Friday, October 18

Today was World Kuk Sool Super Beach Training at Haeundae Beach.  Imagine around 400 people wearing doh bok (uniform) practicing martial arts on the beach.  And then imagine them yelling with their punches all at the same time.  It was nothing short of impressive. 

Kuk Sool Won members practicing at Haeundae Beach

Everyone is so polite in Kuk Sool: etiquette and respect is a big facet of it.  I have never been called “ma’am” so many times. I have also never been around such a respectful and happy group of people.  Even the first night here, when I was helping to check in a group of Brits arriving at midnight, everyone was happy to be there.  No grumbling and “where’s my room key,” type talk.  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am. Have a good night, ma’am.”

Notice George filming on the left!  

There are all levels of students here to compete, judge, and participate in demonstrations.  From white belt to 9^th degree black belt.  These students and masters are not only athletes; they’re artists.  They have clearly put in hours upon hours and years upon years of practice so that their bodies move with a strength and grace that is captivating to watch. 

Master Sung Jin Suh (George’s oldest brother and an 8^th degree black belt) inspires awe with his demonstration

Emerald Aue (4^th degree black belt) and her husband David (5^th degree) 

practice their sword demonstration

Now onto an important part of travel: eating.  Have I mentioned that I was nervous about liking the food here?  I’m a picky eater with a palate limited to French fries, Ranch dressing, and anything with cheese.  And what I know about Korean food is that they don’t put cheese on anything, much less Ranch dressing.  But I enjoyed my first meal (the udon noodles), and that was at a rest stop, so I figure it can only get better.  Our first dinner was at a seafood place near our hotel.  It was a good find (kudos to Seunghye - an LA friend who is here with us and also a Korean expat). 

An array of seafood cooking at the table

I’m afraid that all of the amazing, fresh seafood is wasted on me, though, because I can really only handle shrimp and maybe some crab or a scallop.  (Please refer to my limited palate above.)  I chose not to slurp the snails from their tiny shells or partake of the abalone.  I also am a baby when it comes to all things spicy, and that pretty much describes about 75% of Korean food.  Despite all of these cards stacked against my appetite, though, I have enjoyed all my meals here.

Snails.  Hold up to your mouth, slurp, and enjoy!

A crab.

Lunch after beach training was at a cute little place called “Grandma’s House,” and it was as cozy as it sounds.

Beef and Mushroom Jungol cooking at “Grandma’s House”

Afterwards, we took a walk, and look what we found:

FYI, the Starbucks here has some bomb-diggidy cheesecake.  They’re holding out on us in the US.  And right next to Starbucks is one of these:

I’m not gonna lie; I’m really tempted to eat here.  Cheese fries dipped in Ranch dressing sums up my aforementioned palate, and if I could do it without anyone knowing, I probably would.  But I’m going to try and stick with the native food.  No promises, though.  

One more tidbit from today.  After dinner, we were enjoying some carrot cake in the hotel lobby (yes, I had cheesecake and carrot cake today), and we heard a little girl scream.  Nothing scary, just a kid being fussy.  I looked at her and of course started staring because, well, Korean kids are pretty friggin’ cute.  Her mother seemed to be scolding her for screaming and pointed at me.  I turned back around, worrying that I was making the scolding worse.  Something to the tune of “You see that woman staring at you because you screamed?”  A few minutes later the girl approached our table with her mother and apologized in Korean.  I said, “Oh it’s ok!” but maybe it’s not; wasn’t that the point of the lesson?  I felt really bad for her, but she’ll probably never scream in a restaurant again.

Like I said, Korean kids are cute

And so are their dogs