Amanda Takes Off...

I went to tae kwon do four nights this week. It feels fantastic. Maybe, just maybe, I'll add Tuesday to my schedule.

Last night we went running. Actually, I got to choose between running or staying and doing poomse. I chose to run because tae geuk oh chang is killing me. Master called me before class and we held a phone conversation in Korean about bringing my running shoes. It was only a half dozen or so vocabulary words, but it was my first Korean conversation where I couldn't use body language or facial expressions.

Tonight we did a lot of kicking drills and then played soccer (if it's Thursday, it's soccer day!). My team won our soccer games 3-to-1.

Some guy I've never seen before came during the break and Master starting fake pointing a gun at me. I was confused until I heard "Air Force." The guy is joining the Air Force on Monday. During soccer, Master and I talked about his own military service (Special Forces Army) and made fun of the 12 year old girl who cries a lot. We were teasing her and she started those crocodile tears again and Master was having fun with her. He told me she won first place in a tae kwon do competition. She is good.

During the break some of the boys were acting up and I asked Master if I could get some pictures of them. He said sure, so I started snapping away.

This is Cocky Guy storming across the floor to do something or other.

Mostly we have photos of Cocky Guy and his buddies doing some twisted handstands. I kept yelling, "Han beon do!" (one more time) and they just looked at me. "Awww, Amanda!"

We also have Master playing jacks with Gold Medal Girl.

One of the sweetheart boys who's often on my soccer team started jumping in front of me, "Amanda, Amanda, OK!" When I showed him that picture he said, "Ghost!"

I managed to have a stilted, stunted "conversation" with Master about Saturday. We're meeting at the studio at 6 am to go hiking and we're going to have Korean food afterwards. I'm excited, he's concerned that I'm going to miss my Korean language class. I tried to tell him not to worry.

He also told me about a tournament in October for black belts; I think I'll go to that, too. I really appreciate that he makes sure I understand what's going on (clarifying Saturdays, demonstrating things to make sure I know what we're doing, calling me about running shoes). He's very kind, and he's a good teacher, too.

All three of my Masters have been Korean (two in the States, of course) and all three have been great. I sometimes hear horror stories about unsafe studios with poorly trained teachers. I've never experienced that.

My first Master, Grand Master Kim (9th degree, WTF forms*), was at Normandale Community College, doing a two-hour class once a week (1997-1998). One day he was giving us general self-defense tips. He said, "Smile. If you smile, no one ask you pay more taxes." Someone, referring to a then-current news story about a woman being attacked in a public bathroom, asked how to defend yourself with your pants down. He looked very confused for a moment and then reached up to an imaginary person, yanked his head down and said, "Make him smell toilet. Ewww." It was technically a self-defense class, and a lot of the emphasis was on getting out of holds as well as basic techniques, punches, and kicks. An interesting thing about that class is that it was about 40 people and almost entirely women. I didn't attend his actual studio.

My second Master, Grand Master Jung Tae Ju (9th degree, WTF and ITF forms), runs the Traditional Tae Kwon Do Center in Smyrna, Georgia, and I recommend his studio without any reservations. I studied with him for about 18 months (2004-2006). He's a strict guy with a good sense of humor and the folks who attend his classes are friendly. He had adult-only classes when I was there, although I usually went to the mixed classes. His classes were run similarly most days and his tests consisted of poomse, three-steps, one-steps and freesparring (freesparring for high enough belts). Rob was funny about Master. Rob came to one test/holiday party class and for the next six months, whenever tae kwon do would come up in conversation, he'd tell people what a tough guy my master was. He hadn't even seen Master move. I once had a one-on-one class with Master and it nearly killed me. He was excited when I told him I was moving to Korea and he was the first person I practiced saying "hello" with in Korean.

This Master? What can I say? He is the youngest of the crew (5th degree, WTF forms) and you can tell that he really enjoys teaching tae kwon do. He has never gotten frustrated with me due to the language barrier and he's always made me feel included. He is nitpicky but also enthusiastic about good moves (I got a thumb's up and "good, Amanda, ooh, good!" today). Although I'm sure his brother's studio is great, too, I'm glad I found his studio.

* Not that I have really researched the big split between ITF and WTF but if you're studying tae kwon do in South Korea, you're probably doing WTF forms.