Seeing red - 2 steps away from black belt

Up the ladder once again. White, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, brown and now red. Today was taekwondo test day at my dojang and I passed and got a new belt. However it didn't all go according to plan. My condition was pretty good, preparation was fine, practice went OK and I felt extremely confident and then the test started.


First we did the 6th and latest poomsae. This went very well and I didn't make any mistakes. Then came numbers four and five and my technique collapsed. I made so many mistakes it just wasn't funny. Three hours later and I'm still furious with myself. The mistakes were stupid mistakes too, things that I don't get wrong when I practice. Usually it's the easy poomsaes that I screw up.


Luckily our master gave us both another chance to take the poomsaes and they went much better. He said we need to be at 60% to pass but he wants us to be at an 80% level soon. I'm supposedly at 70% which is OK for now but not good enough for the black belt test in maybe two months time. I repeat to myself that I must improve, must work harder and must try my best even when I don't feel up to it. It's not going to get any easier from here on in.


When we get to the black belt test there are no second chances on the day, it's pass or fail. Today would have been a fail and a two month wait till the next time. On the up side I feel I'm getting better and I've got rid of that ugly brown belt. Now I have a HUGE red one which is so long that I have to wrap it around my body twice. You win some you lose some but you can see in the picture how pleased I am to get rid of the previous one. I anticipate the next test in about three or four weeks and then we will be practicing for black. This is going too fast but it's something to look forward and something to aim at.

Some Seoul pictures

Name calling

Yesterday in class I got some new Wednesday students and as usual I asked about their names.

Me to student A: "OK *** *** do you have an English name?"
Student B: "His name is Hitler"
Me (in disbelief): "What?!
Student C: "His name is heil Hitler"

I think my jaw hit the floor but I nipped this one in the bud and they won't be saying that again on Wednesdays.

Tests+breaks=boredom²

All of my Middle school students are in the process of studying for or taking exams. This is both good and bad for me. Bad because classes are disrupted, disjointed and lacking most of the kids so sometimes there are one, two or three there because most don't have to actually go (punishment exemption). Small numbers are often harder to teach because all the energy comes from you and not the students. Those that come often don't have the material of haven't prepared which makes the class pointless and usually drifts off to a juncture where things end up being a waste of time for all concerned.


Then there is the good part. Sometimes we do get breaks if no one turns up. I've had three during these tests but I think that's that now. Others have more, some have less and one co-worker has had none at all. Tough luck for him. Even though my last class was a no show I still had to stay at work. I've been trying to give myself an easier time and prepare some of next weeks stuff but there is only so much you can stomach when you could just relax. 'Teaching' to some is very boring but from my experience counting down the clock when you're on these breaks can be equally tedious.

Tuesday taekwondo struggle

More mistakes at taekwondo today resulting in the postponement of Wednesdays test to Friday. And it's a good thing too. It would appear that after a weekend of no exercise or practice the first day back in the dojang I am hopeless. Stupid mistakes and unforgivable gaps in my memory made the poomsaes (1-3) much harder even though they are the easiest. The later more difficult ones including number six I feel confident doing. The only answer is practice, practice practice. In an ideal world I would go there every day but that's not to be for now. My body has limitations but I must work harder.

After todays practice I got to spend about thirty minutes with my Master talking about things. Even though his English is limited we can communicate quite well and he is getting better by the week. We talked about future tests, exercise and even the weather. I'm very lucky to be studying under someone so kind and relaxed. I asked about getting another uniform next month, a more expensive one and we checked some out on the internet. I look forward to buying one in the near future. Sweating in the dojang proves I need another as the humidity is on the rise as Summer creeps ever closer.

Watching taekwondo black belt tests

Yesterday was a really busy day. With only four hours sleep I just about managed to get up and head to my dojang to meet my taekwondo Master. Some of his students were taking first and second black belt tests and Diana (co-worker and taekwondo comrade) and myself were invited to go and watch those taking part (people from the Bukgu area of Daegu). We drove downtown and none of the kids in showed any sign of nerves. Perhaps too young to think about it or perhaps it's not really a big deal for any of them.




The tests were around the Samsung Lions baseball stadium and the first thing that hit me was how many people were actually having their test at once. I think my master said around four/five hundred people although it is sometimes double that. When I took hapkido tests at my dojang there were sometimes around fifty people watching and I always was very conscious of being very conspicuous but this was on a much larger scale though to be honest nobody will be watching me when I get to take my test.




Watching all the action I was very impressed with most of the participants. First we saw a demostration which was a lot of fun to watch up close. I made a video and hope to post that soon. Then it was the turn of the kids who start off with those taking their 1st 'poom' test all the way up to those taking third or fourth ones. This being a small world and all, I naturally I bumped into one current and one ex-student of mine taking part. I watched them and they did well. When the kids finish it's the turn of the adults who take their 'dan' tests and here is when the arena emptied significantly.




About the tests themselves first the participants do the Taegeuk Pal Jang (eighth and final poomsae before being award a black belt) then two other poomsae's afterwards - these are drawn at random and could be the first two you learn or numbers six and seven which was what yesterdays students had to do, so in all three poomsae's. Finally there is a fighting element where you attack and defend yourself against an opponent supposedly not making contact but you do wear a helmet. This is similar to something I did in hapkido and is the easiest section. When doing these four sections you start off at one end of the arena and end up at the other and you take your test with five or six other people. The whole thing took about three hours though if there are more people then of course it takes longer.




As it took three hours there was plenty of time for consideration and reflection. I still feel inferior to many of those who I saw taking part yesterday. I am not fit enough yet, I need to lose weight, I am not flexible enough, my technique is inadequate right now. Will I really be ready to take part in two months time or will I have to wait an additional two more months? Right now that looks very close and although I would be confident of passing I am not so confident about actually being any good. I don't want to embarrass myself, my Master of his dojang. I cannot help thinking ahead of myself but need to stop and concentrate on what I am doing now. So overall it was good to see what's in store for me but there's a hell of a lot of work to be done between now and then whenever test time is.

Nicholas Cage kicks Ass

Yesterday I found myself in the cinema watching a Nicholas Cage film - only the second one I have paid to see (the previous one being 1999's Bringing Out The Dead). Despite logic defying evidence I like him yet know he can be really terrible and though I've seen some appalling films on TV starring him I went in really expecting something good and thought Kick-Ass was fantastic. Cage is a staple of Korean film channels here and the last five or ten years have seen some stinkers from him but this was the best film I've seen so far this year.

Granted this is not a Nicholas Cage film but he is in it and he's one of the main characters. And he's actually very good playing the role of Big Daddy, though Hit Girl steals the show. The over acting is intended this time and his lines are quite funny. The Adam West style voice was spot on though I think I was the only one in the place who got it. I'm surprised the film wasn't banned because it's pretty violent, be it comic violence. Mind you Korea seems to like violence. Alas, back to National Treasure vehicle you go Mr.Cage.

Busted in the classroom

Yesterday I caught two kids cheating as they took their test. I knew they were cheating so I nipped it in the bud silently without making a big deal. They have a test with three sections and for the first part they had to memorise over twenty words (maybe fifty, I am not sure). Inside their pencil cases they had written the words in English and Korean. I simply took these and placed them on my desk and checked them after collecting the papers.

It was obvious they had cheated but bearing in mind I caught them early AND that right now they are in the process of revising for some high pressure exams I let the matter slide but let them know I am watching them and don't expect it to happen again. One of them had tears in his eyes. He knew what would happen if the matter went any further - four weeks of retests etc, etc. I tried to deal with the matter as best I could but from now on I will have to be more vigilant.

Also busted is the person in 'editing' who wrote up a section for the listening homework and test. The paragraph is about some films and actors and what kind of films they are starring in. Instead of actually writing the names Jonny Depp and Colin Firth we have John Depen and Colin filth. Yeah, Colin Filth. That's great editing and they clearly deserve their desk job for having such imagination. What purpose does it serve to change their names? No one in Korea knows Colin Firth anyway.