Amanda Takes Off...

I stand at the top of the steps, waiting for Master to come out of his office.

"관장님, 걱정해요." Master, I'm worried.

"왜요?" Why?

I explain that my board breaking is inconsistent. I can break three, but it's hard and sometimes I only break one or two of three.

Master explains that the boards are actually harder to break than tile or wood because you absolutely must hit them on the seam. He says they're very strong and not to worry, I'll be fine.

I stare at him. "못 믿어요!" I can't believe it! It's becoming my new catch phrase.

Master mocks looking hurt. "Why?"

"Joke, joke," I grin.

***

Master spends the last half hour of class in his office, trying to get the music ready for this weekend's demonstration. I go down there to say goodbye.

He warns me that Saturday's practice will be long ("So many hours for a 20-minute demonstration!") and that I'll need to be at the studio early Sunday.

His daughter pouts her lips at me and points at my pockets. I hand her my lip gloss. While Master and I chat, I tickle her and her brother. They both climb on me, hugging me.

"My nephew isn't here," I say in Korean. "Your kids are."

He laughs.

***

Thursday I picked up some cute socks at a shop I suspected Ghost's uncle or family owns. Thursday I bought two pairs of expensive socks and one pair of 1,000 won socks for 4,000 won total.

I show up tonight with Ghost and buy four pairs of expensive socks and one pair 1,000 won socks for 5,000 won.

His uncle was the guy helping me both times. That, folks, is Korean math for you.

His uncle remembers who I am and gets chatting with me. Do I like Ghost? I say, "Yes, very much. He's my little brother."

I think Ghost is slightly shy to be standing in his (extended?) family's shop, filled with socks, panties, and bras. After a few moments, he's excused and he dashes off.

We continue talking. Somehow this turns into a Korean conversation about Japanese, Japan, spelling Korea as Corea (thank goodness I had some background knowledge of that debate or I probably wouldn't've understood him), how many people speak English, how few foreigners speak any Korean beyond "thank you, hello," where I live, where my family lives, where I'll be teaching next month, why I study taekwondo, whether or not Japanese and English have botchims, what he studied in college (design and CAD, to start), and how he rides his bicycle every Sunday.

I follow most of it (I'd say 85%) and we don't need to get out a dictionary once.

Then three men show up.

Ghost's Uncle introduces me and I exchange business cards from a gimbap maker whose shop is right around the corner near the school we play soccer at, a guy who sells fish in the market, and a guy who has a Chinese-language hogwon.

I leave, thinking, 'Life is odd. Life is good.'

***

Coverboy At The School

After class the younger boys huddle by the fence near the elementary school. Coverboy is running around, hiding. "Why weren't you in class tonight," I ask.

"I had a hogwon tonight."

He looks like a nocturnal creature. Or maybe he looks like a child in a war-torn country, what with that barbed wire I didn't even know was there until I saw this photo.

Master comes out and asks us what we're doing. We leave.

Ghost and Friend

I follow Ghost and a friend I don't have a name for. You can see another studiomate in front of them, framed between their shoulders. In the photo below, two other studiomates can be seen between their shoulders.

Belt Swinging

And then...

Ghost Catches Me

***

Exactly

I know exactly how he feels.