Day 41 Tuesday 1 June – 3rd Aikido practice

I started doing my interviews today. The first one went quite alright. We didn’t have a really private place to sit, but I think it wasn’t stopping my interviewee from talking. We talked nearly 50 minutes and this gave me quite a good idea of how things go here. The other interview was with the general manager, but he had to go halfway, because something important came up.

After work I take a bus to the dojo. Stalyn joins me to show me the way. The busses still confuse me and I still don’t understand how the people who live here can make anything out of it.

We skip the meditation at the beginning and start right away with stretching. We stretch our upper bodies a bit more this time, but after that we torture our legs as well. When I get back, I may be able to do a full split… When we practice our rolls, we do a variety of them. Forward rolls while looking backwards, or with the legs together; or backwards while holding one foot.

There seems to be a preference for kokyo nage and irimi nage. Today we did a variety of these again. Including variances that are new to me. For example, holding the head of uke, making a turn and then throw. Or just simply pulling uke forward, turn him around and throw.

Lastly a technique where you step behind uke and grab him by the throat, turning around with one hand in his back, so he has to fall backward at some point, for lack of balance. We end with cracking our backs and the usual meditation and thanking.