Post- Poland update

The weekend in Poland, both the training and the socials, was quite amazing! And as guests, we were spoiled rotten! It was my first time in the country, and I liked it so much! I now have several new friends, and I've learned much more than I expected. The course itself could in a way be compared to this year's summer school - the program was very basic, and we did the same exercises for quite a while, but instead went through everything very thoroughly. It seems all participants were happy with the course, or if someone isn't, I haven't been told.

The flight back to Helsinki was cancelled, due to technical problems, so we had to stay one night extra in Warsaw, but once we got over the initial irritation this was fine, too. Got one night at a nice hotel just next to the airport and a voucher covering for dinner and breakfast. We went out on town in the evening, to meet up with some other late travelers, and had a beer or five, and lots of fun! And then in the morning a nice, long sleep-in followed by a hot bath and as much hotel breakfast as I could get away with.

One bad thing that came with the course was a damaged knee. I seem to have some kid of an inflammation in my right knee, not sure of the cause but quite possibly it's in the muscle hold in front of the knee. I went to see a doctor soon as I returned home, she wasn't sure of the cause but prescribed me painkillers and sick leave from work. I've been on ibuprofen for 4 days now, also using an anti-inflammatory gel on the knee. So far there's been no major change, just feels slightly better than when it started (in the car, leaving the last session). For this reason, I haven't been training very hard myself this week, not karate and definitely no running, but I've still instructed the beginner's group (twice this week). I miss training properly, and can't wait to go running again! And I'm walking so slow now... The only good part of this is that I'm on sick leave from my work - no way of running up and down stairs with a fucked-up knee. Still have to see what to do about my mother's moving... I hope this will pass soon so that everything can go back to normal!