Home Again, Home Again

My last week in Korea passed in a blur.... training, classes, eating, sleeping, and yes to finish it off, some partying too.....

The Wednesday before I left Korea we ran a grading at the Gimhae dojang where our new students were able to grade to Yellow Stripe and a couple to Green Belt - they all did really well, even the 4 year olds that I didn't think had been paying any attention at all!!!!

Thursday was a bit of mess, with plans changing and changing and changing..... I finally ended up in Busan at the Yangjeong dojang not having been able to say goodbye to my homestay family or the students at the Buam dojang...... Disappointing, but it just makes my resolve to come back to Korea in the future that much stronger :)

I'm not going to tell you all the gory details about Thursday night, lets just say that Mr Brown would have enjoyed it - we ended up at a Noraebang of sorts (more like an open Karaoke bar) where we sang and ate and drank - yes, you guessed it - soju!

I boarded my plane on Friday morning (uuuuuurrrrrgh), stopped for a number of hours in Shanghai and then boarded the plane for AKL where I arrived Saturday morning..... unfortunately I couldn't sleep a wink on the final flight (small Korean boy in the seat behind me who must have had long legs cos he kept kicking my seat), so I watched movies instead... in both Korean and English!!!! Impressed? Don't be - there were subtitles.... :)


If you're thinking about heading to Korea for 6 months as part of this program, or even on holiday - stop thinking about it and just DO IT!!!! Korea is amazing. The people, the history, the food. I had an amazing time (as I'm sure did the other instructors who have been over), and am looking at going back again in the future.

Thank you to ITFNZ and to the team at ITF Korea for making this happen and for giving me this amazing opportunity!!!!

Signing off for now - Chris

Open Day and Gojeh Island

OK - TRAGIC!!!! I've now been home for several days and I'm only now finishing this post..... I'm so sorry!!!!

So - my last Saturday morning in Korea I needed to be in Busan at the Buam dojang at 10am. The parents of the students had been curious as to what we'd been doing and what their children had been learning under the instruction of the strange English speaking instructor. The presentation was pretty much along the lines of a normal class, just with all of the parents sitting around the edges. Warming up, relays, line work, Saju Jirugi, and then some English phrases that the kids have been practising. It actually went quite well, and I'm told that the head instructor was happy with the results which is always good - right?

After the presentation Park and I headed back out to Gimhae where we met the President and Ki Tae and started our trip to Gojeh Island. The trip takes around 2 and half hours by car/bus, or about an hour by ferry. We were taking the van so that we had transport on the island, so we drove the van there.

I think I could really love driving the motorways in Korea, they're clean, solid, multilaned things, which take you past some beautiful mountain scenery. Is difficult to get decent photos as you're flying down the motoway at 140kms per hour, so you're just going to have to imagine mountains covered in maples, evergreens, gingko and a ton more that I wasn't able to see properly. The trees appear to have grown in patches on these mountains, as I'm sure they have, with one tree seeding the family that has grown around it..... anyway - enuff of my rambling about trees.....

We stopped during the trip to free the snake that we had found in the dojang, thank god as I'm really not sure that he was enjoying the "house" that he was in.... But other than that and the odd rest room break we flew down the road....

Finally we crossed the bridge to Gojeh Island (거제도) and made our way to the Gumdo Dojang of one of our new ITF instructors. Greetings were exchanged, Korean conversations had and we were back on the road again, this time to one of the coastal towns on the island for some dinner.

I'm a huge sashimi fan so this was amazing for me, we sat at a small plastic table on the side of the road that ran along the water. Next to us the water lapped at the rocks and concrete pylons that the road was built on, across the street were 12 shops almost identical to each other, their shopfronts made up of fish tanks containing live seafood. Next thing I know the table is covered in plates of seafood and side dishes and sauces..... Crab here, a still squirming sliced octopus there, a full dinner plate of raw fish and something called Meong-geh which Mr Brown called Sea Tulips. The outside appearance is a little intimidating, but cut into these things and you get to the edible part which was like eating the firmest, tastiest bluff oyster - YUM!!!!

Accompanying the seafood was of course the ever present Soju..... and so began the night....

Park and one of the Geoje Instructors disappeared to pick up Mr Chirtoca, Christina and Yanni (am not sure I've spelt that one right...) who were arriving by bus from Busan, and meanwhile we changed venues to a Japanese Restaurant where we were joined by another WTF instructor thinking about making the change....

The final additions to our group arrived and out came the cake (it's Mr Chirtoca's Birthday this week) which I have to say was delicious!!

The rest of the night was spent at a Korean dance club (where the dj's don't just arrange the music!!!!) and back at the apartment of one of the instructors where we finally hit the hay at around 5:30 in the morning.

Sunday was a late start for obvious reasons, and when we finally emerged into the day after a subdued breakfast it was off to the Gojeh POW (prisoner of war) memorial and museum. This site gives visitors a run down of the main events within the Korean war and then describes the treatment of Prisoners of War during this time. It includes diaramas and photographic records and some interesting commentary on what must have been a horrific time......

And of course we added some levity with some posy tourist shots.....

After the POW memorial visit we headed for one of the Ferry terminals on the island where Mr Chirtoca, Christina, Yanni and I bought tickets for the Ferry to Busan. The President, Park and Ki-Tae had booked the van onto another Ferry to a port closer to Gimhae and we went our separate ways.....

Last Kindergarten Classes.....

It's hard to come to grips with..... but it hit home today.... Only a week to go before getting on the plane.... I'm a mixture of happy and sad.... Happy to be heading home and seeing everyone, but sad to be leaving Korea.... at the moment sad is winning.... :-(

It was my last Kindergarten Classes today.... they're exhausting, but am gonna miss them I think... so much energy, so much enthusiasm..... :-(

The President arrived late last night, more talking and arranging of the new instructors.. It's all looking pretty positive, though is a complicated process....

This weekend is looking pretty busy....

I've got a presentation to parents at the Buam dojang tomorrow morning, is a little nerve wracking, but I'm sure it will be fine.....

Tomorrow afternoon/evening we're heading to Goche (?) Island where we'll spend the night in the hospitality of other new ITF instructors....

Sunday I think we're heading back to Busan via a tomb site that I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting.... then Sunday night I'm catching up with some of my new friends for dinner and drinks on my last Sunday here....

By the way - did I tell you we had a new arrival at the Gimhae Dojang? I'm not sure how his kicking will go as he doesn't have any legs or feet, and I don't think he'll be able to punch all that well either as he doesn't have arms or hands either..... Curious?

Our new student is a Korean Tiger Snake who joined us in the dojang on Wednesday just before the first class....

You can see photos of these fellas here..... http://www.bear.or.kr/wildlife/rhabdophis.htm
For those of you who are interested, yes he is poisonous, though it would be unlikely for them to harm a human as they are reverse fanged(?).

Ki-Tae played the role of resident Crocodile Hunter with the use of his trusty towel.... OMG I couldn't believe it.... not a worry in the world....

So we have a new "pet" in the dojang.... The guys are currently keeping it in a plastic snake house.... we'll see how long that lasts.....

Anyway - home soon.... Good Luck to those competing in the Wellington Regionals this weekend!!! I look forward to hearing about the results and seeing plenty of photos!!!

Chris

Babbeuda....

Aaaaaaargh..... 12 days and counting!!!!!!

So much to do and so little time!!!! For those of you who are interested, Babbeuda is Korean for the verb "to be busy", and busy we are......

Much of the last week, the weekend and today has been spent making arrangments for new instructors to come to Korea to ensure that everything happens without any hitches.... So far so good!!!

If all goes according to plan we have an instructor coming from Poland with his wife next week with a view to stay for 2 months. I'm just waiting for final confirmation before I tell you the identity of this person on the blog, but I have to say I'm excited.

Also in the works is the possible arrival of our first Kiwi long stay instructor.... again, I'll wait till we're all go before telling you who this is going to be.... But from what I have seen and heard of this person, ITF Korea are incredibly lucky!

Also on the list of things to do has been the putting together of lesson plans with ITF Korea for the English side of the English Taekwon-Do syllabus. Mr Chirtoca has been slaving over the actual Taekwon-Do Syllabus, while I've been putting together the beginnings of the English Syllabus.... It's an interesting project which I'm enjoying immensely as it is furthering my Korean language knowledge at the same time....

Stay tuned....

Birthday at Bubble.....

What little time I had away from the dojang this weekend I spent in Busan celebrating Jennifer's birthday.

We (a number of friends of Jenny's in Busan) gathered at her apartment near Dong Eui University, where we did the introduction thing and kicked the night off with a couple of toasts and accompanying shots of Soju.... I have to tell you, they liken Soju to Rice Vodka.... but I have to say, Vodka is less strong tasting than this stuff - whew!!!

After this we made our way to Seomyeon (pronounced Saw-myawn) to a bar called Bubble. Seomyeon has been packed with people every time I've been there, whether it be morning, afternoon, evening, late night, very early morning...... and this was no different, there's light and colour and people and noise..... it's great!

At Bubble we met up with more contacts of Jenny's and what followed was a hilarious night of Soju, Maekju (beer), food, cake, talking, laughing..... basically just a good old night out in Busan, Korea....

Needless to say it finished in the early hours of the morning when we stumbled our separate ways.....

It's Getting Hot In Here!!!!

So a little bird told me it was about 5 degrees celsius in Wellington tonight....

It's sitting on an average of about 24 degrees here, and is only just getting started.....

Would go to the beach but it doesn't "open" until July (as in the life guards aren't on duty and no-one will swim without them), although that doesn't worry some people..... might have to go to the pool again tomorrow....

Instructing at Buam Taekwon-Do Academy again tonight..... approx 80 students spread over 5 classes from 2:30pm - 10:00pm.... lots of English, lots of recreational stuff, and lots of basics....

The students LOVE soccer here, and before class grab one of the balls and play ... by the time class comes around they're dripping in sweat and it takes a fair amount to get them motivated to work hard.

Remember that these students train every day. This is like another school subject to them... they get up in the morning, depending on their parents they might have a private tutor session or extra class before school, then the day at school, then study either at home, in groups, private tutoring or additional "classes" after school.... Taekwon-Do is just another after school subject to them....

Also remember that if it wasn't Taekwon-Do it would be Hapkido, or Gumdo, or Judo or another martial art - pretty much everyone does one up to early adulthood. Then they do their 2 years compulsory military service where they do more martial arts as part of their training, and then they start real life.... Uni might have started before the military service, or after, or not at all.... From what I gather, unless you're going to make your living running a Martial Arts School, many of the adults here do not continue their Martial Arts training......

So of the 5 classes that I taught tonight, 3 were primary school students, 1 was middle school and the last was high school.....

There's a lot of demonstrating involved and a lot of energy expended keeping the students motivated and doing the correct techniques.... and with the heat and humidity - I'm in a sweat too.....

Not that I'm complaining.... I've experienced the same thing as Mr Brown and Mr Doogan and have dropped some weight - nothing like great food, hot weather and plenty of excercise to increase the fitness levels!!!

Anyway - it's 10 o'clock, time to head back to Gimhae!

Signing off!!!

Training.....

As for the rest of the weekend....

Saturday afternoon we tried to beat the heat with an hour at the pool.....

On Saturday evening Mr Chirtoca took us through 2.5 - 3hrs of sparring drills where I relearned that sparring guys with very long legs and very long arms is VERY frustrating and occasionally pretty painful..... Lucky for me the gloves here in the dojang are pretty soft so there wasn't too much damage :)

Sunday afternoon we trained in Busan at Yangjeong dojang with some of the new ITF instructors going through stances, sine wave, and the patterns from Chon-Ji to Yul-Gok before heading back to our various bases ready to begin another week.....