community service: check

Keiko Fukud

I officially decided my Keystone presentation date. May 21, 8:50 AM. Wow, just writing that makes
me nervous. I never thought this day would come. Thankfully though I have mapped out a very careful plan so that hopefully everything will be absolutely complete by Sunday night (except for my presentation of course).

Let me bring you up to date on what I have been doing. In March I shared a ton of back and forth emails with Yudit, the woman I did community service with. With arranged when we would meet and on April 7th I helped her lead a workshop at Soko Joshi Women's Judo Club (1622 Castro St
San Francisco). Upon request, I arrived at the club at 11:30AM, and until our workshop which was at 3:00PM, the owner of the Judo club, the head Judo instructor/ sensei, Yudit and I sat in the folding chairs facing the studio. We talked about the previous sensei Keiko Fukuda who had just passed away two months prior to our gathering, we talked about the ancient sport of Judo and all different types of martial arts, we exchanged self-defense tips and techniques, and shared and listened to stories of rape and attacks. The experience was actually incredibly enlightening and enjoyable. I had been used to learning primarily about cardio kickboxing and not as much about the martial arts component. Sitting in this Judo club I was learning all about the self-defense component and even practicing different moves that would be used to protect myself, instead of what I was used to doing, which was combinations that gave me fitness benefits.

Judo Club where we did the workshop

By the time the class was supposed to start, I was ready. I had met Yudit, we had spent the last 4 hours together and now we could run through what we had practiced before the group arrived. The class went well, it was nerve racking because everyone who was there came to support me, and I knew them all and had personally emailed them and called them telling them to come to this event and now it was actually happening. Everyone seemed very into what we were teaching though (which was mostly self-defense moves, teaching the power of our voice in the case of an attack and learning how to maneuver our way though an unwanted confrontation. When the course ended at 5, I was so relieved. I had fulfilled my commitment of arranging a group to come take Yudit's workshop, I had worked as her assistant in the actual class and now it was over and the pressure was off.

The people at the workshop were talking about Yudit and her organization El Halev for many days after the event. I am still currently in contact with Yudit, providing her with contact info for different people in the Bay Area interested in her work, while I am also writing her a positive review of her teachings that she can use for advertising purposes. I am really happy that all worked out.