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Taekwondo Demonstration
Kukkiwon Taekwondo Demonstration at Namsangol Hanok Village, Seoul I apologize for the delay in writing in here. So much has been going on, I've hardly had the time to sit down and record my adventures, research, reconnections, etc.! Because of that, I'll probably have to split this up into a few blog posts just to make sense of everything. Anyway, here we go! (PS--Photos are pending. Again, running into some technical difficulties... ㅠ ㅠ)
Visit to Pohang Two weekends ago, I got the chance to visit my old homestay sister in Pohang. Though her hometown and family still live in Yeosu, she's currently a junior in college and so is living in Pohang (on the eastern coast of Korea). Pohang is a bustling port town, and though much less mountainous than Yeosu, it reminded me a lot of my "home" here--much more than the people-filled, open-all-night Seoul does. I arrived there mid-afternoon on Saturday and cozied up in a little cafe to wait for Boyeon to be done with some of her meetings.
Once we met, Boyeon took me to a nice little restaurant that serves a great, spicy octopus dish and all kinds of traditional side dishes. Yum! (And, no worries to those of you who've
Joining the Crew on Stage
I got to participate by breaking a board at the end of the TKD demo, and they invited us up for pictures at the end. I felt a little out of place without a dobok on and sketching around in my hiking clothes, but it was fun regardless! What a great demo and group of TKD black belts! read/heard of my stories about live octopus--these had definitely expired before they made it to my plate.) After that, we headed to her campus (Handong Global University). On the way, we managed to see part of a parade honoring Buddha's Birthday (which was a national holiday on May 10).
I had a great time hanging out with Boyeon at her school. She has some awesome and kind roommates, and I also got to stay on campus at one of the dormitories and had my own awesome Mongolian and Korean roommates for the weekend (Boyeon lives in the international dormitory). I also got to meet some of the faculty and staff, all of whom are kind and goodhearted. The university is a Christian school, so there's a very strong emphasis on growing in one's faith, so I enjoyed speaking with so many young people about spiritual issues, concerns, and social justice.
After a great weekend together, I headed back to Seoul on Buddha's birthday, but not before Boyeon and I had an awesome traditional Korean meal and made sticker pictures together. Just like old times, sis! ^^
Korea Women's Hotline I've continued my work with KWHL over the
Kukkiwon
The World Taekwondo Federation Headquarters in Seoul last couple weeks and have enjoyed getting to know my coworkers and fellow volunteers there. Mostly, I've been working on helping them compile possible films for their fifth annual women's rights film festival, which will be held this October. As a former film studies major and someone who is interested in how human rights and creative arts can combine, I've really enjoyed learning more about all the different films on these topics that have been screened/created all over the world. I came up with a pretty hefty list for them, and I think some of my work this week will be helping sort through it so they can pick and choose more easily. I think I'll find out later today.
Hiking in Bukhansan and Taekwondo Stuff I've been working a lot, but I also have managed to do some things for fun! Last week, I went to Kukkiwon, which is the taekwondo mecca of the world (the World Taekwondo Federation headquarters). They had a cool museum that I checked out, and though no matches were going on while I was there, I enjoyed taking a look around.
Additionally Saturday, I went hiking on a mountain just to the
Kukkiwon
The World Taekwondo Federation Headquarters in Seoul North of Seoul (close to KWHL's offices, actually) and really enjoyed getting out into nature. Korea has great hiking almost everywhere, thanks to being such a mountainous country, and it was nice to get away from the bustle some and breathe in some fresh(er) green air.
After hiking, I booked it to another part of town where I saw the Kukkiwon demonstration team put on a rockin' taekwondo demo (which they do every Wed. and Sat.). Their performance was fantastic! At the end of the show, the announcer asked for volunteers to come up and break some boards to show that "anyone could do it." I wasn't going to go up there, to be honest... But then NO ONE volunteered, and the announcer seemed pretty desperate... So, I raised my hand and went on up. Of course, when they went around to the six of us to ask us our names and where we were from, I told them I was currently learning TKD (there was another guy up there who had been training also). The announcer (Master Park) asked me to show some kicks, so I did a few, and then when we got ready to break our
Kukkiwon
The World Taekwondo Federation Headquarters in Seoul boards, the black belt holding my board told me to do a reverse back kick. At Master Park's call, all six of us up there sounded off and broke our boards. As a prize, we got a little Kukkiwon stuffed tiger :-) Although it wasn't my best reverse back kick ever, I got a couple compliments on it, and Master Park encouraged me to keep up my training and keep in touch. In the meantime, I think I've also found a couple places to train at this week, so I'm looking forward to an athletics filled week after two weeks of not doing much at all. And after all I've been learning about violence against women here... I think kicking something will be a nice release for me.
Well, I'm off to volunteer at KWHL. For the next episode: my visit to
House of Sharing and my continuing work/meetings with the
Korean Council. Hope y'all are well!
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