Thursday, April 7, 2011

Man. I do not look cute in my Judo gi

Why didn't someone tell me I look like a potato in my gi? Here I'm helping a new guy (new to Judo, not martial arts) with learning a hold, and am bridging for my life. Did I get away? Natuurlik.
Here we're doing some Nage-waza (grappling) practice and this black belt (his name, as w/many people in Judo, is a mystery) has taught me a lot. Taught me to not trust him, as he chats to me to distract me or make me laugh while we're working. These are really great people at the club- I can't stress that enough.
The below picture on the right isn't just a terrible picture of me, it's the tail-end (get it?) of me doing a backwards roll while my arm is in an arm-bar (which is cool).

Below is at the beginning of class. It was a rare "light" day in which we didn't start things off with 50 minutes of heart thumping cardio. The club meets off campus at a gym facility off-campus, and while the University recognizes the Maties (us students) attend, it's mostly people from the community in the class (this is good). As you can see, the gym didn't used to be a gym. This building used to be a ballroom or something. After practice, which is twice a week, we end the hour and half practice by putting the mat away, heavy square by heavy square. Another part of life here, multi-function. It's not practical to have space reserved for just one club. The below right picture is of me with a fellow in a hold (I own his arms with my arm & a leg) and he was trying to get out of it by rolling me to my left. Unfortunately that just meant he ended up on his own neck, thus ending the waza with him choking himself.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I biked up to Jonkershoek. Readers may recall my having biked this before- a 7km trip largely up-hill. I made much better time this go around, partly due to my new adult sized bike. Once we got there we then entered JH and biked that 5km rock/sand jeep trail.
It was the most awful bike ride of my life-- until my gear situation got sorted out; then it was just really challenging. At the farthest end of the reserve we stopped and walked up a river a bit until we found a nice spot to swim (well, submerge) and make coffee. I'm posting a picture of Robert here to show the background. See, my picture (below) that had the background also has a wet shirt hanging in the frame. There were crabs in the river- lots, it turned out, all gunning for butt-cheeks and coffee grinds. Luckily, I'm rarely without a net these days and was able to catch and bother one. I like this guy, I think he's my spirit animal.
Once done, we biked the 5km back to the park reserve entrance then the 7km home. Next on the list is to do that all again on my own, and to then do some hiking to the waterfalls (see below).

Now, just this past weekend, I went back to JH and this time, hike ALL the way to the top.
I'm told it's the "real" 2nd waterfall, not the one casually referred to as the 2nd waterfall. To reach it, you have to climb up rock walls, with only your toe in a nook, or grabbing onto a tree and swinging from surface to surface.
In pictures like this, it's not the Fg=Gm1m2/r^2 that worries me, it's the p=mv. I can't wait to do it again, but it was definitely the scariest hike I've done so far.
When you finally get to the top, you're in a large, shallow body of water littered with small to large boulders and are still surrounded by immense rock walls, and actually, there's no waterfall. In another month or so when winter starts, so too will the rain, and it'll be a proper waterfall that I'm told will knock you on your ass as it freezes you solid. The water itself, I was pleased to find, is filled with varying species of tadpoles/frogs. They're fast though, and there are lots of places to hide. I did persevere.
Sadly, we were only able to spend about 10 minutes there, as the park gates closed shortly and we still had to hike all the way back. We ended up getting back to the gate at about 18:30, and had to wait for someone to drive up from town to let us out. Oops.
This below picture is just great, as it actually shows a bit, the perspective of the situation here in a way pictures usually don't.
This is a video upon arrival at the top. If you have a laptop, flip it -90 degrees. If you have a desktop, turn your head 90 degrees.

I also spent an afternoon in Newlands Forest, near Cape Town. It's a pop-up forest, and forests are very rare in this part of Africa, so it was great to see. Lots of fungi/moss and tall overhanging trees. Our tourguide was- no joke- a 90 something year old 40-year volunteer named "Pixie Littlewort." Our professor remarked, upon her forgetting a species name, that she had likely forgotten more than we'd ever learn. The forest exists in this fynbos region due to boulders that had settled here ages ago. They cause such a disturbance to the waterflow in the area, that the soil/water compositions are drastically different, and a forests can be supported. There was actual shade and moist soil- very neat to see, coming from Minnesota.
Also, I went to a wetland that for some reason, had a tame porcupine that stole my heart. They have no underlayer of fur, so it's just bare wrinkly skin and quills. He loved to be scratched all over. Thank you childhood being around them at zoos, so I knew how to handle him. No pictures though, as I had no idea he'd be there.

Last week I rented a car and took a mini road trip to Worcester (pronounced more like "Vooster") to stay a night with a
friend. Check out my room- though I should have taken it before I took stuff out of my bag. The whole house was very "African" in that everywhere you turned there was a dog running around and an open door leading to a beautiful sitting area. I FINALLY got some cuddly cat time- Tinkerbell, their tail-less cat slept on my lap for a long time. I needed that badly. Plus, there was a tree in the back yard swarming with insects (I've not yet reached my 150 for entomology). Yes, that's a mosquito net, and God no, it's not just for decoration. No screens on windows here in SA, just bars.
Funny thing about driving around. You go through tunnels that seem to be miles long as you go through mountains, and when you see hitch hikers up ahead, they often turn out to be baboons.
Anyway. We then did some beach camping-- yes, the beach is lined with barbed wire fence, as TIA then went to Crystal Pools again. I didn't take that last picture of dried seaweed, but hell, it was on my camera, so I can post it.
While swimming in the chilly water, I was not only almost sucked out to sea on several occasions, but also stung by a jellyfish. Not sure what kind, but now, 3 weeks later, I still have markings on my finger (yes, it hurt).

I've done several hikes with make-shift steps, but I'll NEVER like them.
I've got to start doing these more regularly again- these are monster blogs. Sorry, folks.

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