Amanda Takes Off...

Two days to go.

Hopefully I'll do better than I did tonight working on forms. Nothing was terribly off, I just wasn't terribly on either, if that makes sense. It seems like the nit-picking should be in my head, or more importantly, in my forms. But it's not there yet. Or at least, it wasn't tonight.

Master gave me some good tips to remember stances in forms. "Amanda, no apseogi in Oh, Yuk, Chil, Pal Jang." (Technically not true as there is some while returning in Chil Jang, but I never screw that part up, so it's OK.) Also, about kiyapping, "All forms one kiyap, but Pal Jang two. Yuk and Pal only ones not end."

Master was gone from class for a while when we were doing target practice. The boys hinted that they were hungry, and so was I, but I was in such a foul mood from work that I knew going out would be a bad thing. (To make a long story short, my boss is a cheat and thief who thinks nobody needs to be paid.)

I smiled and said no and they kept asking and when Grin's Brother had told me for the third time he was hungry with that cute doofy grin on his face I yelled in bad Korean, "No! I'm in a bad mood! I work every day, but my boss is a cheat! I don't have money. Where is my money? 'Oh, Amanda, we don't have money.' When will I have my money? 'Oh, I don't know...' And they don't say sorry! Every day I work. Why don't I have money?"

Hogwan owner, wonjangnim, and training studio owner, kwanjangnim, sound very similar, at least when I say them. Cocky looked at me. "Amanda, Kwanjangnim?" He pointed to the floor, indicating Master is his office.

"No! Wonjangnim. Hogwon."

"Amanda, 112," said Studious.

"112? I thought 119?"

"No, 119, fire," said Studious, faking he had a fire hose, "Whoooooosh! Police, 112. Arrest! Arrest!"

He cheered me up, I had to laugh. How adorable he was in his innocence, thinking the police even try to do anything about this crooked industry. Cars don't even stop for the police when they're whistling their little Boy Scout whistles here. (If you're interested in the corruptness of Korea, check out Scribblings of the Metropolitician in the sidebar. Awesome blog.)

Master came up then and ended class. He called me down to his office to get some photos off my memory card and asked if I was tired. I said, "I'm tired of Korea. Working here." He knows what's going on, so he understood.

It's just too bad I hate, hate working here because I love living here. What I need is a Korean husband so I can change my visa status. Yeah, you think I'm kidding.

At any rate, shortly after leaving the studio I sent Cocky, Grin's Brother, and Studious a text message. In "imitating" form, I used no periods, but I did use spaces and verb endings at least. I wrote, "It's Amanda. I'm sorry I'm in a bad mood. But next week we'll go out together~~OK?" (~ is used by Koreans to indicate a sense of joy and happiness.)

Within minutes Cocky and Studious had emailed silly little messages back, one of them sporting a big monster grin that made me laugh out loud. I know I didn't need to apologize to them for anything, that they understood what was going on, but I hate that I took out my stress on them, because they certainly weren't the cause of it. I felt down about yelling at them because they're like the little brothers I never had. (Read: because with them I am the older sister that my brother never had when we were growing up, since now I am old enough to be nice and appreciate little brothers, whereas I was too immature and close to age with my own brother to appreciate and actually like him until a few years ago.)

Master said that Friday's class is super-early because the kids are on vacation and he's doing testing, so I won't be going Friday. He said that Thursday I can miss class, testing is enough. I may ask if I can go to the TempStudio Friday night. Or, I may go get a sports massage. I haven't decided yet.

Finally, no wonder I had to buy an extra large men's training suit last week. I found this tag as I was putting the suit in my closet this weekend. Asian Sizing indeed.