Brown Belt Test!

I am continuing to move on up through the ranks in Taekwondo, and have just recently attained my brown belt!  I have gone down to 2 days a week, and have had an injured foot, but Master Lee is still allowing me to progress at a constant rate.  I told him I was willing to take the black belt test in September, but he is giving me the option to take it on June 30th or on September 29th.  If I pass the black belt test, I can then decide if I'd like to work towards a second degree black belt, which would take about 1 additional year of training.  I have not decided or committed yet, but I think I will go for the black belt in June and continue working towards the second 'don!' 

Here are some videos from the test.  I had to do poomses 1-7, and break 3 boards.  I was prepared to start poomse 1 and Master Lee told me 'okay, poomse 7.  Go.'  I was like.. ummm ooops!  I messed up, totally threw me off.  I recovered though and did pretty well on everything.  If you pay attention you can catch a mistake or two that I fixed quickly.  Since poomses 1-5 are in previous posts, I will share videos of poomse 6 (which I learned for the blue belt test), poomse 7, which was for this test, and the board 'smashy.' 

Here is Poomse 6.

This is Poomse 7.

And here is my destroying 3 boards.  I'll admit though, my hand was throbbing for 10 minutes!  haha

So it looks like I will take my red belt test next month, and then step up my training in June for the black belt test.  It is hard to find time to do the extra practicing right now, as all of my free time is going into practicing for the band, but I will have to make time if I want to make it! 

I'm Yours!

My 5th and 6th graders have completed their latest song competition, and they have come out really nicely!  I really enjoy doing these songs, and it also means that the students can learn without doing the (often boring and tedious) textbook CD Rom for 30-40 minutes each class.  We usually spend 5-10 minutes practicing these songs, then do the CD Rom.  If I can help it we play a fun PPT game or something for the last 5-10 minutes, which really splits the lesson up nicely.  In any case, here are the new videos!

Class 5-1 is the winner because they brought a ton of energy, clapping, and extra stuff that we didn't even practice/ I didn't teach (the "woahhhhs" in the middle and the ending).  Each class did a good job though!

The 6th grade version is really interesting because each class did something different.  Class 6-4 won with their clapping and enthusiasm (just like 5th grade interestingly enough).  Enjoy!

Oriental Medical Clinic (Acupuncture)

One of the more interesting things about being in Korea has been the acupuncture treatment I have received several times.  This treatment is also common in China and Japan (and now days popular in Europe too), but I guess the methods and techniques used here are unique to Korea.  I have gone to Mr. Park's Uncles' clinic for 3 different symptoms, and have had positive results from two of them.

The first thing I went for was for my back, which is quite a mess due to my slight scoliosis that I developed at the age of 14.  Back in the United States I would visit our family's Chiropractor Dr. Forbes, sometimes frequently, sometimes every few months.  I blogged about these visits when I went about 6 months ago, but stopped going after 1 month because it just wasn't doing the trick.  It has been doing fine recently though, since I stretch and try to use good posture.  

Anyways I had always hoped that acupuncture therapy would work, but that certainly made me feel as if it didn't.  However a few months ago I sprained my ankle quite badly and Mr. Park suggested I go back to the clinic again.  I reluctantly agreed, but knew that the back was quite a large (and long-term) problem, so maybe something smaller would respond to the treatment.  Sure enough some pressure from the doctor's elbow in my side, and a few needles in my hand and foot 'cured' my sprained ankle. I couldn't believe it!  I could walk, run, and break-dance on my recently sprained ankle with no discomfort whatsoever!

So I have a bit more confidence in acupuncture treatment, and just recently have had more success.  I have had a nagging foot injury from Taekwondo for a little over a month now.  I ignored it for a couple weeks, but the constant Taekwondo, volleyball and hiking made it exponentially worse.  I finally had to stop participating in all of those activities, so I went and got X-Rays.  A friend of mine said he had very similar symptoms, and it turned out he was walking on a stress fracture for weeks.  Well they took 4 or 5 pictures of my foot (that only cost me about 만 완 [$10]), and there was no fracture.  My Taekwondo instructor Master Lee gave me some cream to rub on my foot that was basically "Icy Hot," but it was not getting better.  

I don't know why I waited so long, but I finally went back to the Oriental Medicine Clinic to get acupuncture.. and it worked!  Now it's not 100%, but it feels so much better.  I went last Friday, and then again on Monday.  My last time for this injury will be this Friday, and hopefully a little rest will get it back to normal.  The only way I can describe it is my foot felt 'tight,' and the needles and pressure points simply loosened it up.  I actually ran at Taekwondo last night, but rested it for the other activities (sprinting and kicking).  It still hurts a little bit, but I am amazed at the difference, and feel a full recovery coming on!

Here is a picture of my foot with 3 needles in it.  The pain/discomfort is actually in the middle of my foot, within all the bones and ligaments.  

Here is an awesome street treat that I always get before or after visiting the Oriental Medical clinic.  Just under a dollar (900 won).  The clinic is in Taewadong, which is 40 minutes from my house on the bus, and the only place I see these delicious little guys.

The Band.

My band is coming along really nicely, and hopefully I can share some footage of us playing soon.  We have a drummer named Nick Kotel that has been playing with us at open mic, and will probably commit to joining officially.  We always practice on Tuesdays at Keenan's place, and play early at open mic so it is essentially a practice and then a performance.  This past week we started practicing at the place that hosts open mic, which is 100X better for progressing.  We were just asked by the owner of the open mic bar Royal Anchor if we'd be interested in learning some Western songs that are popular to Koreans for a festival next month, and of course we agreed!  We will be playing things like Jason Mraz "I'm Yours," and some Beatles tunes among others.  It should be a really big festival that will get us really started which is exciting!  Also we realized we had to finally come up with a name (we've been kicking around a couple ideas).. and we have chosen one.  It is ridiculous, and hilarious to us.. we are: 'Stache Potatoes.  I don't know if everyone will like it, but we're a rock band, so we don't care :)

Here are some logo sketches to help you understand the silly name, haha.  We went through hundreds of band name ideas, and finally I spit out "..'stached potatoes?"  ..we couldn't stop laughing, and decided that we couldn't beat it, so we are 'Stache Potatoes.

Here is us having a mini practice while us and some other friends were over at Keenan's place.  That's actually Tom holding Keenan's bass.  

This is us playing last week.  I am in my shirt and tie from school headbanging on the left.  That is Nick behind the drum set.

I must say being in a band is one of the coolest things ever to me, and I'm so happy I am finally rocking out properly :)  It sure is a lot of work, but it is one of the many things helping me enjoy the heck out of Korea!

It's a Small World!

I have been doing my song competitions as promised, and have the 3rd and 4th graders' completed!  They learned It's a Small World, and did a fantastic job!  The 3rd graders are the most impressive since this is their first year studying English (at least in public school).  Enjoy!

Haven't decided yet if 3-3 or 3-4 is the winner.. waiting on a second opinion from Mr. Park!

Very close for 4th grade as well, but I went ahead and picked 4-2.

Random Updates

Here are some random updates about what's been going on in my daily.  As I reported in some of my recent posts, I have been very busy, but I am finally starting to get to a little more comfortable with my schedule. 

I have gone down to 2 days a week for Taekwondo which is really helpful.  It's too bad that I have to cut it down since I love it so much and its good exercise, but something has to give.  I just earned my blue belt last week though!  I have a video, but the file is too large to email to myself from my phone, and the chord that I used to transfer files with to my laptop, isn't recognized by my computer at school.. so hopefully that is sorted by the next belt test!  My friend Norah who has joined my Taekwondo studio just took her first test, and earned her yellow belt.  That was on Wednesday, and on Saturday Master Lee and his wife treated Norah and I to dinner!  This is the third time they have taken me out, and this time we went to a western style buffet that had amazing chicken wings, ribs and lots of other great foods I don't get enough of here.  So that was really nice.  I like having dinner with Koreans like this, because it allows us to communicate using their limited English, and my limited Korean.  We both learn new words, and make a strong effort to have a conversation (also using the smart phone translator when necessary). 

This is one of the Taekwondo students who I have mentioned before.  He is now known as "HELLOOOOOOO" since that is how he always greets me, haha.

This is me looking goofy, with my friend Norah, Master Lee and the students with ice cream/popsicles. 

Moving up the belt ladder!

The band is coming along very nicely.  We have been practicing every Tuesday evening and performing at the open mic every Thursday.  We have several original songs, but are focusing more on cover songs, since that is easier for the audience to get into (since we are so new).  A couple of the songs that we have covered are Wonderwall by Oasis, Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye, and a couple songs by the band Against Me.  I absolutely love playing in the band, and can't wait until we do a real show!

Here's Tom from the band.  We played pool after we performed last Thursday.

There are Tom and Keenan on the right doing a Beatles song with the drummer and guitarist from another foreigner band here in Ulsan.  Their name is Karaoke Doky.

This is my friend Bethany who came and performed at open mic 2 weeks ago.  She was amazing!  (sorry the pic is a little blurry!)

My classes at school have been great.  I am able to spend about 10 minutes at the beginning of every class teaching a song, and my new 3rd graders just did their competition on Friday!  I'm not sure what my editing capabilities are right now (with out my laptop), but I will have some sort of footage on that soon! 

I am currently looking over my options for traveling for the next year.  I had originally planned on going to the Philippines or Nepal for summer vacation, but I don't know if I can swing that just yet.  I have had some unexpected expenses in the last couple of months, so my travel budget is not what it should be for those kinds of trips (also SE Asia is not ideal for the summer months.. too hot!).  Because of this, I think I will take my summer vacation to Jeju Island, and perhaps to Guang-Ju (SE province in Korea).  I went to Jeju during the winter months, and it was great, but I need to experience it while the weather is warm.  Since it is a domestic vacation, it will be a little more affordable, and still amazing! 

I still have vacations next winter, and in the summer of 2013, so there are plenty of chances to continue exploring Asia.  I think I will go back to SE Asia again in the winter, since it is in the 80s and 90s during that time.  (BTW South East Asia includes Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and a few others.) 

A couple weeks ago I finally played the Korean 4 ball version of pool.  It was really difficult because it is all about putting 'English' on the ball, pretty ironic right?  Haha.  I started to get the hang of it though, and hope I play it again soon so I can remember the pointers my co-workers gave me!

For this version of pool, there are 2 players (or in this case, teams).  One team shoots the yellow ball, and the other shoots the white ball.  The goal is to make your ball hit both of the red balls.  If you do that, you get a point, and you continue to shoot until you miss.  It is very tricky!