That's right.. We did it! By some miracle we advanced to blue belt. Four down and two more to go until we take our black belt test!
As we mentioned in our previous blog we are on summer vacation schedule (8:30-5) So we joined the children at their 5:40 Taekwondo practice. We have had a blast everyday hanging out and messing around with them.
At the beginning of July Mr. Park our Taekwondo Master told us that the kids were going to a water park on the 10th of August. We were really depressed because we wanted to go with them, but we already had things booked for Japan. During our class time with the students he handed us a paper, and he had changed the dates for the water park so we could go with them. We had already made plans for the weekend, but we changed them because we felt like it was important for us to go. We are so glad that we did!!! We had a BLAST!! Here is our weekend story:
Master Park picked us up Saturday around 9:30 am. We met up with all of the kids that we were going to hang out with for the weekend. Most of them knew us and have seen us before, but we felt like we were starting over as we tried to talk with them and help them come out of their shells. The time came for us to jump on the bus and Nick and I chose to sit in the middle of the bus so we would be surrounded by kids. At first we were ignored, and just observed the kids as they talked with one another. Then we started to bring out our snacks. Cheetos were first and the kids didn't know what to do. You could tell they wanted a taste but they didn't want to ask, so Nick squished the game and handed a boy a Cheeto. He licked it and passed it to another boy who shoved it in his mouth and sucked on it. Finally they started opening up and communicating with us.
Here is the Cheeto licker... who also ate most of our popcorn! (the evidence is all over his face)
Here is the Cheeto sucker! His English skills were pretty basic (better than our Korean) He was fun to talk with.
Our bus ride was about two and a half hours. When we arrived to the amusement park we grabbed everything off of the bus and they showed us to some cabins. The girls had one cabin and the boys had the two other cabins in the grouping. I was grateful because the boys were crazy!
After we got settled we changed and ate some lunch and then it was water time.
Some fun Korean swimming rules, you have to wear a cap on your head and you have to wear a life jacket. Both were annoying!
As we were swimming in the wave pool Mr. Park came and found us, and took us to a ride he wanted to go on. It was a very common water park ride where there is a large boat of people and you go down a steep drop and get soaked! This is us in line waiting to ride.
Time was up and it was time to change and eat dinner. Nick and I were not looking forward to the locker rooms because when we quickly passed through to enter the water park there wasn't much nudity but enough to realize what we had gotten into. However, we knew we were expected to shower and change just as they did. Nick and I talked about it and what we were going to do because we didn't feel so comfortable with it. We ultimately decided that when in Korea do as the Koreans. It wasn't the most awkward thing we've ever done, but it's up there.
After, we went back to camp and rested for a few minutes before we ate dinner. They gave us wrist bands to enter the amusement park and we lined up. This little boy thought it would be funny to move his wrist band all the way up his arm.
Master Park then spent 5 minutes trying to work it back down to his wrist.
Dinner was amazing! It included Donkas (돈까스) Kimchi, rice, cold french fries, sweet pickles and my favorite noodles and oh dang (오뎅)!
The rides at the amusement park were pretty typical. The first one we regretted almost immediately because of the whiplash and stiff jaw that it left you with. The second wasn't a roller coaster. It was a "I'm going to puke" ride where everyone sat in a circle with your feet dangling and then it spun you around and swung you like a pendulum until you were parallel to the ground. The ride lasted a good 2-3 minutes. I felt very sick after, but we had only one more ride to go and that was the one we had been waiting for. I decided against my best judgment to get on board. We sat in the back and as I held on tight the only thing I could think about was holding in whatever wanted to come up.
FINALLY it was over and I jumped off and sat down and started some deep breathing. We left the park shortly after and went back to camp. We washed our feet and hands and got ready for bed. It was during this time I introduced my favorite game to the girls. I taught them how to play Spot It! They loved it! When I thought things were settling down for bed we were told chicken was coming and that we needed to go to the boys room. So we got up and joined them. The girls all sat around with me, and Nick came and joined us. He brought with him his notebook to write down their names in Hangul. They loved it and they loved him! We stayed in that circle for a long time playing this korean slapping game that uses the letters of the english alphabet to determine whether or not you get your hands slapped. Nick had learned the game from some of his kids in Summer Intensive earlier that week (and of course came home with his hands red and bruised) so he was able to teach me so that I could play with all of them. Luckily, girls are so much nicer and gently tap your hands when you put up the wrong gesture.
I know you aren't suppose to pick a favorite but I do. I really love all children, just some I fall in love with immediately and can't help it. This little girl is 8 years old Korean age, but I'm sure she is 6 American age. It took her a while to warm up to me but when she did we were best friends!
Everyone got restless because the chicken hadn't arrived yet so we started doing things to occupy our time. The boys decided to put blankets on the stairs and try to slide down them.... I, being a responsible adult, handed them a pillow. Then I handed Nick a Pillow and yelled pillow fight! It only lasted a minute before Master Park walked in and all the kids acted like nothing was going on. Finally about an hour and a half after we were moved to the boys room the chicken finally came (around 11:00 pm). We ate, brushed our teeth and passed out.
The girls all started out the night laying normally and when I woke up the sight was hilarious.
6:00 am came way to soon. Nick and I got dressed for church and met up with a taxi at 7 so we could catch our train to Daegu for church at 10:30. After church we ate some yummy homemade sloppy joe's at Elder and Sister Fairhurst (our new senior missionaries) apartment, then home to meet up with the girls to make skirts.
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