One of these kids is not like the other...

We found a coach here in Seoul, through much luck and a lot of work. Her name is Kim Ra-Won, and she is lovely! Well, a bit barbaric with the stretching, but that's just how it is here. I'll bet you never thought Rowan was inflexible, right? Well, she is here!

3 days a week we drive to Gangnam, to practice in a high school gym. There are other coaches with their girls there, too, but it is all private coaching. Our coach has other girls, but we see them only in passing. Korean gymnasts are REALLY good. Scary flexible. Not as polished maybe as the US girls, so Rowan has that going for her, but they are very, very good! She only practices about 1-2 hours alone, 3 days a week, and until recently it was all the coach figuring out what she could do and making her routines fit Korean rules. There is a meet on August 6-7th, and now Rowan is practicing her finalized routines. After that it will go to more skill learning, Rowan will have ribbon next year and is excited for that!

On Sundays we drive to Ansan, south of Seoul, for group. Her coach has a group of girls in Ansan who practice just one day a week, for 5 hours. They do individual routines and a group routine. They needed a 6th girl, so Rowan is doing it. It is a cute routine, but boy does Rowan stick out! According to the coach, Rowan is the only foreign girl doing RG on the peninsula. So we are REALLY strange. She will compete with the group at the August meet, too.
WHile Rowan practices in Ansan, the moms sit outside and eat and talk. And eat. And eat. I swear, I don't know how Koreans don't all weigh 900 pounds- they eat SO much!! My head hurts after practice- 5 hours of Korean chit chat is tough! At the last practice (there have only been 3) we started sewing sequins on leotards for the group, in addition to the eating and talking. I am not much of a sewer, but am getting the hang of it!

I don't know why this blurry- I guess my camera setting were all screwed up. Too bad- these are the group girls and the 2 little girls also practice in Ansan though they don't do the group. They range in age from 6 (littlest) to 10. They are very nice and it has been amazing watching Rowan learn a routine in a language she doesn't speak!Its been surprisingly easy.

Rowan and Eunji, who is 6 (7 in Korea). This little girl is SO amazingly hard working! She just practices non-stop the whole 5 hours. She takes her RG very seriously! It is adorable to watch.

Rowan is enjoying it very much here, even though it is really different. I think its going to be an amazing experience for her. She is really brave to take on so much at so young, I am very proud of her. I wouldn't be caught dead getting stretched like that- I would have punched the coach and quit the first day! But she has a really serious drive to do this, so we'll just let her go as far as she can, until it isn't fun any more!