Amanda Takes Off...

I can not continue to sleep on the traditional Korean pillow, which is like sleeping on a big, flat rock, so Ali and I ran to the store to pick up a pillow. On the way there, some man in the street sort of stuttered and sputtered at us and handed us each two pieces of gum that he broke of from his blister pack.

That's what you get for being a white woman.

Rob joked that maybe the guy had gotten gum from a GI, but I said that even after adding 10 years to the man to account for the "Koreans look 10 years younger than they are" syndrome, he wasn't old enough.

Speaking of Koreans and age, I gained two years as soon as I got a stamp in my passport.

I headed to the second studio (2 hr sessions) and stumbled about with sign language and 2 or 3 word phrases with the master. We established that I would watch today and come Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I think he might think I'm only coming for 1 hour, I'm not quite sure. He had me try on a dobok (which I'll get on Monday) and since I couldn't fill out the paperwork, I just wrote my phone number, address, birthday and name. As an aside, I feel like Cher or something. I have my last name on my bank account, but my first name is what they use, as well as the video place card, as well as tae kwon do, now. I feel like Cher, Tiffany, or Madonna. Amanda! Superstar!

He had me watch 1 hr of the class. I recognized much of what they were doing although the style was a bit different. At one point they did something along the lines of doing all of the hand related warm ups in a row, quickly, while counting quickly. Um. Hmmm. They did a lot of sprinting, including ladders, as part of warm ups.

I hate sprints. I hate ladders.

The class was made up of 24 people, and they all seemed to be respectful but also enjoying themselves. I like the place. It's funny how many problems in tae kwon do are the same no matter where you are. Shaking, wiggling, bouncing, not stretching far enough, and so on.

On the way home at 9 pm, I took two pictures of one of the streets I walk down on the way to the studio.

I stopped by a market across the street and found pomegranate juice. I was told by a Korean coworker that pomegranates are pretty new in Korea, and thought to be very healthy. I supposed that explains the pomegranate scented dish soap I bought, as well as the pomegranate gum I picked up today.

And most importantly, I found Life's Elixir!!