Australia Day Training

Well it was Australia Day not long ago, it was a great day. Had lots of fun throughout.

Anyway, I got home from school at about 5pm, and I went out training at aboutttttt 5.45. So I jogged up to the oval, there were lots of men doing work up there.

I began with a quick warm up.

Started with some pullups.

4X5 ring pullups (Close, inside grip)
3X 25 meters lunges
3X10 feet raised pushups
3X5 Pistols each leg
2X20 'bicycle' style sit ups
2X10 Windscreen wiper things

Did the odd muscle up, I find them much easier now, but they were hurting my shoulder, so I stopped at 2.

Then, out of ideas and with sore muscles I decided to re-visit my taekwondo training and I thought, what is the use of being strong, being able to get away, if you can't stand and fight. I'm not going to always be able to use Parkour to get away. There are times when escape is not possible.

So I ran through some drills. I remembered my old training, at the elite classes. We'd run through every kick, without stopping. 10 each leg. so 20 of each kick, no rest.

Now...I'm not as good with my technique as I was so This is how my drills ran;

1X10 each leg: yup chuggi (In English, I do not remember, only In spanish)
1X10 each leg: Dolio Chuggi

REST

1x10 each leg: Side kick
1x10 each leg: Axe kick

REST

Horse stance;
Warmed up my shoulders with a 10 mid punches each hand, 10 head high punches each hand.

Ran through some drills with fore hand jab, back hand jab, from the side, uppercut.
10X forehand jab
10X forehand jab + back hand jab
10X forehand jab + back hand jab + Side
10X forehand jab + back hand jab + Side + uppercut


Then ran through the first pattern three times, working on correct technique, making sure punches were from the hip, right height, making sure I returned to the same spot at the end.



Anyway, buy this time it was around 7pm, so I stretched out, and headed home. All in all a good near-2 hour session. V. happy.

On Saturday, we went into the city for Parkour, started out at a park, did some muscle ups, some other stuff with bars, was very fun. Then went and did some tricks stuff, worked on my backflips, round offs, handstands, palm spins, aerials. Then we randomly bumped into two other guys that apparently did Parkour as well, so they agreed to show us around the city and show us the spots. So off we went, first place was a small spot, small cat to arms, small cat to precision (well, small but it was high, which made it harder than usual), I did my parkour training, they did...Their 'parkour'. It was good. So we walked around, found some more spots. Had good training all around. Lots of walking.
Anyway, we're training parkour more later in the week so that'll be good.


I have training tomorrow at 5am, should be fun, but I should get some rest now.

Eliot OUT.

Interesting............

Interesting things today:

1. I bought a mandolin, and maybe a ukelele soon because they're dirt cheap. But it's in the US so it wont arrive for like a month.

2. I heard multible explosions which I have no idea what they were, they may have been fireworks...but why in the middle of the day =\

3. I laughed at myself ordering a chocolate bar in spanish at a bar.

4. I realised, through and through, I aint in Kansas anymore.

5. A random kid walked into my room and started talking Spanish to me. I told him I didn't speak spanish...and he just kept going...

Day 17 - Excrement Catapult [kills millions]

Thoughts:

Why is it that humans are programmed to be infactuted with things that expel excrement.

Why is it that no matter how many times you utter "no hablo espanol" most people seem to forget within a minute or two.

And why is it that people assume you have a choice to learn the language or not when in my situation.

And on that topic, I'll expand a bit. Almost every person I know keeps telling me to learn spanish quickly! Everytime someone says that to me, I wonder, what is it inside them that makes them thing I'm not trying to? I've been here for two weeks, and they assume I should already speak spanish? Crazy!

So anyway, it's been an up and down week. Again, but that's how it is here, take each day/hour/minute as it comes. School is the most boring thing I've had to go through, ever. So I just sit there listen to much or read my spanish dictionary. Despite it being so boring, it really sucks the energy out of you, realllly.

So I'm missing Australia a lot, and not specifically anything, or anyone, but just familiarity, being somewhere I feel comfortable, somewhere I know the customs and the norm. That's homesickness and culture shock at work. And at the moment, I'd love nothing more than to go home. But, I can't be that weak. People have faced things far worse than this. The worst part about this however is that there is no direction. I have no direction, I'm not working towards anything, there is nothing for me to concentrate on except communication. And that makes it hard, no specific goal but to 'assimilate' I suppose.

But what ever, I'll just have to...yeah, what ever! Take it all in my stride.



Eliot OUT.

Adapt, Improvise and Overcome - Day 12

Finally I got around to taking some pictures!

Well, again it's up and down, up and down here, I've been feeling homesick a lot recently, missing small things from Australia, the people, but I'm feeling good now. I expected to feel like this, I'll get over it so it'll all be good :)



On Language...
Language is the hardest thing about living here, without speaking the language I can't communicate effectively (obviously) which makes it hard to make friends, learn at school, everything. The ahrdest part is when you're trying to communicate with someone else who doesn't speak english, you see them get frustrated, you get frustrated, it's just frustrating! But, it can also be funny! And it's such a rewarding feeling when you understand them. I'm learning a lot and I'm learning fast. I'm starting to be able to pick up words in sentances, so I can tell what they're talking about, the subject, but I can't yet put the whole sentance together and understand what the message is.
Language is also the most tiring thing here, when you have to constantly concentrate one what people are saying (and people talk a lot!) it is very tiring, the nicest thing to do is go home and listen to some australian music with australian accents! Very refreshing!




On Family...
Well, it's different :)
In fact everything about living in this family is a new experience, and that goes past the different culture, now I have to share a room, I have younger siblings, different customs, everything! But they're really friendly, the kids are nice, they try to help me learn spanish, and make fun of the fact that I can't roll my r's very well :P My Mum, Alba, she's so nice, always cooking! But she cooks great food, and she tries to talk to me, we went to the shopping mall together and she talked with me on the way, and I understood almost all of what she was saying! We had a laugh about it all! And my Dad, Javier, he's really nice as well, he talks to me in english which is nice, he tries not to translate too much which is both helpful and frustrating :P It's something he's gotta do though! I've gotta learn! And next week he'll be in the USA so he wont be there to translate for me at all! And he has two beautiful Mustangs, one that I know my Aussie Dad and Pete would LOVE!


On School...
At the moment school is so boring! Because I can't learn anything as I can't understand anything! But we just sit around and chill for a lot of it, talking (often in english :D), laughing, being gang attacked with questions from curious venezuelans about Australia! I think I'll really enjoy class once I can understand what the teachers are saying, because they're interesting subjects. History, Philosophy, Economics, those sorts of things. But of course it's from a different perspecitve, Venezuelan History, Venezuelan economics etc.
School is useful to learn spanish as well, although so many students speak english, or at least a little bit.
But yesterday in Castellano (Literature class) the teacher (a really good teacher) made me read out a description of the assignment and then I had to try and figure out what it meant. So I read it out, which helped with pronunciation, and then I figured out what it said, I got it exactly! A lot of the words are alike in english, so if you just join the dots, you can see the picture! Or at least you can see the relations, for example, a Pen is called a boligrafo, to be hungry is to be hambre, so it is ok. Of course...there are other words like cosquilla which means tickly which look nothing like the English words!
So yes, school is good and bad, but either way it's a new experience and I'm enjoying it!



On Friends...
At the moment I'm sort of being pulled between two groups, one is the 'alternative' group, they're really really friendly, I really like them and they're a bit like my aussie friends, and the other group is more of a 'jock' group, they're nice as well! They're really loud though :P And Vicky, who's in that group, helps me so much with my spanish, she's really friendly. Neither group is better than the other, but once I can understand more I'll probably make a decision and stick more with one group. My old aussie friends are sort of a mix between both, not AS alternative as the group here, and not AS 'jockish' as the other group here.
Yesterday a second guy, Diego, came in, his now in my class. He's from Colombia and he's so awesome. He loves the John Butler Trio (which no one else knows of here)! He likes Jazz and music in General, he seems to be pretty interested in History and politics, he likes Parkour, and yeah, he's just a pretty awesome dude. I'd love to talk with him more. He told me a lot about Colombian history with the FARC and the drug trade, and how it's really something Colombia is trying to solve, because internationally that's how they are seen.
Last weekend, me, David, and David's neighbourhood friends went up to the oval to play some grid iron (american football), that was so much fun! It was funny seeing them trying to explain me the rules and plays in Spanish! But yeah, we had loads of fun, and I scored like half of the touch downs! :D And afterwards we ate fresh lemons from a wild lemon tree growing next to the field. They're a good bunch of guys really.




Anyway, I was going to list a load of things that are different here just for curiosities sake for all you guys reading, but I don't think I will do that, at least not right now. Maybe later if people want me to.

Tonight I'm going to a BBQ/Party thing at a friends house which should be fun, my first party! They're going to try and teach me to dance to reggaeton, which is a very popular type of music here, it's like reggae, sped up, and mixed with R&B, and apparently the lyrics are very dirty and the dancing is like, and I quote, "having sex with clothes" (to which I replied, "awesome!"). Anyway, tonight should be fun!

Hahaha earlier today my Dad, after having just read my facebook, made the comment that everyone was calling me gay! I think he must have been a little worried :P Because homosexuality isn't tolerated all that much here, at least, no where near as much as it is in Australia, so I had a fun time trying to explain that among friends, especially my parkour buddies, we use the term 'gay' just as a slang sorta word, not specifically for homosexuality! Thank god I have a girl friend eh?!



Anyway! Keep watching this space for more updates and for more pictures visit my facebook page here! Missing you all! MWA!

Eliot out.



Oh, p.s. if anyone knows when emily gets home from Natinols, chuck me an email or something and let me know!

Update soon! - Training Update

I've been pretty busy with school, and I haven't updated because I want to wait until I have a couple of photos I need, so keep an eye out! I'll probably do one tomorrow night or something but everything is all good, going well!

Ok, so as for training, I'm not really doing straight parkour, I'm going to be doing more conditioning and fitness work while I'm here, I've been running every day (except yesterday, was my rest day) and strength work most days also. So I should come home tank and fit!

The only worrying thing is my family aren't the healthiest eaters....Like tonight...We had burger king for dinner :( And I can't drink water here! NNNOOOO!!! It tastes like dirt, and I'm pretty sure isn't healthy. I'll try to stomach it...but if it makes me sick...I'll have to put up with nestea or something...Although...I do have water purification tablets...I'll just use those. But seriously, it tastes exactly like dirt.

Development - Day 5

5 days in, much has changed. I am no longer in Caracas, I no longer live in a apartment, I am no longer feeling...Comfortable, I now have 2 brothers and 1 sister and way more.

I was starting to feel 'at home' in Caracas, and I was starting to get along with and talk to Sophie, a German Exchange student. On the other hand, I was tired of the mother who was just another rich snob (there are many here), she wasn't even Venezuelan!

But regardless, I've now moved to Valencia, another major city. I'm in a house here, it is very small, but it is very nice. I share a room with my 16 year old brother.
First thing we did when we got home, myself and David went to see his friends, they are loco! All really nice guys, but crazy...Ironically I felt much safer in Caracas then I do when I am with them!
It was incredibly hard and frustrating for all of us, I couldn't understand them, they couldn't understand me. It was hard. A couple of English speakers came along, which was a huge help, but the others insisted on talking to me in Spanish! I guess I will learn quickly.

So we all hung out for a few hours, I showed them some flips (which they insisted on calling parkour) and taught them a few vaults and such. We went to the movies afterwards, there were 8 of us, in one 5 seated car, no one bothers with seat belts here, but the way people drive? Seatbelts? Cars should be built with roll cages and eject buttons! None the less, we got there alive! For ages we hung out waiting for the movie, still trying to communicate, and being...Relatively successful considering the circumstances. Watched the movie "La platano" or The Marsh, it was a 'scary' movie, but the acting was shocking so it was quite funny.
After, we went to get food, the girls ate but most of us didn't yet, we hung around, by this stage I was absolutely exhausted, physically, but mainly mentally, and just didn't bother talking much, except to the English speakers.

6 of us jumped back in the car and went to get some hamburguesas and Nestea Icetea, which EVERYONE drinks EVERYWHERE. the hamburger was massive, beef, chicken, bacon, egg, lettuce, plain chips (!?!?!), and loads of other stuff. The Nestea tasted like dirt (it doesn't usually, just from this one) and I'm pretty sure something was not right, had wicked travel sickness afterwards. Anyway, went home afterwards, chilled for a bit, then went home with David.

As you can probably tell by the lack of detail, I'm absolutely exhausted, so much has happened since day 2, and probably as much as everyday has happened today.
I'm tired.
I'm going to sleep.
Thus concludes my first day feeling homesick/culture shock.

Impressions - Day 2

Venezuela;

My plane arrived just as the sun came up over all the hills. I walked outside with a guide and we walked to the car. At 6am in the morning, the weather is warm and refreshing (I'd guess 20 degrees).

To my right were mountains covered in Jungle and barrios, houses piled on top of each other, you cannot see where one house starts and the other ends. To my left was the ocean.


We jumped into the seat belt-less car and began the trip to a temporary host family (as my other one is currently holidaying in Mexico) and headed for Caracas. The roads are crazy. There are no lines, no speed limits, no one indicates. I am told there are traffic police, but they are all corrupt, they pull you over? Pay them a little money and you're on your way, this is the norm. Culture is amazing.

We drove past hills, the soil was the richest brown I've ever seen, the growth was beautiful and green, and the weather was clear, but humid.
My guide, Rafael, spoke beautiful English, but with a strong American accent. At age 17 he was an exchange student in Holland. He had interesting insights and stories. I listened to his stories and watch the scenery as we drove on through the hills and approached Caracas.

The city is extraordinary. Downtown, Rafael would tell me, was a mere 20 stories high. Skyscrapers meet barrios. Houses piled on top of houses, their washing hanging from the windows, roof tops collapsed into the house, litter everywhere.
A beautiful mess.
Organised Chaos.



As we drive around the streets graffiti is everywhere, but not the familiar graffiti of home, slander, tags, sometimes art. Here, everything is political. "Vote PSUV" and "Viva Chavez" is tagged across the streets. It is unfamiliar, this extreme patriotism, something I have never seen, I can only compare it to the Cronulla riots. But that was hardly patriotic, just...passionate.

We circled the confusing, chaotic streets searching for the apartment block where a temporary host family lives.

7.am

After circling the streets we pull up outside a small, red brick apartment building. Larger buildings surround us, so much that I can hardly see the extended city and hills. Rafael calls the host family, we woke them up. While the mother is on her way done, Rafael points out the large mountain behind us. "People have written songs and poems about that mountain" he says.

My host mother came down and opened the gate to let us in. "Buen Dia". We said our goodbyes and thank yous to Rafael, and she lead me into the elevator. It is a short ride to her apartment, protected by locked cage doors and barred windows. She led me into a large, stone room. Huge. Granite floors everywhere. Straight to sleep for me. I stayed a sleep until 3pm.



When I woke a Spaniard was on the couch watching TV, and two German exchange students in the kitchen, both spoke English, one guy, one girl. They were sitting with the host mother, she is from India and is married to a Portuguese man, and her daughter, Venezuelan born.
In the one house we had 1 Spaniard, 2 Venezuelans, 2 Germans, 2 Portuguese, and of course 1 Australian. Languages include English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Deutsche, Hindi, and more. Crazy.


We talked, and ate, they were all very kind to me. I talked a lot to the male German Exchange student, he told me about the city, his experiences here, the politics here, lots. But he had to leave that afternoon, to where I don't know, but he was only there temporarily. I would have liked to talk with him more. The father is not here often, he leaves before I wake up, and gets home around 9pm.

Anyway, I'm tired of writing, today I did not do much, but I tasted some new, strange, nice things!

Will keep you all updated.

Hola de Venezuela!

Hello all,

First post from Venezuela! my plane landed at 6amish and it is now 4pmish here, I am very tired and jet lagged, so I wont write much.
It is very beautiful, green, hilly, humid.

Perfect for Parkour!


Chao!