Amanda Takes Off...

Photos of the demonstration are in the Gallery tab in the Taekwondo Demonstration album.

A preview...

Ready

A Knifehand Strike

Jumping Front Kick

Check out the album, there are some really good photos there.

Monday night's class was, as I expected after the demonstration, a mass soccer game.

Some new kids were there, including a white belt (it was her first day) who was making me slightly crazy. She asked my name and I told her. Then she called me "the foreigner." No matter how many times I corrected her, I was "the foreigner."

"Hey. My name is not 'the foreigner.' My name is Amanda."

"Really?"

I held out my belt so she could read it. "Yes, really."

Cocky came to class, discovered I was in the closet (and thus he couldn't barge in like the boys normally do to each other) and flicked the lights off on me. Without even thinking I yelled in English, "Cocky, you'd better turn on that light before I come out there and kick your butt!"

Apparently, his English name is Cocky and I only use his Korean name when speaking Korean.

He told me it was his birthday and asked if I had a gift for him. No, of course not, I didn't know it was his birthday but did he want to go out for soju? "No, Amanda, test tomorrow."

Soccer was a blast. Cocky's team started some sort of "NICE!" cheer when they scored, so I started our team on "SWEET!" which was so-much-cooler because it was slang.

I went to Japan (Osaka) yesterday and got back today. Spent all of 30 hours there. The consulate wanted the original contract, which wasn't on my list to bring and which I didn't happen. I very nearly started crying when she said they wouldn't accept faxes, but then the friends I'm staying with called and somehow...an hour later is was all worked out.

Then I had to find my Korean-owned-no-English-speakers-hotel, which involved a phone call entirely in Korean and two hours of wandering around. The hotel itself, Osaka Guesthouse was nice enough. Inexpensive, shared baths, clean, comfortable, quiet, and in a nice neighborhood, tucked away. (No, it looks nothing like the photo on the first page of their website.)

Interestingly, I was wearing my Yongin t-shirt yesterday. At the airport, the woman who sold sandwiches was speaking English to every white person. Yet she spoke Korean to me. At the end of our transaction, she asked if I was a student. The guy at Osaka House flipped out that I knew taekwondo, loved it.

I got to the guesthouse and promptly took a three-hour nap. Exciting woman I am, I go to Japan and sleep. I found dinner at this interesting little restaurant. You feed your Yen into a machine and push the picture that matches what you want. It spits out your change and a ticket. You sit down, the waitress takes you ticket, and minutes later, a tray of yummy food is in front of you.

I ate there twice and enjoyed the meals very much but I wondered if the restaurant wasn't a front for prostitution since out of the 2 dozen people I saw in there total, I was the only female patron. Hmmmm...

Ate some delicious cantaloupe ice cream last night, got into a chat with the employees and some guy who was standing there. He told me to try the green tea next time, but I simply didn't have time before I left. They were all very friendly, and the man who was standing there was hilarious. He yelled that America was the greatest place on earth, then changed his mind when I told him I lived in Korea.

I then wandered around a bit and found a place that sold shoes and sporting goods. (As a side note for anyone interested in shoes, when I explored the neighborhood during the daytime, I discovered that I was in the shoe district or something. If you want shoes in Osaka, go there!)

The store had Converse All Stars for cheap, cheap, cheap (less than 3,000 Yen). I bought two pairs—a black pair and a red pair—of low tops. Oh man, I was so excited to find these shoes for cheap. The salesguy (who spoke very little English but was a riot to work with) was very grateful that I bought two pairs.

Crashed at 9 or 10 pm. I have been exhausted lately.

Picked up my visa this morning, had an amazing 600 Yen sundae, called my Mom from Japan, did some CD shopping (U2!), and came back home. On the bus ride from the airport, the man next to me struck up a conversation and we had a brief little talk in Korean. Standard topics, but good practice nonetheless.

Over all, a better trip than last time. Still frustrated that I can't read, still frustrated that the trip is long enough that you want to do something and short enough that you can't.