Shorinji Kempo...

... otherwise known as, How I Looked Like an Idiot Trying Martial Arts for the First Time in a Language I Barely Understand.

Hmm, I think that sums up my first day of Shorinji Kempo. It was really interesting but really difficult to follow everything. I joined the club with my new friend Hunter who happens to live in DK House with me and some other U.Va.-ers. We didn't know exactly where we were going so it was really fortuitous that we saw one of the English-speaking members of the club. He led us over to this large group where the senpai introduced himself and asked us where we were from. After that, there were some words in Japanese that I didn't understand (par for the course) and then we all started walking. There were two girls in our group and they went another direction while I kept following the guys. I felt a tinge of something in the back of my mind, but decided to ignore it and nearly followed all of the boys into the boys' locker room.

Oh yeah. Talk about a cultural faux pas.

I have a new term for all of these cultural faux pas that I've been making. They're called a gaijin／外人 smash. So gaijin／外人 is a compound word. Gai／外 is foreign and jin／人 is person, so basically a foreigner. And smash, is well, me smashing all of the cultural rules Japan has to offer.

So after I gaijin／外人 smashed the locker room, I gaijin／外人 smashed the appropriate wardrobe for Kempo club. While everyone else was in their white gi (the little outfits they wear) I was in my bright yellow Soffee shorts and a green shirt. Classic.

But all in all it was fun, if not nerve racking, and despite not being dressed appropriately, I got a compliment, some girl saw me and said I had a great body. So that sealed the deal, I'm definitely going to stick with it. Kempo, you can't shake me.