Amanda Takes Off...

Photos are up in the photo gallery.

I went back to the Kukkiwon today to watch more of the tournament. I met Master's friend. It went fine, I think. We were both obviously nervous. Most of the questions I got were pretty standard—where are you from, where do you live, what do you do, how old are you, do you have a black belt, etc. The biggest problems were a) the noise level and hearing the questions, b) they'd start talking to me without any warning and I'd miss half the question, then ask for it again and then we'd all get flustered because I had to ask, and c) using huge words I don't know like "world championship."

I met a few of his friends, including a world champion (which championship I'm not sure), someone who does something or other with Thailand's national team, and one of today's competitors. I think I understood all of that correctly. Sometimes it throws me: I think I can't possibly be understanding them correctly (Thailand's national team?), but then we verify in English, and I am.

After a few hours, he went home. I watched a bit more, then sat down to eat some food. I was eating my gimbap on a bench outside when a nearby ajumma brought me food (bean sprout/fish/tofu soup and a huge bowl of rice) and told me to eat. Then she and the man with her kept telling me to sit down with their group of boys, so I got more practice speaking there. (I was afraid if I didn't sit down, I might get pinched again.) Yes, I was forced to picnic with people I'd never before seen in my life.

And people wonder why I like Korea so much...

And the sparring was awesome. Really neat to watch. Master's Friend was dragging me around, "come, cheer, cheer!" At one point I was cheering for this guy's guy against a Kyung Hee guy. Master graduated from Kyung Hee. Shhhhh, don't tell him I was cheering against his school!

I came home and watched my first Korean movie. It was called 돌려차기 (English title: Spinkick).

Good guy coaches a team of bad kids. Bad guy coaches a team of good kids. They have a tournament. One guess as to who wins. One guess as to whether or not this was an award-winning movie.

Class was good. Master wasn't there. He came in for a few minutes and specifically told me that he wouldn't be there because there was a meeting of Kwanjangnims. He reminded me that we don't have class tomorrow due to Samil Day. I asked him what Koreans do on Samil Day. He asked me if I remembered the 만세 meaning. I did. He said that the flag would be put out, people may sing the national anthem, and they would reflect upon what the day means. (I didn't know the word, but he pointed to his head and said that without Samil, Koreans wouldn't have their liberation day on August 15th). He didn't say it, but there will probably be protests downtown, too (many against FTA and the American military, even though Samil has to do with the Japanese).

Despite February usually being my worst month, I think this one was pretty good. Hong Kong, Lunar New Year soccer, The Black Belt Test, Kukkiwon Tournament, getting back to my studio...