Catching Up... (News + Susy Ninja continued)

The procrastination of writing the blog got so bad that I actually put "Post blog" on my To Do list. That's pretty bad. But the reason that I haven't written is because I truly don't have any extended down time to sit and think and write. And when I do have some time I'm often so pooped that I just want to veg out. Anyway, time to catch up.

First off, I'm SUPER EXCITED because in less that 24 hours Susa will be in Korea. Yup my little sister is coming to visit me. I've been so busy that I didn't even have time to blog about it. Plus, it was super spur of the moment and last minute but she had a school break and I was able to get her a reasonably priced ticket so now she's coming to Korea. She'll be here for 9 days (which seems extremely short to me) but I only work 4 of those days so that's not so bad. We'll be spending the first few days in Seoul and then heading down to Daegu for the rest of the time she's here. Hopefully, she'll have fun. I'm also excited that she'll get to go to Hapkido and see what I spend so much time doing.

That brings me back to the Susy Ninja thing. So, I know this is going to sound a little (ok, a lot) odd but I am going to be in a Hapkido Tournament on May 11th. Truthfully, I have absolutely no idea what I'm getting myself into. I've only been doing Hapkido for 2 and a half months. But two weeks ago Kwanchangnim walks me over to the calendar and the conversation goes something like:
Kwanchangnim: Today (pointing to May 11 on the calendar), Suji Hapkido matchi. Ok?
Me: (With a blank, deer-in-the-headlights look) What?
Kwanchangnim: You, Suji Hapkido fight? Ok? Ok.
Then he walked away so that was the end of that discussion. So now I'm entered in a Hapkido tournament. We've been practicing a lot, but last Tuesday while we were practicing sparring I kicked one of the guys in the elbow as he was trying to block my kick. It hurt soooo much, I felt like my foot had shattered, but I didn't want to look like a wimpy, whiny girl, so I just kept going. Well, there's a reason why hindsight is 20/20. I should have worn foot padding because I ended up kicking someone twice more in the elbow. And that was only during the first class. In the second class Kwanchangnim drove me to another Hapkido dojang where Sisengnim (Hapkido Grand Master) was so that I could spar with another girl. Since I had already hurt my foot I think I did horrible because everytime I would actually land a blow it would hurt me more than her. By the end of the night I was totally limping. Then, the next morning I woke up only to find that my foot was completely swollen. And in only got worse. After two days of the swelling not going down I went to the doctor, and luckily its not broken. But it hurt like
hell. I had to miss Hapkido for 3 days.
When I went back I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to compete in the tournament any more. But Kwanchangnim said we should try. Still, since it looked (and hurt) pretty bad, Kwanchangnim, asked Che Ha, who is a nother Hapkido student that is an oriental medicine doctor, to do Acupuncuture on me. I must admit that I was skeptical at first but I am now a HUGE fan of Acupuncture. It has helped a lot, although my foot still hurts and it's uncomfortable as hell to hit the pads with that foot but whatever... I'm just dealing with it. No pain, no gain right?

School is going pretty well. I absolutely adore my kindergarten students. Mind you, I want to murder them half the time, but I think that's only because I love them so much that they have the ability to make me crazy. Oh well! So last week we took them on the first field trip of the school year, and I had so much fun just messing around with them. This one student named Ricky, who has quickly become one of my new favorites, was doing the funniest things. At one point he calls out my name so I turn to face him, and he proceeds to kick his foot up in the air, hold it there, and yell "Yoga pose!" I snapped a picture and I about lost it laughing. I have no idea where he got that from. Also on that day Erin teacher took one of the cutest pictures ever. It's of me with Jin, my little darling, climbed on my back. I love it. She's been so lovey dovey lately. All of them have actually, it's great. That's what I love about kids, they don't yet have issues about showing affection (although--on the bad side it also means that they don't know they're not supposed to stick their hands down your shirt, but whatever). And since I see these kids everyday, I naturally get very attached. The other day I was teaching and Susa called me in the middle of class. Since I knew it was a Skype call I answered it and I said "Class say 'Hello' to Suji teacher's sister." So they all yell out "Hello." Then they all rushed at me to get near the phone but Jin got it and she was sooooo freaking cute. All I got was her side of the conversation but that's what made it cuter. She's like "Hello.............I'm fine, thank you..........My name Jin." Awwww! I hope Susa gets to come to school and spend some time in a few of my classes. I think the students would love it.

Lastly, I finally succeeded in making a Bridal Shower in Korea. Erin teacher is getting married in a few weeks and I had told her I would do it. None of the Koreans had ever been to (or even heard of) a bridal shower, so it was a nice thing to do, I thought. Erin teacher liked it a lot, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Susy, the party planner, is always ready. Plus I got to do some things that I loved. Like I discovered that Daegu has an amazing (and super cheap: 10 roses for $4) flower market. I got to make really yummy sandwhiches for everyone. And I got to hang out with the Korean teachers (since I ended up being the only foreign teacher there). Actually, the night before the bridal shower was a blast because Michelle and Kate came to my apartment to help me make the flower arrangements for the party and at about midnight as we were finishing Kate's boyfriend calls her that he's nearby at the Hotel Ariana drinking with a couple of co-workers. We headed over there and ended up eating yummy food and drinking Mekju (beer). But it is important to mentiont that by the time we got there, Kate's boyfriend and his 2 co-workers were pretty hammered. Still it was a lot of fun. I got to practice my Korean a bit. Overall, it was awesome (minus the part where the Mekju came back up that night...but let's move on...lol).

Wow! Ok, I wrote a lot. And I know that I've missed a lot of stuff (like I spent a nice weekend in Seoul with Jure, I got to hang out - and go get my hair done-- with Liz, I spent a day wandering downtown with Mi Kyong) but I've got to go teach class now. I will try to not be so lazy about writing.

MUA