Hapkido

"Hapkido aims to be an effective form of self-defense and employs joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and other strikes. Hapkido practitioners train to counter the techniques of other martial arts as well as common "unskilled" attacks. There are also a range of cold weapons including short stick, cane, rope, sword and staff which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined.
Although hapkido contains both long and close range fighting techniques, the purpose of most engagements is to get near for a close strike, lock, or throw. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, non-resisting movements, and control of the opponent. Practitioners seek to gain advantage through footwork and body positioning to employ leverage, avoiding the use of strength against strength." -Thank you wikipedia.

SOOOOOoooo basically....a lot of my co workers take Hapkido. They all told me that the Kwan Jang Nim (the owner/operator) of the place wanted to have me come and watch them in their final practice for their exhibition. It was being held one day before their tounament. I arrived there and sat in the Kwon Jang Nim's office. I immediatly noticed the massive amounts of trophies on his wall. The next thing I noticed was all the pictures of him with different rich looking Korean people. In every picture he wasn't smiling, just looking dead ahead. I asked what they were and my co workers told me he use to be a body guard for Korean movie stars and comedians. Needless to say I was impressed. The guy walked into the office, standing about 5' 5" and pretty thick since Koreans are generally skinny. He definitely looked tough. Didn't speak any English really but it didn't matter, hopefully that will help my Korean. I was brought into the room where they practice and I sat down. They started doing their demonstration. They had 6 mins to show what they wanted to the judges. There were people jumping over other people doing back rolls and some other guys flipping off of their partners hands, this one girl was dis-arming another guy with a knife, they were dive rolling over a line of people ducking down. One of the assistant Kwon Jang Nim's dove over 14 people. It was rediculous. After that was done the Kwon Jang Nim showed me some different kicking techniques. There are only 9 levels of black belts for Hapkido, there are only about 10 people in the country that are that level. The man in front of me was a level 6. When he started to kick I could see why. He did a spinning back kick on a punching bag and basically almost knocked the thing off it's base. I could feel the impact and I was standing 5 feet away. If he kicked me in the face he would not only break my jaw but probably cause me to go blind and possibly shit my pants. The assistant was doing all kinds of double spinning kicks and a back flip kick which was all really awesome.

When it was over they brought me into the office again and asked if I liked it. Kwon Jang Nim wasn't there, but I told them I loved it and asked how much per month I had to pay. This was by far the best part. The answer was FREE! The Kwon Jang Nim wants me to come as often as possible...which will be mon-fri for an hour or two, and train with him and my co teachers all for 0,000 won. He is even giving me the get up too for no charge. I can not tell you how excited I am for this. My Mon-Fri schedule will be as follows.

School 8:30-4:40---->Hapkido 5-6--->gym 6:15-8:00---->Shower, dinner, sleep. Then do it all again.

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. I know this one girl who is paying 80,000 won a month ($80) just to take classes and her Kwon Jang Nim isn't even half as bad ass as mine. When I get home i'lll be a jedi Hapkido master