Amanda Takes Off...

Whew! It's over! And it was so short, all done by 5:30. They got 300 people through that quickly.

On the one hand, I want to write a very detailed post. On the other hand, it was much like last year, so a blow-by-blow isn't really necessary.

A few things were quite different this year. We only had eleven people testing, and two Sabumnims helping, which made it much less confusing than last year. Unlike last year, Master didn't have me go down with everyone else for the opening ceremony, which I appreciated.

Last year they gave me no problems over my residency card. This year they wanted me residency card, my passport...one official started asking me detailed questions in really formal Korean (not just formal verb ending, but honorific words) and I was so confused. Master came over just in the nick of time.

I got there earlier than anyone else, and after I changed, I headed outside to start practicing. I didn't even see Sabumnim the Man until he grabbed my arm. As we were walking outside, some kids said "oooh! Waygookin! Hi!"

Sabumnim the Man had not been introduced to my movie-starness and laughed. I nodded, "I am a movie star," I said.

Nervous

I was nervous this year, but not as nervous as last year since I knew what to expect. I kept telling Officer, "I just want it to be over."

Nervous Smile

Right before we got called down, Officer and Sabumnim the Man were working with us. I think I'm going to get along with Sabumnim the Man... Next week I'm going to tell Master that we should have soju with Sabumnim the Man because then we'll all be friends. Still, I made a major error in Chil Jang—and didn't notice it. Sabumnim the Man pulled me aside and told me to do it again. When I realized I hadn't known I'd made a mistake, I started to worry.

Officer and Me

The girl I sparred last year—11 years younger, a full head shorter (I was really leaning over!), and at least 20 kilos lighter than I—was there. She was so excited when she saw me she jumped on me from behind and yelled, "AMANDA!" Master just laughed.

Sparring Buddy and Me

You can probably tell that my smile looks more genuine here. It was a bit strange...as soon as I signed in, my nervousness mostly disappeared. The longer we waited, the more calm I felt. I don't know that I've ever felt...zen. But today was as near as I've ever gotten. I was very calm. I just kept thinking, "I know this stuff. I can do it."

Waiting

We got called up for poomse first. I watched the people testing for Il Dan, thinking, "OK, the next move is...and then...and then..." Unfortunately, number 6 made hash of his form. He was very nervous. I felt for him.

While we were waiting, my sparring partner was freaking out over how nervous and scared she was. I just kept teasing her. "이기겠어요! 죽이겠어요!" I will win. I will kill you! I was trying to make her laugh, and it worked.

When they called us to stand up, I emotionally felt very calm. But as soon as I stood up, I could feel my heart thumping in my ribcage. It was odd. Usually when I'm nervous, my heart beats very fast, and it's high in my chest. This time it was lower in my chest, slower, deeper. I've never felt that before.

Six people were testing for I Dan, and they had us split into a groups of two and four. I was number three. I stood there, faced the judges, and thought, "이기겠어." Yes, I thought I will win in Korean.

We were called to do Oh Jang and I did my best. No mistakes, and I went slow, at my own pace. A major problem with tests and tourneys for me has been that I've rushed. This time I went very slow, aiming for very controlled movements.

They called Koryeo and again, I went slow, at my own pace, as even as possible.

During both forms I had to show very good control because my foot came an inch or so from Sparring Partner's head. During both forms I also kept eye control exactly as Master said. I didn't let myself pay attention to what anyone else was doing, I looked where I was supposed to, and when I was facing the judges, I looked at them. I saw both of them looking at me each time.

After the forms ended, I still looked right at the judges. Normally direct eye contact with a superior in Korea is rude. But I wasn't going to fidget, look nervous, look down...nothing. I was going to look confident. I certainly wasn't going to break eye contact if the form didn't require it!

I think the eye contact and slowness of my form may be why they gave me a poomse certificate and medal. The funny thing was, they just nodded, but I didn't know whom there were nodding at, so I didn't move until they called my number. I ran up to the desk, told them my name, thanked them.

Last year I said I thought I got the sparring certificate because I was white, but this year, I actually feel like I did do my poomse well. It was a nice feeling.

Then we sparred. This year Sparring Partner did much better than last year. Neither of us got certificates, though after we were completely done, they told Sparring Partner she would also get a certificate (no medal) for poomse. She was excited, she kept grabbing me.

Bowing After Receiving Certificates and Medals

Poor Officer...she was taking pictures and not having good luck. She apologized after the test because her photos are out of focus. But I know how my camera works, with movement, it's hard to track someone quickly. I'm not upset with her.

Me

Since we were one of the last groups to test, everyone was basically gone when we were done. I walked out with Master, Officer, Sabumnim the Man and two studiomates. I thanked all three of them, bowed out, and headed home. No dinner with them tonight (last time we had lunch together), because I'm headed out of town this weekend.

I am relieved that the test is over, but more than that, I'm proud of myself. Not so much for earning a certificate and medal, but for sticking with this one activity. For sticking with taekwondo and Master and the studio through all of the good and bad that has happened to me in Korea. I am proud that I was able to earn a certificate and medal on the behalf of my studio and my teachers because they have made my life so wonderful here, even when everything was falling apart around me.

I am a bit sad that it's over since it's quite possibly the last big taekwondo thing (test, demo, tourney) that I will do in Korea. I got teary on the subway ride home. It feels like the end, almost.

But it's not.

I'll continue taekwondo, I'll continue studying Korean, I expect to come back to Korea one day.

"Good Man, can you cook? Or does your mom cook everything?"

"I can cook ramyeon."

I giggled. "The food of college boys. Ramyeon and grilled cheese sandwiches."

"In the military, we had to sneak food. We ate ramyeon."

I was confused, "Didn't you eat at normal times?"

"US Army, Korean Army, different. My job was very hard and I was always busy, so no, we didn't always eat. But we would eat ramyeon, but we had to sneak it, so we would make a hole."

I couldn't stop laughing. He was telling this story so seriously, and I just kept thinking of his "hiding in my army hat" text message, so I was imagining him cooking ramyeon in his helmet. "What?"

"Yeah. We would make a tiny hole in the packet, put the hot water in it. Wait. Then eat."

I remembered my friend Mark's story about cooking ramyeon in a hostel in Europe by running hot water over it in the sink. I told that to Good Man and he said very seriously, "We didn't make much money, and we had to sneak around. Ramyeon was very precious."

"Amanda, Pass."

I went to tonight's class, which was extremely short. I warmed up with 400 turns of the jump rope and some light stretching, then started practicing forms. After 20 mins or so, Master and our new Sabumnim (who shall be Sabumnim the Third or Sabumnim the Man, I'm not sure yet) came in.

Turns out I'm the only one in my class testing. I believe that was the case last year, too. In fact, many names have been wiped off the white board. Yesterday Master told me that many students visited their grandparents over their school vacation and thus haven't been practicing.

Master called me to the front and had me do Koryeo with and without count. Then he had me do some other forms: Sa Jang, Yuk Jang, Chil Jang, Pal Jang. Pal Jang and Yuk Jang are fine, I adore Chil Jang (it was my random form last year), but Sa Jang caused me to wrinkle my nose and look at him. He laughed, because he knew what I was thinking.

Main point: Master said there are two methods of kicking. Sparring method is a quick snap, while poomse method is to hold the leg fully extended for a moment before returning. He said I am right between both methods and to hold the leg for a second longer before returning. He also said to go for slightly lower kicked with stronger form rather than a sort of whipping kicking motion.

Koryeo: On the return, end with hand in front of face, pause, then move to neck and sweep across body. I wasn't pausing in front of face. Also during elbow strike, palm needs to be flat against fist.

Pal Jang: No comment.

Chil Jang and Yuk Jang: Kicking comment.

Sa Jang: Apseogi, then apkubi!

Master then asked if I wanted to spar. He said he didn't think I needed it. I said, "I don't want to. But I need to."

Master grinned and called Goalie's Brother up to spar. His only advice was "do like always, Amanda Style."

Master told me to meet him at the testing location at 2:20 tomorrow. He said to bring my ARC and passport, even though we don't think that I'll need the passport this time. He told me to run through each form once, then mentally several times. "Amanda, you pass, OK!" I laughed and he said, "I...everyday, OK! I think, always, OK!"

OK!

I took my dobok home to wash it tonight.

Now I am getting nervous about Friday.

And He Is Korean?

Yesterday at work, one of my coworkers asked me if men in America help with housework. "They do more than they do here, but women still do most of the work," I said.

"Does your boyfriend clean anything?"

"Yes, he does the dishes, and he's good at cleaning." I nodded.

The women all gasped. One said, "And he is Korean?"

I nodded, "Yes. If he doesn't do the dishes, I don't cook. I can't! No clean dishes..."

One woman laughed, "But we have children. They must eat..."

I was trying to be polite. Rather than explain that I had chores as a kid (chores which included doing the dishes), rather than saying a man is not a child and he doesn't need to eat, I winked. "I don't have kids."

따르릉 따르릉

I went to bed around midnight last night. I ran through my black belt form, pal jang, and chil jang mentally before falling asleep. This should've given me a good seven hours of sleep.

At 5:23 am my phone rang. 따르릉 따르릉. It was Good Man. "I'm outside your house. I'm going to open the door." He didn't sound drunk. What the...?

I opened the bar bolt and let him in. "What in the world are you doing? Did you have a wayshik? Or were you working?"

"No, not a wayshik. At 10 my job made me go down to Ansan. I just got back."

This means he worked a 20 hour day. Oh, but after 10 pm he sort of gets overtime. Overtime at a rate which is less than his normal salary. And only for the 7 hours after 10 pm. Although I'm sure they'll claim that the transportation time to and from Ansan wasn't work, so let's cut that down to 5 hours. Wait, but these are Koreans in the accounting office, so let's make it 4 hours. And the overtime he worked before 10 pm? No. Nothing.

Had he actually gone home (at 5:23 the subways may have just started running), he would've changed clothes, turned right back around, and still been late for work.

As it is, the lucky man got about 3 hours of sleep last night.

He showered and crawled into bed. "I hate your job," I said. "Let's go to America."

"OK," he said sleepily.

"Now."

"OK, I will become a refugee."

He started snoring and I was stuck awake. I started mentally doing form. Chil jang, yuk jang... and I was asleep.

Cocky!

Tonight I got to taekwondo and saw...Cocky! I was so excited I couldn't even speak Korean. "오래만이예요! 많아요. 음! 뭐 하고 있었어?" He laughed. He's been working a part-time job. He's not going to college this year. He's going into the military. I suspect he's starting his military service early (in May) because his grades were not fantastic in school. However, a while ago he wanted to be a security guard for rich and famous people, so maybe that's changed to some sort of military career.

Officer taught half of class. While I was warming up, we chatted. She didn't know that I know she's leaving. She told me Friday is her last day, and she's a bit nervous about starting her police officer classes. I told her I was nervous about Friday.

We did running drills and I had a contest with an elementary school aged boy next to me. He's fairly new to our class period, but sweet. I think he has a little crush on me and we were racing while I yelled 이기겠어! I will win! I let him win by one or two steps. Most of the time.

Master came for the second half of class. "관장님...금요일...조금 긴장해요." Master...Friday...I'm a little nervous.

"좋아요." Good.

I laughed and asked why. He said that he wants us to be a little nervous because it makes us practice more. I decided to try using a grammar pattern I hate using, and a grammar pattern I just learned this week. "작년 이년보다 긴장했어요. 하지만...지금 긴자해요!" I was more nervous last year than this year. Then, to reassure him that I wasn't getting cocky, But I'm a little nervous!

He laughed and asked why I was more nervous last year. "어떻게 하는지 몰랐어요. 하지만 이년 어떻게 하는지 알아요." I didn't know what would happen. But this year, I know.* Master nodded and said we would have a test one day this week. "Maybe today," he said.

While Master did kicking drills with the non-testing students, I did poomse with the drilling students. Master told me to count off, which I did. I don't know why it's hard to do the forms well and keep count in Korean, but it is. I think I repeated "8...9...10..." a few times.

Crybaby usually counts off, and she seemed pissed that I was doing it. But Crybaby is lazy and wants to rest too often and counts in a quiet, whiny, "I don't want to be here" voice. She is great at taekwondo, but she doesn't always want to be there. I know the feeling, but I'm an adult, so I am better able to hide it, especially when put in charge of children. When Amanda Eonni started wandering off and her little brother started getting ants in his pants, a hissed, "don't do that!" and they stopped. Crybaby is too close to their age to do that.

A little over halfway through, Crush Boy had to leave. He told Master then came back to me and said, "Bye, Amanda," with a little wave. Then he sort of looked confused and started to bow. Then he looked perplexed and started to salute out like we do for Officer and Master. I could see him thinking, "She's older...but she's foreign...and she's teaching, but she's not a teacher and we don't usually salute out higher belts, but she really is a teacher and..." To end his confusion, I patted him on the back and nodded a little bow to him.

I have a feeling that little "Amanda, count, OK?" bit from Master was part of my pre-test pre-test...

*Good Man says "이번 년" is better than "이년" but it is even better to say "올해 because 이번 년 is sort of weird" and sounds like a swear word.

Long, long ago, I learned that 화 (火) means "fire."

I am currently reading The Little Prince. This book is much too hard for me in Korean, so I'm reading a few chapters in English first, then a few in Korean. It's the perfect thing to read while standing on the subway, because the chapters are so short.

The word for "volcano" is 화산. I read that and thought...화? 화가 나다? 화를 내다? Anger? To get angry? To express one's anger? 화산...angry mountain?

This sent me off on a little dictionary exploration. When I got my electronic dictionary, I thought I'd never use the Hanja dictionary. I was so wrong.

I had completely forgotten about 화요일 meaning "fire day." Turns out that "wrath, anger, passion" and "fire" use the same Hanja, 火!

Hence, 화산 (火山) means "fire mountain" but uses the same Hanja that "angry mountain" would. Were a mountain to get angry, mind you.

Fire mountain. That's just plain beautiful.

I then found 화 (火) in my Handbook of Korean Vocabulary.

Of particular note:
Mars (화성, 火星, lit. "fire star")
vexation, irritation (성화, 成火, lit. "make anger")
let go of anger (화풀다, a blend of Sino and pure Korean, 火-solve)
gunpowder (화약, 火藥, lit. "fire/anger medicine")

Fire/anger...medicine? Wow.

And in the course of a few minutes—not for the first time—I've fallen in love with this language again.

Good Man and I are speaking Korean as much as possible today. He was hungry, so I made him a tuna fish sandwich.

A few minutes later, we were talking about taking a weekend trip.

"참치 표 있어?" I said. Do we have the tuna tickets?

"뭐?" What?

I realized my mistake and laughed. "기차 표 있어?" Do we have the train tickets?

"참치 기차?" he teased. Tuna train?

That's up there with my beef vacuum cleaner mistake. I don't know where these things come from. I just open up my mouth and out they tumble.

A few days ago, I was taking photos of something when two young guys ran past and sneaked behind someone's gate. Turns out they were some of my studiomates, as we were all on our way to class. I walked to class while they ran, jumped, darted about. Eventually, a third studiomate joined them.

Hiding

Escaping

Running

Jumping

Twirling

Climbing

All photos were adjusted and given the "direct positive" treatment in Lightroom. "Jumping" and "Twirling" are out of focus because he was so darn close to the lens. "Climbing" is out of focus because they were moving. Still, sometimes a blurry photo works.

***

I wasn't feeling well, so I accidentally napped through tonight's class ㅠㅠ, but I talked to Master last night about next week's second dan black belt test. We'll meet at the studio at noon, and the test is at three. Since it's on a Friday, none of my friends can come. It's a bit weird to me that I've tested for belt after belt in South Korea and nobody outside of the studio has seen it. On the one hand, I wish my family (and Good Man) could have seen one or both of the black belt tests. On the other hand, it's sort of fitting that nobody's really seen it. So much of my life in South Korea has been about discovering how independent I can be.

Next week Master will test me on the forms and my kicking. I nodded. I am not nearly as nervous this year as I was last year. I was so afraid of being spoken to in Korean by strangers, of going to the wrong place at the wrong time. Since I know what to expect this year, I'm not as afraid. It's not cockiness...it's that the fear of the unknown has been largely stripped away.

Last night's class was good. While the non-testing boys worked on kicking drills, those of us testing worked on poomse for a bit. I was working with Amanda Eonni while she was working on chil jang. When it came time to turn from the scissors block into grabbing the opponent's shoulders, her hands were way up in the hair, like straight above her.

I lowered her hands. "어깨." Shoulders. I didn't know how to say "invisible person," so I did the best I could. "사람 안 보여?" You can't see the person? She laughed and corrected herself.

On the backfist strike part she was creating a huge arc over her head, an exaggerated version of the hammer fist that starts of oh jang. I corrected her form. Multiple times. When she finally understood, she gave me a huge hug.

When did she get so tall?

When I started at the studio, only one or two boys were taller than me. Now almost all of the high school boys are taller than me. The elementary school students have shot up like weeds. When I first started training, Master's Daughter never spoke to me, and Master's Son couldn't walk. Now they run out into the living room together when they hear my voice, his daughter and son yelling, "아만다아아아아!"

In my 19 months here in South Korea, the only constant thing has been this studio. The students have changed over time, some of my favorites I haven't seen in months (Powerful! Cocky! Blue, and my little brother Ghost!), there are new ones I've grown to adore. But Master's family I've only grown closer to. I am really going to miss it—them—when I leave in less than 4 months.

Sunday Good Man and I met in Gangnam to see Across the Universe. It was enjoyable, though some of the songs got a little too psychedelic for my tastes. I really liked "With a Little Help from my Friends" and "I Want You."

After the movie, we got some coffee at Seven Monkeys. I dig the Seven Monkeys chain. Very comfortable. However, I tried ordering our coffee and the woman just stared at me. Considering that excepting "and" every single word coming out of my mouth was Konglishalian—Ca-pe A-mer-i-ca-nuh, choc-o-la-tuh lat-teh, cho-o-la-tuh mou-sah—I couldn't figure out why the woman couldn't understand me. Especially since she did when Good Man opened his mouth and repeated what I said.

Good Man said she just wasn't listening. Still, it's so annoying that Koreans choose not to understand me just because I'm not Korean. I know people think I'm overestimating my abilities, but I'm not. When I'm with Good Man, and I speak Korean, I get more blank stares than when I'm not with him. "White girl with Korean guy, she must not speak Korean."

So frustrating.

Anyhow, Good Man helped me with my lessons while we took pictures of each other. I had to heavily crop his photos because while my camera doesn't have face recognition, it apparently has straight-down-the-V-neck bust recognition.

Good Man

Amanda

Coffee

"What...Is...The...Answer?"

서각 한국어 2B, 6과

Amanda

Good Man

Good Boots

Laughing

And in traditional fashion, I veered from the book. I will let you guess where I went off track.

리사: 유미 씨가 다음달에 결혼한하고 들었어요. I heard Yumi is getting married next month.

폴: 네, 저도 들었어요. Yes, I heard that, too.

리사: 누구하고 결혼하는지 아세요? Do you know whom she's marrying?

폴: 네, 회사 동료하고 결혼해요. Yes, she will marry a business coworker.

리사: 유미 씨는 정말 좋으시겠어요. Yumi must be very happy.

폴: 아니요. 유미 씨가 레스비엔이에요. 하지만 결혼 해야해요. No. Yumi is a lesbian. But she must get married.

Another dialogue had a man congratulating another man (probably Lesbian Yumi's new husband) for getting married. In Korea it's traditional for someone to treat their friends when something good happens to them (the treater, not the friends). So the bridegroom says, "I'll take you out to dinner. It will be my treat."

While we were walking back to the subway station, I said, "Hey, [Good Man], how do you say 'pimp' in Korean?"

Good Man shook his head. "I'm not teaching you bad words."

"I need to know 'pimp.' You promised, when we met, that dating you would be good for my Korean."

Good Man shook his head. "포주." Poju.

"제가 한턱 낼게요." It's my treat, I started. "왜냐하면 노래방 도우미 포주가 됐어요. 하지만, 약혼...자?" I didn't know the word for fiancée.

"약혼녀."

"OK. 왜냐하면 노래방 도우미 포주가 됐어요. 지금 부자예요! 하지만, 약혼녀가 몰라요. 쉬! OK?"

Good Man was shaking his head and giggling, "응."

It's my treat. I have become a singing-room-girl pimp. Now I am a rich man. But my fiancée doesn't know. Shhh!

We spent the day wrapped in each other's air. Each other's space. Now you've pulled on your jacket. I am only wearing one shoe, a purple Converse sneaker. I am not ready.

I tug on your jacket hood, pout just a bit. "가고 싶지 않아..." I know you have to go, I know we'll meet tomorrow. It doesn't matter. In that moment I admit, I don't want you to go.

"You're like a cute little devil," you grin, hands touching my cheeks.

I think, I will be your shoulder angel, and your shoulder devil, if you'll let me.

You stand in the doorway while I slip on my second shoe. You're holding the door open for me to join you, walk you to the subway station. The cold air hits my face. I catch sight of your eyes—how you're looking at me. In that moment I know, You'll let me.

Now that everyone has (finally! Virginia!) received their 13 cards, I can write about what I did for the holidays.

I hate Christmas letters with a deep passion. But I know most of my family and friends don't read my website. Also, I have tons and tons of photos.

So I took two ideas from Photojojo and make a sort of year in review. I brainstormed what I did in each month and either found or took new photos to match the idea. I then learned to love Lightroom and GIMP as I figured out how to add text, do Gaussian blurs, shear, adjust horizons, work with layers, and so on and so forth.

I printed up thirteen photos for ten people each, using a Korean photo website, Zzixx. I decided I would send the photos in a random order excepting the very last one, just to keep people guessing a bit. There were two different versions of the last one, just for fun. It worked for a while, at least, as several people thought the first card was just an announcement about earning my black belt.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

November

December

Last Card Version I

Last Card Version II

The real fun of the project though, came at the post office.

In December I got stuck at the post office for an hour, only to leave laughing.

I needed 130 stamps for 580 won each. First, the woman asked me three times if it was really 130. Yes. Then I said twice "I am only sending 8 today."

"OK," she said.

Then her computer froze.

After trying to do something to fix it, and 25 mins of waiting, the first clerk put me with another woman.

She then printed 130 of those stick-on metered stamped. She said, "You have to mail them all today."

"할수없어요," impossible I said.

"You must, you must.."

I finally said "안 돼요." I don't have permission. But it can also be used to mean, roughly, "nope, can't do it."

So then they had to refund 122 stamps of money. And they had to find real stamps to equal up to 122 stamps of 580 won each.

At this point I had two clerks trying to help me. Their boss then joined in. The Flighty First Woman kept telling the man it was 570 won. They had 18 different types of stamps spread all over the place, trying to do all the math.

After 15 mins of this, the man realizes the woman said 570 not 580.

"You said 570!" he yelled at her.

"No! No, I said 580!"

She was wrong, she very clearly said 570 four times.

So they were throwing stamps around, trying to add up sum up how many stamps it would take to get 122 envelopes done at 580 won each. They were yelling at each other.

Some Korean woman walked up to me, asked if I needed help in English. I said no, they were fine, it was just complicated and thanked her.

Finally I said, "OK, 오늘 이것 주세요. 그리고 다음 이나 다음 다음주 저는 다시 올거예요." Today I will buy these. And next week or next next week, I will come back.

They apologized, but I said it was OK. It wasn't their fault. They just didn't have that many stamps. No problem.

I didn't get all of the cards out before Christmas, and the post office was closed a few days over the new year. So I returned in early January. This time my postage price had suddenly gone up. Ah, but see, it really hadn't, I was just confused because I was doing too many things at once.

So I ended up paying more money than I needed for postage. But then I got home and discovered that the woman gave me too many stamps. In the end, I ended up paying exactly what I needed to, plus/minus 2% perhaps.

Or something like that.

The feedback from this little project was great, everybody seemed to love it.

A few months ago Diana asked me to recommend some taekwondo/martial arts books.

Here's a short list of the martial arts books I have in my house, as well as my thoughts on them.

Ultimate Flexibility: A Complete Guide to Stretching for Martial Arts by Sang H. Kim
The Martial Artist's Book of Yoga by Lily Chou

I should use both of these books more than I do. Flexibility is one of those things I'm OK with, but I'd like to be better.

Although I knew many of the stretches in Kim's book, he explained how they were used, and what muscles should be targeted. I think sometimes people stretch but don't know exactly where they're supposed to feel it. His book is laid out by body part, with suggested workouts at the end of the book.

Chou's book is interesting because she breaks out a set of patterns for each skill. Interested in working on throws? Do the yoga in that section. General balance issues? Go to that section. I liked that because it made it easier for me to choose what to work on, though of course, you could do any of the poses.

The Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee
Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way edited by John R. Little

These two books are primarily about Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. The first book was the originally published one, while the second book came from notes and papers that didn't make the first book.

I actually like Little's collection better than the original book. The original book is more comprehensive, more information about Lee's system, methods, and beliefs. The book edited by Little is more a collection of short statements, incomplete ideas. I liked that book more because I was able to consider statements out of context. How did they apply to me, to my art, to my life?

Taekwondo: Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Warrior
Traditional Taekwondo: Core Techniques, History, and Philosophy by Doug Cook

These two books work well as a set. The first book is about learning personal traits from taekwondo. What is a warrior? What mindset should one have? While I find the word "warrior" to be a bit too Robert-Bly-men's-movement-
chest-thumping for my personal taste, the content in this book is so strong I was able to overlook my own dislike of the term. I believe martial artists from all camps could benefit from reading this book.

The second book is more about self-defense, stances, etc with lots of photos. I prefer the first book, but the second could be a good addition for people studying taekwondo, especially people who are new to the art. The author includes information about both WTF and ITF taekwondo, though he does not include poomse charts/diagrams.

Taekwondo: Philosophy & Culture
Dynamic Taekwondo: Kyorugi
Dynamic Taekwondo: A Martial Art & Olympic Sport by Kyong Myong Lee.

I like these books for general information about taekwondo, but I don't think most people would need all three books unless very interested in the subject.

The first book focuses on the philosophical aspects and history of taekwondo. The second focuses on free sparring. The third focuses on the forms. Each book can stand alone, while there is some overlap.

I liked these because books about the philosophy of taekwondo can be hard to come by, and this is one area where our language gap shows in the studio, though Master does a fantastic job bridging it. Still, having background knowledge in English makes understanding what Master talks about in Korean much easier.

Having said that, the Romanization of Korean is terribly annoying to me (though most readers would probably not be bothered by it since they wouldn't've studied Korean). The history section is a bit different than I've read before, but I consider these strong books. I should note that I bought them in Korea for half the price they (are said) to cost new in the States. Pick them up used!

Taekwondo Textbook I
Taekwondo Textbook II by the Kukkiwon.

These books are, quite simply, the definitive books on WTF-style taekwondo. Book I covers the basic motions of taekwondo (stances, punches, kicks, blocks) and the Taegeuk series of forms. Book II covers the black belt series of forms, demonstration rules, competition rules, and common training methods for "taekwondo players" (serious competitors).

If you are seriously into WTF-taekwondo, this is the go-to book. I suspect this book is mostly owned by instructors. Having said that, I bought the soft cover editions for $30 in South Korea and I bought them because they are—thank goodness!—bilingual. These are the books I learned my Korean taekwondo terms from. (My dictionaries didn't have them, and my Korean friends and coworkers don't know them!) I absolutely needed these books. But $100 for them like Amazon wants? No...you can find them cheaper, I'm sure.

There is a man at work, the head of the janitors I think, who gives chocolate bars to everyone from time to time. I never bothered to remember his name because Koreans don't use names. My principal asked me if I knew who he was. I grinned and said he was the "Chocolate Ajosshi." She scolded me and said his family name was Kim. Mr Kim Chocolate Ajosshi just laughed.

On Valentine's Day in Korea, women buy men chocolate. I stopped by the Family Mart this morning and bought a bar of Dove dark chocolate. I found Chocolate Ajosshi in his office, smoke-filled always, in our "smoke free building."

"Mr Kim Chocolate Ajosshi!" I called out, while handing him the chocolate.

***

Yesterday, walking to the bus stop from work, I passed a man selling large baskets of strawberries. "딸기!" he called out, then muttered in Korean, "I don't know that in English."

I laughed and said, "Strawberries."

"Strawberries, sam cheon won!" he grinned.

I told him I couldn't buy any because I needed to go to taekwondo class. "다임에 살 거예요... Next time, I promised.

Well, next time was today. I had exactly one 1,000 won bill in my wallet, but plenty of change. We chatted a bit, he complimented my Korean, asked about taekwondo.

When I got on the bus, a student of mine waved, "Amanda Teacher!" I sat next to him and opened the bag. "Eat," I commanded.

He took one strawberry and bit into it, eyes closing. "Ummm," he said. The next stop was his stop, and I foisted three more strawberries on him. That was all that would fit in his hands. I watched him at our bus pulled away. He hopped down the street on the way to his hogwon, dropping strawberry stems behind him. A red and green trail.

***

I came home and found out a friend is getting divorced.

A few hours later, I found out another friend is pregnant.

A few minutes later I found out Good Man would be later than 10 pm. Why? Another wayshik of course. Points for texting me before he was already late. I didn't plan anything special for Valentine's Day because we had agreed not to, but I had wanted to make a nice pasta dinner. I was hungry, so I just made a simple pasta dinner for myself, leaving leftover for him.

More points for Good Man for showing up 7 minutes before his new arrival time of 11. Good, good.

But I still bitched. "Why don't Korean men like their wives? Why do they all love booze so much? Why do they like controlling their employees? Why does this country claim to be so 'family-centered' when it's so obviously not?" I was on a roll because today I had listened to my Cool Coteacher whine about her husband coming home at 3 am this morning from a wayshik.

I have been bothering Good Man to speak Korean for weeks. We decided Thursday would be our Korean-only day. He smiled at me, "한국어를 말하자..."

And ten minutes later—after he'd already dealt with his mother calling (which I'd predicted)—while I was examining a strawberry flower still attached to the berry, KT called Good Man wanting tech support. "Five minutes," he said.

Much more than five minutes later, we were watching America's Next Top Model together. The Chinese lion/dragons came out to inform the girls that they were going to China. Good Man said, "수퍼모델들은 한국에 간다고 들었다면 기뻐하지 않았을 거예요."

And even though I didn't understand everything, I understood what he was saying. If the supermodels had been told they were going to Korea, they wouldn't've been happy. I laughed, and suddenly the day was a bit better, 17 minutes before it was over.

Taekwondo has been great lately. A lot of drilling and poomse work. Training-wise, class has been tough. In true form, I've suddenly forgotten every form I ever learned. Very frustrating.

Officer has been running class full-time lately and she's fantastic. At the start of class I was stretching. She asked me how I was. I leaned all the way back to look at her.

"피곤해요." I'm tired.

"저도요," she said. Me, too.

"OK, 그럼...7시에 끝나요!" Then let's end class at 7:00.

She laughed and said Master would find out. I whispered that we wouldn't tell him. She pointed to all of the other students in class, gesturing that they would tell.

"음...OK, 학생을 죽일 거예요," I whispered with a lot of exaggeration. Um, then I will kill them!

She laughed and laughed at me. Then I asked her a question about some story I'd read about an admiral killing his horse and a good time was had by all. And a few moments later, while doing kicking drills, I learned the word for dizzy: 어지럽다.

Near the end of class, Master called me downstairs. "Amanda, we have English question."

"I speak English," I chirped while removing my shoes.

After explaining to Master and his wife what they needed to know, and promising to get back to them on an international phone call I needed to make on their behalf, Master asked if I was going to bring him chocolates for Valentine's Day. I laughed and gestured towards Master's Wife. "사모님이 초콜릿를 살거예요." Your wife will buy you chocolate.

Master and his wife both chuckled.

I asked Master for help with my Korean homework. While he was helping me, I told him my Korean was too low. He told me that's because we haven't been chatting lately. I asked why he's been so busy. Turns out he's looking for another Sabumnim because Officer is starting school next month or the month after.

Sigh.

I am disappointed. I really like her.

I said as much to Master and he agreed. He said that he doesn't want to lose her and told me that none of the other students know yet.

Then he helped me with my homework. Master has bungee jumped, SCUBA dived, traveled alone (in Korea), eaten Korean foods and watch Korean movies. He has not fainted, nor has he been in a traffic accident. He may have lost something important. I asked Officer most of the questions on the way to the subway station and found out that she lived in China for two months while studying Chinese. I had no idea; I was impressed!

I have read a ton of books about study methods, due in part to studying Korean, due in part to being a teacher. About studying a foreign language, most of the tips are "use memorization tricks...don't be afraid to talk...practice every day."

But I am a proponent of the Talk Back to Your Textbook Method of studying.

I drive Good Man crazy with my Korean study methods.

Beyond 드디어, and the heavy cow, we have the fact that 웃다 (to smile) is remembered by thinking of a cat, 두껍다 (thick) is a big layer of dew on a flower, and 금방 (in a moment)? You really do not want to know how I remember that word. It's in the same vein as 드디어 but even more twisted and even I know that that part of my thought process shouldn't be shared.

This is fine. This does not make me crazy in Good Man's eyes.

But see, beyond my weird vocab methods...I talk back to my textbooks. Often, while we're working on my workbooks on the subway, I have to stop talking.

Why?

Because I make mildly inappropriate sentences in my workbook, of course!

One exercise was "Even if a good student is [모모] they certainly must [모모]." The answers were supposed to be things like, "Even if a good student is sick, he/she should certainly go to school." These things make sense in Korea, but where I come from, if you're sick, you stay home. I was bored making the "right" answers, so I started writing things like, "Even if a good student doesn't have time, she will still cheat."

What can I say? Cheating is big here. Even the Chosun Ilbo says Korea is a country of liars.

I change a "play" to a "sleep" and now Minsu is saying something completely different about his Korean friends. As a matter of habit, I change "exercise" to "taekwondo" almost every time I see it.

Character Michael 씨 says, "Korean was hard a year ago, but now it's easy." Me? I write "못 믿어!" (I don't believe it) in the margins.

Sometimes I draw hearts between people looking at each other, no matter their genders. I draw little fish body parts on Andy's swimming illustrations. If a man mentions drinking soju, I write "Master" above it.

The speaking exercises...oh, Good Man puts up with a lot. Last night on the subway ride we were practicing this bit of speech.

Leanne: Hey, Tony, have you been to 모모?

Tony: Yes, I've been there three times.

Leanne: Really? You've been there three times?

Tony: Yes, why do you ask?

Leanne: This semester I am planning a trip there. What would be good to see?

Tony: You should see 모모 because 모모.*

Various scenarios are given, so you can practice the grammar pattern. I break away from these patterns.

At one point I said, "Don't you have ears? Yes, three times!"

At another point, about Germany, I said, "Oh, but I can't drink beer because I'm an alcoholic. What should I do instead?"

Good Man's lucky I don't know what "ladyboy" is in Korean, because I've actually been to Thailand. I stuck with the "delicious fruit" scripted bit.

Good Man is getting pretty good at learning how to talk back to me though. He told me he'd never been to Germany, and I had to work around that.

Still, I know he thinks I'm slightly crazy.

* Note: The dialogue sounds very easy, but I simplified the grammar patterns to make them sound normal.

Last night Good Man and I splurged and stayed at the Grand Hilton Seoul Hotel. They were having special room rates due to Lunar New Year and we decided to splurge just for fun. We ordered room service because we could (cross that off the List) and had a wonderful time.

Today we headed to Insadong and met Diana and her friend Jiny and had lunch. Poor Good Man...I accidentally burned his hand with Gorgonzola cheese sauce! Oops...

A very, very nice weekend.

Grand Hilton Seoul

Dinner

Good Man

Silver Spoon

Purple

Dessert, Fallen

Amanda

Good Man

Insadong

Grating

Empty Insadong

Cloth

Paper

Clay Flute Necklace Seller Setting Up

Old and New

Waiting

Watching

Fortune Telling

Preparing

Fake Flowers

Careful! You Might Fall!

Begging

Jeonju for Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year was yesterday. Because Koreans traditionally have to travel to their ancestral homes, the gov't makes the holiday three days long to account for travel time. Thus, we had a five day weekend, starting Wednesday.

Wednesday I cleaned my house. As in I actually swept, vacuumed, and mopped the whole house.

Shortly after I finished, my recruiters-turned-friends-who-helped-me-
fight-at-the-Labor-Board-and-put-me-up-when-I-was-homeless called me. A married couple, they're like us. A South African white female, A. (who is slowly and unintentionally teaching me Afrikaans), and CH, a Korean male.

A. called me. "Where are you?"

"Home."

"Why?"

"Where should I be?" I asked. I knew I'd told her Good Man would be visiting his grandmother.

"Here!" she declared.

My mind raced. They have recently moved way down south to the ancient capital, Jeonju. It's in the Jeollas, and I love the Jeollas. Did I agree to go down there for Seollal? No...

A shower, a hastily packed bag, and an hour's subway ride later, I was at the East Bus Terminal. Before I met Good Man, I'd never taken a long distance bus in Korea. Since meeting Good Man, I've never had to buy a ticket or navigate the terminal myself. The terminal is quite large and it was packed because of New Year. When I couldn't find my city or province on the first floor, I headed up to the second. Assa! Found it!

I bought my ticket with five minutes to spare and luckily found my bus very easily.

Three hours later, I was in Jeonju.

A great little trip. In this case, photos really do tell the story. Head over to the gallery.

Text message to Good Man (about probably not being able to meet): 괜찮아. 여행하기 전에 만나고 싶었어. 하지만 이해해. ^^
It's OK. I wanted to see you before your trip. But I understand.

Good Man (later, at my house): I understood everything, it was perfect. But what do you mean, 여행?

Me: Your trip. Your trip to visit your Grandma for 설날. Lunar new year.

Good Man (laughing): No, 여행 is like vacation, a trip, sight-seeing, something fun. This is not fun.

Me: Why not?

Good Man: It's an obligation. 해야한다. It's not fun.

I've recently learned the adjective-아/어/여지다 form in Korean, meaning "to change, to become, to turn into." Yesterday Good Man read some stories from my fairy tale book with me. My mind was suddenly making 100 connections a story. I've had this book for some time, but suddenly large chunks of it were making more sense than ever before.

Patient Good Man! I was asking questions about other changing/becoming forms ("...so 가 되다 means..."). I was shouting out new or figured-out-on-the-spot vocabulary ("주웠습니다, 줍다, I know that one!" "보여 주다...show?"). I was asking questions, why was it "두 사람" rather than "사람 두 명"? Why was the woman using 하시다 with her husband?

Suddenly a story I read weeks ago popped into my head. There had been one sentence I'd glossed over at the end of the story and hadn't worried about even though it had confused me at the time. I thought I understood the problem. I found the story, 해와 달 이야기 and found the sentence. In a contextual sentence the little sister complains to her older brother that she's afraid of the dark.

I put on my best Korean-little-sister-whining voice. "오빠, 나는 밤이 너무 무서워요."

Good Man giggled at me through the entire sentence, and I said, "Do I sound like a Korean girlfriend?"

He shook his head, no.

"오빠!" I whined, using the "big brother" nickname that girls call their boyfriend here, aiming for the proper Korean whine. "What about now?"

He shook his head, no.

I held out my hands, pouted as well as I could and whined, "오빠빠빠빠! 돈이 줘!" Boyfriend, give me some money.

He laughed and nodded.

Finally!

Something you absolutely want to hear your best friend say about most probably seeing you (relatively) soon:

AYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I am so excited, you can't believe!

***

Good Man and I saw Monet at the Seoul Museum of Art for our first date. This weekend I asked if he wanted to see Van Gogh or if he wanted to check out The Museum of Photography, Seoul.

The Museum of Photography covers two floors of a large building near Olympic Park. It's run by some pharmaceutical company, and it's not very well known in Korea. On our way there, I spied some interesting reflections on the photography museum's building. We couldn't see the onion-dome thing from the ground, but Good Man thinks it's the building's water tank.

Reflections and Multiple Languages

Fake Flowers

In front of the building, we found some very sparkly trees. I was trying to get some good bokeh, but I was having a hard time focussing. A really hard time. Autofocus wasn't doing well because of the amount of light, contrast, and the like. I wasn't doing well because I have terrible vision. Still, I like the first photo.

Tree, Sparkling!

Tree, Sparkling!

Me, Always Sparkling

They are currently running two exhibits, one about Energy and one about Nature.

Museum of Photography

Inside the museum itself, photography was not allowed. That was not surprising. I really enjoyed the exhibits. I liked seeing the photography, and I liked deciding why I did or didn't like each photo. Sometimes it was a photo without a clear area of focus. Sometimes it was a photo with an area of focus where I wouldn't have placed it.

The energy exhibit was great, but some of the photos had too much movement and blur for me. My eyes actually hurt to look at them for too long. Others seemed to lack a pure black or white, or they lacked enough shades of grey.

The exhibit about nature had some breathtaking photos. Photos that reminded me of brush paintings and fairy tales. Mountains and temples with fog filling in the valleys. Photos that were in color, but looked like black and white with a touch of hand-tinting.

We were talking about the photos and Good Man said, "You would need to get up very early to get those photos. Six or seven, on the mountain."

"Too early for me."

I know he's right—some of my most interesting photos have been taken during the early hours of the day.

"It will be more fun if you do it."

Though we couldn't take any photos of the exhibit photos, I wanted to take some photos through the window, as we had a great view of Olympic Park and the very beige skyline that is Seoul. On the second floor of the museum, some employees were busy, seemingly wrapping up previously used photos to send to their owner or new home. While I was pretty sure they wouldn't mind me taking photos out of the large windows, I thought it better to ask permission.

"Hey, Good Man, will you ask them if I can take photos?" He looked at me and I knew the answer was going to be no. Good Man, despite often seeming the contrary, is Korean. He doesn't want to talk to people he doesn't know and he's especially fearful of ajummas and ajosshis, though none of the employees were that old. "You're going to make me do this, aren't you?"

"It will be more fun if you do it," he said.

I hate speaking Korean in front of Good Man. I am much more comfortable speaking Korean when I am alone or with other foreign friends because nobody I know hears my mistakes. Also, when I am with Good Man, Koreans expect him to speak. This means that they really don't expect to hear my voice speaking Korean (especially since the two of us speak English together) so the novelty, shock, and awe of the white girl speaking is even higher than usual.

I thought, 밖에? "How do I say 'outside the window—"

Before I could offer my thoughts, Good Man responded, "밖에."

"창문 밖에 사진을 찍어도 되요?" He nodded and we walked around, viewing the whole exhibit. I was working up the nerve to speak to the employees.

Finally, I said, ""창문 밖에—" and there I stumbled. The three of them were looking at me like I had an extra eye coming out of my forehead. Was I accidentally ordering gimbap or something? I swallowed hard, mentally reviewed what I'd said and continued, "사진을 찍어도 되요?"

One of them looked shocked, one looked confused, one said, "네!"

"감사합니다."

While I was taking photos, I heard bits of pieces of their conversation. Seems they were all very surprised that I was speaking Korean. They were laughing about it, being kind about it. Good Man was right: it was fun.

I don't have a polarizing filter for my prime lens, so reflections loom large.

Olympic Park

Beige Seoul

Boring, Beige Seoul

I wonder if builders are given a discount on beige, because Seoul is about 8 shades of it. So terribly boring. Cars are also mostly white, silver, grey. Good Man disagreed with me, but I started pointing out cars in the parking lots. How many were white, silver, grey? About 98% of them.

Street

Little Yellow Car

And of course, no photo-heavy post would be complete without Good Man's eyes. Those eyes, that bruise.

Good Man

Eyes

Yesterday was the first day of class after winter break.

This meant that the sixth graders ran around in the hallways, climbed the walls—I'm serious, I still don't understand how they are physically able to do that, played foot hockey with a Diet Coke cap (they got said cap from me), and threw things out of windows.

All. Day. Long.

I must have walked past four of the five sixth-grade classrooms a dozen times and only saw teachers in there three times. What were the teachers doing? Talking to students one-on-one (probably about their final grades) while their students chatted, climbed up the walls, tore apart books, and played cards.

Today, half of my third period class didn't have their books because their Korean teacher told them that they wouldn't need them in my class. (I would complain that she should've run that little gem past me, first, but I'm willing to bet my idiot co-teacher approved that message.) And where were their purchased books? In the trash can.

Yeah, Koreans take education seriously.

My Students Are (Possibly) Gay

Today I actually had classes, the sixth graders.

I adore my sixth graders, even when they make me crazy.

The last chapter of the book is about going on to middle school. During first period, I was asking all the students which middle school they were going to go to. Most of the boys are going to 신안. Soccer Player (the one in the green shirt) explained that it's a boys' school.

I teased him, "Oh, you will be very lonely."

"Huh?" His friends repeated what I said in Korean, since Soccer Player's English level is quite low. Soccer Player said, "No, we, boyfriend!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed so hard I sank to my knees. Some of the girls started yelling, "No, no, boyfriend, 남자 친구, gay."

I stood up and said, "In English, if you say you have a boyfriend, it means you love men. 사랑해."

"Ummm....no."

This seems the perfect time to post some photos of another group of sixth grade boys. In December they were in my classroom after school. For some reason I never understood, they started pretending they were dating. Of course Spiderman would be one of the instigators....