{"id":122,"date":"2010-08-16T18:51:22","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T18:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/?p=122"},"modified":"2010-08-17T03:34:22","modified_gmt":"2010-08-17T03:34:22","slug":"where-to-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/?p=122","title":{"rendered":"Where to Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Disappeared for a little while as I was in KGBV and didn’t have internet access.\u00a0 Came back to Forbesgunge for a little shopping, ATMing, and blog updating.<\/div>\n
I have settled into a routine for the most part at KGBV, or as much of a routine as is possible.\u00a0\u00a0Everyday there are new adjustments, big and small.\u00a0\u00a0A normal karate class, for example, would be able to handle the age range of\u00a010 to 16, and varying\u00a0skill levels between white belt and green belt.\u00a0\u00a0Now, let’s teach class on dirt in a schoolyard where other kids are playing.\u00a0 So adjust to doing calisthenics that only require standing, and face the girls in the opposite direction of the playground.\u00a0 And so class is outside in\u00a0the schoolyard where broken brick and rock stick up.\u00a0 Make the adjustment to scan area before class and clear what can be cleared.\u00a0 An occasional monsoon rain, which\u00a0will cut short or cancel class?\u00a0\u00a0Adjust, and teach class on an 8′ x 8′ concrete porch which is semi-covered – and 10 girls are standing there, getting wet and desperately wanting you to watch their mawashi-gaeri.\u00a0\u00a0Add that the previous teacher was teaching some kind of combination of Hapkido and Shotokan, and maybe some Wushu, so that familiar Japanese karate terms are as mysterious to the ladies as my English is.\u00a0 Adjust by using lots of sign language and being basic, basic, basic.\u00a0 If\u00a0some of the students are of the Muslim faith and are now fasting for 30 days\u00a0for Ramadan, and\u00a0have to pray at 2\u00a0o’clock in the morning, making\u00a0most of those students tired and weak, concentrate on simple drills, like stand-in-place reaction games.\u00a0 If\u00a0only four girls show up for class,\u00a0but 15 minutes later 10 more girls show up who are now intrigued with what is being taught, finish up quickly with the four, and think up something new to incorporate the new arrivals.\u00a0 If the school has other events going on that sometimes conflict with karate class, and we’re asked to stop when we were just getting started, continue in small groups throughout the evening wherever possible:\u00a0 mess hall, rooftop, hallways.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0these young ladies come from some seriously challenging family and community situations which give them some emotional baggage, and all my lovely plans for\u00a0a great karate class\u00a0evaporate like puddles under an Indian sun, adjust and show kindness and understanding while modelling discipline and respect.<\/div>\n
This is only the tip of the iceberg in my experience here; so much happens and so fast.\u00a0\u00a0But I am glad for the foundation that I’ve had at my karate school back home in preparing me for these challenges, and am appreciative of my new experience in\u00a0forcing me to really reach and extend in my patience, my creativity, my understanding, my compassion.<\/div>\n
And through it all, at the end of the day,\u00a0I just have to marvel at\u00a0the universal experience that is\u00a0Karate.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disappeared for a little while as I was in KGBV and didn’t have internet access.\u00a0 Came back to Forbesgunge for a little shopping, ATMing, and blog updating. I have settled into a routine for the most part at KGBV, or as much of a routine as is possible.\u00a0\u00a0Everyday there are new adjustments, big and small.\u00a0\u00a0A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.greentaraproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}