Just listen for your name and fill in the blanks.....

This week we had belt ceremonies during class.  For those of you who don't know, belt ceremonies are when students who have completed their belt testing receive their new belt in front of their fellow students and parents; a congratulatory aspect of the wonderful sport of Korean Tae Kwon Do.  

Normally on the Monday starting the week of belt ceremonies all the belts are counted and labeled for each student who took and passed their belt test.  This belt order was perfect; we had exactly the right amount of belts, in the right sizes and colors for all the testing students.  The Headmaster and I were very proud of our teamwork on this.  

Some background, the Headmaster owns three studios in various locations in the same town; within 2-3 miles of eachother.  

Anyway, since the belts were all clearly labeled and even separated by class, when the Co-master sent me to a different location for the first two days of belt ceremonies I didn't question it.  I was actually quite at peace since everything was so organized and unmistakably labeled.  

However, on the third day when I returned to my main office location I found what looked like complete chaos. On the table where all the new belts were arranged, some belts remained, tags had been cut off, names were crossed out and re-written.  I was uneasy about what had gone on in the previous days with the Co-master and the Chief instructor running the studio (both of them have the worst English out of all the staff).  

Our meeting was called and the Co-master brought up the belt ceremonies and how hard it was and how messed up it became.  The Headmaster could not believe this since this belt rotation was "perphect" (a favorite English word of his).  The Co-master then brought up a student whose belt was not there and then she had to change all the names and switch everything around because the student's belt was not there and needed to get the belt so they switched names and gave her someone else's belt. 

                            .....the student's belt wasn't there because she didn't take the test.---

Immediately a Korean argument between the Headmaster and the Co-master (his wife), by listening carefully to the few English words said and the Korean words whose meaning I have picked up through observation.  I could hear the Co-master saying my name along with the Korean word for "not there", and the Headmaster refuting by saying (in Korean) what sounded like the 3rd studio needed to be open (this was where I was for the past two days), and that there shouldn't have been any mistakes because we double checked and double checked over and over again.  This conversation lasted for about a good 30 minutes, with me standing there part of the conversation, but separated from it as it was being held in a different language.  But I'm used to it, when they start speaking Korean I just listen for my name and deduce by tone of voice and other English words what is being said.  

This could have been avoided by my being there during the ceremonies which was the Co-master's excuse for what happened.  Either that or that my list was inaccurate. Or both.  But in reality she did not trust the list and her lack of English communication skills caused an embarrassing mistake that is no one else's fault but  hers.  

In a way I feel like this is just desserts for the pride of a Korean woman in an English speaking world, and it should make them realize how valuable my presence and my work behind the desk really is.  But at the same time I am caught up in a sticky situation; a language barrier mistake that they might send their interpreter to explain and fix.  

Such is the dynamic of solving difficult problems at Only One American Staff Member Martial Arts: the Koreans argue in Korean, and I stand/sit there listening for the few English words they will use and play my guessing game of fill in the blanks.