TaeKwonDo

I keep forgetting to talk about TKD. I've started at a new school here. It's very different from the class I took in Suncheon that was all foreigners and conducted in English. A bunch of my friends from that class did their black belt tests last Saturday. Having missed 6 weeks when I went to India and almost two months between moving and going to Canada, I'll just have to wait a bit more for my chance.

For my Mokpo class, I am with a group of young Korean boys (from elementary to high school) and the class is given, naturally, in Korean. I arrive about 20 minutes early and chat with Mr Lee, the owner of the school, in English. In return I get an hour-long TKD lesson. I'm lucky that Haydar's lessons in Suncheon gave me such a good base in the kicking techniques as well as the poomse (forms). It's nice to show up as a foreigner and the only girl and manage to (slightly) impress the seven-year old red belts with my knowledge of the poomse (most of the boys don't know past their 3rd or 4th poomse, but I know up to 8). The class is a lot of fun with the two teenagers constantly grandstanding, and the littler kids crying from time to time. It's also in a very small room and so a total sweatfest. Korean children, no matter the weather, don't seem to sweat very much, while I'm feeling absolutely swamped by the humidity and tend to start dripping sweat after about 3 minutes.

The other cool thing about Chung Mu TKD is that a few of my students are in the class before mine, which has given me a closer relationship with them, including a girl who is a 2nd dan black belt and only 11 years old, and a very quiet boy who just came into my classroom and gave me a candy. Sweetie!

My walk home from TKD takes me up 200 (yes, I've counted them) cracked, uneven concrete steps straight up the mountain, in a narrow concrete alleyway between traditional homes. Once at the top, I am on my street, overlooking the harbour and the lights of the islands as well as the lights of the homes that tumble down the hill to the water. It's an incredibly beautiful sight that I get to enjoy three times a week.