We had an incredibly hectic weekend that included karate belt tests for the kids and I, my mom visiting, my husband and I going out for our anniversary and spending our first night ever away from the kids, and then on Sunday a memorial service for our dog. I feel pretty wiped out right now and ready to sleep but we've launched into Monday and will be going full-tilt for the next few days.
My husband has decided to join the karate class, which will be fun for the kids because they will outrank him for awhile. I just got my blue belt, so I'll probably be moving into a different class, and the kids will be testing for their gold belts in three months. I couldn't believe how many students were at the test. There was a gymnasium full of gold belts and blue belts for my test, and then another gym full of white belts with various color stripes for the kids' test. And that didn't include all the rest of the colors! As always, I am blown away by the kids' focus, determination, and abilities. And not just my kids, it's really cool just to watch all of the kids out there trying their hardest at some techniques that are really quite difficult to master.
They had to remember three kata (series of movements) for this test, along with the associated bunkai (application of the kata to self-defense), sparring techniques, other self-defense techniques and the basics (kicks, punches, blocks). It's a lot of stuff to remember! As for me, I had to remember this kata, which we had just finished learning all of the moves to in the last month, and I was pretty nervous that I'd get lost somewhere in the middle and have to just stop. But muscle memory kicked in and I just got through the whole thing without any major hitches.
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