  Lastnight my housmate accompanied me for my Aikido practice. It was his first try at it. We met at the bus-stop outside the University's train station at around 7pm. From there, we took bus 44 down to Weiley Hill, Village Hall. It was quite a fair distance off, beyond Sainsbury, a big supermarket. Halfway, my senior boarded the bus as well.
Funny thing was, we alighted at the wrong stop (1 stop too soon). It would seem that I've been alighting too soon all the while I've been to training. What a real joke. Anyway, we arrived at the dojo pretty early. We had to lay out the mats together. That evening, Sensei Pauline wanted us to have the mats wiped.
Soon as that was done, we proceeded on to change into our Gi, training wear, for class. David, my housmate, wore loose and comfortable attire (trackpants and tee) for class. Prior to this, he had seen some videos of Aikido, which my Sensei had loaned to me last week. He was impressed by it but still slightly skeptical. That evening, there were 4 students; John, Angelo, me David (in order of seniority). We started warmups and some basic ukemi.
As Sensei took him aside to instruct him, we were told to proceed with backward rolls followed by forward rolls. Later, we switched to shikko, samurai knee-walking. Finishing all these, Sensei wanted us to do ikkyo just for starters. She said that she would continue from where we left off from last week, which were some variations of sankyo. We carried on practising, occasionally swithing between the 3 of us and David to help him out with his rolls. That evening, I got to try out 2 variation of yonkyo.
I've never seen this variation before. In Singapore, I've only seen it a few times. And I remembered that I never managed to get it right. Sensei Pauline went through some simple explanations of how yonkyo works. When she saw that I couldn't wuite grasp the meaning of it, she tried out a small one on me. It caused some discomfort but not much of a pain.
I won't begin to realise that I had gotten a bruise from this technique, until first thing the next day. At the end of class, after we've cleared up the mats and paid our mat fees and thanked Sensei for the night, we had a short chat. I had casually mentioned that Chiba Sensei had a very solemn look in the videos (in which she gave a short laugh) and that Tamura Sensei had very soft techniques (so much so that sometimes I wasn't even able to 'see' what he was doing, the way he did it was really soft and effortless). I went on to mention that Freddy Sensei (in Singapore who had the opportunity to train under Tamura Sensei) had very similar warmups, techniques and teaching style as that of Tamura Sensei. Sensei Pauline also gave some accounts of her personal experience with Tamura Sensei during earlier Aikido camps. It was really enjoyable.
After we all said our goodbyes, Angelo gave me and David a lift down to Selly Oak where we could walk back home easily. While buying kebabs and walking home, I asked David if he enjoyed himself. He was really excited and I could tell that he had thoroughly enjoyed himself that evening. He had also decided that if time and studies permitted him to do so, he would definitely join me next week again. He described his experience to me that he felt Aikido was an abstract form. His initial impressions about it had changed as well.
Pauline Sensei's teachings had managed to leave a deep and lasting impression on him as well. I occasionally forget why I train in Aikido. I found myself bogged down by my own stagnant progress, that I had (in Gary's own words) "reached a plateau in my training". Not the peak, just no further improvements. This was really demoralising for me then. Having been with David that night, he reminded me of how had felt 2 and a half years ago.
He had helped to remind me why I had taken and continued with Aikido. The Sensei's in my short Aikido-life also played a big part in this. Training with beginners isn't really a bad thing. Look for the things which remind us about ourselves. Reflect on these and I think we will realise we've came a certain distance since then. If there are qualities we dislike in what we see in others, maybe we should think if we have, or still retain these qualities.
If we find it irritating or offending in others, imagine how others might feel about us. Look around us and take note of those who have been really tolerant about our bad habits, most important of all, our Sensei(s). 
