Yay for aikido!

After a long week with inventory, it was really nice to get back to the dojo. While warming up, Sensei sat down next Klara and I and asked how many hours we had. aha! I knew I couldn't evade the testing question indefinitely.
I told him I didn't honestly know how many hours I had. He grinned and said he'd be counting up my time, reminding me testing was in August. O_o

It was a fun class tonight.

Shomenuchi//

iriminage
W/New guy--Joshua. Probably his second week in class, but he seemed to pick up rather quickly. (from my limited perspective) I had to remind him a few times to "swing up!" so as not to clothesline me. O_o Sensei reminded him to keep me close on the tenkan. He watched in a little bemusement as my partner struggled with that. I didn't get any correction, though my iriminage is usually pretty scary...lol

kotegaeshi (ura)
Same partner. Him being larger than me made the tenkan difficult, but I'm still improving there, I think. The swing up and then pivot while cutting down was a little difficult as well. For some reason I couldn't get my timing right and really take his balance. I'd like to attribute part of that to fatigue, but I know better. hehe My partner had a hard time with the turnover and nikkyo pin. A couple of times he really wrenched my elbow. I caught Sensei watching us, and I gave him a pleading look "please come show him how to do this!" I couldn't explain it very well. Sensei watched a couple more times and then finally came over after I had tried my best to explain while face down on the mat. :) I think Sensei gets a kick out of me working with beginners. I'm still really unsure about offering much beyond where to step...etc...

kokyunage
again, same partner. Nage swings both arms up, pivots then steps back. The outside arm extends uke's arm out while the other acts as a lever underneath their arm. Slide forward the "pour out the cup of water"-- as Sensei likes to say.

Another kokyunage.
Same partner. Uke strikes and nage slides to the inside, atemi while cutting down on their forward arm then turn your hips sending uke into a forward roll.

Sensei then switched focus to jo waza. Yay for the jo! :)

katatetori jo waza//

Shihonage (omote/ura)
W/non-kyu. One of these days I'll get his name right. O_o For some reason, shihonage is so much easier with the jo. I actually like it! lol

Ikkyo (omote/ura)
Same partner. This was difficult with the jo. You have to make a transition with your grip on the jo to uke's arm that just feels akward. We both had a hard time.. no Sensei intervention there... grrr

nikkyo kokyunage. (FUN!)
Swing out while sliding off the line, cut down with the jo then unwind uke's arm, bringing them to stand. Swing up and then cut down into a forward roll. We actually managed this one pretty well. I had a hard time finding nikkyo, but it wasn't as akward as it is without the jo. hehe

Kokyudosa
W/new guy (4 classes) He was trying to muscle his way through kokyudosa, and I told him to relax.. lol I can't count the number of times I've been told that-- it seems rather funny that I'm saying it to other people now. :)

Sensei ended class about 20 minutes early. (we didn't break) All in all, good class.

Time to shower. :)
Liz