OSU (Karate Kid: Diary 1)
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Did you watch the Karate Kid series?! If you haven't, you missed a great chunk of your childhood life (bwahahaha). As for me, I enjoyed watching almost all the martial arts films there is. I especially love watching Karate Kid when I was in grade school. I will never forget Mr. Miyagi's face (played by Mr. Pat Morita).
It seems fun to know all the moves and cool to watch someone do it. But as they say: no pain, no gain.
My muscles are all sore but I don't mind. I'm just glad that after all the hesitations and laziness of deciding , I finally enrolled at a Karate Class (it took me 4 months before I went to the Dojo)
There is no such thing as a beginner's phase (well of course they teach you the basics) because my first night of training was intense already. They haven't given me my training manual yet so I just followed what Sensei/Sempai did and even the words he spoke.
I had an overview of all the punching and kicking techniques. Karate requires a strong center so I did push ups & sit ups for the front and back (just glad they didn't punch my stomach while doing the sit ups since bago palang, as for the others, they got both). Sensei/Sempai also stepped on my stomach while I was lying down then kicked my sides afterwards. I never had a strong upper body (I so admit that) so I was shocked when we have to do hand stand with our body straight up (glad again my classmate hold my feet while I was turned upside down).
BTW, I had cute little classmates. There's this chubby little boy beside me whom Sensei/Sempai is fond of and I suppress a smile everytime he held the kid's kimono to help him finish the sit ups. Our class is composed of kids, young adults, yuppies and even parents (meron pang buong pamilya talaga hehe cute).
I am also learning Japanese since they usually use that for instructions and counting.
OSU!!! A word you always hear in a Japanese Dojo. Everytime you say the word OSU you have to cross your arms then drop it to your sides while bowing. At first, I can't clearly understand what it is but through observation I learned that OSU can be used in different things:
when you enter or leave the Dojo
when you greet the Sensei/Sempai and even your classmates
when you agree to Sensei/Sempai
when you have to do what Sensei/Sempai instructed
when you finished arranging your kimono after every set
when the training is over
it is also a form of respect (these are just my observations, so corrections are highly appreciated)
...to further understand it, I searched the net and found useful articles regarding OSU.
*White belt are for beginners. Our promotion is quarterly so I do hope I will be able to do all my trainings (and sana makayanan ko! ajah!) ... hehe gusto pang hingin ni Sheena ung future yellow belt ko nyahahaha