跆拳道 tái quán dào

跆拳道 tái quán dào Tae Kwon Do

A quick background on the sport: Taekwondo originated in Korea and currently stands as their national sport. With loose translation, it means "the way of the foot and fist" or "the way of kicking and punching." The sport highly emphasizes kicking techniques, which distinguishes it from other martial arts. The Koreans think the leg is the longest and strongest weapon and historically they thought the hands were too valuable to be used in combat.  

I've been studying Tae Kwon Do in Feng Yuan, Taiwan just over two months now. Susan and I take class with children ranging from ages 7 to 18 for 4.5 hours 3x a week (we're just so blessed to always be around children). We've had a great time learning different forms and kicks, and harassing the Taiwanese students, but one of the most humorous parts of class is the language barrier between us and our coaches.  

We tested in front of judges a few weeks ago in hopes we could earn our yellow belt. It can be a bit confusing to be given directions in Chinese, but we felt confident with the test. In fact after performing a series of kicks and forms, our coaches had Bai Die (Susan) and Shi Lian Yin (me) stand up and be recognized in front of 50+ students. We're only assuming and hoping he said positive things but it's always hard to tell without knowing Mandarin.

It was just the other day that we finally were able to tie our yellow belts around our white uniforms. 

Now that we have those, we are seemingly never satisfied and are now hoping to earn our blue belts before we leave in a month.             

air-popped

I remember that air popper we had around our kitchen when I was young, but as soon as my mother and sisters found their true love (microwave popcorn), who knows where that device disappeared to.

Well, in the depths of this Taiwanese school some air-poppers have been discovered. Some of the teachers started using them and I thought I'd give it a try. Low and behold, I have fallen in love with this inexpensive snack not only because I am living on a meager wage but also because air-popped popcorn is nutritionally sound.

As most people know: plain popcorn and slightly seasoned popcorn are both low in calories (approximately 30 calories for three cups). Since I've forgotten from my college nutrition classes, I wanted to research what popcorn offers besides the low calories.

Well, USDA is always encouraging us to get more whole grain foods; popcorn is one of those! Popcorn is a great choice of a carbohydrate serving while also being high in fiber. Americans rarely get enough of the recommended amount of fiber in their diets (20-35g).

Popcorn makes up one serving of the starches recommended by the American Dietetic Association, and you might be surprised to know that it's serving size fairly generous. Three cups of popped popcorn is the equivalent of one slice of bread, 1/2 cup of cooked pasta, and one cup of cereal. I don't know about you but I think three cups of food sounds better than just one.

So, if you don't have an air-popper (it's okay to admit that you do) popping kernels is easy to do on the stove. Just make sure you have a pot with a lid, a few tbsp. of healthy oils and kernels.

May the healthy popping begin!

Training in Feng Yuan

As you might know, I've willingly signed myself up for an Olympic Triathlon the weekend of June 12 & 13.  I have been assiduously training with my co-teacher Brandon for nearly two months already (just a few more to go). 
The race will be the following: 

1.5 km swim, 40 km ride & 10 km run
(.93/24.8/6.2 miles)

So, training on top of everything we're already doing can be a little hectic (doing each event 2x a week and sometimes 2x in one day for 1-2 hours each).  But Feng Yuan, Taiwan has graciously provided us the perfect training grounds for our preparation. We are a little spoiled as you will see below.

The Feng Yuan Bike Path 

Only 15 minutes on bike from our school, lays the nicely paved bike path that stretches for nearly 12 miles in one direction.

The bike path is not crowded in the early morning weekdays when I often frequent. Come Saturday and Sunday, the path hosts rollerblading CRAM schools (shown above), Taiwanese cyclist clubs, families and friends renting single and tandem bicycles, and runners/fast walkers of all shapes and sizes;
it can wear anyone out (baby boy completely exhausted)!

The Diore Swimming Pool

Only a 15 minute bike ride away, this sparkly clean pool has plenty of lap pools and isn't crowded during my lunch break. 

I haven't seen this part available yet. Even though the kids are in school, don't they realize adults want to play too?! 

The reward after a long swim is spending time using a few of the 15-20 different jets. 

I've got new running shoes (they are a men's shoe because the women's section doesn't come bigger than a size 8). Now, all I need to find is a generous female cyclist to let me exchange my rusty old mountain bike for her shiny thin-tire bike for maybe a few training sessions and the race.