On the beach (remix)

Konbanwa!
We're back in Tokyo, it seems that you won't be getting rid of me for a little bit longer (IBU gassyuku)!! The Gassyuku with the Keio University was great: During this week our whole life consisted of getting up at 5:30, 6 asageiko (morning training), 7 breakfast, after breakfast a short break where everyone fell into his bed, trying to catch up some sleep, 9 - 12 keiko, 12:45 lunch, break again 14-17 keiko, 17:45 dinner, 19 meeting (japanese), 20:30 a meeting where the meeting before was explained to us, 23 bed. Six days. And the times for keiko were of course fluctuating, depending on what the senseis thought fit (I think the record is one hour plus). The food was delicious, various beautifully arranged dishes, containing everything a maltreated body needs; the downside was that as soon as we heard "Itadakimasu" we had about 10 minutes to inhale it ... gochisousama deshita. But as it is with the mysterious ways of life, painful and exhausting things make you learn a great deal; I bathed in the mystical liquids of kendo (sweat) and soaked everything up like a stinky blue sponge.
Especially because we had rather impressive senseis and senpais: Kato Sensei, trainer of the japanese national team, Sato Sensei, shihan (~rolemodel) of the tokyo area police force, Yoshida Sensei, Mitsui Sensei, Fukumoto Sensei and as for the senpais just one example: a former taisho of the keio university who in his time as taisho has never lost a single match. ... ... ... !!!
Insertion - Great success: during the whole gassyuku I never felt sore! Training pays off! Hurt my foot though. Ittai!
Yesterday was the farewell party...probably the strangest thing I've seen 'till now: a girl comes to our room and explains: "At the party, there is beer on the table, but don't drink it until the Senseis have spoken. Then someone will open the beer and pour you a glass, then we all scream Kanpai and then you can drink. This is the first official part, from 7 to 9. Later there will be more for people who want to drink more. Please dress for a formal occasion and wear socks." So I expected it to be something rather formal. The Senseis spoke - check. Got a glass of beer - check. Kanpai - check. Then it got crazy. Screaming "yaay yaay yayyay, yaay yaay yayyay" they started chugging down the beer, leaving the food untouched. Unfortunately it was not really possible to escape this excess. With a "zicke zacke zicke zacke HOI HOI HOI zicke zacke zicke zacke HOI HOI HOI!" the austrian team joined the battle. Being rather formal and distant during the week, the catalyzing mix of exhausting training, an empty stomach and strong beer made the students transform. It took about twelve minutes and they all sat around us, wanting to drink with us. It was hilarious. Using a system I did not understand they started screaming, encouraging (forcing) random people to drink. This went on for about 45 minutes. So all in all it took about one hour and they were totally wasted (..yes..I was rather wasted too..). Then I gave my buddy (who always did the exercises with me, a guy who is famous for his great kendo since highschool) an AKA T-shirt. With "I am really happy" he started thanking me, the thanking ending in excessive hugging - then dragging me to other people who hugged me too. I definitely got my share of caresses that evening. Great fun. I also got a Keio T-shirt!
After a breakfast where i ate rather less, another five hours of bus driving (the japanese do some sort of comedy during bus driving, handing around a mic and saying obviously funny things), the obligatory and well known we-all-scream-really-loud-when-there-is-a-speedbump we were back in Hiyoshi. And now we're back in the hostel, ofc in the tatami room...

Wow, what a post. Sumimasen!

PS: The place where we were was a ryokan, the owner said we were the first non-japanese people to be there, there was nothing but the volcano, puffing smoke the whole day and fields. The bottom of the world.


That's all folks!