… and one week to departure to Japan…
All is well - Thursday 8th February is day 39… the routine has settled and life just is… it has had its ups and downs over the last two weeks, but mostly is has just been busy with lots of training and planning… and cars.
Bob's Uno has been sold for a good price. A little silver Getz 1400 has been bought to replace both cars (I'm in love with the air conditioning and keep trying to find places I need to drive to in the heat of midday to enjoy the cold air - apologies to environmentalists, but in the height of Durban's summer, it is such a pleasure).
The bakkie has been 'sold' twice now, only to have the deal fall through at the last minute - we have another dubious sale at 2pm (or there abouts) this afternoon - so fingers crossed once again!! Bob's Japan trip money is sitting in the bakkie, so we do need to sell it soon - they fly on Thursday 15th Feb… and I could do without another Sunday morning spent at the Durban Drive-in car market.
Bob is still losing weight. We are looking at introducing a third meal to minimise any further weight loss before departure. Bob is on 68 kgs - his weight during the middle of his 5-day danjiki fast in Japan two years ago.
We had a visa hiccup with the group going to Japan - but word came though on Monday that the visa's had been granted… with huge sights of relief. The group continue to train hard - 5 evenings a week (for up to 3 hours at a time). I'm excited for them, but must admit to looking forward to having some time to myself once the have left!! (I anticipate relishing the space for about a week, before I get the twitches of missing the extra training!)
Classes a Hombu are running smoothly. We now have a total of eight new / retuning students - 6 in TodeJutsu (3 new students: Suhaila, Ayesha and Tasmi, and three returning students: Rosario, Richard and Ethan) and 2 new students in T'ai Chi (Nirusha and Yolanda)… with a few more knocking at the door.
Tahmid Sempai is leading the score for bringing in new students. He has introduced three students, and Perry has introduced one (so far)…
Nick Sensei ran the first grading of the year - with Greg and Warren passing their regrades for 5th and 7th Level respectively and Antonio obtaining 3rd Level and Shan 1st Level.
Bob's plans for Japan: at this stage he is looking to train for 6 weeks at the dojo and then plans to visit seven sacred mountains in Japan (including Mt Fuji which he hopes to climb in April (will need crampons and an ice-axe) and will be spending two to three weeks back on Shikoku to cover about 30 temples - the ones where there is a gap in his notes, which were posted home and never arrived!
Shaz is going crazy trying to sell vehicles, arrange new credit cards for Bob [the current one expires while he is in Japan, and FNB 'can't' issue them early… well we've discovered they can…] and trying to get information out of the municipality regarding their transport plans for 2010 for a Friday deadline (yes, tomorrow) and has not had the time to write anything for a 2500 word article on Durban due on Monday - or touch up her Forensic Investigation project with the final submission date extended to Thursday 15th Feb - if that date looks familiar - it should… same day as everyone flies out to Japan… but apart from forex and packing - its all systems GO… and even if the traffic lights aren't always green when arrive… its exciting, and the outlook is positive and progress is being made.
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