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I'm obsessed with taekwondo. I've been learning since September 2004 and I'm thinking of taking up hapkido to complement it as well.

Anyway, I heard that in South Korea it only takes two years to get your black belt in primary school, because of the intense training schedule. Is that true? My friend who migrated here (Australia) from South Korea laughed when she heard it took three years here in the dojang I'm attending.

In my dojang it takes three years, or at least that's the way kwanjangnim decided to do it. We also have extra belt gradings for the keen and skilled. According to my calculations, I can get my first dan next March. I'm happy because so far people have been getting pooms, but I'm going to get a dan! - dies - That's not such a good thing, since it means I'm getting it at an older age... But woot! I get a bloody gold stripe on my belt instead of a red one!

I'm planning to take my training all the way and go to ninth dan, even if I'm 56 or whatever the age requirement is.

My instructors are really inspiring (to me, anyway). Kwanjangnim is a sixth dan in taekwondo, second dan in hapkido and second dan in kendo. Sabomnim is a second dan in taekwondo and is still teaching us despite a chronic leg injury. (Why is that inspirng? Because I sprained my ankle four times in October 2005, and it was hell on my training. O.o )Kwanjangnim is Korean and sabomnim is Japanese, and our dojang is like one big family. ^_^

Yup, it's so obvious I'm obsessed. Thanks for putting up with my ranting.

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