This weekend Adam and I stumbled upon a Taekwondo black belt testing. There were over 2,000 kids, of all ages, testing for their black belt certificate. The kids went through three different sets of tests:
they were divided into groups of 20 and then first did 2 different routines infront of the judges.
then, the students went and helped each other put on sparring gear. They then did synchronized kicks and the judges paired them up with kids of the same size and had them spar until the bell rang.
the kids then took off each others gear and went to the chopping area where they were given different pieces of plastic board depending on their size. the blue was less thick and the red was thicker. the kids broke them in half.
it was quite exciting to see and really unimaginable how many kids take part in taekwondo in Gwangju alone.
A little background on Taekwondo from wikipedia
Taekwondo (태권도; 跆拳道; Korean pronunciation: [tʰɛkwʌndo])[a] is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae (태, 跆) means “to strike or break with foot”; kwon (권, 拳) means “to strike or break with fist”; and do (도, 道) means “way,” “method,” or “art.” Thus, taekwondo may be loosely translated as “the way of the foot and fist” or “the way of kicking and punching.”
Taekwondo is the world’s most popular martial art in terms of the number of practitioners.[1] Its popularity has resulted in the varied development of the martial art into several domains: as with many other arts, it combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy. Taekwondo is also used by the South Korean military as part of its training.[2] Gyeorugi (pronounced [ɡjʌɾuɡi]), a type of sparring, has been an Olympic event since 2000.
Here are all of the pictures from our day.
http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf
More from Korea
More from Korea
Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had honest conversations about what they want from their lives.
Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation.
By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
That people are fundamentally similar across cultures. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life.
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