Clear Lake Iaido

We in Clear lake had a wonderful time this weekend with Neil, Doug, and John Smith from Baton Rouge, and Jack Bieler from Denton. John is a brand new student who had started training under Neil and Doug. Friday night our visitors from Louisiana arrived at my house and we stayed up 'til 2 AM visiting and watching the video of last year's San Antonio Sword Show demos. The next morning we rose early to go to the Japan Festival with Joe and Paul. Instead of two stages there was only one stage on which both martial arts and performing arts were scheduled. There were five martial arts slots three of which were filled by the Houston Budokan, the owner of which was responsible for scheduling all martial arts demos at the festival. The other two slots went to an Aikido group, and a Karate group. I will try again to get us on the schedule for next year's festival. We greatly enjoyed strolling about the Japanese Tea Garden, and watching the Chado demonstration. Later that night we went out to eat and returned to the house to talk, and watch a video until 2 AM. We got up early (again) to make a Buddhist service at the dojo where we learned about Tibetan Buddhism. Afterwards Joe and Paul joined us and we practiced until Jack arrived. Jack worked with everyone there on Seiza and Batto Ho until his family arrived and he had to depart back to Denton. We all gained a lot from his inspiring instruction, and we gave him a small gift as a token of our appreciation of his time and effort.

We all had a good time and hope to do this again (except maybe get more sleep).

--Emily
Clear Lake Iaido

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