Dai Den Khong Co Chu (Black Belt Without Words)

Following the advice of a trusted friend, I decided to take a day off today. I wasn't feeling too well after class and just called in sick at work. There's something about having diarrhea and various tropical diseases for the last few days that really starts to wear on a person. So I slept in, watched TV for an hour, and went to taekwondo practice.

Taekwondo practice in Vietnam? You betcha'. Except without nice rubber mats, bags or sparring gear. I get to practice at the youth culture center across the street from my place for roughly US $3/month. I'm ordering a nice embroidered Adidas uniform and belt for roughly $9.00.

I got to practice on a cement playground and do knuckle pushups on the wet ground. At the end of practice, I was dirty as hell but I felt good. Then again, it's 90 degrees outside and 100% humidity, so a good sweat was in order. The best part about taekwondo (and sports in general) is that techniques are understood across cultures and even though I found myself quite capable of communicating with the other students, it was good to learn the "Vietnamese way" of martial arts.

Some notes:

• Viet fighters use their front leg more than their back leg
• tucked knees = extremely fast short range kickers
• they like to block with their shins
• they practice taekwondo on cement, they play soccer on cement, it wouldn't surprise me if they slept on the cement too
• almost everyone is my size or smaller

I'm feeling much better now.