Amanda Takes Off...

What a great day! No work today (Lunar New Year means a four day weekend) and a day of soccer. Awesome. A few photos in this post, and an album will be put up later.

Matchy Me

Last night, after work but before class, I ran to COEX to find a 츄리님 (training suit). When we run or play soccer outside, the dobok often isn't warm enough (or comfortable enough), so Master suggested I get a training suit. What was most interesting is that I just walked in there as if my Korean was up to speed to do this easily.

I walked into COEX, looked at the directory and found some places that might work, then went to the information desk. I greeted the woman and asked where I could find 츄리님. She asked if I spoke Korean and I said, "a little." Amazingly (because I've rarely encountered Koreans who do it), she slowed down her speech for me. She told me to try SportsMecca because there were a bunch of sports-related stores in the same area there.

"어떻게 가요?" The first time I've gotten to use that phrase, How do I get there? She gave me directions and I understood them. Nice.

I got to SportsMecca, asked for what I was needed, and was directed to check out either Reebok or Adidas. (I'm not really sure how SportsMecca works...I don't know if the stores are all owned by one store or if they share space and profits or what.) I checked out Reebok, nothing. I went to Adidas and after scanning the women's department (totally useless, no surprise), I headed to the men's department.

I walked up to a clerk and asked for help. I haven't learned how to buy clothes yet (that's in Sogang book 1B) but we made do. My guy was really helpful, dragging things out in different sizes. In Korea, once a clerk is helping you, they stick with you. Right there. Hello. It was really annoying when I first got here. I just want to look, go away, thank you.

I'm happy with what I bought. The only frustrating thing was that the jacket that fit the best in shoulders and bust was tapered, and thus didn't fit the hip, so I had to go up a size.

I have never been a track suit kind of girl. Ever. I called a friend from the dressing room. "Shoot me now. I am dressed head-to-toe in Adidas. I have three white stripes running up my arms and down my legs. What has happened to me?"

Getting Blue Back by Accident

Months ago, Blue bruised me in a belt test. (A few days after I had back kicked him in the ribs.)

Last night I got him back. By accident. Or maybe I just started something fresh...

We were freesparring, no-to-light contact. I started to take of my glasses, but Master said to keep them on and to say "안 보여요" (I can't see) during the test. I asked if that would work. He wasn't sure, so I said I'd practice without them.

At one point Master was asking me something. He was using his hands. Now, my students used to try the "how many fingers am I holding up" trick and I could always see the "sticks," no matter that they were fuzzy. Last night ruined my perfect record. Master finally walked up to me and stuck his hand 10 cm from my face. Well, it's true, I can't see.

I got to freespar this (new-to-me) kid that I adore. He's 12 or 14 years old and the whole time he just ran away from me. I freesparred Grin's Brother, who, well, grinned the whole time.

And then I freesparred Blue. I love sparring him. While we were sparring, Master stopped us to talk. He told me that my style of freesparring is to attack, attack, attack. "That's good for Amanda, Amanda style," he said. Unfortunately, the pause threw me off and Blue got in some good moves. Then I went for a back kick and solidly struck his lower shoulder/upper arm.

"장말 미안해요!" I'm terribly sorry! He shook his head to indicate he was fine.

I heard Master, "Amanda! Good job!" He ended freesparring with that.

A Small Not-Such-a-Surprise Snack Party

After class we had a "snack party" (과자 파티). This was only a bit of a surprise to me. I had asked Cocky what we were doing in class and he told me we were having a small party for the graduating elementary students. We were served some snacks (sweetened puffed cereal, chips, things like that) on small octagonal wooden trays.

I was sitting with Crybaby and Handphone Girl. (Yes, we were sex-segregated!) I chatted briefly with Handphone Girl and found out she's been practicing taekwondo for 7 years. She understood my question on the first try, which was nice.

The elementary kids sat with Master and they played 가위바위보 until someone lost, whereupon they beat on the loser. Everyone was excited when Master lost.

Now it Makes Sense
When the kids were thumbing out of class, Master's handphone kept ding-donging. I made a comment about it and he said that next week it wouldn't be ding-donging except for the older ones (we thumb in for the computer record but don't thumb out).

Starting next week the kids' parents will be getting the "So-and-So arrived at/left taekwondo at XYZ" message. "Oh! Now it makes sense!" That's a pretty cool system and I can see why the parents would love it.

Matchy Me, Redux

After class Master noticed my Adidas bag and asked if he could see my training suit. He tried on the jacket and it was too tight in the shoulders. He said, "We about same size. Wait here." A few minutes later he arrived with a new Kappa training suit, complete with their naked people back-to-back logo.

"Amanda, 선물."

"그래요? 왜요" Really? Why? What a generous gift. I was afraid I might be misunderstanding, and it was a loan for colder weather.

"선물, you have one, now you have two. My size, but...not mine. New."

"와... 감사합니다," I thanked him, received the clothing with two hands, and bowed deeply.

He made me try the jacket on. "Good, Amanda."

This is the same style and color of coat that Master and his brother had done up with their respective studio logos on the back. This one doesn't have the logo, but it means, basically, that I match a bunch of the kids at the studio now. (The coat is red, not the pink or orange it may seem.)

I had never seen the Kappa brand before getting here, and here I've only seen it on gym teachers, kwanjangnims, sabumnims and students in the studio. I was talking to Mom on the phone, and she said, "Well, that's the style isn't it? That's what people are wearing in the photos you keep sending me."

I realized two things when she said that. First, I'm not sure if people here wear training suits as a fashion statement like I saw back in America. Second, of course that's what she kept seeing because I keep sending her photos of an athletic subculture. When Sabumnim and I went out she was wearing a training suit and carrying a small gym bag. It's not a fashion statement for her, it's who she is. She's athletic.

Is this a sign that I'm part of that athletic subculture? How did that happen?

Soccer!

Today we played soccer for a long time (meaning: we played soccer, ate gimbap, and had a lot of organized chaos). It was a blast, always is. More details will be written in my eventual album, but for now, the short of it.

Tall New Guy was at the studio when I showed up. As soon as he saw me he asked me how much I weighed.

"Why the heck are you asking me that?" Of course he didn't understand me, so I switched to "why, why?"

After going back and forth about that for a while, he finally said, "Face, smaller." Oh, well, if you're going to compliment me, sure I'll tell you what I weigh...

Master took us to the field together and I asked Tall New Guy when he was graduating. He said in four years, maybe, because he's starting his mandatory military time in April. He'll be an airmen. I said, "아, 재미있어요!" Oh, very interesting!

Master, who was Special Forces, shook his head and grinned, "아만다, 재미없어요." Amanda, the Air Force is dull.

Amanda, Cocky, Brave.

We played a game of the older folks from both studios against each other first. While we were facing each other, I realized that one of the guys from Nambuk studio was wearing the same purple frames I have. Someone else was wearing my rimless frames (which I have often seen on the subway). Meanwhile, someone else from my studio has the same red and black frames I have. I must have worn about a dozen different frames in 16 years of wearing glasses in America and never once ran into anyone wearing the same frames. Korea is homogenous in a lot of ways. Matchy Me Part Three.

Back to soccer. On our team was a guy I'd never seen, an older guy. (Older being relative.) Master called me over and introduced me to him later. He's was a friend of Master's, a Yong-In graduate, a Kwanjangnim in Hakdong, if I heard him correctly. I appreciate that Master introduces me to his Kwanjangnim friends, 후배s, and his father. Makes my plans for peninsular domination more possible.

Soccer got very interesting when Master and his brother went to pick up the younger kids. We had a soccer game going on with 53 people playing (both schools, I lost the estimating game against Master). The adults were instructed to only pass to the little kids and the little kids were instructed to get goals. Most goals had more than one goal keep in them. We had three balls in play. This shows a third of the field or so, so you can imagine how crowded it was. (Everyone swarmed around the ball, of course.)

After the younger kids had gone back home, the older boys played a more serious soccer game. The first half of the game, Tall New Guy sat out for some reason. He reviewed some of my flashcards with me. He was very helpful because he had a sense of humor. "Ooh, I practice English, you practice Korean, together, OK!" He got me to understand how to make the ㄸ sound (finally!), too. When we got to 공군 (airman) I said "you!" I asked if he was excited to be going into the military since men always seem so willing to talk about their service. He vehemently said no.

When Tall New Guy left to play in the second half of the game, Crybaby Gold Medal Girl and I curled up under my coat together muttering 추워, 추워 (cold, cold)! We chatted in Korean and English while she snacked on dried octopus. She kept trying to feed me a leg. I didn't bother to hide my wrinkling nose. It smelled like fish food.

"[Crybaby], is your English teacher Korean or foreign?"

"Korean."

"How many foreigners have you met?"

"Amanda!"

To close out this post, Master takes a turn at The Lottery.