www.bwk.or.kr
That's right, my job will be to teach people the game I love playing on the weekends and weeknights (of course I'll mostly be teaching kyu level players but still, it's fantastic). The opportunity just sort of fell in my lap. When I got to Korea I didn't know where to study Go. I asked a korean friend of mine on KGS if he somehow knew where to go, but he didn't, he only knew of his old teacher who lives in Seoul. He gave me his teacher, O Pilsang's, email address and he told me about the dojo I currently go to. In a mysterious turn of events, two weekends after New Year's my teacher at the dojo said "tomorrow, don't come." This didn't really make any sense since New Year's had passed and Lunar New Year wasn't until next month. Before when we had days off at the dojo they would give me a reason but this time they didn't. So, that Sunday I had off, and 'lo and behold Mr. O messaged me about a new Go parlor that was opening up in a nearby city and asked me if I wanted to come. "What the hell" I thought, since I wasn't doing anything else that day. I went, and then when I saw Mr. O with his English speaking friend Mr. Park, I realized what was up. So I just grinned and went with them to the Go parlor. I played Kim KiJung, one of the other teachers, when I got there, and he could not give me 3 stones of handicap but 2 stones seemed to be a fair battle (now we play evenly). I also played Mr. O at 3 stones and got wholluped but not without a fight. So, after all was said and done, we went to dinner.
It was at dinner that they told me they wanted to start a Baduk school for foreigners, since they knew the game was getting more popular in the West. They were clearly scoping me out and I was far stronger than what they were expecting, they told me so. So they invited me to be a teacher and to start getting trained by not only Mr. O, but Kim Kijung's daughter, Kim Seonmi, who is a 2 dan professional. JOY! So for the past month I went to the dojo on weekends, saw Mr. O on monday, and saw Kim Seonmi on Wednesday. Now that I've finished the website, I can officially let you all know what's up.
This is pure awesome. I mean, I came to Korea with one thing in mind and out of left field a wonderful opportunity just blossomed because I was open to it. I could have just told them "no I don't want to come" because I didn't know Mr. O in the slightest. I could have backed out of it, not having the confidence to teach. Instead, I just decided this was all too well timed, almost rehearsed if you will, so it must just be part of God's way of giving me a high five. So if you know someone that wants to study Baduk or are interested in yourself contact us! It will be a fantastic trip!
Thanks!
