Black Belt Test
Yet another exciting day: I tested for black belt this morning. The whole process took just under three hours--though half of it I was just standing by watching the junior members test, and helping out only by holding boards for breaking or playing attacker for self-defense tests.
The test went quite well, I think. The patterns went smoothly--didn't get called to repeat any, and several instructors complimented me on them later. Self-defense likewise was straight-forward, though we took them a little gently in deference to the exceptionally hard floors (the test was held in a local high school gym). I had only two rounds of sparring, one attacker each--drew strong opponents both times, and did much better than I'd expected. Breaking was great: nailed all my breaks on the first try, including the four-board one. I know the terminology cold, so I wasn't worried about that part.
Basically a much less painful test than I'd feared. Sa Bum Nim runs a very vigorous class, when the frequent refrain of "compared to this, testing will be easy." I don't know if it was really easy, but I certainly wasn't as tired after the 3-hour test as I am after a normal 1-hour class.
We'll find out the results of the test in two weeks, and if I passed (I'm pretty confident that I did), there's a ceremony in late May where new belts are awarded. Here's hoping I get to move on to learning some new patterns!
Update: the lists of test results were posted today, and indeed I passed. The ceremony where I'll receive my actual black belt will be held on the 19th--just a week from now.
