Norwegian Airlines nightmare!

I spent the past weekend in Amsterdam, having a good time thanks the local friends, but unfortunately I missed an awaited seminar in Stavanger because of a chain of unfortunate events..

“We thank you for your cooperation and understanding, and we apologies for the delay and any inconvenience“

… that is what the captain of my Friday afternoon flight to Oslo by Norwegian Airlines kept repeating from about 15 minutes past the scheduled time of departure until the moment all the passengers were disembarked and taken to the departure hall by buses..

What else could we do besides accepting, trying to smile or joke, and be led around like sheep without any kind of control or power of decision?

My baby is home

After 6 years and a couple of months I could hold again my baby, and it gave me goosebumps:

my dragonfly iaito

For some time we lost contact and even she seemed lost, but then my dear friend Bob found the case and other bits of my Iaido past:

scabbards and iaito kit

Holding her in my hands was fantastic and I can only dream the time I can “dance” with her again… It requires some good weather for going outside.. therefore, being in the Netherlands, lots of prayers!

But she is home, and that is important!

Bohemian kick off!

An Aiki-brother from my time in Stavanger has set out along his predestined path: music at professional level! Already when I met him, his life was a mix of playing, working in music shops, and Aikido.. and he has always worked in intriguing projects, starting now a new one, with a band called Bohem, who is releasing the first album and start an exciting new adventure!

bass on fire

..and images and sounds are already available for a first great taste…

The Caravan Song:

..but this live session gave me goosebumps, maybe because I know the place where it has been recorded or maybe because it reminded me of many nights spent talking about everything, eating, drinking and enjoying music..

Let it Burn (Live studio session):

 

short tough steps before flying on water

 
(Fantastic picture that gave me great vibes by Damian, the Bearded Butler!)

Aikido in Norway.. and more!

Tonight a new Aikido semester is starting, the kind of traveling about every weekend for seminars, my kind of semester!

This weekend I will be in Stavanger for Bachraty sensei, 5.dan, missing unfortunately the fjord part of the semianr that has now become a very good tradition; next weekend it will be Oslo with Kuribayashi sensei, 7.dan, back after a quite successful seminar last year.

About the unrelated not Norwegian part (“..and more”), apparently there is a new Aikido club in the little town where I work, Ijsselstein: Aikido Groene Hart, that has very conveniently a session on Tuesday nights, when I got no class at Aikido Amsterdam. The club is just starting up and I will visit it soon. It might be an extra class, only good for my mind and condition!

 

Back to Stavanger!

No, not moving back, just a long weekend for Aikido of course, and a walk to Prekestolen, long time no do!

All in all a great check to see my condition level: I am in pain for both elbow and knee, so I do not have big hopes to perform at high level on the mats or walk fast on the mountain slope, but it will be a check in preparation of October – Indonesian trip.

Anyway, my practice won’t notice in a seminar rich of very good level people from all over Europe: Marc Bachraty sensei visit to Jushinkan Stavanger dojo has become a fixed appointment in their calendar and several Aikidokas have made the trip more than once for the great practice and atmosphere in the dojo.

For me another great chance to meet old friends, both Aikido ones and not. Another chance to practice after a summer where my knees did not touch much tatami. Another chance to see if the physiotherapy of my elbow has been a little useful or not (I am thinking not lately, in fact I do not think there will be much physio after this seminar). Another chance to see again a little more of Stavanger after some time. And probably enjoy again 🙂

I can say it is another chance also to get back writing on the blog: I did start a few posts dedicated to some of the many amazing teachers I met (all from only my personal point of view of course) and I definitively want to keep on writing, but the summer has flown away with so little practice and so many other things that very little came out here. Also right now I got myself in a very annoying situation related to money, bank and internet.. that I hope to manage to get out without too large losses.. and this does not help..

Anyway, even if the summer is over, winter is coming, for me it is going to be more or less the first summer Aikido practice that I hope will lead me into a good beginning of the autumn, both Aikido wise and mentally.. with the hope to manage to preserve my physical condition until Irie sensei seminar in Indonesia. And then for the week after the seminar, for some travel/vacation in Bali with 2 good friends!

First though a quite long flight via Frankfurt, arrival late night and then get to the dojo, for the first and only night alone, when I will not need the ear plugs! From tomorrow it will be most probably a… completely different music!

 

Hello Stavanger, I’m back..

…even if only briefly!

This weekend I am back for the Aikido seminar with Roberto Martucci, 6.dan, at Jushinkan new dojo.

I left Stavanger April 1st, 2010, directed to China, after 4 years there and lots of life experiences on the work, friend, Aikido, love sides:

Now I will be back, a little more than 4 years after, for one short weekend dedicated (almost) entirely to Aikido. With the flight I could get there will not be time for anything else..

Funny that I will travel through Frankfurt airport: in the past months I have been quite a few times in Frankfurt, but it is ages I do not pass by the airport!! Hope in no delays (today and Sunday), that the Germans will be… Germans!!

Play Rock Music Festival

Friday night I went to a local rock music festival, and it was great!!

Really missing live music here in Hefei and this was a very good experience!

The main reason I went yesterday was for one band I saw many years ago.. in Stavanger!! The SUBS, punk from Beijing. But they changed a lot the line-up (even a laowai drummer, not bad at all) and the sound as well, less punk, more metal. I do wonder if the singer was the same (some face resemblance) but the energy she put on the stage was the same. The show was indeed enjoyable:

Just before SUBS, a nice energetic trio opened the evening on the big stage, 谢天笑 “Xiè tiānxiào”:

SUBS were then followed by a singer, 郝云 “Hǎo yún”, and his band with several different instruments, that in some ways reminded of a Norwegian singer called Lillebjørn Nilsen:

The way they alternated different music styles was quite funny, especially when it came the last band/singer of the evening, 崔健 “Cuī jiàn”. In my mind, SUBS would have been perfect to warm up the public before 崔健, definitively not the sort of ballads/folk music of 郝云!!

Anyway, hope you’ll also enjoy 崔健: