Tuesday, September 21, 2010

You know when something seems like a good idea at the time?

Like finishing a power-boxing class and deciding to stick around afterwards and try out Capoeira…

This is what its supposed to look like:

Me? Not so much.

Although I desperately want to learn to do cartwheels again, but I told them I’d only attempt handstands and walking on my hands if we were practising somewhere squishy. And I’m in a significant amount of pain today so I’m guessing it’s good for you… although I’m sure it’s not as much pain as the terrified old lady who was repeatedly kicked in the head…

In other news: I have officially bought a dress, but might have to go and swap it because I think it’s too big (and this makes the neckline somewhat inappropriate). CG took me shopping and it was much easier to make decisions, plus she has magic powers (if she is there everything you touch is on sale, it’s WEIRD).

And P1 took me to the cricket on Sunday (my first real live sports event) and I had a blast! I’m so glad my first sports thing was for a game I actually understand. On the downside I have a farmer-tan, but avoided bad sunburn by liberal reapplications of spf-40 and P1’s gift of a massive white hat (that combined with my sunglasses made me look like I was headed to a day at the races).

The guy he got it from said something like “Try it on darling, oh yes you look like a queen, quite fabulous, let me get my camera, we must get some shots of this!” which for a side-of road hawker was enough to keep me entertained for most of the walk to the stadium.

8 comments:

po said...

Awwwww I loved capoeira so much, it was my ideal sport! It screwed my back up so badly I had to mostly lie down for two years and still suffer pain, but I am naturally skew so it is not really the sports fault. I miss it. I don't miss the kind of weird religious cult aspect of it though, it was a bit spooky how loyal you were supposed to be to your group, and how training with another group was some kind of betrayal.

Tamara said...

I used to see people doing capoereira in Camps Bay or even at varsity. It always looked like fun, but as Po says - people took it really seriously.

Glad you enjoyed the cricket. I'll never understand why people watch it, but as long as you had fun ;-)

That hawker sounds awesome. I would have loved to get him on camera ;-)

EEbEE said...

caporisomething looks interesting. is it rehearsed or improv?

Kath Lockett said...

Crikey! Give me a floppy white hat, a comfy seat and a cool drink any day!

Anonymous said...

Capoeira, i really like the acrobatics in it. it's kind of the martial art you would expect a gymnast to practice. it looks like if you can figure out the sweep and the jumping round house, you'd get like 75% of what's done in the video...well, minus the "swooshy" sound effects, that's just not humanly possible.

i was kicked in the face numerous times when i was about 16. was i the old lady you were referring to?

Helen said...

Po: Wow, I hadn't heard of it before a few month ago, but it is a lot of fun! I'm gueing your gymnastics background helped a bit?

Tamara: I wish I had a camera then too! Cricket i aweome, you must give it a try one day - after all if I can sit through (and generally enjoy) rugby these days then anything is possible!

EEbEE: the step individually are choreographed sort-of-ish, but the order you do them in and stuff is improvised. I think. I only learned 2 kicks so it wasn't all that tricky ;)

Kath: well then you'd love our cricket game, tons of icy liquids, big hat and relatively comfy eats. Just in full sun on the. hottest. day. ever! (and without a direct line of sight to the cheerleaders, which according to the mostly male group, was not good)

eidos: I think swoosshing is possible, with enough practice. The old lady was the mother of one of the other participant, who had been dragged along by her kid. She pent a large part of the evening huddled on the floor in the foetal position while one of the advanced students tried really hard to help her participate but kept kicking her by mistake.

Anonymous said...

How have you never been to cricket before?! Atrocious!!!

Sarah xx

Unknown said...

I loved capoeira,i think it is doing for a fun