Yellow belt in TKD and more ''rice' parties

Dia 207 el 5 de Febrero 2013 22:23

Yellow Belt!

Today I reached something, something I can never lose; my yellow belt in Taekwondo! The exam wasn’t that hard but I was pretty nervous though. So after waiting on some people who were to late we could start the exam. Everybody stood at the side watching us and my host dad and little brother came to see, that was very nice of them and I am very glad since I have been asking all week of they could make it, and with Ticos you are never sure if they can. The Taekwondo master held a very nice speech about that we have become at special moment in Taekwondo and how much we have grown. He always talks very good pep talks, morality talks, discipline, all sorts of talks, he does it. Taekwondo isn’t just a sport, it’s a martial art and that means that it comes with a philosophy, in which I grew a bit today. Then the exam really started; the master asked a few questions about kicks, strikes and stances in Korean, I knew most of them but to be honest not all. He gave commands in Korean and we had to do the exercises he described. After that part at was time for the forms, patterns of 20 steps in which you fight imaginable opponents; its cooler as it sounds. Then we made it! We did well enough to pass to the next belt; yellow! It is the first belt but after black to most important, it means the end of the beginning and a long but welcoming road ahead. The master gave a nice ending speech I got my belt, everybody applauded and it was done, from there on the training went on as normal.

I would recommend Taekwondo to everybody, especially exchange-students. It is a very nice sport, in which everybody can participate, it’s a way to make friends and it boosts your already changing mind. And don’t forget, everybody puts on some foreign kilos.

I felt like buying my host family ice cream to celebrate my belt but it was already too late, I’ll save that for later.

Day 209, el Jueves 7 de Febrero 2013 8:16

Tico’s fav food.

Last Tuesday I went to school to sign up for this, it’s funny that I can do this this late even though classes start next Monday. It was nice to be back in school, a few people thought I already left and it was nice to see them happily surprised. I met 3 classmates and we chatted a bit while filling in papers. It felt like Dutch summer that day, being in school with just a few peeps on a sunny day made me remind the old days. I also spoke with one of my best friends from my Dutch highschool and I kind of missed these times.

Yesterday there was another arrozarium a.k.a. singing to baby Jesus. This time we got Rompepe and Nachos. Rompepe is a typical drink which tastes like ‘leche dulce’ but with a bit alcohol. Leche dulce is sweetened syrop like milk and Ticos love it, they put in and on everything, another Costa Rican favorite is Pollo Frito, fried chicken. They sell the greasy but o-so-good fried chicken everywhere and the greasy smell fills the streets. The worst what can happen is sitting next to somebody eating his pollo frito next to you in the bus, it has happened. The nachos were better as the rompepe, way better. You have some ‘nice’ nachos in The Netherlands if you put them in a bowl with plastic cheddar cheese and put it in the microwave, here, here nachos is a whole meal. You’ll get a mountain of nachos, meat, tomato, natilla, salad and cheese on a plate so small that everything will be all over the place when you’re finished.