Amanda Takes Off...

My therapy is back to lasers. I don't know what they're doing with me. At any rate, there's only two more days of it and while my bruise is still slightly squashy, it's much better looking.

I got to go to class tonight! 만세! It was a small class tonight, maybe 10 or 12 of us? I was the third person to show up, and Ghost and another kid were there, so I greeted them informally. My "little brother" Ghost yelled, "Amanda! Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!" and waved at me with a big grin on his face and the other student warmly greeted me. When I came out of the changing room, Studious had shown up. "Amanda!! 안녕하세요! Oh, you're here!" Tired Guy showed up, did a double take and said, "Amanda! Umm....umm...OK, um. Hmm." He finally decided to speak Korean and said something very nice sounding. When Powerful saw me through the door he looked surprised, waved, smiled, and then bowed deeply. He came inside and said "hi" in his English-language voice.

Awwww. I love my boys.

I bought a small gift for Master and his wife in Japan. Michael had asked me to pick up some green tea for him because Korean green tea isn't that great. I got some for my new boss since I didn't have anything to bring her from America, and I thought that Master and his wife might also like some. Nobody answered when I knocked on their door before class. I was starting up the stairs when his wife opened the door. I rushed back down and said, "From Japan, for you and kwanjangnim," in English. When Master came to class, he bowed at me, said, "Amanda? Green tea? Thank you," in a blend of languages. Then he said, "IWATAYA?" I wasn't sure if his wife had understood that I meant I bought it in Japan, so I told him it was a store in Japan. "Oh! Thank you!"

(If you're wondering why I didn't wait until class to give it to him, it's because I wouldn't want to give a gift in front of my studiomates. Also, gifts are usually opened when the giver is gone for face-faving reasons, so I wanted to give it to him in his home so he could open it in private. However, if my parents come to visit, they will be bringing a stash of American candies with them and I'll bring them to class one night.)

I haven't been there in six class days. Master called roll, shook his head dramatically, sighed, and looked at me. I knew he was teasing me, so I just grinned and said, "I understand." He told me that he'd only let me work out one hour this week due to still being slightly bruised, but next week I'll be back up to two.

We did a lot of sprinting and Master told me to go slowly. At one point we were supposed to run across the studio, then run back backwards. I was next to Tired Guy and he was running the wrong way. I looked at him and said, "반대로!" He said, "OK!" But later he did it again. When we got back to our lines I smacked him playfully (which is a big deal, you don't do that here, but I hope I'm been here long enough that they know me well enough that it didn't make him too uncomfortable) and said, "I understand. And I don't even speak Korean!" Everyone laughed and Master did too.

Then he had us run halfway across the studio, turn to we were running backwards, turn at the end so we were still running backwards, then turn at the midway point again. Master kept saying, "앞으로, 뒤로, 뒤로, 앞으로." (Ahead, to the rear, to the rear, ahead.) Powerful and Tired Guy kept messing it up. Master called Powerful over grabbed his ear and said into it, "앞으로, 뒤로, 뒤로, 앞으로!" We were all amused.

Later he had us on the floor on our backs, hands above our head, feet facing forward. When he clapped, we had to flip forward on our stomaches, faces where our feet were, arms outstretched and yell, "Superman!" (슈퍼맨!) He said, "Amanda, you 'Wonder Woman!' Male, Superman, female, Wonder Woman." Got it Master.

Oddly enough, this is the first time I've called myself Wonder Woman.

Then we had to start the other way, on our stomachs, hands behind our backs, facing forward. When he clapped we had to flip to our backs, facing backwards, arms outstretched and yell "만세!" I asked what we were yelling, because Claire had informed me that men will do pushups or yell 만세! at weddings and it's used on a TV commercial here. Master said it went with the "Fighting!" cheer and meant, "Vicory, winning, the best." Then he said something about Japan in 1919.

I asked Heidi later. In 1919, when the Japanese occupied Korea, there was a parade where Koreans yelled 만세 in the streets. She said it means "Victory for 10,000 years." Well, a lot of Koreans were killed by the Japanese during this parade.

I know language textbooks try to include the little words and phrases that are used in a language to make the learning sound (and feel) more natural, but it's another thing to learn these words in a real context like I do here.

Later we did some relays. We got to arrange (but not choose) our teams. Since I am slow and tonight really slow, my team wanted me second. I said, "Wait! I can't be second! I always watch the first person in line, but if I'm the first person that it changes to, I have nobody to watch! So I have to be third!" (I really wasn't too concerned, since I do understand how relays work, but I didn't want to be the one to screw everything up for my team; the losing team had to do pushups.) Everyone laughed then Blue asked Master a question. Master said, "Amanda, 천천..."

Oops. I slowed down and pointed to my eyes. "Me. Watch. Me, never one. Relay, not two."

The boys understood right away and so for the first relay I was third. However, Powerful dropped it, one of our guys tripped, and we lost. Thirty pushups. Next time I was second and had problems handing it off, someone else tripped as well and even though Tired Guy did a hilarious job of sliding into the finishing line (and mirror) to beat the other team, Master declared that we lost. Forty pushups.

The next relay meant jumping over a limbo bar. We won that one. Then we had to crawl under it. I threw myself to the ground (giving myself minor floorburns in the process) but Grin knocked the pole off its supports. So neither team won and he had to do pushups. The second time the bar was lowered. It was tight for Master, so I was a little concerned. I crawled under it with Ghost in the rear and heard it clatter behind me. I jumped up and said, "Was that me?" I was ready to launch into a defense about some Wonder Woman parts I have that they don't, but luckily we were all spared, because Ghost had caused it to fall.

Unfortunately, due to a multitude of related work/school/studio issues, it is looking very likely that I will miss all of January. Arrgggg. At least I'll be able to practice as home, which I wasn't allowed to do during this time. I may ask him for two man-to-man Saturdays if possible. It solidifies some future job hunts in my mind. While I'm concerned about missing classes due to a possible black belt test, there's nothing that Master or I can do to fix it. Oh well. No use worrying about it.