What’s Up Korea: Official 태권도 Butt Kicker!

The amount of nervousness I felt during my Taekwondo black belt test was one that I hadn’t experienced in quite a long time. I thought I could handle it better since their were like 100 kids testing at the venue also but of course my nerves got the best of me. I had to do my test twice BUT I wasn’t the only one to make a mistake. Of the 3 boys that was in my group to test, one of them smiled/laughed while doing the pumse form (a Taekwondo form we must memorize) and because of that he seriously got scouled by the headmaster. Yikes! Glad it was NOT me because of course, everybody AND THEY MAMA AND DADDY was looking at me being the only foreigner there. It makes me laugh the experiences I’ve had here because they could only happen in Asia. If I were still in America, none of these situations would ever had occur. I’ve never experienced life as an outsider until moving to Asia. In America everyone looks different but we know we’re from the same place. Not until someone opens their mouth to talk would we know they were a foreigner. In Asia as soon as someone sets eyes on you, its known. Though it’s been like this, I don’t regret coming here or experiencing it. What you go through in life makes you stronger and wiser if you learn from it correctly. And with this, I have.

My teacher Dong Yang and I!

So I finally made it. I get my black belt in a week or two with my name embroidered in Hangul. I had the choice of English or Hangul so I chose Hangul of course! Heck, why not. I’m in Korea and the things I can get here I will not take for granted.
So my last day of TKD is June 31st since I’ll be done with my school contract in August. I’m going to miss my teacher because he was friend, almost father figure to me. We sat and chatted MANY a day over life’s challenges. He felt comfortable enough to share his challenges with me and always gave me father-like advice. I appreciate the friendship we grew and will miss him dearly, but thankfully we can keep communication through KakaoTalk!