RAMMSTEIN!

This last weekend saw bf and I bombing it up to Birmingham in order to see Rammstein at the LG Arena. It never ceases to surprise me how far away Cornwall is from the rest of the world. For any journey one must first calculate the time it should take (time = distance x speed) and then add two hours to the total which is the time it takes to cross from the Cornwall wood-faerie underworld to the real one. However, the journey passed relatively quickly with the help of numerous cans of red bull, crisps, sausage rolls and conversation. It certainly seems like a long time since the last time an ISK convoy braved the big roads with walkie-talkie quizzes.

First stop off in Birmingham was the Bull Ring shopping centre. We arrived in time for the lunch time rush and after receiving our pagers from Ed’s diner (full 50s style, think Grease!) proceeded to explore the numerous floors of glory where we found to our complete surprise, biltong! …which we then stupidly forgot to come back and buy after lunch….:( Anyway, the rest of the shopping centre proved to have both high street fashion and seriously expensive designer clothes. A bit of lycra for two and a half grand anybody? Lunch itself was very good – after the trials of the road, a proper hamburger with fries and onion rings is just what is needed! Add to that a proper 1950s Jukebox giving some good old Shangrilas (Leader of the Pack) and its happy bunnies all round.

A quick drive to the hotel which we’d stayed in before when we were up for the Martial Arts show last year, a shower and a beer gave us time to re cooperate before heading off for the big show at half 6. We certainly weren’t the only ones at the hotel though, every where you looked there were people dressed up in band t-shirts and what was great was the pure diversity – not just your regular metal heads but young and old, men and women all (surprisingly) normal looking! Forgive me for believing the stereotype but I really was pretty surprised, particularly as Deathstars, the supporting act, was pretty screamy. As my mum says, that kind of music is “dark and uses sinster words like….”death” and “destruction”"…yes, okay mum, you can sit down now.

Anyhoo…Deathstars were only on for about 40 minutes which was great cause after getting all the merchandise, we just wanted the main show! The introduction was brilliant – (aside from the sexual “they want your tongues in their loins” line from Deathstars frontman…Whiplasher Bernadotte…apparently that is his name yes) Rammstein band members walked slowly in from one of the side doors into the main arena and then proceeded to the stage along a walkway that lowered from the roof. The first half was full of fireworks, flaming tongues of fire from above and below the stage, plus all the famous antics like the burning cauldron (keyboard player Flake sat inside while leading vocalist Till Lindemann pumped a huge flamer at the cooking pot), Flake crowd surfing in a rubber dingy, and flaming angel wings in the final song “Engel”. Overall an absolutely amazing gig, we were in the upper block so on seats but everybody stayed standing throughout the show. By the time we got back to the hotel that night we wanted to see them again as soon as possible, so hopefully they’ll announce another tour in the next couple of years!

 

Tang Soo Do update

It’s now been almost three months since I attained my first tag on the red belt (2^nd gup), and the next grading – last one before Dan grade – is probably going to be sometime in June/July. As this will be right at the end of my exam period I’m most likely not going to have very much time to prepare, so nerves are already setting in! For this grading, I’ll be needing four new self defence (same side sleeve grabs), a new set of one-step, two new forms and probably a whole load of nasty jumping spinning techniques for basics. (a grading consists of a physical, about 15-20 minutes of basics which is a show of all the techniques you perform in class, the syllabus stuff like one step and self defence, a lot of forms, some sparring, a verbal test of Korean terminology and the theory behind the martial art, and finally, a break of some sorts). So pretty full on! The gradings start off quite light at white belt and then pick up speed and ferocity as the gup grades progress, so by the time you hit red belt it’s pretty hard to get out of bed the next day…god knows what it’ll be like after the Dan grading!

So…with three months to go, I haven’t learnt any of my new one step or self defence yet as the concentration has all been on the forms I’ll need. First up is Chil Sung Sam Roh – third in the series, and a serious jump up from the previous one. The first two Chil Sungs were introductory to a radically different type of form from the Pyung Ahn and Keecho hyungs that are taught up till Red belt. Both the Pyung Ahn and Keecho sets are designed to teach basic techniques, get the student used to the layout of forms in general and essentially allow the student to become more confident in their own performance, flexibility and execution of basic movements. Learning my first ever form is still emblazoned on my memory as being possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done – seems silly now but everyone has to do it, though it’s hard to imagine some of the masters struggling with Keecho hyung Il bu!

Anyway, getting back to Chil Sung – instead of focusing on weh gar ru (sorry, I’m sure I’ve spelt that wrong!) like the traditional forms leading up to chil sung ee roh, the chil sung’s are a lot softer in appearance and focus more on breathing patterns, learning how to use shin chook effectively (tension and relaxation i.e. relax the muscles in punch right up until the point of impact, at which time all muscles tense and then immediately relax), and improving core strength and flexibility as a lot of the stances are longer and always leave a burn deep in the hip/thigh area. I’m really enjoying learning Chil Sung Sam Roh, it introduces a lot of new stances and techniques and requires quite a lot of balance (there’s a couple of jumps and a very low block) so a good challenge. I’ve got the sequence down all right now but still so much to work on!

The second form I need is the third (and last) Chang bong (long stick) form which is seriously hard! After going through it about ten times I’ve just about got the sequence although still quite a few stumbles and pauses that need to be ironed out. The main problem I have is the jumping spinning hook kick which I find impossible to do at the best of times so with a five foot staff in hand as well it’s a bit beyond me at the moment. But that’s what practice is for isn’t it? Hitting yourself as many times as you can with a stick for the fun of it

So once I’ve got those two up to a reasonable standard, I can start worrying about the self defence and one step. Should probably start looking through all the terminology/song of the sip sam seh/history soon too. Lots to do, and that’s on top of a degree, oh dear….what have I got myself in to?

Finally, music of the month has got to be Seether – found them through vidzone an bf’s ps3. The video was Country Song which is pretty brilliant, all about cow boys and a sheriff who’s a teddy bear. Particular songs would be Broken, FMLYHM, Tonight, Pass Slowly and Fake It, although to be honest, all their stuff is good. Otherwise, settle for some good old Lionel Ritchie – Hello and Just Go. 

South Africa

Wow, it’s been a seriously long time since I updated this! So…what’s happened since last October? Well, I’ve been through about three mobile phones, a laptop, a hair drier, had a stressful family Christmas (don’t we all?), a drunken New Years celebration and been on holiday to South Africa. That’s the quick overview over anyhow.

The holiday was pretty amazing I have to say. Two weeks in the sun with parents and boyfriend who had never spent longer than a few hours in mum and dad’s company…sounds like fun! Luckily, it only took a couple of days for most of the anxiety to pass so family meals and long walks in each other’s company wasn’t the awkward turtle everybody feared. Along with really lovely meals out, (if anyone’s ever in the eastern cape near Port Alfred I suggest Stanley’s for its gorgeous view of the Kariega river, or Homewoods on the beach):

stanley’s restaurant.

we spent most of our time wandering along the coastline in search of the ever-illusive dolphins and taking photographs of anything and everything we encountered. The highlight of the trip for me was the day in Addo Elephant Park which was about an hour and a half drive in land (so about a 7 degree rise in temperature and no cool sea breeze to boot). I’d been there before on our last family holiday about four years ago and seen three elephants which were mainly hidden by the bush, but this time we were in luck. It was the hottest part of the day so thank goodness for air con in the car, and we’d spent an hour trundling along the road seeing the occasional kudu, zebra, and buffalo but finally we came to a large water hole where there were about 150-200 elephants all spraying each other with mud and water and generally enjoying the sunshine. Sadly I don’t have any pictures as they’re all on Rob’s computer but I’ll post some soon! It was the most amazing experience, being parked on the side of the road with elephants moving between the cars and within an arm’s reach. Don’t touch though! So many stories about people thinking they’ll be like they are in the zoo and try to feed them an iced bun and end up being trampled. The clue is in the title – WILD animals!

The food was second on the amazing bits list – because of the exchange rate (which is about 12 rand to the pound) everything is a lot cheaper, so the four of us going out for a three course meal plus drinks cost about the same as a domino’s takeaway for two. And because we were by the coast, seafood was the dish of the day, with cape cod, soldier fish, hake and calamari being consumed in vast quantities! All good food for a decent braai as well (bbq for you English folk). Steak was also a staple, and I tried Springbok shank as well which tastes remarkably like lamb. Of course, the real food for me, which I probably ate about 10 kilos of over the course of the fortnight, was biltong. The most amazing thing ever. Basically, it’s raw steak salted and seasoned and hung up to dry for a couple of weeks – you can make it from most things but out there its usually beef, springbok or kudu, with beef being the fattiest.

Just this picture makes me salivate:

Mmmmmm…yummy!

This stuff is wonderful, forget your neatly packaged (disgusting) beef jerky, this is the real stuff. Washed down with fresh sweet pineapples and a Savanah Light, and you’ve got the meal of kings. Those 72 virgins can relax, all I want is biltong when I get to the other side!

Although the holiday does appear to revolve around food and copious amounts of cider, there were lots of other things going on, I promise. On one of our last days, Dad, Rob and I took a couple of kayaks up the river for a three hour battle against the tide and wind. Armed with binoculars (mwa ha ha, Rob did eventually succumb to the family activity of obsessive bird watching), camera and safari hat, we returned with incredibly sore shoulders but happy memories.

The flight home was very long, over 30 hours including an 8 hour stopover in Johannesburg. The plane from Joburg to Paris was mercifully empty meaning we could each sleep across a whole row of seats, though excessive turbulence forced consideration of the sick bag…luckily we managed to hold out! The most wonderful holiday, lots of memories and the happy knowledge that parents and boyfriend wouldn’t kill each other if left alone for a while!