Hapkido Goodbye
April 26, 2007

After my final English class, I stopped by the Hapkido dojang to say farewell to everyone.  A lot of the Chang Moo Gwan black belts were there practicing for an upcoming exhibition in Daegu, South Korea.  I watched them practice for a while, the whole time feeling pretty sad about how I wouldn't be able to sit in the dojang and watch true traditional Korean Hapkido for who knows how long, not to mention how long it would be before I could study there again.  I'm hoping to come back next summer for a few months to study and I really hope I can make it happen.

I asked Grandmaster Lee about his Gwan Jang Nim (main teacher) and Sa Bum Nim (assistant teacher) and he showed me pictures of when he passed his red belt test and his black belt test.  I took some photos of them and put them below.

Sadly, It was time to go.  Before I left, we all took a picture that you see at the top of this page.  An interesting thing that Jin pointed out to me is that I'm sitting next to Grandmaster Lee.  Jin said that it's not normal for such a lower student to be on the same level as the Gwan Jang Nim.  The men set two chairs out and had me sit in one of them.  She thinks it was a sign of mutual respect, kindness, and family style love towards me.  I feel completely the same way towards each of them.

Mr. Joo also had everyone crowd around me and each of them said their goodbyes.  I then had Mr. Joo translate to everyone and especially Grandmaster Lee what an incredibly special time it had been for me there.  I bowed very low to Grandmaster Lee to show ultimate respect and then it was time to leave.  As I exited the dojang, all of the men walked me to the door.  It's an old Korean custom and a sign of respect to do so.  As I sadly and slowly made my way down the street, often looking over my shoulder at the dojang growing smaller in the distance, one of the black belt men held the door open and waved to me each time as I looked back.  He eventually went inside and by then I was quite a ways away.  I wasn't ready just yet to say goodbye to the place, so I walked back and stood in front of the dojang as the night sky stared at me below it.  I snapped one more photo (below) as the sounds of traditional Korean Hapkido graced my ears one final time this amazing night.

What I learned today about Korea:  1) I'll miss my Hapkido family very very much.