Black Belt Achieved!

I took and passed my black belt test on June 30th!!  I didn't know that I had passed until a couple weeks later, but I have waited to do this post until I received my belt and certificate which finally happened this past Wednesday (8/8).  I am so happy to have accomplished this, and am planning (and already training for) a second black belt (ee don, or 이단).  There was a time where I almost called it quits because I was so busy, but it was very worth sticking with it :)

Here is the arena that the test was held at.

Here is the inside!  This actually made me miss wrestling a lot, as it has a similar setup to the big tournaments I have competed in in the past.

I have 2 videos of my black belt test (thanks to Norah)!  I took my test with 2 other Taekwondo students, a boy and a girl who are most likely in high school.  The first video is of us reciting the 'sun so' in Korean, followed by the basic action, poomse 8, then poomse 6 (which was random), and finally the kicking test.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to break bricks or boards, but it was still amazing.  

I'm obviously on the right, and it was tough because I was soo tired.  I went to watch my friends take their black belt test there that morning at 10 am.  Went back to practice at my Taekwondo center for an hour, then went right back to the arena.  I thought I was up at 2 pm, and I sat ready to go until almost 5 pm before I went!  Also I wasn't allowed to warm up just before I went, so I was literally falling asleep as I was called out onto the mat.  I really thought I was going to make a mistake!  The only part I didn't do well was the 'sun so,' which was reciting a couple sentences in Korean, so they understood why I didn't do so awesome on that.  Also a funny, and relevant, little tid-bit to add on is at 1:24 on this video you can hear a little Korean boy yell out "Oh!  Waygooken!," which means foreigner, lol.  After that we got suited up for the sparring portion!

Here is the sparring portion, which lasted only 30 seconds.  It was quite intense, and the high schooler I was facing was pretty tough!  I had bruises on my forearms from blocking his kicks, but I feel that if they were keeping score I would have taken him ;)

Here is me trading in my red belt for my black belt!

Master Lee and I; holding my certificate.

Master Lee, Keenan and I.

Here is my framed certificate!  I also have an ID card that certifies me as a black belt for LIFE :]

Here is my black belt!  In Korean it says 무 롱태권도 (Mulryong Taekwondo) on the left, and 라이언 (ra-ee-eun, or Ryan) 존 (John) 매너리 (Manary) on the right.  How cool is that!?

So it was an amazing experience, and I will be leaving Korea with the best souvenir one can get here.  I am also excited to compete in some sparring competitions this fall (reserved for black belts only), and next summer I could be competing for my 2nd black belt.  FIGHTING!!