So, I started my first Tae Kwon Do class at the Y with Irish, as a bonding experience, a brush up on useful self-defense and healthy exercise I paid for, so am more likely to do.

Years ago, I used to take Aikido classes.  When I signed up, the TKD master asked me how long ago I'd studied Aikido - he could tell by the way I moved what I'd studied years ago.  This seriously impressed me, as I hadn't even told Irish that I'd had any martial arts XP before.

Yes, old habits die hard.  When the Master asks a question, expecting an affirmative answer, in Aikido, one says "Hai!"  During Tae Kwon Do tonight, which is mainly newbies and kids like Irish who have not yet aquired the attentive habit of answering the master, when asked if we understood, out popped from my mouth a decisive "Hai!"  The Master's mouth quirked slightly, and the three black belts suddenly cried out "Yes, sir!"  Oops.  Not very kosher to call out another discipline's answer...

Throughout the lesson, at similar moments, "Hai" kept being the first thing out of my mouth, and I'd catch it, and force it into a "Yes, sir!"  It sounded like I was sneezing:  "HaiYES sir!!"  Oops.

I did find that the moves were easier than I thought they'd be, and I needed little correction from the black belts helping to run the class.  I also noticed that many of the kids in the formation lines were looking at me to see how to do the moves, so I concentrated very hard on doing the best I could, if I was going to be an example.  Some of the forms are a bit different, like the way you hold your toes when you kick, and some odd kicks I've never done before.  (Whose names escape me - I didn't follow the Korean, and the English names are mixed up in my head as to which was what.)

My vowel sound for crying out during an emphatic punch or kick is also the wrong one - a short a instead of a long one.  Oops.  Not surprisingly, the elementary students are best at the calling out cadences in unison, since they do that sort of thing all of the time at school.