Due to the low temperatures the surrounding earth and water were frozen, however the sunlight made the yesterdays’ seminar special, where the members of Bujinkan Macedonia for the fifth time practiced the techniques for winter survival in the wilderness.
As every year, we repeated what we’ve learned, because it’s the only way to preserve the knowledge, and at the same time we introduced and practiced new techniques, that drastically increase the chances of winter survival in harsh conditions.
The students thought that the building of the shelter, known as „the chest“, was especially interesting, and orienting in the surroundings, as well as the new ways of starting a fire and preparing food attracted great attention.
At the end of the one-day training, some of the participants shared their impressions:
Marko Opachikj – „Every night before a seminar, the excitement and desire is what keeps me awake late into the night, thinking how will tomorrow go, what else new is there to learn, how will I manage in a given situation, what will the weather be like etc. It was the same this time. Firstly, because it is my jubilee – fifth in a row winter survival, and also, because I knew that we were going to learn how to build a new type of shelter.
Based on my experience from the previous years, I could only imagine what it would look like, but my depiction wasn’t even nearly as good as the so called „chest“. Very interesting and skillful way of building, by filling the side walls, as well as the roof. What makes is interesting, is that every year we repeat what we already know from the previous years, but at the same time we learn something new. This year we learned about the differences of survival in deciduous and evergreen forests, other ways of lighting a fire, preparing food, protecting the limbs from freezing, orienting in the surroundings, the dangers of dehydration, and how to keep the fire lit throughout the night.
All this was intertwined with the peoples’ smiles that participated in the seminar, and the sun that was peeking through the leaves of the big trees.“
Mihail Drakalski – „Yesterday was my fourth winter ninja training and I can say that even though every year we learn something new, this one there were a lot of differences, as in the type of the shelter, the techniques of setting up a fire, preparing the food, orienting etc. This is one of my favorite seminars and in my opinion everyone should take part at least once to be assured in it. A great thanks to sensei, and to the other participants that were helping me constantly in the completion of the tasks.“
Sanja Simonova – „Yesterdays’ training had a great working atmosphere, and every minute was used to its maximum and filled with much love and dedication to the tasks that we got. I learned many new things, and at the same time I gained confidence in what we already had learned in previous outdoor seminars. Who seeks shall find. If you seek with faith and love in your heart, what you’re after – is after you at the same time. Even when we were searching for dry branches, wet leaves, lilies, or stems. This was a great seminar, we will see each other on the next in February dedicated to haragei. And, at the end, one question: what is better that a one-day outdoor seminar? Well – a two-day outdoor seminar!“