Let's back up a bit to Tuesday. The last day of school.
The school part was just, usual. Nothing big, or grand. But everyone was so nice, and many of them wished me a safe flight home.
Karate was amazing though!
I don't know if I ever mentioned it in a post, but I remember talking to my mum about seeing Matsu in my first or second time at karate doing a 360 jump, landing and going straight up with another kick and continuing his kata.
I was in awe of that and desperately wanted him to teach me how to do it. Later on, I saw some of the others doing jumping kicks and had the same reaction.
Well, I don't know if it had anything to do with it being my last time, but Matsu decided to teach exactly that!
Now, I know that some people may read this and think "Really? That's super easy! You can't do a 360 round kick jump?" Well, no. No, I cannot. Not everyone is good at physical activities.
I managed the 360 jump, and I can also land properly with enough balance to continue right off the bat. The jumping round kicks, however, are another story.
Let's just say I was sore. In various places.
Granted, we didn't start small. Matano, the tallest of our group, was holding the padded target at shoulder height, while standing on a chair.
I was trying to kick well above my head, so naturally, I failed most of the time. I think I kicked it twice, out of... Maybe 10 or 11 attempts?
But it was great fun. I also wrote a letter in both English and Japanese that Matsu signed, saying that I have participated in 45 hours of karate. (It's technically 45.5 hours, but I just simplified and rounded down instead of up in case I got something wrong.) It's well over my 30 hours that I need for my pursuits badge, which I proposed before I came here.
That leads me to another tip.
7: organise, consider and propose.
You're going to try a lot of things overseas, so one of the things to ask your host family when you get their email address is some of their plans, clubs or routines. If they intend for you to join, consider proposing it for a venturer badge. It's a great way to get more out of your trip and feel like you've been productive.
If you go to Japan (I don't know if Danish schools do clubs or not) pick a club that relates to something that you want to do when you get back. That way, if you end up not managing your required hours, you can finish it at home. I've wanted to start karate again for a while now, so when Tsumu mentioned in an email that it was one of the club options, I jumped at it! Its been a great way to get back into it, and I probably learned a lot faster in this small group setting than I would in a large class at home. I have a higher chance now of possibly reclaiming my orange belt. (Yeah, I know I was technically an orange tip when I had to drop, but I only missed the grading! I was qualified for an orange belt!)
OK, so that was Tuesday.
Now for Wednesday.
Fist off, YEAH, I CAN SKI!
Secondly, OW I can't ski!
Need I explain?
Basically, I can't ski. It hurt, and I swear I can so close to breaking my leg a couple of times in the ski hadn't popped off my foot. I can so close to rage quitting, but the thing about the place we went to was, once you're at the top of the hill, you literally have no choice other than to ski down. You can't walk, or you'll just slip down and get ice and snow all up your shirt, and you're not allowed to ride the ski lift back down. So, I just had to push through it and get down. (This was, of course, after a few lessons on a flat area. Don't worry, they didn't just hand me some skis and dump me on top of a hill and tell me "give it a shot" and the instructor was there, helping me the whole time)
After a short break, we went down again, with a little less help from the instructor. He said that I'm a natural, and was learning really fast, which makes me wish that I could take up skiing at home. But you know, it never snows in Toowoomba.
I didn't agree at the time, because I kept falling over, couldn't go straight, and soon. But after we stopped for lunch, made a couple of snowmen (picture further down) and went to an all you can eat for 30 mins icecream cafe (I WANT ONE IN TOOWOOMBA) I asked Tsumu if she was up to trying again. We didn't have the instructor this time since he had other classes to go to, which is why we stopped for lunch after on 2 tries. This time, I was alone. Tsumu went ahead a bit and watched, but she isn't good enough of a skier to actually help. So, every time I fell over, I just had to push myself up again, and keep going. This is when my infamous stubbornness comes in handy. I like to think of it as determination, but honestly, in any other situation, it's just plain stubbornness. If someone had helped me down that time, I wouldn't have appreciated it, honestly. I stopped caring about the bruises and snow, and just wanted to get to the bottom of the course to be able to say "I did it." To be able to have the pride.
I ended up needing to repeat a phrase in my head as I went down, which is almost exactly the same as what I would tell myself when I first started riding the horse that I had been petrified of as a child. Yeah, sweet little Sally used to look like a monster when I was young. I was amazed that Emma could ride her, but now I love her to bits! (Even if she clearly doesn't return the love a lot of the time, with glares, running away, refusing to do what she's told, or slapping me in the face with her tail. But I know she doesn't hate me, so I'm happy with that.)
Anyway, when I started riding, I kept saying to myself "Stay calm, relax, have faith in the horse." The same can be said for skiing, if anyone reading this wants to go try it. Just stay calm, relax and have faith in the skis.
♪ゆきだるまつくろ?♪
Yes, I do, so I did!
If you must know, the above is the translation of "Do you want to build a snowman" from Frozen.
...I'm sorry...
Also, we didn't end up staying overnight, as I'm sure you can tell. We came home after that third trip down the hill and I went straight to bed. It was EXHAUSTING in a way that I'm not familiar with. I'm used to relating certain muscles hurting to being tired, from years of horse riding. These, however, were entirely different muscles. Just a bit weird.
And today.
Thursday.
Packing.
I'm screwed.
😭
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