Amanda Takes Off...

First, not one person mentioned 9/11 to me today. But I did not forget about it. Hello to my brother and uncle who are both en route to or in Iraq right now. The administration is not the military; the military is not the administration. Love you both!

Tae kwon do went well tonight except that I've been focussing so much on my current forms that I've been forgetting my previous ones. There is really no excuse for that; I need to practice the older forms more so as not to forget them.

During break, I got two of the guys to help me label my photo from soccer. I plopped down next to them (they were in the middle of a conversation) and grinned and showed them that I'd labeled Cocky Guy. They laughed, grinned back at me and helped. It's still not everyone, but it's a start.

Master wants me to test on Thursday. I think this is ridiculously fast, but he does not agree. Who am I to argue?

Master also talked to me more about competing. He wants me to compete in board breaking next month but isn't sure I'm eligible because of my belt level. I used my brand new gorgeous electronic dictionary to tell him that I was nervous about competing because I'd never done it back home. I also explained that I was nervous about it being in Korean. He told me the five Korean words they'd use and since I knew them all he said, "See, Amanda? OK."

He got a bilingual friend on the phone and we talked back and forth. She explained that he thinks I'm good, always trying to improve and that because I come to two hours of class instead of one (I never knew one hour was an option!) I can test sooner than once a month.

She asked if I had any questions for him or if I had anything I wanted to tell him. I told her to tell him that he makes me feel like I am really a part of the studio, that he includes me and doesn't let me do sloppy work just because I'm foreign and there's a language barrier. When I handed him the phone, I watched his face go from confused to slightly smiling to grinning and nodding. When they hung up he just looked at me and said, "Thank you." I thanked him in Korean and he said, "You're welcome."

I don't know if I embarrassed him or not. I don't even care.

After class some of the boys were teasing me about my last name again. One of them showed me how to write it in Korean so people can get the P sound in there (he used the yo vowel, which I never considered, to make the "Sho" sound) and one was teasing me so much I started playfully punching him in the arm. Heck, I laugh at the guys during class because it's one of the few ways I can communicate, they tease me over my last name. Why not?