"When I was young I set out to change the world.
When I grew older I perceived that this was too ambitious,
so I set out to change my state.
This too, I realized as I grew older, was too ambitious,
so I set out to change my town.
When I realized that I could not do even this, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man I know that I should have started by changing myself.
If I had started with myself, maybe then I would have succeeded
in changing my family, the town, or even the state-
and who knows, maybe the world."
(unknown)

March 16, 2010

Realizing what I don't know..

..got to remember my new experience, it was a HAPPY weekend trip to Seoul, for two days Aikido Seminar, and a party! My friendly Aikido sensei and cute senpai and I used 'creative' combination of the languages we learned before, mixing English and Japanese vocabulary with Korean grammar structure and vice versa, for optimum conversation, (though in kind of amusing way) which sometimes burst into laughter. Never have realized that it works (sort of).. During the training (seminar) and party, I felt so great to meet people (of various backgrounds) who were willing to communicate at least, even though language was an obvious unavoidable barrier. The Aikido training  seminar was in Japanese and Korean, Oh, both languages I'm still learning yet not keen at.. Luckily, in Aikido, students need primarily the sensitivity to different forces or the feeling, rather than listening, therefore, still managed to learn something valuable. Nevertheless, through the special training, I realized I still stuck at the understanding and the how-to of a basic principle of this Martial Art - 'use no extra strength' and 'be relax', which I thought have been (sort of) knowing it.. well, apparently, will have to really figure it out~  

Aikido in Korea
"Play-boy"-like.. haha~