CJ Got His Black Belt!

So last December, during the belt ceremony, CJ got his black belt.

Getting your black belt is a big deal. All the other color belts get their new belts and then Master Yun does a special ceremony just for the about-to-be-minted black belts. He calls up the bo dans, there's a lot of bowing, he calls us the family members, and then Master Yun personally ties each black belt himself. There's more bowing to family members and then comes the talent show.

Each new black belt reads his/her essay about what it TKD means to him/her. This is the essay that students submitted six months earlier, when they submitted their applications to take the black belt test.

Afterward, each new black belt has to perform a talent. Giulam played the violin and CJ did a magic show. Nobody had ever done a magic show before during a black belt ceremony so CJ's talent was a treat. The little kids were especially blown away. One little girl said, "That's so totally magic!" It was so cute. CJ loves magic. He took a magic camp over the summer and he's learning magic from the head of his school, who is a master magician.

I decided to come to the black belt ceremony in regular clothes. For one, I didn't test and I wanted this belt ceremony to be all about CJ. The black belts are really special at the studio. There's a special class just for them, we lower belts bow to them at the beginning and end of class, and they are asked to teach the lower belts during class.

It was an incredible day for CJ. He had trained so hard for the black belt test and now he's a black belt. A black belt can never be taken away from you.

Before the ceremony began, Master Yun shows the bo dans how to bow.

Here's CJ right before the ceremony began. This will be the last day he wears his bo black belt.

Love this photo of MJ, CJ and CJ's buddy, Ewan.

Now it's CJ and Giualem's turn to get their belts.

Normally, parents or SOs tie the new belts. The Master himself ties the belts for the new black belts.

Master Yun always asks the students to bow to family members and thank them for their support.

Here's CJ doing a card trick during his magic show.

Master Yun presenting the new black belts to the studio.

I Got My Bo Black Belt!

I got my brown belt back in August 2014 but I didn't take the next test until February 2015. The reason? It took me six months to learn huligi well enough to earn my stripes and earn the right to test.

Huligi is a spinning back hook kick. As Maki put it, "huligi relies on everything I'm weak at." With huligi, you bend down, spin, raise your leg into a back kick and then hook the target. If it sounds complicated, it is. I have neck issues and balance issues, and I can't raise my leg very high when doing a back kick.

So it took me six months, six months, to master this kick. Okay, master is an overstatement. Six months to do the kick well enough to earn my red stripe (for knowing the brown belt kicking combination ) and yellow stripe for breaking a board with huligi. The brown belt form, btw, is nunchuck #2, which is a beautiful form created by Master Yun. I didn't struggle with this form although it did take me a few weeks to learn it and memorize it.

I am so grateful to Master Yun, Trulyn, Michael and Hannah for working patiently with me on huligi for weeks on end. I promised Michael a Holy Cow burger once I got my red stripe, so when I finally got my red stripe in December, he got his burger!

I test for bo black belt in February. The test was hard; it kicked my butt. I had to do umpteen jumping jacks, 22 kicking combinations (twice per belt), 11 forms, 770 push-ups, and three rounds of sparring. I tested with Igor and Trulynd, which was terrific because it sucks to be a higher belt testing by yourself.

Another name for bo black is bo dan, which means below level. So being a bo dan means you are below the level of black belt. The bo dan belt is a black belt with a white stripe in the middle. It's a really pretty belt.

The belt ceremony was very special. CJ tied my belt and MJ was there in his Tae Kwon Do uniform, given to him by my friend Igor, whose son Nicholas also does Tae Kwon Do and had outgrown his first uniform.

I absolutely adore this photo of the three of us. I love the bowing in TKD.

CJ Passed His Black Belt Test!

I'm late in posting this but CJ passed his Tae Kwon Do Black Belt test back in June. OMG, what a incredible journey!

Back in April 2014, CJ passed his brown belt test and got his black stripe belt. Master Yun took me and CJ aside and said that CJ looked good, he knew all his forms and if CJ felt he was ready, he would let CJ take the black belt test in June. This was a BIG deal. Master Yun rarely lets people test for their black belt so soon after getting their bo black belt. CJ would train and test with Giualem, a super talented 11-year old with amazing, natural ability.

CJ said Yes! he wanted to take the black belt test in June. So he started taking double and triple classes to build up his endurance. I even took a few double classes with him to give him encouragement and build up MY endurance. At the end of April, Master Yun started offering bo black classes. During bo black classes, Master Yun would have the kids practice forms, practice kicking, practice breaking, and practice power breaking, which is breaking with your hand.

I felt like I was living at the studio during the months of May and June. CJ was taking, on average, 9 classes a week! He was pretty enthusiastic about it, but some weeks, he was just plain exhausted and didn't want to stay for the 2nd or 3rd class. Because I love TKD so much AND I've watched a couple of black belt tests, I understood the importance of endurance training.

Here's the deal with the black belt test. The Master won't let you test unless you know your forms and your kicks. So you basically just have to survive the test, which is a 3-hour test, during which you do all the forms, do all the kicks, do the kicks while going up and down the studio, do over 700 push-ups, do over 700 sit-ups, do over 300 squats, do 3 rounds of sparring (including 1 round against 2 black belts), and break 5 wooden boards at once (1 cement block if you're an adult). It's really an endurance test. If you're not in the best shape of your life, you just won't survive.

CJ and Giualem did a great job. They were both clearly in top form. When they got to green belt and the squats started, one of the instructors, Trulynd, sidled up to me and said, "they're doing really well; this is usually when the crying starts but they're not crying."

In fact, there was no crying during this black belt test. CJ and Giualem did a great job with everything. They were plastered with sweat and by the third sparring round, they both took a beating because when you're exhausted, you tend to just stand there and take the hits.

The breaking is what nearly did CJ in. It took him about 30 minutes to break all the boards. Giualem did it the second shot. CJ really struggled. But he didn't give up. Master Yun called several 1-minute breaks but he didn't give up. I was barely breathing and I couldn't help him. He was on his own and he had to call on all his training to get through the last part of the test. When he finally broke the boards, you could see the relief on his face; he was not going home without having broken those 5 boards! And you know, I suspect those last 30 minutes taught CJ more than any other part of the test. And he probably learned more about himself than Giualem did about herself. Because it's when things get tough, when you don't get something the first time, but you keep going and you finally do it, that you learn what you're really made of. I was so proud of CJ.

CJ doesn't get his black belt until December, six months after the test. There's some type of waiting period, during which Master Yun sends off your paperwork to Korean, your belt gets made, and you have to convince Master Yun that you are still committed to TKD. The December belt ceremony is going to be great.

MJ is a Lanugage Genius... Sort Of

It's not until you've heard 3-year old conjugate verbs do you realize just how crazy the English language is. We conjugate so many ways, we have so many exceptions, how do we ever learn to speak properly?

MJ is now a confident speaker. He talks non-stop and he prattles on about everything. He also conjugates verbs with ease. But he doesn't always get it right because of the English language's crazy rules.

The cutest thing he does is say: I swimmed, I taked it, I throwed it away, I catched the robber.

In proper English, swim becomes swam. Throw becomes threw. But how would he know when talked becomes talked, walked becomes walked, fix becomes fixed, play becomes played.

MJ also does funny things with expressions. A couple of days ago, he was playing doctor. He went up to me and he said "I'm taking away your temperature." I didn't understand at first until I realized that he was confusing "taking away" something with "take someone's temperature." Maki will often say, "Marco, don't do that or I'll take away your (fill in the blank, train, lego, iPad)." When he learned that doctors take your temperature, he naturally put 2 and 2 together and decided that doctors "take away" your temperature. He even acted it out. He would come up to me, touch me and then pretend to "take" something. Hilarious and ridiculously cute.

He still makes questions out of declarative sentences (I hope I got this one right). I asked him the other day to go to the kitchen to eat breakfast. He said, "Where I should sit?" It should have been, "Where should I sit?" but that's obviously too complicated at this age. He knows to use "where" and to use intonation to indicate a question.

All of this makes me realize just how hard it is to learn a language, much less communicate effectively!

The Funny and Fun Things MJ Says

MJ is 32 months old (just over 2 1/2 years old) and he's talking up a storm these days. He's always talking. He comments on everything. He plays with words, he makes up rhymes, he's constantly in motion and constantly talking.

When he wants to ask a question, he can't quite rephrase the sentence into a question, so he just adds inflection to the end of his sentences. This morning, I was feeling a little under the weather. He asked, "Mom, you feel sick?" When we're outside, he asks our neighbor, "You have a dog?"

He's got an active imagination. Every morning, when yaya (his nanny) arrives, she asks MJ, "MJ, who are you today?" Every day is different. He might be MJ Fireman, MJ Farmer, MJ Doctor, MJ Delivery Man, MJ Policeman. MJ Fireman is definitely his favorite.

A couple of weekends ago, Maki brought home sausage, egg and cheese McMuffins from McDonald's. He asked for the egg. I said, "But MJ, you're allergic to egg." He said, "No, I'm not lergic, I'm just a nice guy."

When we go out for a ride or run an errand, I usually pack what I call emergency snacks, in case CJ or MJ (or I) suddenly gets hungry. When an adult gets a hunger attack, you suck it up. When a child gets a hunger attack, he has a meltdown. So I always have protein bars in the car and other snacks in my purse. I like to pack string cheese, which I call "emergency cheese." This morning, MJ said, "CJ, we have emergencheese!"

When we're out for a walk, sometimes MJ will just play with words. I might say, "look there's a dog." And all of a sudden, he'll launch into a rhyme attack. He'll say dog, bog, log, mog, sog, jog.... and on and on. I think he's playing with words, he's checking out how they sound and feel on his tongue. It's hilarious and very cute.

CJ Loves Tae Kwon Do

CJ signed up Tae Kwon Do classes back in June of last year (2012). His friend Davis had been taking TKD classes so CJ wanted to check it out. Of course, he wanted to take classes with Davis but Davis does not live close to us, so I did some research and signed him up for a trial at a studio close to our house. After a few weeks, he was hooked, so I signed him up for a year. I made him swear to me that he would stick with TKD for at least a year. I needn't have worried.

From the very beginning, CJ loved TKD. The studio is incredible. Master Yun is fairly strict but he adores the kids and he is a really good TKD master.

The classes are 45 minutes long. Each class starts with jumping jacks, then stretching. Then there's cardio (running, jumping, burpees, etc.) and core exercises (lots of sit-ups and variations thereof). Then the students spend time learning and practicing their kicking combinations and forms. You start out a white belt and are able to test every 2-3 months after you've shown that you know your kicking combination, know your form and can break a board with your kicking combination.

For every element (kicking, form, board), you get a stripe on your belt (red, blue, yellow). The final stripe (white) is achieved when your parent submits a form that proves to Master Yun that you are respectful, helpful, neat, disciplined and a good student. It's a terrific system because the kids have physical achievement milestones but there is also emphasis on discipline and respect.

In fact, Master Yun is quick to chastise a student when he or she is acting up in class, whether he's talking too much, making rude comments, or not showing interest in the class. Love it.

It's April now and CJ has just achieved his 6th belt, which means he's now a blue stripe, after passing white, orange, yellow, green stripe and green. I can tell that CJ is gaining strength, flexibility and speed. His kicks are higher, his shouts are louder, and his form is more streamlined.

Leaving Japan

We had a noon flight out of Tokyo and we decided to take the bus to Narita Airport. We considered taking the Narita Express, which is a train to the airport, but that would have meant taking a taxi to the subway, taking the subway to Tokyo Station, and then catching the Narita Express from there. With 2 large suitcases, a stroller and two boys, we punted and decided to take the bus, even though it would take longer.

Turns out the bus was a great choice and it didn't take longer to get to the airport. Maybe we just got lucky but it only took 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport and it was painless getting there. Alex and Christine got up early to help us with our luggage (they had a later flight, leaving at 4pm, mom and dad were leaving around the same time.)

It was sad to leave Japan after such an incredible trip but it was time to go. I feel so lucky that we had a nearly flawless trip, the boys had a great time, MJ didn't have a single meltdown, nobody got sick, the weather was nearly perfect, and we visited all the sights we wanted to visit.

Flying business class on the way back was really nice. MJ struggled to nap but he finally fell asleep. We arrived home before lunchtime and that gave us enough time to unpack, relax, take showers and go to the grocery store.

For good measure, I gave the entire family some melatonin before bedtime and it really helped. MJ and CJ were asleep within minutes around 8pm. Maki and I were asleep not long after. We kept taking melatonin for a few more nights and I'm convinced it helped us get over the time difference. It usually takes Maki a couple of weeks to get adjusted to the time but this time around, he was back on the schedule within a couple of days. CJ went to school on Wednesday morning and his teachers said he was just fine. Sunshine and melatonin work great together to reset your body's clock!

 Here's sleeping MJ. I got him up at the very last minute.

Saying good-bye to Alex and Christine.

Look at the different kinds of KitKat bars. We bought every kind!

Checking in at Narita. Flying ANA is really great;
they even gave us a loaner stroller!

It was nice having so much legroom. Thank you, Amex miles!

One of the meals on the flight.

CJ wanted noodles so he got a steaming bowl of udon!

Here's a cute photo of the boys, asleep on CJ's bed, our first night back.