Kendo

The other day, all the international students had the opportunity to try either judo or kendo. Of course, since I do judo every day, I opted for kendo. The kendo club trains in the same place as judo so I often watch them practice and it's quite interesting to watch.

After watching the students practice a bit, we were taught how to hold the sword (shinai) correctly. Whether you're right or left-handed, the right hand is always the upper hand. Then we learned how to step and strike the head. I don't understand all the rules but from what I understood, there are four areas where you can strike to obtain points. Men (the top or sides of the head), Kote (the padding on the left or right wrist), Do (on the opponent's right or left side of the armour that protects their torso), and Tsuki (on the side of the neck).

Then, during third period, some of the students took it upon themselves to celebrate one our classmate's birthday. One of them went to the store and brought back some beverages and a cake. It was a bit funny because nobody had notified the teacher beforehand. And the teacher that day is the strictest one out of our teachers. But surprisingly she went with it. So we got to eat some cake and sing Happy Birthday in about four different languages.

The birthday girl, Minji (from Korea)