1:30: Getting ready for taekwondo class! They say that the AC's off in the gym, so I''m expecting it to be pretty insanely warm.
Breakfast was good, and at lunch I took a bite of kimchi and unconsciously said out loud, "Oh, that's good..." just like I would over a really perfect cup of coffee. I think I've fallen off the kimchi ledge, for serious this time. It's got me.
Morning lectures were on PowerPoint presentations and classroom games. Both were super helpful and gave me a million ideas each.
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8:30: My teaching partner and I practiced our lesson plan within an inch of its life. Tomorrow, we present it in front of our peers, and everything's gonna be okay.
Taekwondo class happened. It was glorious. I mean glorious. I'm very seriously considering making this my new sport, if I can find a workable class in my city. We all got white robes and we lined up in rows for stretches, then pair work.
Our instructor said that we had to pay close attention to his words because he had a black belt in taekwondo but only a green belt in English. But he didn't have any trouble making himself understood. I really liked his teaching style--we all respected him and listened up. It was an incredibly difficult 80 minutes, and I loved it all.
Except for the board-breaking bit. Our teacher told us to take a small board and write on it in a marker, putting down either some goals for the new year or some bad habits we'd like to break. I guess when we broke our boards it was going to be symbolically like breaking bad habits. On my board, I wrote: "I want to be more selfless. I want to put others first."
I held up my partner's board for her and she broke it. Then it was my turn. Set your stance, wind your arm back, do the yelling thing they taught us and just hit it.
My board didn't break.
I tried again. And then a third time. An assistant comes by to advise me on striking technique and to change the angle my partner is using to hold the board. 4th try--no break, and my hand is beginning to hurt.
5th try, the taekwondo instructor himself comes over to hold my board. I want to show him that I can do it, so I hit that board with everything I've got. No result. The instructor says that some boards are accidentally too thick for beginners to break, so he sent an assistant to get another one for me. By this time, all the other 39 people in my group have finished breaking things and are standing around watching me not break things, but in a supportive way, calling out encouragement.
The instructor holds out the new board to me. It's my 6th try, my hand is long since sore, and everyone is watching. He tells me to yell, and I don't produce a very convincing one, so he calls out to the whole class, "Everyone, yell to give her energy!" They did. If taekwondo class was a sports movie, this would be the moment where the slo-mo begins, an inspirational song plays, and the longshot finally accomplishes their goal.
On try number six, I broke my board, and everyone cheered for a good half-minute. That was this afternoon--by now, the ache has faded but I'm bruised enough that I still can't shake anybody's hand. And it's all worth it because I BROKE THE BOARD. Yet if my life was a book, I'm sure there'd be some symbolic significance to the fact that I couldn't break the board that represented unselfishness. I guess it takes a lot of painful tries before you break an unworthy habit. :-)
