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Turning the Tables on Master
05/04/07
11:43:56 pm, by admin 
, 415 words 
Categories: ...and Takes On, Korea, Tae Kwon Do, Feats and Defeats (Language)
Turning the Tables on Master
After doing a lot of concentrated kicking practice that has been neglected in favor of the demonstration, Master says, "Amanda, together, you do Koryeo three times, OK?"
I work with an un-nicknamed student and we do all 30 moves, even though I only know 8, even though when he counts, he only gets to 28.
After the second time, Ghost yells that we're doing it wrong and joins us to correct some hands (flat hands when they should be fists).
After three times we stopped and started chatting. Another un-nicknamed guy told me to practice more, so I grabbed his dobok and said, "OK, katchi!" He didn't much like it, but he did it. After we did the form 3 more times he finally agreed that I'd done enough.
Then I did it three times on my own with Coverboy, Brave's Brother, Ghost, and unnamed one watching and correcting me.
I think I almost have the basic moves down. Not that that means it's anywhere near learned.
During our target practice, Master is in line in front of me. We chat in Korean. "Next week, we start English, OK?"
"OK, what time?"
"I don't know, but one hour."
"Oh, Amanda, too hard!"
I break out the Korean phrases he uses on me. "Fighting, Master! Study hard!" The boys who are listening laugh.
Later, in his office, I realize he thinks I mean one hour a day. I explain that I mean one hour a week because we're both busy. "And you'll have homework," I say in Korean.
"Homework?" He shakes his head.
I use a new verb ending I learned. "You want to learn English, right?" His wife laughs.
I rub my hands together like Mr. Burns in the Simpsons. "Now I am the teacher..."
"I know," he says, not knowing the reference.
"Amanda, June 6th, competition. You compete OK? Kyeokpa and maybe poomse."
"I don't think I can. I'm foreign."
"Not KTA, only Gwangmyeong studios. You go Gwangmyeong, so it's OK. OK?"
When I interviewed with Master, I said I didn't want to compete. Now it's not that I want to compete so much as I want to support my studio.
I grin. "Yes."
Master's handphone rings. His ringer is set to a song. While he answers the phone, I hum the song under my breath, singing the words I know.
"Amanda, you know!"
"Yes, it's Kim Gun-mo."
"Oooh, very good!"
"Master, you gave me the song!"
"Oh. Yeah."
2 comments
He's mentioned on and off, very casually that he's wanted to learn English. I probably first realized he was serious when we had drinks for the first time together back in March. Recently he's been mentioning it more and asked if I could teach him when I move (so I'll only be a half hour or so from the studio instead of one and a half hours).
He's been so helpful to me that of course I said yes. I asked a friend for some book ideas and found one. I was looking for something like Sogang, but unfortunately, there just aren't any good English texts like that on the market here.
On a related note, Monday I found out that half the kids in the studio had no idea I was a teacher. I thought that was funny since I've been there ten months. A lot of them thought I was a student since I'm always doing my Korean homework.
Last night one kid told Master he was going to English camp. Master playfully hit him on the side of his head and said, "Why? Amanda is right here!" I said in Korean, "Yes, let's practice English!" but he just looked terrified.
Since I'm not sure when my schedule is going to open up enough to do regular classes, I'm seriously considering dropping taekwondo three nights a week for one term (ten weeks) to study at night... I know that would be hard with a full-time job because cramming a regular 15 hr program into 6 is difficult, so I'm trying to consider when we have vacaton breaks, but I'm not 100% sure of the schedule yet...
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