Taekkyon

Also romanized as Tekyon, Tekkyon, Taekyon, or Taekgyon... probably more. Anyway, Taekkyon has been the best thing we have done in Korea. Not only have we gotten healthier, stronger, and more flexible but we have made some really great friends as well.

Taekkyon is an ancient Korean martial art. It has roots dating back thousands of years. Although it has highs and lows of popularity in Korea the lowest was during the Japanese occupation. As with many Korean cultural icons that were burnt/destroyed/suppressed practicing Taekkyon was forbidden during this time. Apparently it only survived through one man who continued to practice in secret and after the Japanese were gone it thrived once more.


We are taught by a man we only know as Master Lee, or just Master for short (actually we know less than 5% of the names of the people we know here, either by just knowing their 'English names' or because we can't remember their Korean name). He speaks very limited English but we get by gestures, my limited Korean, or someone in class will translate.

Taekkyon starts at 8:30 every weekday. Since we work until 8:30 we usually have to run to not be too late. We start with a warm-up for half an hour or more. Sometimes we do nothing except for warm-up and breathing exercises. The last half of the lesson we practice various skills ranging from stance/moving skills to so-called "killing skills". The majority of Taekkyon is close combat, very different from Taekwondo or Karate which focus more on long range, powerful attacks. We practice a lot of kicking, attacking weak points, and evading attacks. While we aren't nearly this good...


...Tara has really done well with her kicks.


I won't have to worry so much about her getting lost somewhere. At least she'll be able to take care of herself. I just have to be more careful about not getting her angry.

Anyway, three more days of work/Taekkyon/our friends/our students/Bibimbap/our apartment/our lives here. I don't think I've ever said good-bye (forever?) to this many people at once.

By the way, we are probably selling our computer tomorrow so this MIGHT be the last post from Korea. We probably won't be able to read our blog from China, but we will still post and check our email!