Amanda Takes Off...

This weekend was a nice one. I ended up starting a new sweater pattern. I sketched it out Friday and started knitting it Saturday, at Michael's. We got together on Saturday, and after a great lunch we went to one of the markets. I paid more than I should have for a pair of sneakers that fit, but I have been looking for a month, so I am happy. I told Master tonight, "신발 소유해요" (Shinbal so yu hayyo!/I own shoes!) and left them at the studio.

I got tricked by some ice cream. I thought it looked like chocolate. I was wrong, it was a waffle with whipped cream and...bean paste in it. It should be illegal to mess with an ignorant foreigner's chocolate needs like that.

I bought a notebook to keep specifically for training. The notebook was made in China and has some amazing English on it. For those who can't read the print, it says:

Adopt the deluxe leather material
Deluxe neutral paper
Design the novel work of thin make
Record life the feeling years with think

Inside there is a "personal data" page with "car registraition no.," "imporlant dates" and most perplexing, a sentence under the "In Case of Emergency,Please Contact" section that reads: "It would be grateful anyone who contact with aboue mentional address."

The college student/new woman was at the studio tonight. Her English is quite good. Afraid that all of a sudden it would just become a big translation session, I told her that I really wanted to continue to use tae kwon do as my primary form of learning Korean. She seemed to understand, and Master, thank goodness, didn't automatically go to her for translations.

I did use her to ask Master some questions about Kukkiwon regulations regarding Tae Guek Pal Jang testing. He wants me to test in November or December, but the Kukkiwon has regulations about 주거 (residence) for foreigners. You have to reside here for six months. While this makes sense, it stinks for people like me, since I came here with some forms under my belt (so to speak).

I also stumbled through some discussion with him about wanting to permanently add Tuesdays to my schedule, possibly adding Fridays starting in October, and using 반대로 (the reverse, topsy-turvy, in the opposite direction) to get a taxi driver to do a U-turn. That was when he told her that my Korean had really improved. Well, thank goodness for that, but I'm still just stringing words together.

We worked on lots of striking drills and then I learned the first ten moves of my next poomse. I also got to do some 겨루기 (sparring) against the boys. They were very "nice," no contact; I was just happy to get up there and spar against them. It's been at least 4 weeks since I sparred, and then it was against Pyeong Ju and not the guys.

I also got my new 띠 (belt). It's brown. Here are my other belts, hanging on my wall.