Monday 19 April 2010

Still stranded!

Hi! Bagged the computer early this morning (6am) - some holiday eh! There's a greater sense of calm at this time and nobody breathing down your neck wanting to use the computer. Things were pretty hectic in the hotel yesterday evening, lots of people have been sent here by their tour company to wait for flights. It seems that our hotel is the central hub around here. The restaurant was much busier last night and the staff seemed a bit 'stressy'. I suppose they've never had a hotel full of 'refugees' before!

I feel a bit happier now I've managed to contact all the people I need to contact - even my son got up at 6am this morning to e-mail his teachers at school about his exams! It's just a matter of sitting back and playing the waiting game now.

I have not been ignoring my martial arts whilst here. I have been practising various things in the hotel room in little 10-15 minute slots - kata, combinations, bo and sword stuff (with a hairbrush!). Sometimes you just have to improvise! I've also been doing quite a lot of reading and making notes - I'm reading 'The Way of kata' by Kane and Wilder. It's really helping me to understand how to 'read' a kata. My husband and I have even been practising some bunkai together.

I wonder what news today will bring. I see some test flights have been sent up to fly through the ash and returned without incident or any damage to the planes - that must be a good sign? I'm just hoping that the other volcano on Iceland doesn't go off as well. Apparently the government had an emergency meeting last night and are considering various options such as flying people to Spain and then getting them home overland and by ferry - should think that will take about 3 days to get home but that might be better than staying here for weeks. They're even considering bringing in the Navy to rescue us!

Oh well! I'll keep one eye on Sky news and the other on the hotel pool! Looks like it's going to be a nice day again. I'll try and update again later or tomorrow.

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4 comments:

Mathieu said...

:)
keep it up.
Training can sometimes be...
the five minutes you go through your kata in your mind.

FredInChina said...

Good to hear that things have started to settle a little & that you are taking it in stride, & good on you to beat the "computer crowd" Sue.

Maybe the scariest part is the airlines pressuring the FAA on the "no fly" safety ban...
Osu!

Osu Mathieu,
I understand that it is all a state of mind, etc... but does running through a kata in your mind can count as serious training?
I wonder...
Osu!

Anonymous said...

It's known as visualization and it's been used to great effect by all kinds of athletes. Basically you program the mind to act in a certain way: the more you think about it and run through it in your mind the better you'll become at it (whether it'd be running track, walking a kata or beating an opponent in the ring) since you're strengthening neural pathways and speeding up reaction-time. It's still only an add-on to physical training of course but it definately works. In a compitative enviroment it greatly helps in maintaining confidence and increase effectiveness.

Zara

Felicia said...

Lovin' your attitude, Sue - although I wish you were home, too. Absolutely what your doing counts as training, IMHO! As my sensei says - "For the mind that wishes to learn and improve, anywhere is a dojo."

Glad you guys are comfortable :-)

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