Holidays

The Eastern is here and everything is closed. I managed to miss morning training yesterday and today so I guess its 4 day weekend from training. After the break there is going to be pretty much two weeks left, which I plan to spend on tatami.

The other day I got to roll with 4 dan black belt. He was about my size and maybe 45-55 years old. Boy could he do jitsu. I played pretty much my top jitsu, ever, because he enabled me to do so but still he managed to control every single movement and position. I don't know how much you can learn from single sparring but I tried to absorb everything.

Overall I'm pretty confident on my development. My self-confidence in jitsu has gone through the roof, and I hope it doesn't turn into ego. I'm humbled everyday, but everyday I find something that I've improved or something new that I've learned.

For me the jitsu goes in cycles. Most of the time I feel like nothing is happening, or even worse I feel like going backwards, and then boom I realize I've gone forward. But for now its been different, the feeling has been more linear development.

I've been writing awful little about life in here. I think after two months in here I've created a routine and my days have been more or less the same. I have learned so much about myself and about Finland. Although I enjoy many things here, I also realize how good things are in Finland.

Carioca lifestyle is very casual and relaxed. Most people here don't like to work, and when they do it's quite half assed. I'm quite relaxed myself, but it has come to annoy me a bit how the lack of responsibility shows in every area of Rio society. Still, things keep rolling here and people seem generally more happy than most places. After all its warm, restaurants are affordable (even local standards) and beach is free.