General feel-good list

[ciroccoj]

• Our Black History Month concert, which went really well except for the tinyness of our audience. Our first song (Keep Your Lamps) apparently rocked, in part because we sang it while coming down the aisles in the dark carrying little lamps. Our second song, apparently, sucked. Doh. The rest of the concert went fairly well, though. And, as usual, our guest choir (World Voices Choir from Brookfield High School) totally outshone us. Man, if I could dance like a couple of the girls were dancing during one of the songs, I'd... well, I'd dance a lot.
  
  
• ninja_kat Jr. again, who apparently told Mr. ninja_kat "I like Daniel Justin come my house. I like Chris and Jimmy come my house. I like them."
  
  
• TaeKwon-Do again. Specifically, last week Justin and Daniel finally each got to lead the class opening exercise. This is done by the student with the highest belt present, and for the white to green kids' class, that was them!
  
  Cha Rutt! (Attention)
  Kook ki ae dae ha yo, kyung yae! (Bow to the flag)
  Sabum nim gae, kyung yae! (Bow to the instructor)
  Recite Student Oath #1: (the whole class recites each oath) I shall observe the tenet of TaeKwon-Do: courtesy, integrity, perseverence, self-control, indomitable spirit.
  Student Oath #2: I shall respect my instructors and seniors.
  Student Oath #3: I shall never misuse TaeKwon-Do.
  Student Oath #4: I will be a champion for freedom and justice.
  Student Oath #5: I will build a more peaceful world.
  
  Then the next-highest belt tells the other students "uro dorah" (turn), they turn, "kyung yae!" and they bow. To the highest belt student. Ie, Justin and Daniel.
  
  Man, Justin was so proud :) :) :)
  
  
• Also under the heading of TKD, Mary. She's a doughy little girl, maybe eleven years old, who showed up a few months ago looking rather put out that she was there. She wasn't terribly enthused, rolled her eyes at a lot of things, and did most of the exercises half-heartedly. Dull little eyes, vacant expression. Scared of getting hurt in the simplest exercises. Obviously a kid whose parents had made her come. Ugh.
  
  She now has her yellow belt and is very eager to get her green stripe. She also helps the lower belts, does her best during class, and chats with everyone, especially the other girls/women in the class. And the other day, instead of waiting around for class to begin, she was skipping rope and practicing her pattern. She's still the same kid, physically - still plump, same little eyes - but her expression and attitude are just completely different, and it's a joy to behold.
  
  
• Also under TKD, Brad, another kid. Around nine years old. Showed up a few months ago, another kid whose parents obviously put him there against his will. Goofy and hyper and completely uninterested in actually learning anything, or following the rules. It took him the longest time to figure out that no, nobody else was goofing off. And no, the other kids didn't find his behaviour funny. They were there to learn. They were competing with each other, not to see who could get away with the most misbehaviour before the teacher caught them, but to see who could do their best.
  
  His attitude started to change somewhere around his yellow stripe. He got his yellow belt at the same time as we got our green, and was just about bursting with pride. And he's still goofy, and still makes mistakes due to not paying attention, but you can see that he's really trying to. He's even been known to tell other kids to be quiet and listen to the teacher. Which totally cracks me up.
  
  
• Chris, because he's full of win :)
  
  
• The Interwebs, wherein one can stumble across true wisdom when one least expects it. To wit, this quote from Dave Allen: "Anyone who says a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush was never in a bush with two birds."
  
  
• ETA: Oh, this is cool! The George Lucas Educational Foundation has a video about technology at Brookfield High School. It starts with a blip from the World Voices Choir, and at 5 minutes in it has Jeannie Hunter, the choir director, talking about tech in the music class and some more clips of the choir. One of the students shown talking has been with the choir for four years and has a gorgeous voice. Did two or three solos in this year's concert. And is a bit of a goofball too :)
  
  
• Joke from Justin: What do you call it when you put together a cow and an earthquake?
  A milkshake!

Comments

[a-dawn.livejournal.com]

Ha, it's so obvious that I never learned Korean in written form, because I had trouble following your opening exercise (apparently they're pretty much all the same) until I read the English, and then I could "hear" the Korean in my head.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Yeah the first part (Kook ki ae dae ha yo) doesn't sound familiar at all to me. I've even listened for it the last few times I've gone to class and it doesn't sound anything like what the highest belt says.

And I always thought "bow" was pronounced something like, "kinney." Shows what I know ;)