Splinters and Seminars

The last few weeks have been a rather hectic to say the least.

It started with me showing up to work and getting an e-mail telling me that Watkin Sensei had safely arrived in Calgary. That doesn't sound so bad right? Wrong. Watkin Sensei was not supposed to be in Calgary for one more week...

I was unavailable the night before, when he was refused entry into the United States. He called the house but no one was home. Air Canada gave him some options. Fly from Toronto back to the Philippines, or fly somewhere else. Not knowing if we were even around, and not on vacation or something, he decided to fly to Calgary. He made it there and eventually got a hold of my family. They got a hold of another Club member and sent here to the airport. After 50 hours of travel Watkin Sensei made it to my house. It was then 3:00 am. I cannot express enough gratitude to the friend who went looking for him at the airport for an hour and a half in the middle of the night while knowing she had to work only a few hours later.

So, the next morning when I got to work I figured it out. A few hours later I had the whole story, had talked to Sensei, the guys in the United States (who had been freaked out when he did not arrive as planned), and was now working towards resolution.

For two days we tried to explore every possible avenue to get Sensei into the States. We were unsuccessful. His passport was issued in the UK in 2003, before they made Machine Readable Passports. Evidently in the United States you need a Machine Readable Passport to get in (depending on your customs agent). We did not catch this before because of some ambiguity in the rules for admission into the States, otherwise we would have sorted this out prior to he seminars.

Sensei and I called everyone we could think of. We looked on the Internet. We went to the Airport to speak with a US Border Agent. We went to the Consulate and found out he needed a Vise. We sent a letter to the Consulate Emergency Line, to try and get an appointment to get a Visa. And... we were turned down by the Consulate for that appointment. They said to apply for an appointment online. Sensei did. His appointment is in 8 weeks.

The two Niten Ichi Ryu Seminars in the United Sates were cancelled.

I am still trying to find if we got anything from cancelling our flights in the States, but we will probably get some credit. Insurance does not cover immigration problems.

So, Sensei was here for an extra week. Luckily we had space in the house, and when I asked for help a number of people from the Seminars offered to take Sensei around so he did not have to be stuck at our house all day.

That week passed without further issues... not that anything else could have possibly gone wrong... and the Seminars began.

The Niten Seminar was amazing. We were able to focus on the fundamentals of HNIR and Watkin Sensei generously passed some of his knowledge to us.

On the second day of the Seminar, Taylor Sensei and his family arrived, and on the Third Day of the Seminar Jodo began. At the Calgary Iaido Club we have now been practicing Jodo for one year (since the first Seminar with Taylor Sensei) and were able to learn many things to improve our training. When you only get instruction once a year it is very difficult to get everything just right, but, we try, and Taylor Sensei has pushed us further along that path.

At the end of the Third Day Yamamoto Sensei and his family arrived and the hordes from the Seminars all piled to a Japanese restaurant to greet him. It was good.

More training on the Fourth and final day for Niten and Jodo, followed by a barbecue at our house. By this time I was ready for a quick break, so on the recommendation of Taylor Sensei I let the crew take charge of the barbecue. For most it was a farewell for Watkin Sensei and because of this it was an important event. The event almost went off without any issues, and the issues that did occur need not be discussed on this media.

The next morning all of the Sensei and their respective families and I went to Invermere. It took all day to get there, but we saw about a bazillion sites through the Rockies on a route that Gilham Sensei planned. When we arrived people were pretty tired, but even then a group of us were up pretty late.

During this trip to BC I had to finish my Paper on China that was the last requirement of my Masters Degree. I must thank everyone who supported me in this through various means.

The next two days were spent relaxing. Well... most people were relaxing... I was working on my paper. I did take time however to go with the Taylor's to a movie at the Toby Theatre, the Trestle Bridge, the Whiteswan Hot Springs, and the Pool at Akiskinook.

On the Thursday... whenever that was... we left hella early to get back to Calgary in time to take Watkin Sensei to the airport. The Taylor family was generous enough to stay behind a few hours to do the laundry, and the night before everyone pitched in on the cleaning... except for me... I was writing a paper. On the way home we saw, deer, a fox, and a bear. This was good for Yamamoto Sensei and his family as this is not something they see in Japan.

Home, paper submitted, airport, farewell to Watkin Sensei for another year, G & G's, home, Iaido Seminar. Wow. The Iaido Seminar ran for three days and was an amazing opportunity for us to see the source of our Iaido knowledge. Gilham Sensei has taught us, but it was Yamamoto Sensei who taught him. I learned many things from both Yamamoto and Taylor Sensei. On the final day people who are due, or nearly due, for a grading went up and demonstrated in front of the entire group. I would have failed myself for my Sandan (Third Level Blackbelt) Grading, but I was given invaluable feedback from Yamamoto, Taylor, and Gilham Sensei.

That night we had the Club barbecue. It was a good wrap-up party and farewell to the Sensei. I had finished my Masters, but there was, and is, so much work to do that I was not really able to relax. I guess I have not really relaxed in a year and a halfish so this is not too shocking.

It was at the barbecue that I was given the most gracious and sincere thanks that I have ever received. Seemingly out of the blue Yamamoto Sensei's Wife bowed to me deeper than anyone ever has. I tried to bow lower, but it could not be done. Watkin Sensei warned us about the bows of older women in Japan; they bow, you bow back lower, then they bow back lowerer... Because of the language barrier there were no words exchanged, but words were not needed.

There was a heartfelt goodbye to Yamamoto Sensei and his family and then lots of sitting around chatting with Taylor Sensei and the rest of the Seminar participants.

The next morning the Taylor's packed up and were on their way.

Overall it was another good year of Seminars. We more or less broke even on costs for the Niten and Jodo Seminars, and for the knowledge we gained there is no price.

For pictures see: http://picasaweb.google.ca/alexander.c.cook/CalgaryIaidoClubAnnualSeminars2009?feat=directlink