Oblogitory update (nyuk nyuk)

Well, another weekend in Korea has come and gone, so I figure I should update my blog. It was a pretty fun one, as usually happens when the Janggi Rebel Crew get together (this is the name that has been bestowed upon us by...well, I'm not sure who came up with it. But anyway that's what we Janggi foreigners call ourselves).

So anyway. Let's start with Friday evening.

Friday was the day of our bi-monthly 심사 in taekwondo. That is kup test, or Level Test. As usual I was kind of nervous because it's intimidating to be tested by someone sitting at a table, giving you orders in a foreign language, with everyone watching you. But to be honest I was less nervous this time than last.
Everything was going great, until my friend Hannah and the other Korean teacher who attends our dojang said something loudly and started laughing. I got confused thinking she said something to me about what I had done. Then sabunim said something and they said something about my feet stance, which confused me because I didn't think I was wrong but I thought maybe he said I was and they were translating for me. So then they took points off me because I was listening to them instead of sabunim, but then i told them to shut up because they were confusing me, so then THEY lost points for messing me up.
So then I continued on flawlessly...well, almost. I felt a bit vindicated when I did a block/stance combo that was somewhat new for me. First sabunim said I had it backwards and I said, what, really? But then he said oh no you were right, sorry. So that was cool.
So I finished the forms and blocks and all was well.

But then after everyone had finished forms, we had our final test...jumping over blocks.

These are foam blocks, kind of like miniature mats. Our minimum requirement was to jump over 3, by coming up to them and jumping with both feet, placing our hands flat on top and hoisting ourselves over with our legs to the side. For more points we could jump 4, and then 5. I had practiced this before the test and managed to clear 5, so I was feeling really confident for the first jump of 3. Now the three blocks stood about 3'- 3'6" high. Piece of cake. I cleared them easily.
After everyone did three, they added the fourth. Now it was another foot or so high.
Again, I cleared them relatively easily.

So then they added the fifth. Which was about another foot, making the stack very nearly as tall as I am. I was feeling pretty confident so I decided I would go first.

Since it was so high, I decided to give myself an extra long running start.
So I backed up all the way to the wall and sprinted toward the tower.
I jumped with both feet where I was supposed to, but realized as soon as I got my hands on the top that I wasn't going to make it because I miscalculated my jump. So I tried to stop myself by grabbing on to the blocks with both hands.
However as you may imagine, my momentum was so strong due to the big running start I gave myself, that my body continued to move forward. But, since I was now hugging the mats, I knocked the whole stack over with me on top of them.
But my momentum hadn't run out yet. So now the stack of mats is horizontal on the floor with me on top of them, and I'm still going. So I slid off the blocks onto the mat on the floor, face first and butt up. But I was still going.
So then I bounced OFF the side of my face and skidded through the air, now clearing the mat that was on the floor for landings. And I damn near slid head first into the table at the front of the room, but I managed, on my descent, to turn myself over and finally stop the forward motion.

This all of course felt like slow motion to me, but in actuality happened extraordinarily fast. It reminded me of when you are tubing behind a boat and the driver cracks the whip, sending you skimming across the water like a stone.

Anyway all of a sudden I find myself flat on my back, my head inches from the table. Everyone is laughing hysterically at me, and Sabunim, my 최창배, is standing over me saying, Oh my god, 괜찮나요? (are you ok?) I managed to pull myself into a seated position and in shame put my head between my knees and shook my head. Then I looked up and said, 네 괜찮나요. (yes, i'm ok) even though I wasn't. I laughed so hard I cried, and turned bright red. I think it's safe to say this was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life.

Later, Hannah explained that, 'I heard you scream and looked up in time to see you knock over the blocks, and all I saw was your white bottom in the air. He Su (the cute little girl in our class, about 10 maybe) said, oh my god! And Sabunim's eyes got really wide and he said, oh my god, and everyone else started laughing!'

Yes. Definitely the most embarrassing moment ever.

All the next day I kept thinking about it in my head and started laughing all over again. I told my friends about it and they laughed too. Although for some reason they weren't surprised, as somehow I've gotten a reputation for clumsiness. When I tripped on the stairs in the subway station yesterday they remarked they were surprised I'd never broken a bone. And today when Hannah and I were making a birthday card for our student and she saw my art 'skills', she asked 'is there anything you CAN do?'
Aw, I feel the love.

Anyway despite the most epic face plant of all time, I passed my level test and am now officially a brown belt. I had thought that I would have to continue to wear the blue belt because i've never seen anyone there with a brown, but when I got there tonight Sabunim came over and handed me my brown belt and I was so tickled to put it on! So exciting to move up like this! Next is red, then red with black stripe, then BLACK! oh, it WILL happen. just wait.

Anyway after taekwondo I met up with my friends at a bar in Janggi and we drank some beer and played Uno. After a while we decided to go to Noraebong. Noraebong is always a really good idea yet a really bad idea at the same time. Noraebong nights always end up being very late nights.
So we had a good time drinking beer and singing songs. But this place was the best one I've yet been to, because they give you a USB to plug in, and when you leave you give them your email and they EMAIL YOU ALL OF YOUR SONGS.

It was funny though, because since I was the one who paid for the room and ordered the first round of drinks, in Korean, it was assumed that not only was I in charge but that I spoke Korean. So the guy gave me the USB port and explained what it was for. Even though I kept trying to tell him i didn't understand what he was saying. I tried really hard, and picked up some things, but I really didn't get it. Finally he plugged it in for me and said something else and i just said, yes yes I understand. Even though I didn't have a clue.

please observe this scene:


Then at the end i went out to pay for one more half hour, and again since I was in charge they asked me for my email address. Somehow at this point in the night I did understand them, so I gave them my email and understood that I'd be getting our songs emailed to me.

The next morning I eagerly checked my email and there it was. 20 songs we sang at noraebong all recorded and saved for posterity, safely in my inbox. It recorded the music and the voices in the microphones, like a recording studio kind of. So there's pretty much no background noise but anyone singing into the microphones is recorded very clearly.
it is a-mazing. And very very bad.

(sorry, I couldn't figure out how to insert audio...)


So then Saturday I had planned to head in to Itaewon, the foreigner district in Seoul, to check out some custom tailors for my brother, who is coming next month(!) and wants to get a custom made suit and shirt while he's here. Sherry and Tony joined me and we met up with Kevin at a Mexican restaurant for lunch, then went out to see the tailors.
I had never noticed before, but just about every other store front is a custom tailor in Itaewon. I went in to one and got a price, then we decided to head to the bookstore where we all got some books and i got a few magazines. While we were in there Kevin had spoken to a tailor just downstairs, where our friend Derek had gotten his custom made leather coat. So we went in there and I talked to him for a while and Kevin got himself fitted for a suit. So I would like to go there, because I kind of told him we would, but mostly because he was a friendly guy and he apparently is 'our' guy, so it would be nice to use him. I'm going to check out the quality of Kevin's suit when he gets it and report back, but I think it would be as good an option as any.

So then we went to another area of Seoul in search of the Dr. Fish cafe, which is a coffee shop that has tubs full of special kinds of fish that eat the dead skin off your feet, giving you a pedicure. It sounds really cool and I've been wanting to try this for a long time.
However, not only were the directions Kevin had to the place vague, but after wandering around for an hour we finally found out that this place had closed down.
So we got some coffee at a regular coffee shop and then headed home. By the time we got back it wasn't very late, but the traveling and the late night before had us all really tired, so we went home. I settled down with a bowl of microwave popcorn and a movie my friend lent me, and enjoyed a nice quiet night at home.

Sunday was nothing special, just my Korean class and finalizing my weekly lesson plans.

Tonight at taekwondo we had another poomse test, although it wasn't to level up of course, just testing us on the first 3 forms. We had to do all three of them in succession without making any mistakes, or we had to stop and do a jumping/crouching exercise thing (and for everyone but me and the other teacher, they got a rap on the bottoms of their feet. Luckily corporal punishment is not practiced on adults).
Anyway I stepped up to take my turn and did the first form perfectly but when I went from my ready stance to my attention stance i moved the wrong leg, which i didn't even know mattered until then, and had to go back. Then my second try I made a mistake at the end of the second form. Then my third try I did it perfectly. In fact I did it in less tries than everyone else. And not only that, but I was the first one to finish! So after I bowed at the end, everyone clapped for me and he said I could go home. So i went to get my coat and saw it was already 9:05. I went home and it looked like everyone else was there another 20 minutes. ( i can see the dojang from my living room). So I felt pretty good about that! More vindication after my face plant. Nice.

So, that's what's up lately. Hope you enjoyed my most embarrassing moment ever story.
Please leave comments, or email me! I love hearing from people back home, and knowing that this blog is worth while.