Happy 80th Post!

Wow, I just realized that this is the Blogging Buddha's 80th blog post! I don't know why that's exciting or even worth mentioning, but it's a little ironic, because I haven't been very good at writing on my blog in the past few weeks. I knew it had been awhile when my father sent me an e.mail asking if I had "writer's cramp." He was just kidding, but it still reminded me that I have not written anything almost three weeks. It's also quite a coincidence that the Blogging Buddha's 80th blog birthday falls on the same week as my Grandfather's 90th birthday! Actually, that's not really a coincidence, because the two events couldn't possibly be more unrelated; however, I wanted to wish my Grandfather a "Happy Birthday" from Korea, and that was the best literary transition I could think of. "Happy 90th Birthday Grandpa!" A few thinks have happened since I last wrote on my blog. Last weekend I attended my last Fulbright workshop. All 70 Fulbright teachers came to Jeju Island for the weekend and we stayed at a very posh hotel on the other side of the island. It was really fun, because the point of the workshop seemed to be socializing and little more. We spent the weekend singing karaoke, trying to teach ourselves how to eat with three chopsticks (more difficult than it sounds), and lounging in our hotel's over-priced coffee shop with a great view (one person would order a $7USD coffee while the rest of us hovered around the table, enjoying the spectacular view of the ocean.) Monday I returned to Jeju City and was informed that I would have a "preliminary black belt test" the following Sunday (today). I spent all week training for this morning's test, which they told me would be harder than the actual black belt test and if I didn't pass, I wouldn't be able to test for my black belt in June. (when I say that they told me this, I mean that they looked up words on the internet and I used those words to guess what they were trying to tell me, but what I'm trying to say is that there was a lot of reading between the lines on my part.) This morning I got up early and one of my instructors drove me out to an abandoned hotel, where I realized all of the other kids in my class had spent the previous night. The test itself was quite interesting. The minute I got out of the van I had kids hanging themselves out the windows yelling "Hiiiiii" to me. I didn't realize that it would be other Tae Kwon Do gyms as well as my own, so most of the kids had never seen me before. I was constantly surrounded by kids who were intent on testing the following English phrases out on me: "What is your name?" "You are pretty." "You are tall." "What do you like?" "How are you?" and "He is crazy!" (the last phrase seemed to be their favorite, and they would yell it while pointing at one of their friends.) The age range of these children was 7-12 years old. In order to understand what my morning was like, you must close your eyes and picture an empty room. Then fill that empty room with 100 children ranging in age from 7-12 years old. Each child is wearing a Tae Kwon Do uniform that looks as though they have not taken it off in a week (one boy had his pajamas on under his uniform.) They are all running around this big room, as if they have been spoon fed sugar for breakfast. Some kids have others pinned on the ground, one boy was is laying on his bag while his friend drags him around by his Tae Kwon Do belt, others play tag, and then there is me, sitting in the corner, surrounded by a dozen or so children who are staring at me and practicing what little English they know. Now picture ten Tae Kwon Do teachers walking the room, chatting to one another, oblivious to the chaos that surrounds them. That is what my morning was like. I just tried to survive until they blew the whistle and lined us back up to do our poomsaes and eventually take our test. For those of you who don't know, a poomsae is a sequence of punches, kicks, and blocks that you must learn in order to attain your black belt. There are 8 of them, and they generally get harder as the number goes up. (The hardest part for me is keeping them all straight.) As we got ready to take the test, each of my instructors approached me with two thumbs up, and said: "Fighting" (I think this means: "You can do it!") I felt a lot of pressure, especially because I knew my instructors were nervous too. Luckily, I didn't let them down. I did my poomsaes and at the end when the judges (very serious men in suits, who seemed to have been flown in for the occasion) were giving us all their critiques, they said my name, "Jennipa" followed by: "Very good." I felt as light as a cloud; it was like finding out I had won a Fulbright grant all over again. I rode home in van with 25 screaming children, and the whole time I could only think about those judges and the "very good," that they presented me with. It was better than a ribbon or a trophy, it was verbal praise from a Tae Kwon Do grandmaster, which seems to be a rare find. I am now halfway to my black belt; my next test will be in June.