Worn-out (Yet Happy) Feet

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My student and I were talking about ballerinas since the English passage was about ballet. We told each other of the famous ballerina in our respective countries - Lisa Macuja from the Philippines and Kang Su-jin from Korea.

I remembered that this student of mine has mentioned taking ballet lessons when she was little, so I asked her if she could jump the way the ballet dancer does in the picture. She honestly said no since she just studied ballet for a short time. She also added, "It hurts the feet when one does ballet."

In the middle of this conversation, she told me about the worn-out feet of Kang Su-jin. Because of intensive practice, the ballerina's feet became as crooked as they are now. The class time limit stopped us from further talking about this. But, as she had promised, she forwarded me a link on our writing board wherein I saw Kang Su-jin's feet as well as the feet of other famous Korean athletes.

I'm happy to hear this message from my dear student: After seeing this post, there was one thing that emerged in my mind -- no pain, no gain! I cannot agree more!

The following photos are from the link (courtesy of http://blog.naver.com) my student gave me.

Kim Yu-Na's feet: Kim Yun-a is a famous Korean figure skater who won the gold medal at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC this February 25th 2010.

Park Ji Sung's feet: Park Ji Sung is a famous Korean soccer player who is now in Manchester United, the famous soccer team in England.

Lee Sang-Hwa's feet: Lee Sang-Wha is a famous Korean speed skater who ranked first in the recently held Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February this year.

(Here she goes) Kang Su-jin's feet: Kang Su-jin is a famous Korean ballerina who is a lovely celebrity in Stuttgart, one of the world's top five ballet troupes.

I would like to copy the words from The Hanbat Herald and edit it a little: Although their feet are full of scars and callouses, they look like the most beautiful on the face of the earth. At a glance, they seem to be feet with rare diseases. But, in fact, they all belong to famous Korean athletes who are gaining recognition in the world today.

Lee Sang-Hwa's * Kang Su-Jin's * Park Ji Sung's * Kim Yu-na's

happy feet