Both kids did well on their grading. Sage is now a yellow belt with a green tag and River got her green belt with a blue tag.

The grading examiner, on the left, noted that Sage had particularly improved since her last test. The kids’ regular instructor, Master Towndrow, is on the right.

Sage has been doing quite well at TKD as well.  She graded for her yellow tag a few months ago and has really been working hard recently.  Here she is practicing with her friend, Georgia.

Apparently, they did some TKD outside of the workshop as well…

Molly took this amazing picture on the beach at night with a really long exposure.  That’s actually the moon in the sky!

Here’s the TKD crew before they got back on the plane.

River is going for her green tag, the step after yellow belt.

Here is a video of River doing her form called Dan-Gun Tul, which is named after the legendary founder of Korea.

They celebrated by throwing cherry blossoms in the air at our friends’ house. Molly spent the afternoon at her first Brazilian Jujitsu class, which she loved. She did whinge a bit about a sore larynx from an over-enthusiastic choke hold, but I guess that’s par for the course.

Congratulations, we are all so proud of you!

This video features Contra-Mestre Papa-Leguas, who is the head of the Nottingham Cordao de Ouro group, playing Professor Boneco who is based in Brighton. You might notice me watching from the back row. Watch out for the malicia here:

Here is Mestre Poncianinho playing Contra-Mestre Papa-Leguas on Friday night.

Finally, this is Mestre Espirro Mirrim and Mascote, my instructor.

I realized, though, that I’ve be remiss in reporting other TKD news. Molly competed in a tournament recently, taking third place in the TAGB English Championships for sparring.
You rock, Molly!

The event started on Friday night, continued most of the day Saturday, and then finished up on Sunday afternoon. During the grading on Saturday, I played against Mestre Poncianinho for my first capoeira belt. I never seem to play particularly well in those kind of situations, and he took me down fairly hard at one point.

It seemed like the batizado helped solidified the bonds of our local group and it was great to meet people in the other affiliated groups. It felt like a really welcoming community, coming together to sing and play the game of capoeira. The folks who knew what they were doing seemed quite supportive and encouraging to those just beginning.

There were Mestres and Contra-Mestres there from all over the world, including Brasil, Israel, Hungary, and England. The skill these people possess is incredible: an amazing combination of speed, strength, agility, and grace brought to the roda with fun, humour and a bit of trickery.

There were many great workshops over the course of the weekend. My favorite was by Mestre Jogo de Dentro, who focused on the details of a fairly simple sequence in the Angola style. There was also a samba workshop, which was a nice break from the capoeria and complimented the live samba band and capoeira demonstration at the Saturday night party.

It was a great weekend and I’m already looking forward to next year’s batizado!

Photos from the Nottingham Batizado flickr pool by jphastings.

River, Sage and I made a German cake called Donauwellen, which translates as Danube wave, for River’s geography class. I thought the recipe turned out pretty well. It features cherries pressed into the chocolate cake which creates a wavy effect. The custard and chocolate on top really make it quite a treat!

At school, River’s Tedder House team placed second in the netball tournament this week. I wasn’t familiar with netball before, but apparently it is a variant of basketball. She’s also been practicing singing Abba’s Momma Mia for the House Music Competition next Wednesday.

Generally, the transition to school has been going well. River seems to be flourishing; she has made quite a few friends and is enjoying all her activities. She is happy to do her homework and seems to be getting along quite well.

Sage also appears to enjoying herself. She is, perhaps, not quite challenged enough academically. She has claimed several times that she’d like to be doing more work like River, though she does say that she enjoys her breaks when they run wild in the play area.

We’ve had a few moments of exhaustion and grouchiness, but it hasn’t been nearly as intense as I expected it might. The term ends next week and we’re looking forward to having a couple of weeks holiday. Hopefully, the summer term will go as well as this one has so far.

I also finally got around to becoming a member of the local group. The most important implication of this is that I now have an official Cordao de Ouro uniform.

I’m also really excited about the upcoming Batizado in April. The Batizado is a three-day workshop with capoeiristas from all over the world participating.

This video is a great demonstration of what the berimbau sounds like.