Gasshuku report, for naljwrimo2006

[tarigwaemir]

Lowell House, on the Feast of St. Polycarp

Gasshuku is over. I feel as if I've been living in an alternate dimension and haven't yet returned to normal life. For those of you who are relatively new to my friends list, Gasshuku is an annual event where students from the Keio University kendo team visit us for a week in February, during their spring break. They practice with us everyday, and in return, we show them around Boston and Cambridge, stuff them with American food, and keep them entertained (usually by supplying large amounts of alcohol). This year, we had 23 Keio students visiting (19 freshmen and 4 seniors), which is more than twice the number we had last year. Our own club numbers about 20-25 (our roster has 34 people, but of course not all of those are regular members), which meant that all our events had to accommodate a crowd of nearly 50 people. Now even without considering the size of the group, Gasshuku is already an utterly overwhelming week. The daily practices are mandatory (we expect people to skip classes if necessary so they can attend practice, unless the circumstances are extraordinary), and about half the social events are equally mandatory, particularly if you are an officer. (Or rather, in my case, if you are a former officer, senior member, and current co-captain of the club.) But given the sheer number of people this year, the week proved to be more overwhelming than usual. Luckily, I no longer had the remotest involvement with the organizational part of the process, other than drawing up the practice menus and making sure everyone got to practice on time (although that in itself proved to be more work than we expected).

I've written about Gasshuku every year since I joined the club, so it's become a bit of a tradition on my LJ. (If you're interested, 2005 entries are here, here, and here, and 2004 entries are here and here.) This year shan't be an exception. It's true that ladydaera's already written a daily account of this past week already, but since our friends lists barely overlap, I thought it wouldn't be too redundant to write my own super-long entry, which could also nicely double as my entry for naljwrimo2006. I'm also stealing Daera's daily numbering format since it is nice and organized. ^_^ Oh, and in case you didn't know, Daera is my fellow co-captain as well as blockmate who lives across the hall from me. I usually call her by her online name to distinguish her from her roommate, schwimmerin, but for the rest of this post I'll just call her Jenny because it's too tiring to correct myself constantly. (Unless you mind, ladydaera?) Anyway, Jenny and I have been in the kendo club together since freshman year, and due to recruiting irregularities, we are currently the two most senior members of the club, which is why we're co-captains this year.

Day 0

One of the peculiarities about this year's Gasshuku was that it was a week earlier than usual. In previous years, it had been scheduled around President's Day weekend, but this year Joe (the new president) and Kevin (the Gasshuku manager) decided to hold it earlier before people got overwhelmed by coursework. On the whole, I think people liked the arrangement, and academically-speaking, I did too. On the other hand, it meant that we had only three practices (four if you count the one over intersession although I wasn't around for that) to get us back into the swing of things before Gasshuku started. Since I hadn't kept in shape for at least a month and a half since the last practice before Christmas break, I had this sense of incipient doom whenever I thought of Gasshuku. It didn't help that by Wednesday (i.e. Day 0) Jenny and I still had absolutely no clue what the practice menu was going to be. We did agree on the theme to be footwork (ashi-sabaki in Japanese), mostly because that was the major weakness that people had been pointing out in the freshmen and sophomores. Also because I felt that I personally needed to work on my fumikomi this year before the Shoryuhai, although that isn't news since I've been needing to work on my fumikomi ever since I started kendo.

We hadn't had much of a chance to discuss practices before Gasshuku was practically upon us. I mean, the kendo club believes that Jenny and I are indistinguishable or quite possibly holograms of the same person, but in fact we barely do get to see each other outside of kendo. One of the things I like about Gasshuku is that Jenny and I actually get a chance to talk to each other for once. So although we did toss a few ideas around, we pretty much had no idea how to structure the Gasshuku practices until Kofi took us out to dinner at Uno's on Wednesday night to discuss them. (Kofi, by the way, was senior captain when we were freshmen and our favorite of the alumni. He spent all of last year in teaching English in Japan, but he came back to Cambridge last month.) Anyway, he sat us down, helped us brainstorm ideas, and got us to set up a progression of practice menus, which was a lifesaver. Thank goodness for Kofi.

Anyway, after that we set out for the airport at 8:30, since we heard that their flight was scheduled to arrive at about 10:30, but to our surprise they had arrived early and were already waiting with their luggage by the time we got off the Silver Line. It was pretty easy to find them (large group of Japanese students with bogu bags...kind of hard to miss) but we realized that out of all of us present, only Zach had taken any Japanese. (Ong is quite fluent and had been to the Keio Gasshuku over the summer, but unfortunately he wasn't able to come with us to the airport at the time.) We all sort of looked at Zach and told him, "Say something. Tell them we're from Harvard." He pointed at us and said, very eloquently, "Uh, Harvard desu." Much laughter. Then one of the Keio students (I think in retrospect it was one of the seniors) mimicked Zach's solemn tone and said, "Keio desu." We all laughed again, and at that point, Jenny and I looked at each other and knew that it was going to be a great week after all.

Gasshuku swallows up all your time, takes over your life and generally forces you to put everything on the back burner until the week is over, but it always, always ends up being worth every moment. The Keio students live with us, eat with us, practice with us, party with us for six days straight--in that short amount of time, we can't help bonding not only with them but within the club as well. At that first meeting, we all suddenly stopped worrying and started looking forward to the week again. The veterans in particular were going around with irrepressible grins on their faces, and Jenn, who was next to me, kept singing happily under her breath, "It's Gasshuku, it's Gasshuku!" (Okay, so perhaps I'm glossing over things a little. We did in fact had to arrange for two large taxi vans to take all the Keio students' luggage to Harvard, which Jenny masterfully handled by negotiating the price. In any case, I think it all went comparatively smoothly despite the fact that we wondered how we would ever get all the luggage to fit.) We took the T back to Harvard, and boy, is it amusing watching a near-empty Silver Line shuttle bus fill up completely as soon as your group gets on.

Kevin managed to get all the Keio students sorted out with their respective hosts. We had originally intended to meet up again at the Eliot JCR for introductions but due to some snags with the reservation, we ended up moving to Lowell instead. (I certainly had no complaints.) We also managed to order pizza in time, thanks to Jenny's good foresight, although unfortunately we didn't order enough pies. (Mostly because we hadn't expected Harvard students to eat too.) I was pleased to see a lot of the club members who couldn't make it to the airport show up for the introductions. We went around and gave the usual name, major, year. Also, how many years we'd been playing kendo. Just to let you know the enormous gulf between the Keio students and us, almost every Keio student answered from 9 to 15 years. (One of the freshmen in fact said 15 years, which means that he must have been playing since he was four or five.) Only one of the Keio students could be considered a beginner (he said been playing kendo for nine months, at which our freshmen cheered, since they'd only started four months ago). I remember last year's group had a lot of business majors, but this year's group had mostly physics and Japanese law and economics majors. Interesting. Anyway, we also got Ong to discreetly point out who the seniors were and especially who the "most senior senior" was: Yasuhide-san, the captain of the men's team. That was probably the only name that Jenny and I bothered to remember from that day. Oh wait, that's not true, I did remember the senior Keio girl, Ayako-san (later I found out that she was the captain of the women's team), and one of the freshmen girls, Mamiko-san, because they had introduced themselves earlier while we were on the T. I always have an easier time remembering the girls because there are fewer of them to tell apart. Also because the girls talk to me more. I did manage to learn all the seniors' names and the other two freshmen girls before the end of Gasshuku, but I never did learn most of the freshmen boys' names. It didn't help that they usually introduced themselves by their first names (in an attempt to go along with American custom, I think, since they certainly stuck to last names around one another) because then I had no way of connecting them to their zekken in practice. Not that I know how to read kanji but there are some common name readings that you pick up from manga, like 小 = "o" and 三 = "mi" and 田 = "ta", etc. (Oh yes, I'll be shamelessly referring to everyone by the first names for this entire entry because for the most part that's how they introduced themselves to us. Well, with a few exceptions depending on how I found out their names.)

Day 1

We had our first practice at 1:30 on the basketball courts at the MAC (that is, the student gym), and since both Jenny and I had class until 1, we both had to hurry back to get changed in time for practice. I was feeling a bit nervous because I had injured my toe the week before and wasn't entirely certain if it would be all right. One of the freshmen had accidentally landed on my foot in tai-atari during the previous Friday evening practice, and although it had seemed fine for the first few hours, it ended up giving me so much pain that I wasn't able to sleep all night. Seriously, more painful than the ankle sprain although concentrated in a much smaller region. I went to UHS the next morning where the nurse told me that it appeared to be a chip fracture and gave me an orthopedic shoe plus some much needed ibuprofen. Still, after the weekend, the toe seemed to be getting better, and when I went to see the radiologist on Monday morning, he told me that the injury wasn't serious and should be fine as long as I kept it iced and elevated. I did not ask him whether the toe would heal quickly enough to let me participate in a grueling week-long physical activity that involved stomping down with my right foot repeatedly because the answer would be pretty obvious. Anyway, the toe still felt odd but no longer in pain by Wednesday, so I thought I would at least try to practice and see what happened. I asked Jenny to lead practice again (even though it was long overdue my turn) just to play it safe.

Anyway, I really enjoyed practice. True, the two sets of 50 hayasuburi winded me, and the who-knows-how-many oikomi drills (oikomi basically mean going up and down the length of the dojo, which is long and grueling) had me gasping for breath. I was paired up with Mamiko-san, who thankfully didn't go super-fast (probably was going easy on me), but nonetheless, I was really relieved when the oikomi were over. Then we went into regular rotations, except they weren't so regular after all because with the enormous number of people and only one basketball court, we had to split up into four lines instead of the usual two, which severely limited the space where you could run through (although staggering the lines helped a bit). We had decided to limit the first practice to kihon waza (basic drills)--that is, mostly large men and kote strikes--which meant that I could rely on my body memory and really focus on the little details, like trying to extend and running through quickly and most of all synchronizing my arms with my feet. I started to relax and really feel the "kendo high", which to be honest I hadn't really felt the past semester. (I find that while I don't dislike leading practices, it does sufficiently distract me to prevent me from just enjoying the mindless pleasure of physical exertion.) Then we went into uchikomi-geiko with ten Keio students as motodachi (receivers), and we were supposed to all go three times, doing a relatively easy six-strike sequence. I lined up in the line with Yasuhide-san, I believe, but then due to some miscommunication, Jon replaced him as motodachi. Oh well. I actually only ended up going twice before Jenny called "Yame!" At this point, my adrenaline was up, and I was very much looking forward to jigeiko (free sparring) because I had somehow figured out how to improve my grip on my shinai (that is, hold it with the last two fingers of the left hand). It seemed to help my sense of center so I was looking forward to seeing how it would affect my kendo in jigeiko.

At this point, I took a look at my foot, which had felt surprisingly fine throughout all of practice, and to my surprise, the bruising had grown much worse, turning most of the toe an ugly shade of purple. Still, I figured bruising was just bruising, and since the toe itself wasn't swollen or in pain, I thought it was fine. But Kofi took one look at my toe and told me that I was sitting out the rest of practice. What was more, I wasn't to practice the next day either. "Maybe on Saturday. We'll see how it looks then," he told me after seeing the crestfallen look on my face. I was awfully disappointed to be told that I couldn't practice just when I was really excited about practicing again, and plus, I was worried that skipping practice would cause me to lose momentum. (You realize that at this point I still wasn't in shape. And I always imagine physical fitness being like a slippery glass slope, which is incredibly difficult to climb, and if you lose your hold once, you slip back all the way down to the bottom again.) Nonetheless, it's Kofi's job to worry about us, so I listened to my senpai and kept time for jigeiko instead. Jenny went up against Yasuhide-san and had good kiai all the way throughout the match, although she was slower than usual (I learned later that this was due to the blisters that she had developed just prior to Gasshuku). I forget who else I saw other than Jenn, who would have done fine if she hadn't kept backing up to avoid tsuba-zeriai (Jenn says she's never received tai-atari in jigeiko or shiai, and now I knew why). She also had a bit of a relapse into her tendency to lean forward. I sat around and felt generally useless and impatient. Sitting out practice does that to you.

That night was the opening dinner, which was once again at Christopher's, a restaurant at Porter Square. The opening and closing dinners are both formal events and quite possibly the only two times every year when I wear something other than my usual sweater and slacks combination. We arrived before our reservation was ready, so we hung out in Porter Exchange, which has a handful of small, cafeteria-style Japanese restaurants plus a Japanese grocery store and gift shop. Sort of ridiculous, bringing Japanese guests to a place where they can see the same things they see at home except dinkier and grubbier, but oh well, what could we do. Once we got to the restaurant, Jenny made sure we sat with the Keio captain, so we could ask the all-important question of whether he could designate a few Keio students to demonstrate for us during the rest of the Gasshuku practices. It turned out he had already made the arrangements, and he pointed one of them out for us. (I never did figure out this freshman's name during the Gasshuku, but now that Eva, who somehow managed to learn all the Keio students' names, put up a facebook photo album with everyone's faces tagged, I can now tell you that it was Tomoyuki-san.) Another senior, Fuminori-san, whom we later learned was the club manager, was also at the table with us. We managed to have awkward spurts of conversation, which was more than in previous years. They asked us where to go in New York, since the Keio students always go to visit the Keio High School there, after the Gasshuku finishes. They were especially curious as to what Broadway plays to see, and of course Jenny and I gave our wholehearted recommendation for Phantom of the Opera. We also discovered that Fuminori-san was a bit of an anime fan, particularly fond of Miyazaki films. Santiago, one of our grad students, was also an anime fan, so they talked about various series like Ghost in the Shell (which apparently has a second season out?!) and Bleach (of course, who doesn't talk about Bleach these days), at which point I thought it was best not to admit that the manga series I'd been reading most recently at that point was Ouran Koukou Host Club. Hahaha. (Well, I've been following Bleach too, but I'm about ten chapters behind the latest Jump release, and I don't watch the anime because I'm too lazy to download.) Santiago also expounded at me his worldly advice about research and biology (a conversation which began earlier while we were hanging out in Porter Exchange), although frankly he has very opinionated views that I don't agree with, so I ended up feeling somewhat annoyed and trying my best not to be. Actually, that happened far too frequently during this Gasshuku, which only goes to show how crabby I was at all the social events. Gah, so much for my resolution to be a better conversationalist. -_-

The dinner menu was exactly the same as last year's, so I decided to order something different this time around. As usual, the meal was decent but not spectacular. I wonder if it'll be too much to ask them to change the venue for next year's Gasshuku...In any case, Joe, Kevin and Chit made speeches, all translated by Jeff. Sometimes Jeff's translations were three times as long as the original English, which made me laugh. Also, Kevin has quite the golden tongue. Jenny and I pretty much decided from that point that he was going to be the next EC president, following precisely in Joe's footsteps. Ah, don't you love the way kendo elections end up getting rigged? Oh, and Fuminori-san also made a speech where he presented Keio's gift to us: neckties celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Keio kendo team. (The seniors later told us that not even they had gotten one yet, so it was a pretty special gift.) 125th anniversary! Probably as old as the university itself. That just goes to show how differently kendo is regarded in Japan.

Day 2

I went to team breakfast early and met up with Joe and his hostees (the two seniors, Yasuhide-san and Fuminori-san) because Joe's in my physical biochemistry course at 9. Ended up listening to Joe's conversation with Jon about girls, where Joe opined that when girls are tired of a relationship, they don't break it off right away but start looking for another guy. The implication being that girls would prefer to stay in a bad relationship because they are that dependent. Also heard Jon refer to his girlfriend in the unfortunate terms of "a great find", which sounded like coming across a pretty bauble on the beach. Honestly. Moments like these remind me why I need to be a feminist. Joe also told me that the difference between guys and girls can be summed up in the fact that a girl would be insulted if you confused her with another girl having the same name, while a guy would find it cool. In other words, girls want to be considered unique while guys think it's all right to have something in common each other. Well, I can't dispute that it would annoy me if someone confused me with another girl, and despite my cavalier attitude towards clothes, I probably would be somewhat taken aback if I saw someone wearing the exact same outfit as me at a social function. But seriously, guys aren't that laidback either. I mean, the one thing that I always notice first about males is their constant testosterone-driven competitiveness, and isn't that in a way just a different manifestation of the same urge to be unique? A guy might not care about wearing the same clothes as someone else, but rank him at the same level as another guy in any sort of academic or athletic endeavor, and he'll be clawing to prove he's actually better. But enough of the gender issues. We ended up leaving late from breakfast, which meant arriving late at lecture. Luckily, Prof. Guidotti hadn't gotten too far by the point we arrived.

I came back from class and was trying to convince myself to look at my systems biology problem set, when Joe called and told me that practice had been moved to the QRAC (the athletic facility at the Quad, which is about a 15-20 minute walk from the center of campus). We had heard last night from the MAC that we no longer could have our practice time on the basketball courts, which we had reserved a month in advance, because wrestling was having some sort of event later that afternoon, and hence varsity volleyball had to have their practice time moved up. Since club sports rank at the bottom of the athletics hierarchy, they of course took away our slot instead. Never mind the fact that we had 23 guests from Japan who came for this event. What pissed me off most was that they didn't even bother to tell us until the night before, nor did they even care about getting us alternate space until Joe went and negotiated. Anyway, Joe called to notify me about the change (Jenny had class and a TF meeting, and hence was busy) and asked me to call half the members on the club roster because it was likely that a lot of people wouldn't check their email before practice. I text-messaged Jenny, called Kofi and left voice messages for the rest of the club; somehow we managed to contact nearly all the relevant people after all. I got changed and headed for the MAC to help the armorers bring equipment over (since I wasn't practicing, I didn't need to bring my bogu). To my horror, I found two of the Keio students getting ready by the basketball courts and looking confused as to why no one was there. They were Ilias' hostees, and at that point, I assumed that Ilias hadn't gotten my voice message. I apologized, tried to mobilize Howard and Allen (our two armorers) quickly, and we all headed off for Johnston Gate where we could catch the shuttle to the Quad. On the way there, Jenny called me to let me know that in fact the shuttle left from Memorial Hall. She also mentioned that Ilias was with them, which infuriated me to no end because if Ilias knew that practice was at the Quad then why the heck were his hostees waiting at the MAC? We entered the Yard and saw a huge swarm of people crossing, which we could recognize immediately as the kendo club. We managed to catch up just in time to get on the shuttle, which was just about to leave at the point when we arrived. We ushered everyone on, and I found myself next to Ilias, providing me with the perfect opportunity to scold him for treating his hostees so badly. Ilias of course immediately began defending himself and providing excuses, which only infuriated me more. The proper response when a captain and senpai is reprimanding you for your behavior is to immediately apologize and say it won't happen again. Then you can bring in the excuses; I'll be willing to listen then. >_< Argh. I mean, Ilias is not a bad kid, and while he may be a bit half-hearted about kendo, he's always very enthusiastic about coming and helping out with social events. Nonetheless, he continually neglected his hostees during Gasshuku even after this incident, and I don't think he ever realized just how rude his behavior was.

That aside, we found that the QRAC had really hard concrete floors--harder than the MAC basketball courts--but they were pretty smooth and not too bad for kendo. (Well, repeated practice would probably permanently injure people's knees, but for the short-term it was fine.) We had initially thought after Thursday's practice that we would have to change our practice menu for Saturday (which was originally scheduled to be at our usual time in the MAC mezzanine, which is small but has a nice floor) to shiai since there was no way that we would all fit. However, after seeing the QRAC, we decided that we might try to reschedule our Saturday practice at the QRAC instead, hence avoiding the potential headache of running a chaotic practice in the mezzanine. So I suppose the MAC fiasco had an upside to it after all.

Since I was sitting out this practice, I had a chance to really observe people closely and make notes on various strengths and weaknesses. Jeff (one of our alumni) gave me a notebook and pencil to take notes. Some observations about our club (feel free to skip, only Jenny and Izzy would want to bother reading this part):

- several people have the bad habit of keeping their heels too high, which throws off their footwork (I had this same problem myself)
- other individual bad habits: "fishpoling", bobbing up and down
- half-hearted suburi: strikes aren't crisp and sharp, no acceleration on the way down, no tenouchi or ki-ken-tai-ichi, too mechanical, poor kiai
- sloppy footwork during hayasuburi (people are being lazy and just jumping from their back foot to front foot)
- backs not straight when going backwards during suriashi
- feet crossing and/or stepping during suriashi
- "stiff arm" syndrome and/or too much right arm (shinai falls back)
- toe-lifting during fumikomi (I still have this problem)
- need to take larger suriashi steps during kirikaeshi to maintain sharpness
- bobbing up and down when running through
- two-step large men: first step is often too big (freshmen have trouble judging distance) and/or too hesitant ("chihuahua" steps)
- Yasuhide-san's advice: wrist is too stiff, need to relax in order to extend, hitting from too close a distance resulting in hitting men-gane instead of the top of the men, why we don't get the right "sound"
- moving back foot forward to cross over before fumikomi (extremely weird, don't know why freshmen are doing that)

What I noticed about the Keio students was that first of all, they were so much more relaxed than we were, which made their strikes look effortless, not to mention sharp. One of the freshmen (whom I later remembered because he played jodan; name was Masaki if I recall correctly) was doing katate-hayasuburi for a while, which...completely flabbergasts me because I can't imagine being able to do that ever. Also flabbergasting is the fact that when the Keio students put on their men, they are clearly relaxed and taking their time, and yet they still finish before any of our club members who are hurrying as fast as they can. >_> The Keio students also make kendo look beautiful. A part of that is the speed, but mostly it's just the years of practice. I don't know how to describe it, but even the most talented of our own club members haven't quite shed the awkwardness that make our kendo look clunky rather than graceful. Come to think of it, a large part of it is also the coordination. We need to be relaxed and more coordinated, if we want to have that sort of precision. I felt bad that I wasn't practicing, but I did learn a lot from just watching everyone.

We had dinner shortly afterwards at Uno's where we were squished together like sardines in a can. After that, we headed towards the Harvard-Princeton hockey game. Originally, Jenny and I had hoped to slip out but after seeing that far too many people were leaving as it was, we ended up going after all. Which was a very good idea, because it was the first time either of us had seen a hockey game, and it was actually quite fun to watch. We came in about halfway through the first period. I always thought hockey was a sort of ungainly contact sport, involving people in bulky uniforms bashing each other into plastic walls, but actually, it's really fast and really graceful, and even when people fall, they just seem to glide back up again. And the smashing is rather fun to watch, at least when you're a couple of rows away from the front. The band had a great sense of humor (they had an impressive repertoire, from the Pink Panther to the Masterpiece Theatre theme). Harvard and Princeton kept scoring goals in alternation, which was a bit exasperating. Harvard finally scored in overtime, which won the game. I never knew I had school spirit, but I couldn't help feeling thrilled whenever Harvard scored, and I was pretty happy that we won the game. Who knew? Oh, and the star player of the Harvard team, who scored two of the goals, was Asian, which was pretty neat. (I mean, you don't see that many Asian students in varsity sports, do you?) The Princeton team started targeting him after the second goal and tried to stop him from getting to the puck. Nonetheless, I think the reason why the Harvard team won was because it had much better teamwork. Not that I know anything about hockey but I felt the Princeton team wasn't always moving in sync with one another. By the way, if anyone can explain how they know when and who to switch in and out during the game, I'd really like to know. I was pretty confused as to how they knew when to rotate and how many people to rotate because it all seemed so spontaneous and chaotic.

The Keio students were rather exhausted, and there was a whole row of freshmen boys who fell asleep, which the Keio girls all took pictures of. Jenny and I also figured out who the third senior was (I didn't learn his name for a while after that, but it was Otabe-san) because he had also fallen asleep but the Keio freshmen girls couldn't take photos of him sleeping since he was a senior. Now that degree of senpai-kouhai hierarchy is something that I can't ever comprehend. (The fourth senior, Yamamoto-san, didn't arrive until Day 6, so we didn't really get to know him until the final party. But more on that later. By the way, I always think of these two seniors by their last names instead of their first, for no real reason other than that that's how I first learned who they were.)

On the way out of the stadium, Rikako-san told me about the early morning practices they hold for a week during winter break at Keio. Apparently they get up at five and practice at six in the morning. O_O Painful indeed. She said that she didn't understand why the OBs even bothered to practice--clearly the students had no choice, but why did the OBs do it when they didn't have to? Rikako was quite friendly overall, and her English was quite good. Mamiko was more outgoing, I think, but Rikako was pretty friendly in making conversation with us girls. I didn't talk that much with the third freshman girl, Yui-san, but still on the whole, I think this year's group of freshmen girls were generally much more friendly and easy to talk to than previous years. (That isn't to say that I didn't like the freshmen girls who came before; just that they were much harder to get acquainted with.)

Day 3

Saturday began with team breakfast as usual. Listened to the third senior explain his nickname for Yui, which involved a historical reference that no one really understood (something about a ship that sank during the Russo-Japanese War?). Eva was sitting at the same table with her two hostees, and I was very pleased to notice that she was conversing easily with the Keio students. (Eva, as you may remember, ended up learning all of the Keio students' names by the end of Gasshuku. I swear, that girl is destined to be the next Gasshuku VP.) I'm really terrible about initiating conversations to begin with, and the Keio students are for the most part pretty diffident as well, which is why I've never done a very good job of socializing with them. (The fact that I don't drink at parties may contribute to the problem.) So I was pretty pleased to see our freshmen were already making friends with their hostees so quickly.

Headed back to the dorm and ended up chatting on MSN for a record three-hour conversation. Hah. It put me in a good mood, even though I was late getting ready for practice. When we got to Johnston Gate to head to the Quad (as you may recall, we had decided to move our practice to the QRAC again for Saturday due to the lack of space in the mezzanine), we saw the shuttle but didn't get on because we thought it was going to Mather. When we found out it was actually the shuttle we were supposed to take, we decided to walk to the Quad instead. It was a lovely day, and the weather was brisk and chilly without being too cold, so I enjoyed the walk and felt ready to go as soon as we got there, which only contributed to my good mood.

We heard from Jesse, another alum who was visiting us from New York for the Gasshuku (he was at Friday's practice too), that Kofi had been experiencing some sort of chest sprain and had gone to the hospital to get it checked. Ken (another alum, a rather notorious figure) was supposed to be there too, I think, but didn't come; neither did Jeff or Chit. Jesse was pretty supportive though and gave me a lot of advice throughout the practice. My (long-overdue) turn to lead practice, you know. To be honest, sometimes I felt the advice was a bit unnecessary, but Jesse was so nice about it that I didn't mind in the least (if it were Ken, I probably would have). Out of all the alumni, Jesse's probably given us the most counsel on how to be a good captain--that is, not just running practices and teaching new members, but also holding the team together and directing it towards a goal. I don't know to what extent I can actually exert that sort of influence, but I hope I can manage it to some degree...enough to get people in shape for the Shoryuhai, I hope. Well, we must do our best. At least I don't have to do it all by myself. Also, it's nice to have Kofi around because as Jenny and I often say, he is our image of a kendo captain. If I can inspire at least half as much respect among the new members as Kofi inspired in us our freshman year, I think I'd have done a pretty good job. (And plus, if Jenny inspires the other half, we'd be good to go. ^_^ One of the several advantages of being co-captains.)

Hm, so as for the practice itself, I cut the oikomi drills shorter than usual and added kote-men to the line-up that Jenny did the day before. I also added tsuki, small men and kote-men to the previous set of kihon waza, ended on a six-strike uchikomi-geiko, then had a short break before jigeiko. The goal was to maximize the time for sparring as much as possible. Two of the Keio students did a demonstration jigeiko, and I noticed that the difference in level is clear from the sheer intensity, which is a bit lacking in our own sparring. In particular, their fight for center is an almost tangible tension--the true meaning of seme--that drives them to attack as if they are really going to kill. After that, I went up in jigeiko first against Yasuhide-san, who went pretty easy on me (more kakari-geiko than anything else). His main advice to me was not to hesitate but attack when I was ready to attack. Next was Ayako-san. I think I caught her by surprise when I first scored a men on her, at which point she told me with a huge grin, "Very good, ippon shoubu." The second men was probably more her going easy on me, but I still felt pretty good about both those hits because I knew they were decisive points. Ayako-san then proceeded to give me some really good concrete advice about shiai, that I ought to look for opportunities to score when the opponent is moving backwards, especially in tai-atari. (Now if I only could get the timing of that down. I've come to realize that a lot about kendo requires good timing, which in turn requires me to not overthink and falter at the right moment.) After that, I went up against a freshman--not sure who, but I think it might have been Rin? (in any case, one of the tallest freshman)--who...gave me some sort of advice but I forget exactly what. Probably to extend, since I heard that from nearly everyone during this Gasshuku. (Oh, it just occurred to me why I'm not extending far enough. It's not just my right arm that's the issue, it's also my left arm and the wrists.) Last jigeiko was with Otabe-san, who seemed a bit bored by that point, although that may just have been his usual expression. He was one of the Keio students who refused to go easy on us--well, I'm sure he still slowed down for us, but compared to the other seniors, he was pretty hard--and if it had been a shiai match, I would have lost probably five or six times. He told me that I was moving my shinai up and down too much before striking, that I should rather aim firmly for center and use small strikes rather than large ones. Well, now that I put it into words, it sounds rather obvious, but it changed my mental image of how I ought to look for center.

Anyway, practice was over before I expected it, and I had thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it (except for the part where the ball of my left foot hurt throughout all of practice...I'm not sure if that was due to the floor or lifting my heel too high). On our way out of the gym, Eva and the Keio girls were having a Legolas vs. Aragorn debate, which then moved on to discussion of other good-looking actors from recent Hollywood movies. Typical girlish talk and quite a lot of fun. Jenny and I decided to walk back from the Quad instead of waiting for the shuttle, which was a nice chance for us to stroll leisurely and talk for once. It was such a nice day, perfect for walking, and I was in a delightful post-practice lull. We found that the shuttle arrived before us, but we still caught up to everyone by the next intersection. After that, Jenny and I ate dinner with our blockmates (for once!) and then waited in the JCR for people to gather before heading off to Mather for the first party. We ended up watching Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which was a really weird and confusing movie, albeit with some interesting moments and a nice soundtrack, and I can only imagine that if we found it hard to understand, the Keio students must have found it downright incomprehensible (English subtitles or no). Actually, I think most of them fell asleep during the movie.

After that, we headed off to the party. Originally, the plan was to have the drinks in Jon's room and then bring them down to Mather JCR to hang out, but people didn't want to move back and forth, so we all stayed in Jon's common room instead. I thought this a spectacularly disastrous idea. In the beginning, Jenny and I sat in Jon's bedroom, where we mostly munched on Doritos. I listened to Jenny talk to Jon's roommate about organic chemistry (she's a TF for the course), and she watched me check my email and do nonsensical things on the Internet. After a while, we were both getting bored so we headed back up again. The common room was dark, humid, hot and far too crowded. I started remembering exactly why I hated dance parties so much during high school. I'm afraid my mood started to spiral downward from there. At first, I found myself a place on the couch and let myself doze off--I was already pretty tired, and the warmth wasn't doing much to keep me awake--but after being repeatedly woken up by laughter or people poking me (when I say people, I suspect it was pretty much only Howard, who also drew on my cheek with a Sharpie while I was asleep), I gave up and forced myself to stay awake. Then people decided to do a pile-up on the couch while I was still sitting on it, which completely pissed me off. If I had still been in high school, I would have kicked and slapped the people on top of me viciously until they got the message that no, I didn't find it funny, and they should let me get out. I don't like being touched by people unless they're close friends--heck, it took me years to accustom myself to hugging people--and I especially hate having any sort of contact when I am hot and unhappy and antisocial. The fact that someone much heavier than me was half-sitting on my lap really infuriated me, and the worst part was that because they were all people I knew, I couldn't be mad at them. Argh. Yes, I'm sure by this point, you've deduced that I have no sense of humor about some things, and it's so true. This is why people told me to lighten up all throughout high school. I did my best to grit my teeth and put up with it, but my temper was seriously frayed. Thereafter, whenever someone started poking me or stood too close in an attempt to tease me, I was awfully close to exploding. I did my best to hide it, but I don't know how well I managed. (If you want to know where my hidden violent tendencies are, there you go. It all shows up when I'm in close proximity to too many people.) It got to a point where I realized that I should probably go outside to calm down before I did something embarassing like throw a tantrum, so I went and walked around the hallway to clear my head.

When I went back, the heat and stench of the room hit me again like a wave, and I was tempted to just go outside again, but I'd resolved over the summer to stop running away from things so I went back in and tried to make conversation. It was much better this time around, although Howard kept trying to draw on my cheek again (and succeeded, darn the kid), and people kept asking me why I looked so bored or depressed (what a familiar question). Didn't want to tell them that I was in fact feeling rather upset and miserable, so I told everyone who asked that I was tired and tried to stand near the window to get some air. Argh, not to mention, someone from my high school showed up (because Jon's roommates are connected with the Korean Association) and recognized me, which gave me a panicked moment because I knew his mother was part of the Korean parents' phone network a.k.a. gossip circle back home, but luckily I'm insignificant enough to be forgotten quickly. The party started getting better once everyone started going downstairs (because of various scandalous events which shall not be recorded in a public post to protect the, um, not-so-innocent), and by the end of the party, I almost felt normal again. We had some fun conversations, and when everyone began heading off, I was pretty much back to a decent mood. Nonetheless, I can honestly say that that was the worst kendo party I've ever attended, and while I know it wasn't anyone's fault given the unusual circumstances, if I'm ever in that sort of scenario again, I'm definitely sitting outside for the whole thing.

General conclusion: although I've been patting myself on the back for having grown much more flexible about, well, everything since high school, I still have the dogmatic and easily irritable little me inside. My mother likes to say that peace of mind comes when you no longer become upset by your internal or external situation; I'm afraid that in this context, I am still far too easily disturbed.

Day 4

As per unofficial Gasshuku tradition, Sunday's practice was early in the morning, at 9 as soon as the MAC opened. It was the same day the blizzard hit Boston, sometime in the hours of the early morning, and by the time I scrambled out of bed to get ready for practice, the snow had already piled up to thigh-level outside. It was still snowing when Jenny and I walked to the MAC, shivering in our coats, which did nothing to prevent the wind from blowing through our flimsy gi and hakama. Thank goodness we lived close by. It took us a while to get started since people had trouble getting to the MAC in the deep snow, and also because we hadn't sufficiently emphasized to everyone that they were to arrive prepared and wearing their bogu.

Sunday was supposed to be "spirit-training" day, so we put a twist on the usual rotations, and after every two or three repetitions of a particular drill, we had a few repetitions of uchikomi-geiko, with the pattern based on the drill we had just practiced. It prevented you from having a chance to relax, although after a while, everything started to blur into the same sort of medium pace--the regular drills being faster than usual but the uchikomi being slower. Also, right before warm-ups, Yasuhide-san gave a demonstration with some pointers on how to do suburi. I've forgotten exactly what he said, but I do remember how deadly each of his suburi strikes were. You could hear the shinai whistle with every strike. I used to think that it was just a figurative expression but you really could hear the bamboo slice through the air. You would almost have believed that he was holding a real blade. I can't imagine how fast it must be to have a strike that sharp.

We only had a brief break before going into jigeiko. I forget exactly who I sparred with--I'm pretty sure I went up against Fuminori-san at some point, and I do remember the matches with Yui-san and Mamiko-san because I noticed that they didn't go easy on me like many of the Keio freshman boys had. Well, not that they were particularly hard on me, but I felt that they weren't holding back on me and they didn't hesitate to take advantage of my mistakes, which really made me feel like I was fighting an opponent. That being said, I didn't play very well at all, and each time I attempted to hit a men or a kote, I knew my form was completely wrong. I remember at one point, I was trying to hit small men, and I kept lifting my shinai too much and leaving my kote open. It's really hard to move from the small men you practice in regular rotations to the small men that you use in jigeiko. Mamiko-san told me that she could anticipate all of my attacks and that I should try to move more quickly and decisively. I also remember going up against one Keio freshman who seemed to have made it his goal to teach the Harvard students how to fight for center. He would stand there almost like a rock and not give way until you learned to seize center before attacking. I actually began trying to use harai-waza and more sophisticated tricks to make openings. The main difficulty I have with the more complicated waza is a matter of magnitude. You only really need to displace the shinai very slightly in order to hold center, but my control doesn't have that sort of finesse yet. That was also what I noticed a lot during Gasshuku, that the Keio students only used the most minimal motion to create an opening.

After practice, we went to have team brunch at Leverett. Originally, we had the small dining room reserved but we found that it was too small to fit us (no surprise there), and well, the dining hall itself was rather crowded since the blizzard forced everyone to stay in. (Besides, Sunday brunch is always more well-attended than breakfast.) The HUDS manager for Leverett was very nice and let us use the JCR instead. The original schedule had planned a trip into Boston for Sunday afternoon, but clearly with the blizzard, that was no longer a possibility. Almost everything was closed because of the snow, but luckily the Harvard museums were still open so we decided to take them to visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I was rather pleased because I hadn't been to any of the Harvard museums yet (I know, I know, positively shameful), other than walking quickly past some stuffed tigers while going to my advisor's office freshman year. On our way there, some of our more irrepressible freshmen began a snowball fight, which gradually included some of the Keio students as well. Jenny and I led this huge pack of people across the Yard and felt very much like mother ducks and kindergarten teachers. At one point, Eva started calling us, "Mommies!" and from that moment, the name has stuck. Now I know how Izzy felt last year. (The sophomores call Izzy, who was captain last year, their "mommy" as well, and Jenny and I consider Kofi to be like our "daddy" too. Yes, the kendo club is really just one huge dysfunctional family.)

The museum was really nice--small enough that you could wander through all its exhibits in a couple of hours but still with some pretty amazing collections. Also, now I can say that I've seen the famous glass flowers exhibit. I've always thought that the glass flowers were just a collection of very beautifully crafted ornaments, but in fact they are incredibly realistic and accurate models all made from glass. Anyone on first glance would presume the flowers were real and not give them another glance. The texture of the leaves and petals, the thorns and hairs and veins, the filamentous stamens and vase-shaped pistils are all rendered perfectly down to the smallest detail, so perfectly that it takes a very close eye to perceive the minute mistakes that give away the glasswork. All in all, it was an impressive exhibit. The rest of the museum was interesting too, with endless taxidermic collections of birds and mammals and even fish from all around the world. The exhibits at the AMNH in New York are probably larger and prettier, but there is something much more impressive about these specimens, for the very reason that they are older and in less-than-perfect condition. Seeing the seams and stuffing remind you all the more that the skin and fur are real and once belonged to a live animal.

After touring the museum, we headed back to the dorms, and everyone had a few rare hours of leisure (which I spent napping) before we headed out for dinner in Inman Square. The restaurant was a Brazilian BBQ, and boy, was it excellent. I don't think I've ever eaten so much meat at one sitting before. There was a fantastic buffet to start us off, and waiters would come around bearing pork and sausages and steak and even chicken hearts, which they would carve off a piece at your request. I finished off the meal with a bowl of the best ice cream I've ever tasted in my life. If the restaurant wasn't so expensive, I would definitely make plans to go there again.

We had planned to do another movie night after the dinner, but the Keio students were feeling tired (and who could blame them, given all the events that we crammed their days with). So instead, we all headed off to bed.

Day 5

The same usual routine of breakfast, class, then some brooding time before practice began. We had introduced men-tai-atari-men the day before, so it was time to bring in dou. Oikomi drills therefore included this really uncomfortable way of doing dou in three steps: lift while moving forward, turn the shinai, then strike as you bring your feet back together. It was hard to keep it in three separate steps, and since I'm really, really bad at dou to begin with, I found it awfully frustrating. I remember I was up against Masaki-san, who is always instantly recognizable because he plays jodan, and I felt rather sorry for him having to receive my awkward dou again and again down the entire length of the courts. Well, at least I managed to keep my aim right.

We repeated yesterday's style of rotations, interspersing regular drills with uchikomi. I felt rather frustrated with myself because I was feeling tired and sleepy to begin with (I was yawning even at the beginning of practice), and I felt that I wasn't pushing myself hard enough during uchikomi-geiko. Also felt frustrated because people had trouble hearing me whenever I called out drills; Kofi said that I wasn't projecting enough, although I think the lack of a person to translate didn't exactly help the situation either. Also, it seemed a lot of the Keio students were rather bored or impatient when they faced me in rotations, and all of the Harvard students were either tired or being sloppier than usual, which frustrated me all the more because there's nothing that throws you off as much as the realization that the other person isn't concentrating. All in all, I thought it was a horrible first half of practice. Jenny also nagged at me to remember to play against the Keio captain first in jigeiko, but I couldn't actually find him when people were lining up for jigeiko (I think he was taking a break from being motodachi that day). Anyway, I ended up in the line for Fuminori-san instead and played slightly better than I did the day before, which may be why he just smiled and said, "Good kiai," when I asked for advice. Then I went up against Otabe-san and was much better about keeping center this time around, although I still wasn't anywhere close to getting a point. He told me that I was striking with both my arms bent (at which point I finally realized why my form for small men in jigeiko felt so off) and that I needed to extend fully. Ayako-san after that, and she told me that I needed to make sure the force of the attack came from my legs and that I should really focus on my fumikomi. Then I went and played against several Keio freshmen, although I don't really remember who. The last one asked me if I was tired, and I admitted that I was, just a little, which in retrospect was a mistake because he ended the match quickly after that. But by that point, time was up anyway. Kofi told me afterwards that he wanted me to lead Tuesday's practice as well because I needed to be louder, which I found disgruntling because I had honestly tried my best to project. In general, the energy level of the practice was low and kind of dispirited, so I left feeling dissatisfied with myself and as if everyone was equally dissatisfied with me. -_- I guess I was also pretty burned out by that time.

But my bad mood dissipated pretty quickly afterwards, since I stayed in for once and ate dinner with my blockmates. I had a problem set due the next day, so I decided to skip out on the trip into Boston and the subsequent laser tag at Good Times Emporium. Managed to finish the problem set relatively painlessly, much to my relief, although it still took me a long time.

Day 6

I ran into Jenny and one of the Keio freshman while walking back from the MCZ. Her statistical thermodynamics class had just ended, and Rin-san, who I think was a physics major, had wanted to sit in on the lecture. Jenny told me later that he had carefully taken notes in Japanese throughout the lecture. Quite impressive if you think about it--I would never have bothered to take notes for a class when I was on my vacation, much less a class being given in a foreign language.

We got to the MAC and started practice. I cut out the oikomi drills and had everyone do a typical round of rotations: large men, large kote, large kote-men, then small men, small kote, small kote-men, men-tai-atari-men and dou, all interspersed with uchikomi. Prior to practice, Kofi informed us that the people who had volunteered to show up early to set up shiai courts had all arrived late, so he suggested that we do "ten men" uchikomi-geiko, which is a sequence of, well, ten large men strikes at the end. Jenny and I both thought that it sounded easier than nine-point uchikomi, which has a sequence of three men, three kote-men, men-tai-atari-men, men-tai-atari-kote and men-tai-atari-dou...but I discovered to my surprise that it was much more difficult than I expected. We did about two rounds of nine-point uchikomi and then two rounds of ten men uchikomi. I was very, very tired by the second repetition of the ten men, and I definitely didn't keep count of how many I did. That being said, I think it was a nice note to end our very last set of rotations.

After that, we had the Harvard-Keio shiai (tournament-style matches), which we usually hold at the last Gasshuku practice. We split up onto two courts, one with the new members and one with the veterans, and the Keio students were shimpan, as per tradition. I didn't have a chance to watch the new members at all, so I don't know how they fared, but I did hear later from Jeff that Howard, Allen and Eva both put in a pretty good showing. On the veterans court, Shirleen scored a point (I think it was a men) and won her match. Shirleen has surprisingly good form (I haven't really had the chance to observe her for a while), and although she occasionally shows a bit of the marionette syndrome, her kamae is solid. I think as long as she manages to raise the intensity level, she'll do very well at the Shoryuhai. Brian of course also scored a decisive point (also a men, I think) early on in his match, and then held on grimly until the match ran over time. Both of them were quite exhausted at the end. He did a good job of wearing out his opponent--actually, I would venture to say that they were pretty evenly matched, although it's true that the Keio shimpan judged their own side more harshly than ours--and hence won his match. Brian's definitely turning out to be the ace of our team. As a freshman, he advanced three rounds in the individuals tournament at the Shoryuhai, and then he went to the Keio Gasshuku in Japan over the summer. A large part of it is probably just natural talent, but I think his main advantages are that he's aggressive and fast, much faster than most of the other veterans. Well, Ong is fast too, but doesn't have the same level of aggression; he doesn't attack quite as intensely. I was reminded of what Ohta-san had told us when she visited last fall: to work on our strengths as well as our weaknesses and to develop our own approach and style of kendo. Brian's kendo does have a distinct style (he's a "blitzer" I would say), and he takes advantage of its strengths while in shiai. In contrast, the other sophomores don't necessarily have bad form when in rotations, but I think they find it harder to score in shiai because up to now we've herded them into playing kendo in the same way instead of encouraging them to specialize. (Well, they do play jigeiko very differently, and they all have their own favorite waza, but I don't think any of us veterans have really thought about how to capitalize on our strengths as much as we've concentrated on getting rid of our weaknesses.) Also, we're just a level too slow. I don't mean that we all need to become speed demons, but I got the sense while watching the shiai that we were all reacting to our opponents rather than taking the initiative to make them react. In other words, the lack of seme. We look much more uncertain of ourselves on the court, and even when we attack, it doesn't seem like we're sure of scoring. Anyway, I'll have more thoughts on the shiai later, after we review the videos.

I went up against Ayako-san and managed to hold out longer against her than I did in previous years. I didn't really play very intelligently though; I was focused on extending and having zanshin but did very little to make sure I had center before I attacked. Also, didn't think about my footwork at all, so my fumikomi was probably off, as it always is. Still, I tried my best to play aggressively and wholeheartedly, with all the energy I had. I wish I had lasted longer though. Jenny played the final match against Yasuhide-san, who knocked her shinai out of her hands. She seemed a bit stiff after that but still played pretty well, I thought. Mostly what I noticed was that Jenny's grown about ten times more aggressive than before. Actually, she pushes me around a lot more in jigeiko too these days, and her kiai has grown a lot stronger. It can't have been easy going up against the Keio captain, of all people; I was a bit relieved to be matched up with Ayako-san instead.

After the shiai, the Keio students did three demonstration shiai for us. First was the freshman who played jodan against, well, another freshman. I don't know if his jodan was as clean as Shouta's (one of the Keio students who came to Gasshuku last year and also played jodan) but it was still pretty neat to see. The second match was between Yamamoto-san, the last of the Keio seniors who had arrived late (in fact, Jenny, Jon and Kevin had gone to meet him at the airport the night before), and another of the freshmen. I never did figure out who played the third match, but in any case, it was exciting. (cont'd in comments)

Comments

Day 6 (cont'd)

[troisroyaumes]

We had a Crimson Key tour scheduled for after practice, and Jenny and I recruited some of the freshmen to help us buy nonalcoholic drinks and snacks for the party that night. We had the final dinner (again, formal dress) at the Strominger room in Currier, just like last year, except this time Jenny and I sat at the "important people" table, with Professor Jacobsen (who is our faculty advisor), Kofi, Jeff, Joe, Yasuhide and Fuminori. We found out to our horror that Professor Jacobsen had actually turned up to Saturday's practice (which had been moved to the QRAC, if you recall) and found no one at the MAC, so we made sure to apologize repeatedly for the mistake. Professor Jacobsen and Jeff carried on a lively conversation with the two Keio seniors, and the rest of us, who knew next to no Japanese, pretty much shuffled our feet and waited for the occasional English translation. Apparently, Yasuhide-san had been very surprised by the fact that our club had two female co-captains and remarked on the cultural differences between Japan and America (women can only be captains for the women's team at Keio). The dinner was pretty decent, and we ended with a champagne toast. (It was quite amusing watching Jeff and Tom open the champagne bottles, which had been agitated while we were carrying them to the Quad. The first two spurted out vigorously, although Jeff managed to open the last three without too much violence or loss of champagne.) There were more speeches, which got a bit repetitive after a while, from Joe, Professor Jacobsen, Kevin, Kofi, and Mamiko-san, whose English is really very excellent. Then the presentation of the omiyage (gifts) for the Keio students. I was surprised to see that the usual hardcover photography books featuring the Harvard campus weren't included (in previous years, the alumni presented them to the Keio students to use as autograph books, which get signed at the final party, but I guess it didn't happen this year). Nonetheless, the omiyage itself was quite nice, presented in a nice Harvard tote bag. It also included a Harvard T-shirt, and nearly all the Keio students changed into them for the party, which is why all my photos of the final party feature large swathes of Crimson fabric. Oh, and we even managed to gather in a circle and sing the Keio fight song, like we did last year. Fuminori-san led the cheering, and it was a lot more, um, enthusiastic than I remembered. Heh. Jeff said he'd send us the lyrics and a translation so we'd be prepared to sing it during the Keio Gasshuku this summer.

After that, the final party, which was in the Gilbert room in Currier. A nice room, with a handy refrigerator to store all the drinks. There was actually enough space, plus lots of chairs and sofas to sit on. We spent most of the first half of the party having a heart-to-heart conversation with Kofi, who was in a fatherly mood and felt that we needed to have more fun, outside of our schoolwork and extracurriculars. He told me in particular that I needed to do something risky for once in my life, and I guess to a certain extent I agree. Well, not so much in terms of risk-taking exactly, but I do want some more spontaneity in my life. -_- I don't really enjoy being in dangerous situations, but I would like to do something without planning every detail of it in advance, like I have done with most of my life for the past few years. But anyway, Kofi even made us a promise (I wonder if he remembers) that he would take us to Las Vegas one day, and we would then gamble in the casinos. (I asked him if we could gamble with his money, and he said he was already doing enough by taking us there in the first place, hahaha.) Also, he told us about his four other "daughters" whom we've never met, and we told him about our views on romance and marriage (one hilarious quote from Kofi: "I don't want you stuck in a loveless marriage where you only have sex for the purposes of procreation"). Kofi really is such a father figure to us; Jenny and I were saying the other day that if we ever do get boyfriends, we would want his approval first. Really, it's people like Kofi that really make me love the kendo club so much because we all genuinely do care about one another.

Day 6 (cont'd)

[troisroyaumes]

Anyway, after Kofi left, Jenny apparently tried a shot of rum and got very tipsy. Jenny when tipsy isn't particularly different from her usual self, but she did spend a long time analyzing and describing her physiological state in close detail, which I thought was perfectly normal (I mean, it's what I would do when experiencing something for the first time) but apparently the sophomores thought it was very amusing. I wandered a little throughout the room to take photos. At one point, a drunk Howard attempted to get me to dance, and I told him that I wouldn't dance to hip hop. At this point he got a bit touchy and started grabbing my wrists and shoulders in an attempt to get me to "loosen up". -_- Drunk Howard is rather suicidal; were he not one of our freshmen, I would have kicked him in the balls. Luckily though, he then moved onto Jenny where he spoke loudly and drunkenly in Chinese for a while. I went around taking more photos and then got a bit tired, so I perched myself on an out-of-the-way chair. It was around this point when Yasuhide-san started talking to me, and despite the language barriers, we actually managed to hold a conversation, albeit a kind of awkward one. It was made more awkward when he told me, somewhat nervously, "I think you are very cute." The first time, I smiled and said thank you...the second and third times, I was at a bit of a loss and just smiled sort of manically while I mentally panicked. He even went so far to ask, "Do you have boyfriend?" at which I resorted to my default explanation of "No, I have no time for a boyfriend; I'm too busy studying." Actually, I think that's the very first time someone's hit on me. It's the second time a guy's called me cute to my face. Doesn't it just figure that the guy has to be drunk and from a foreign country? Still, it was rather sweet--outside the dojo, Yasuhide-san is very mild and quiet, and you would never believe he could harm a fly. But the conversation grew even more awkward and difficult after that because he asked me about bars here, which I know nothing about, and asked me what I thought of Japan, for which I have no ready answer. (What do I think of Japan? For all that I watch anime and read manga and do kendo, I really have no idea.)

The party ended around 1, and we had a bit of a problem where one of Kevin's hostees was nowhere to be found (it turned out that he had gone back earlier but we couldn't get in touch with people for the longest time). Kevin, by the way, carried on the proud tradition of the Gasshuku VP getting smashed at the final party by passing out in the kitchen after only one drink. Poor kid, he must have been exhausted. I do think he did an excellent job, all things considered; it's true that at times, things seemed a bit disorganized, but he always managed to figure out all the problems in the end. Oh, and Yamamoto-san drank far too much alcohol and ended up throwing up repeatedly in the bathroom and on the way out of Currier (luckily they held a bag to his mouth, so it wasn't too messy. Jon, his host, and Otabe-san had to practically carry him out. The shuttle refused to let us get on with a sick person, so we ended up walking back, with Jon and Otabe doing their best to hold up Yamamoto along the way. Luckily, we managed to find a taxi to take them back to Mather from Harvard Square. I think that's the first time I've seen a Keio student so obviously sick (they drink like fish, but they usually manage to do their throwing up discreetly).

Day 7

[troisroyaumes]

We got up early to see them off to the airport. At 8:30, most of the hosts and hostees were ready and waiting for the taxis at the MAC, but of course there were a few stragglers as usual. There was a last-minute photo-taking session, and of course, affectionate farewells. The Keio girls gave us each a box of Valentine's chocolates (oh, I forgot to mention that Eva and Shirleen had given all the Keio boys anonymous Valentine's chocolates and all the Keio girls roses), and Yasuhide-san and Fuminori-san presented Jenny and me with a bag full of Japanese souvenirs. (Later we took a look, and found that it contained: a packet of origami paper, stationery, a set of tags or bookmarks, a packet of chocolate crayons, two packets of brightly-colored candy, and chopsticks among other things. We were particularly bewildered by the chocolate crayons and the chopsticks.) They all managed to fit in two large vans and a sedan (I'm not sure how, but they did) and we finally saw them off. Joe and I were late to physical biochemistry again, and that was the end of the Gasshuku.

I was initially going to end the entry with some pithy thoughts on what I learned during this Gasshuku, but I've long forgotten what I intended to write. In terms of kendo, I think I managed to cover it all in my descriptions of practice. In terms of the club dynamics...well, let it suffice to say that prior to this point, I had worried a bit that the freshmen were not as, hm, tightly invested in the club as they could have been, but after Gasshuku, I think they've all really grown enthusiastic about kendo. The Keio students definitely showed them just how intense and exciting it could be, and I think it's all spurred them to be much more hardcore. The veterans have been rather puzzled as to why the freshmen seemed so quiet (at least in comparison to the sophomores), but I think it has to take an event like Gasshuku, where you spend a whole week together, to really allow the club to bond. Nonetheless, we probably should make sure to keep the social aspect of the club from dying out this semester. I was relieved to find several sophomores who had been MIA last semester finally coming back to practice...we need to keep that up somehow. After all, as we've clearly established over this Gasshuku, the kendo club is a family. ^_^

Yours &c.

Re: Day 7

[lawnmower-elf.livejournal.com]

...Before you say anything, No, I did not stalk you. Although I think I vaguely remember seeing that SN on ff.net. (Yes, and while we're at it, I am very much a geek.)

Iwamoto hit on you?! XD
Now that was something shocking I had not known. And I completely concur with you on the idea of kicking Howard where it hurts. Props to you for actually recording this in detail though - I was way too exhausted after it all ended to do anything. If you ever do mind the whole "Mommy" thing I'll stop. It's just more fun.

Re: Day 7

[troisroyaumes]

Eva! I'd ask how you came across my LJ but I'm presuming it was via facebook. ^_^

Hahaha, well, I'm presuming he was rather intoxicated at that point. I was rather at a loss for what to say in response. -_-;; I don't think I would have bothered to write this much if there wasn't the naljwrimo2006 challenge floating around at just the right time. Props to you for reading through all of it. (Oh, and of course I don't mind the "Mommy" thing; besides by now it's become HRKC tradition. XD)

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Now I know why your pset isn't done. For shame, Ribosome XD

(I am afraid I am too lazy and busy to read it)

[troisroyaumes]

Well, actually I finished writing it yesterday. The pset isn't done because I chatted with a friend and also because I still haven't finished the reading. -_-;;

I doubt anyone will bother reading the post actually. 12,000+ words after all. ^_^

[tokyofish.livejournal.com]

I did! XDDDDDDDD

And I really don't know anything about kendo except what I read in your journal so I'm afraid my mental images are not quite accurate. ^^;

But I'm glad it seems like it was a good event and was, overall, enjoyable, awkward social situations and wanting to kick freshmen's balls notwithstanding. (Also, I think it's totally cute you got hit on by such a shy guy. ^__^)

BTW, this post totally wins at naljwrimo2006, yes? XDDDDDD

Ah, and, I'll be in town next weekend. XD We're driving up Friday and leaving Sunday morning.

[troisroyaumes]

Yay, someone's read it! XD

Hm, next weekend is Junior Parent's Weekend, but! my parents will be coming on Friday and leaving Saturday afternoon, so I should be able to meet up on Saturday evening. Maybe we can grab dinner? (Oh, unless there's a conference event at that time...) Or we can meet up Sunday morning like last year, depending on how soon you're leaving. ^_^ This time, I'll definitely remember to bring my camera. XD

[serendip.livejournal.com]

When Japanese bois tell you that you're cute and ask you if you have a boyfriend, that's like dunno, throwing a condom at j00 XD IMPRESSIVE *thumbs up* </ crude>

Shigure: One should never close the crude tag.
Jae: XDXDXDXDXDXD

[troisroyaumes]

Haha, can't say it means much since I'm pretty sure he was drunk or at least pretty intoxicated at the time. I'm surprised though because in previous years the Keio students ended up hitting on our guys after consuming copious amounts of alcohol. XD;;

[serendip.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Japanese people are repressed, so they can't say how they feel unless they're drunk. You could have gotten Japanese kendo ass! XDDDDDDDDDD