Amanda Takes Off...

Good Man has (more than once) missed the subway stop he's needed to transfer or get off at.

Why?

"The oxygen and nitrogen in the subway is different, and the sound of the train makes you sleepy. Sort of like grandmothers hitting baby backs like this," he says, hitting my back, "It's like a heartbeat, so it makes you fall asleep."

I stare at him.

"Yeah. It's a scientifically proven fact." I start laughing and he shakes his head, "Amanda, no, really. It is."

Class last night and tonight was good. I've been working on lots of kicking drills and poomse practice because I have a tournament this weekend. Tonight I worked with Amanda Eonni's older sister, a quiet girl in sixth grade (I think?) that I really like. I had to go through all 8 color belt forms with her, counting them off, in Korean.

I know counting sounds easy, but doing it slowly, and with pauses to correct major errors in her form...it's harder than it sounds! It felt good to be put in a leadership position, like how Ghost and Crybaby used to (and still sometimes do) work on my forms with me. Of course, that wasn't really anyone else there to help them, but that's OK. I'll pretend that's not the case. ^^~

Before Master asked me to help her, I was working on my forms alone. I did each form once and was dripping in sweat by the time I was done. It sounds counterintuitive, but it's much harder to do a form slowly, with lots of power and balance than to rip through it quickly.

After class Master and I chatted for a few minutes. We talked about the tourney schedule. He will be leaving the studio at 7 am to get the weight checks done. The tourney doesn't start until 9, and I know where it is (though not exactly how to get there, that will be easy enough) so he told me I could come at 9 if I wanted. I am torn between getting sleep and rest and getting weight check pictures. He said I could take pictures and I said, "Well...that is early. I will think about it."

There will also be extra practice on Saturday. He expressed his frustration with some of the boys in the studio. We were speaking Korean and he asked if I knew what "fighting" was. I said, "화이팅!" and pumped my fist in the air. I couldn't believe he was asking me if I knew that word. Of course I do.

He said the boys didn't have fighting...and he paused. Ahh, then I understood, he was using the word in a way I haven't heard it used before. I said, "fighting ki?" using the word that he used to describe energy, life force. He said, "Ah, yes, you understand!" He imitated the way they've been answering him in the studio, very weak voices.

He looked up a word on his handphone and started shaking his head. I said, "punishment?" and looked up the word on my dictionary.

"Ah! Yes, that!" He said Saturday might be punishment day.

Master and I had class, discussed my weekend study session with Good Man, talked about tomorrow's class, this weekend, and Saturday's schedule entirely in Korean, except for "punishment." And even then, I knew what he was talking about, so the dictionary wasn't needed. Master threw in some English words, but only after I had already nodded, and more to check his own English than my understanding, I think.

I know Master lowers his Korean level for me, I know I still make tons of mistakes, but the fact that we did that all in Korean...awesome.

Last night, out of the blue, I was feeling a bit homesick. I'm not sure why. The days have finally gotten cooler, the sky is finally blue (!), the leaves are changing. I think it's the fact that it feels like fall in Minnesota that is making me a bit homesick.

So I was feeling kind of down, but the major problem with being homesick is that I have no home to think of. I haven't seen my dad's house in years. The house I lived in from 1992 to 1999 (and my mom and stepdad lived in until just after I left the States) was taken by the gov't with eminent domain and I haven't seen their new house. And Atlanta? I lived there with an ex, so that certainly isn't home.

So I don't even have a place to visualize when I'm homesick.

Class has been running late because of the tourney preparation. When I headed for the subway, I found that Good Man had texted messaged me that he was at my house. I certainly didn't remember inviting him over.

Turns out his job had gone very late, so he'd come over to my house rather than go home. No problem, I gave him a key for a reason. And he did my dishes, so I had no complaints.

"Good Man, I'm homesick. And I don't even have a home to think of! Do you know what I've been thinking of? A Publix grocery store. Seriously, the cheese section of a supermarket. That is home apparently."

He hugged me and asked about vacation and suggested I go to the States for a few days this winter. But I don't have the money or the time for it. It's not feasible.

And so we just chatted and boom, I felt better.

So nice.