Kenpo and the Weihnachtsmarkt

Marc Sigle invited me over to Germany with a visit to their Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt) in Esslingen on the schedule. Esslingen is an old town and much of the area has been preserved as it has been for hundreds of years. They recreate the market of the Middle Ages, complete with torches, food, drink and people dressed in character. Pretty cool. It's reputed to be one of the best of its kind in Germany.
   Marc picked me up at the airport and it was snowing, as it did most of the weekend. That was a switch from the Texas weather I'd left, where it was almost 80 degrees and sunny. We met up with his wife, Isabelle and his student, Lenny and had lunch at the market.
  Over the weekend I taught two children's classes, two technique classes (one on some knife defense and another on extensions), an in-depth basics class, one class on Short Two, another on Long Three and another two on the Two Man Set. That one was very well-received and I had Tommy Kozitzky and Marc assist. We had a special black belt class on Form Five, too.
   Phil Buck was down from England, he's a Gary Ellis black belt. Phil writes horror and his books are available on Amazon.
  Tommy Kozitzky and Claudia Neumann came down from Dusseldorf, too. Claudia has been instrumental in producing the German translation of my book on the base forms, Kenpo Karate 201. The weekend was the initial debut of the book, the first kenpo book in German. That was pretty special.
  As always, the food was good, the people were great and I got to work on my German some more.
We have sets dates for 2013, in April and November. Steve White will join me in the April trip.
  Thanks to Marc and everyone who participated!

Seminars in Germany

 I was at Marc Sigle's Bushido ES studio in Esslingen, Germany. This print on the left was given to me by Claudia Neumann and Thomas Kozitsky. They had come back from India just a day or so before coming down from Dusseldorf for the seminars. They got this and the hand-carved block below in Nepal and presented it to me. Marc got one of the prints, too. Pretty cool.The escrima stick was burned with a dragon and tiger by Kirsten Steineke. Her husband, Lenny, has been training at Marc's and is closing in on black. Kirsten jumped in the seminars Saturday and I believe I saw her from the corner of my eye throwing an almost vertical side-kick. Thanks to all of them.

This flyer was done by Lenny and the back was signed by the participants. It translates as "Thanks very much for the great lessons". Phil Buck was down from England and it was good to see him. He and the rest got along quite well, judging from the laughter and those dragging in on Sunday morning. The subjects I covered included some extensions, tai chi applications, forms, basics, technique analysis and some classes for the kids. The "kinder" gave me some pretty good Texas-style cowboy yells, too.

Saturday night we went out to dinner at our usual place which is situated on a hilltop outside town. It has beautiful views and the sunset is hard to beat. The schnitzel is very good and the company makes the time go too fast.

Horror story

Literally. One of our own, kenpo black belt Phil Buck in England has a second book out. He writes some pretty wierd horror. I've asked him how he sleeps and he says he doesn't. That explains a lot.
www.facebook.com/pages/Phil-Buck-Bestselling-Horror-Writer/277395071398

New article at my site

I have posted an article by England's Phil Buck on Pacific Fighting Arts. It's a quick read on Polynesian arts. You can find it at http://www.leewedlake.com/articles2.asp?articleid=137