Katherine earned her white-yellow belt last night. For our dojo (the system varies between dojos, even with Shotokan karate or the various organizations folks flock into), that's 9b kyu, which is still beginner, but not an utter n00b (which is not a traditional karate ranking).
That puts her a half-pip above me, of course, still laboring under a white belt. Effectively, our dojo only uses the yellow stripe for kids, both as something they can earn (with some effort), and to distinguish between kids who really don't know nuthin' (and don't have the maturity to pick it up quickly) and those who've proven they can do the basic moves. The kata she'll be working on now is essentially the one I've been working on -- Heian Shodan -- rather than the most basic Taikyoku Shodan, so we can help each other with that. It also means, I think, that I'll pull back ahead of Katherine when I test (assuming I pass) at the end of May. Effectively, she started before me, but she had an extra rank to get through. We'll see.
In the meantime, she was Pleased as Punch to get her new belt, and we were very proud of her, up to letting her choose where to go for dinner after and not batting more than an eyelash or two when she chose Chuck E. Cheese (shudder).
Good job, Kitten!
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Congratulations, Kitten, from both of us. :-):-)
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