Welcome to Gaia! ::

...You are a beautiful man, and will make your future wife a very happy woman.

Awww... so cute! It's a nice feeling, isn't it?

I know that feeling. ^^ I use to assist my sensei back home with teacher some of the little youngsters. I had to leave, though, do to schooling. However, the team came down for one of the little tournaments here and went to go and meet them at the airport. The next thing I remember crossing the street was hearing my name and getting attacked/hugged by a million little kids. I was flattered. I didn't think I'd get that reaction from some of those kids. Even the ones I thought hated me, came hugging me and saying how much they missed me. It was really something. I'm sure that my Sensei must've gotten an even bigger hug (she had to move away, but there was another Sensei that took her place, thank goodness. She's really nice as well). Unfortunately, I missed that part, because I missed the earlier bus. >.<;

I've always wanted to be a teacher of tae kwon do. Everyone at my dojang is just like a big family, and I've always looked up to the teachers and wanted to be just like them someday.

Sounds like a childish boyhood dream, but ya I dunno, I'm just kinda rambling at this point.

Its good watching people getting better due to your tuition, do their pattern/kata/form spot on in grading after spending hours going through it with them. Giving them the confidence to go out and give it their best shot whether thats a grading or comp or whatever.
Tho I always found it odd being called Sir... ala finding nemo: "Dude, Mr Crush is my Dad"

we all hate the rare occasions that this stuff happens...

Even though i am not but a brown belt i wish to be a Shotokan Karate Master someday. My sensei who is a 6th degree, is an amazing teacher and i hope to learn from him

I'm back home for the week, and though unfortunately the dojo is closed for the week (I believe the Sensei is out of town for work), I still get to mingle somewhat with me old team. Actually, I just finished helping out a boy I used to babysit learn his curriculem for his yellow belt. This is actually quite the challenge because the young boy has a for of Autism (sp?). He tends to get easily distracted, and have violent outbursts (I've been lucky enough not to have those) and is unfortunately doesn't do well socially in general. He is a very smart young boy though. Anytime I asked him anything about the style, he got it bang on. He's only five and he remembered the name of the style, our founder, and many other things. Even some kids who are already yellow or orange can't remember Shinan's name. It was impressive.

I actually had a good half hour practice with him. I was really happy to see that he was able to perform all his animal stances rather accurately for his age. He was very proud of himself and I told him he'd have to perfom them in front of his parents (which got him very excited). He kept me on my toes a lot as well by asking a lot of questions on the style. In the end, I just couldn't answer all of them though. Then, he got to the point where it was all 'why?' questions.
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"What dan is Shinan Donivan at?"
"Eight."
"Why?"
"Well, he had been training for several years and has many experience."
"How many dans are there?"
"Ten."
"How come he's not at his tenth?"
"Umm... well, he still has many years ahead of him before he could get there and he can't exactly give himself a belt."
"Why?"
"Because he'd need his Sensei to do so."
"Why?"
"Because he can't do it himself."
"What's level is his Sensei."
"I believe he was at his tenth in the end. But has now passed away. And now his son is in charge of the Kenkokan style"
"What belt is he?"
"Nineth."
"Why?"
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And so forth. I was asked why the animal stances were called what the were, why I wasn't a black belt yet, how many Eight and Tenth dans were there in the world, and so forth. It's always quite the adventure when you're helping to teach. ^^;; People say I have a knack with kids; I highly doubt that. It's not that I don't like kids, I do. It's just at some points you need a breather when they're in large groups like in Karate. Yet, I'm gonna to most likely be teaching at a Girl Guide camp this summer. Go figure. XD Karateka Girls Guides! Fear us! XD Be sure to watch out next time you don't buy cookies from them!