  I guess I'll be stretching that out over the next month or so.

I told Kyle that I had always wanted to do the Kamas (little sickles) and wanted to know how staff had come up.  He said that it wasn't brought into the syllabus until Brown belt, but he asked politely and Sensei started him out (Kyle is a Orange Belt, but dedicated and earnest).  He figures after awhile he might bring up a second request.  

This got me to thinking when I might make a request for some knowledge, but I'm so new that I think I'm just going to wait off to about a year.  The upcoming celebration (testing) should be neat, assuming I'm even allowed to watch.  I don't even feel comfortable talking about how to address the concept of testing for me.  I'm not sure how I would run a transplant Black belt.  In my own school our teacher would just test them after a few months, but it was for each belt level.  He just didn't want to award a high belt unless the new guy would stay around for a bit.  We never had an hour sheet for tracking like Aikido schools.  It was all done via subjective measure.  I can see where that could be bit insulting; in not respecting previous work even if it is in a similar style, but the new guys never seemed to mind.  They just appeared to be there to practice.  I'm trying to keep the same mindset and let it flow.  Objectively, I only know one kata all the way through.  Less than most of the white belts.  As they say in Mexico, "tranquillo".  Relax.