Amanda Takes Off...

Tonight's class started two hours early, since we had a large group practice. I ran into Cocky on the way to class and together we passed Ghost's Uncle in front of his shop. He greeted us and we answered. Cocky asked in English if I knew who he was and I answered in Korean that I did.

Cocky said we should practice English.

"OK. Are we practicing taekwondo at the church tonight?" Nothing, so I tried again.

"OK, Amanda, no English!"

We got to the studio a few minutes early, while the younger kids were coming out of class. We waited with our studiomates at the bottom of the stairs. Kids who have never seen me before started saying, "외국인, 외국인!" Foreigner, foreigner!

"네, 외국인이에요." Yes, I’m a foreigner. They just stared at me, shocked. I gasped and teased, "말해요, 말해요!" She’s speaking, she’s speaking!

The children’s mothers were waiting where we were standing and they started laughing. My name passed through the crowd and the brave kids said hello to me—in Korean or English.

(As a side note, nearly everyone in my class has a black belt. The earlier classes are actually full of children of varying levels.)

Most of the children in tonight's class/practice have seen me before, but some new kids were watching. While we were trying to practice, a young girl ran up to me and asked me in Korean where I was from. Ghost was standing next to me, and before I could answer he said, "She’s American."

She ran away and I threw my arm over Ghost’s shoulders. "I am a movie star," I said in Korean, "and you are a movie star’s little brother."

He blushed and grinned at me.

After demonstration practice, we had a brief break. Ghost seemed very tired so I asked him what was wrong. We had a conversation in Korean where he said that he was tired because he goes to so many hogwons. I told him I didn’t like hogwons, that Korean students don’t have any time, they can’t play. He said, "But you were a hogwon teacher."

"I know. There are many hogwons in this country, so finding a job…it is easy. But I don’t like them."

Ghost grinned, "And hogwon bosses are crazy."

"That’s right," I said.

Master dismissed the other students so it was just my class left. He started asking people questions. I was pretty sure I was understanding what was going on. A few moments later, my guess was confumed. Master was asking people if they could show up early tomorrow to help out. He said, "Amanda, tomorrow...five?"

Five is the regular time to show up.

"백조예요. 시간 있어요." I am a baekjo. I have time.

Master said, "OK, tomorrow can you come at—" He burst out laughing. What I'd said finally hit him.

I'm showing up at three tomorrow to help set things up.

Our class consisted of testing, which was unusual in that tonight is only consisted of calling out two names. First, Master gave a second poome to a younger student. Master called his name, read the entire poome certificate in Korean, then handed him the certificate, wallet card, and belt.

Master then turned to me. He read my full name, pausing over the "Chris...tine..." part. I nodded and gave him a thumb's up. He said, "Il dan! Miguk!" (First dan, American) and then looked at the rest of the certificate and nodded. I think he was trying to decide if he should read it in Korean or attempt to read it in English. He didn't read it out loud in either language. Instead he grinned at me, pointed to my name on the certificate and said, "It's in English here, but here," he said pointing to my belt, "in Hangul." He handed me the certificate, wallet card and belt while I received it with two hands.

"축하." Congratulations.

"감사합니다."

아만다

I gave Master back the red belt I've been wearing. I was happy that I was given the belt when only my studiomates were around rather than the whole mess of little kids. I was grateful Master remembered that I wanted my name in Hangul rather than English.

A few of the boys wanted to look at my certificate after class, where I was told again that my name was too long. Brave's Brother was especially interested in my name and how long it is. I said, "OK, you know how Korean name are usually from Chinese? OK, Christine comes from Christ. You know 'Christ,' Christianity?"

"Yes."

"OK, 'Christ,' Christine. Amanda comes from Latin." I couldn’t decide how to say worthy of love so I simply said, "It means love."

"Ah. Korean names come from Chinese, and American names come from...where?"

"Latin, Spanish, French, Greek, everywhere!"

"Ah... American names, so long!" Brave’s Brother looked at me then changed the subject by handing me the belt. "Ddi, ddi! Put it on!"

He told me which side to put where (name on one side, name of the studio and our regional association on the other) and helped me tie it.

When I first came to my studio, there were two red belts (Tired Guy and Blue) in my class. They tested for their black belts my first month there, I think, and so for a long time I was the only color belt. Even when I was a red belt (the highest color belt in our studio), I was the only color belt.

Brave's Brother pointed to the mirror.

I turned and looked.

I look like my studiomates now.