I can still remember vividly the night we started to learn kata 型. The date was October 13, 1964. Why I can remember so clearly?

I can remember because I just double-checked with the HK Observatory records. That day was very special, weatherwise.

Typhoon Dot was visiting HK in the early morning of October 13, 1964 and No. 10 typhoon signal (the highest signal) was hoisted. All traffic stopped but by late afternoon the typhoon left HK and traffic resumed to normal.

http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/no10/dot.htm

That night only 5 students showed up for training. Harada sensei was very happy to see us and decided to award these die-hards by teaching us our very first kata, Saifa 碎破.

Normally, the first kata would not be Saifa, but Harada sensei made an exception. He did it three times slowly and then asked us to try to do it on our own. He was testing our memory and aptitude. All of us made it pass the middle of the kata. Sensei was very pleased indeed.