Amanda Takes Off...

I am an aunt! My nephew Liam was born April 18th at 7:54 pm. Everyone is happy and healthy. I talked to my brother this morning, who said, "Amanda, we'll be here when you're done with Korea." Very similar to something one of my uncles (my stepdad's brother) said in an email. It's nice to have a supportive family. Hearing my brother say that made me instantly feel less homesick. He understands.

The kids at my studio think Liam's name is too long, having a first name, two middle names, and a last night totaling 9 beats when Koreanified. (My brother and father have a first name, two middle names, a last name, and a Sr or Jr added. It nearly kills the kids.) H claims that he doesn't have a name. "He has a sentence!" (My own name also becomes 9 beats in Korean.)

Yesterday I had to go to the hospital to get a health check filled out for the public school job I'm applying for. Everyone knew who I was (I think something like 12 different people ended up helping me, most of them "information women") but nobody seemed to know what I wanted, even though this form is fairly standard.

A very cute guy who spoke pretty good English ran around with me for a bit. Asked the standard questions—and whether or not I could eat spicy Korean food. As if Koreans have the market on the gastrointestinal ability to eat spices. But he really was sweet.

The doctor looked at the form. "What's your immunization record?"

"I don't know the dates, but I am up-to-date. I promise." I smiled. "My mom's a nurse."

"OK. How is your health in general? Any problems?"

I thought about my Raynaud's Disease, cold-induced urticaria, this lingering cold and my every-other-year-or-so cases of bronchitis. I said, "I'm healthy. I practice taekwondo, play soccer sometimes."

"Really?" He went on about taekwondo and soccer for a bit. "OK, your body is healthy. What about your head? Are you happy most days?"

"Yep." I nodded. "I like living in Korea."

"OK. I'll write the report up tomorrow."

No questions about family history, drugs, alcohol, smoking, sexual health habits, diet. Nope. Nothing.

Frankly, I think the guy was a little freaked out to have to speak English, even though technically speaking the doctors here are supposed to be able to speak English.

I had to remind the nurses to take my height and weight. Then I had to get a chest X-ray. The man told me to press my chest, shoulders, and hip bone flat against the plate. While I attempted this feat, I tried to remember the last time those body parts were in a plane.

The woman who took my blood was the greatest though. Everyone had been asking if I spoke Korean, but she was the only one who seemed to hear me when I said, "A little. Please speak slowly, use easy speech, and use -yo. I don't know -sayyo or -sumnida form." She followed my request to a T.

Last night's class went much better than Tuesday night's class, probably in large part because Master taught nearly all of it. Even so, NewSabumnim seemed a bit...calmer than she had been. She was especially different towards Ghost, who didn't seem nearly as stressed out as he was Tuesday. Good.

We worked on our demonstration forms and demonstration kicking practice. Apparently I will be breaking a board with my jumping front kick. They better lower the board a bit, because right now I'm hitting it with my toes.

I took Cocky, Blue, and Crybaby out to dinner at our usual place. My old coworker Ali briefly stopped by to give me something. I was wearing my Kappa jacket. She looked at it and declared she hated it because of the logo.

Well, OK, good thing you're not wearing it.

Cocky Pretends to Read the Menu to Avoid the Camera

Ali ended up sitting next to Blue who has been sick all week. He has a dry, hacking cough that he can't seem to get rid of. Poor boy... Ali turned to him, looked disgusted and fearful, and said to me "I'm not going to catch AIDS, am I?"

She said this three different times.

I had been mortified by her constant use of the f-word in public, already, but that comment just made me seethe. It was ignorant, rude, stupid, and just plain ridiculous on so many levels. There is no place in the universe that that statement is funny.

There is a reason Ali and I do not hang out together.

Blue and Cocky Discuss the Meaning of Life—Or Something Like It

Blue had a listening test today, so he asked me to practice English with him. His test was on giving and taking directions. At one point he said, "jukjuk," (or something like that) which means "keep going." I looked at him, "No, 'jukjuk' is not English!" We both laughed.

He asked if he could bring his English workbook to class sometimes to get help from me. He's the first to ask. Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken anyone in the class so long. I said, "Of course! You guys are always helping me with Korean!" I hope he actually brings it.

Blue

Last night, I ended up sitting next to one of the strangest ajummas I've ever met. Two of them, actually, though only one was a bit strange.

I was knitting and she was very curious. She wanted me to slow down so she could watch, she was chatting with me in Korean. OK, fair enough. Then she started stroking my hands and saying that they're so soft and if I keep knitting they'll get "mountains" (veins) like her hand has. Then she held both of our hands out to compare the skin color. She complained that she was black next to me. She gave me some lotion, then grabbed my hand to smell it. She forced me to take the lotion ("gift, gift!" she said in Korean). This all sounds somewhat sweet, right?

I was wearing my Kappa jacket and a v-neck t-shirt. She asked if I was wearing a shirt. I said yes and then she unzipped my jacket to check.

I so wish I were kidding.

This Orange line especially seems to draw the freaks.

Photos are up in the photo gallery.

Master knows I'm not working, so Tuesday he and NewSabumnim told me about a tournament at Yong-In University, where TempMaster studied. This tournament, if I read the posters correctly, was the high school championship tournament.

It was fun, much like the college tournament I attended in February. As expected, the skill level was lower than February's tournament, but quite good. (I wouldn't've wanted to be sparring!)

Yongin isn't on the subway line, so getting there took more than two hours. I got there and headed towards the brightly-colored tents, figuring the tournament was probably in that building.

It was.

While watching the tournament, I texted TempMaster in Korean. "How are you? This is Amanda. I am at Yong-In University right now. I am not working this month, so I am bored. Now I'm watching a freesparring tournament."

I chose a place to sit and watch. A high school was in front of me, but the space behind me was empty.

Not for a long.

A high school filed in, everyone looking but nobody saying anything. Then a very perky, friendly girl sat now next to me and said in English, "What's your name?"

As soon as she was brave enough to talk to me, everyone wanted to talk to me (or ask her and her sidekick, who was also chatting with me, to ask me things). Interestingly, most of the talking was in Korean. Whenever someone new would show up, Friendly would say, "This is my friend Amanda. She..."

The parents that were there are welcomed me and (as in February) offered me some food. "No, no, I'm OK," I said.

"Eat, please, eat. Rice, kimchi, gimbap, coffee..."

I ate.

Meanwhile, the kids were talking over me, about me, to me, telling me which other students they did and didn't like, pointing out their boyfriends and girlfriends, saying "I am from Korea" like all students here do...

It was bizarre in a very sweet "you are visiting our planet, let us show you around" way.

Then Friendly said, "Amanda! Cheering, cheering, are you coming with us?"

Sure.

So I wandered down to the railing and cheered for the girl with the blue chest guard on. Unfortunately, she lost (and threw a fit doing so), so that was the end of their tournamenting. (Today was the final day.)

They packed up and several said, "Bye, Amanda, nice to meet you." Friendly was comforting the girl who'd lost. "Amanda, see you again sometime."

I said in Korean, "Study hard. Nice to meet you. Bye."

A few hours after I texted him, TempMaster called. We chatted for a bit. He invited me to come to the studio any time and said next time I meet with Sabumnim, we should all meet. He seemed very excited that I was on his campus. He told me to look around and explore.

I had wanted to pick him up something in Hong Kong to thank him for letting me train at his studio, but I didn't find anything I liked. Today I picked up a Yong-In University taekwondo t-shirt for him. I'm sure he has plenty. I'm sure that won't matter.

I also bought one for myself because I'd like some more casual kicking-around-on-the-weekend clothes. But Shhh, don't tell Master. He went to Kyung Hee, you know...

I did wander around the campus a bit and take photos, so the photo album also has pictures of Korea in the springtime.

Beautiful!

One of the very strange things about living in Korea as a foreigner is that your skin color both includes and excludes you.

My skin color got me adopted by a high school. If I were Korean, nobody would been curious as to why I was sitting there and I never would've gotten food. (Or, rather, they may have been curious, but they probably would've just wondered why I was sitting in their space when I should have known better.) But my skin color is also what lets me get away with obviously taking photos where and when I shouldn't be.

There is something both nice and awful about speaking even a limited level of Korean. I can chat with people (and get offered food!), yes. But I can also understand when they're talking about me right in front of me. Yet, with creepy people or cab drivers, I've pretended to know less Korean than I do, just to avoid talking to them.

It can be very freeing to be ignored (perhaps "not bothered too much" is a better phrase), but it can also be very lonely. It can be very comforting to be included in a group so quickly, but it can also be very frustrating to be the alien visiting from another planet.

When I am with my friends or studiomates, I am Amanda. But when I go places—especially alone—where I am one of very, very few foreigners (if not the only foreigner), I am a movie star. Or a scary foreigner trying to take over Korea. You know, it depends on the mood of the Korean sizing me up.

Being foreign in Korea and socially surrounding myself mostly with Koreans—both the kind that actually know me and the kind that don't—makes for a very...mercurial existence.