Ok, so my work consists of more play and less work but we do work out butts off though as in workout hardcore so it's only deserving we get to play too.

My afternoon consisted of a lot of play but then we definitely got down to working out.

We train like champs and eat like machines.

I cooked up some multi-grain egg sandwiches on our ghetto fabulous gas range... and you know I packed it with spinach!!!

The guys were super hungry -- hot, sweaty and hungry -- perhaps more so hot than hungry.

They put their shirts on for this pic but dang skippy, what's there not to love about my job?!

Note, this is us having a "staff meeting" -- sitting on the corner of the boxing ring with our bodies twisted together and 2Pac blasting over the speakers.  Staff meetings are always ended with a kiss.

One Rough, Hot Mess of a Day... Wednesday, May 22

We showed up for work today 6 minutes late and arrived to someone sitting on our club's front step.  We've been pulling over time, doing excessive extra hours, like it's no one's business so we thought coming in a bit late would be no problem. 

Problem.

In the few minutes prior to us arriving -- at the time we should have been arriving -- a friend of ours hand showed up and tripped on our front step.  It'd be one thing if it were just a trip but this was more like a trip, fall, and spillage of a bag full of random goodies into the air and all over the front.  When we pulled up to the boxing club there was tissue packages and pens everywhere.  He had brought a large bag full of things from his Chevrolet dealership for our members.

That wasn't the first hot mess of the day though.  The morning was full of hot messes actually.

As for why we were late for work, that was a hot mess situation.  We had a silly couple spat about a BBQ party we had last night that I thought we'd be driving to the beach for and not trekking through pop and broken glass for a rooftop party.  So, I went to bed super late, didn't sleep well and woke up with the largest of puffy eyes.  Thankfully me doing boxing means I can usually milk the "because of boxing" excuse, to which people assume I must have done some crazy sparring or something... hahaha. 

The son of WOW Motors President is always our first member in for training... he was a hot mess too.  Apparently I wasn't the only one who didn't sleep well.  I sent him to my office to sleep for a bit but when he woke up and went to exit, he walked straight into the glass office door.  I was standing at the juice bar when all of a sudden heard a loud crash.  He had hit the door so hard WITH HIS FACE that he broke the glasses.  I joked with him and taught him the English phrase "You break you buy"... hahaha.

I gave one of my members a rough time today when I caught wind of him bragging to Snickers about his supposedly weight loss.  When he came in to train, I yelled at him to step on the scale.  He had gained 2kg which is one thing but he had been bragging about losing 6kg.  He blamed it on eating fried food late last night and drinking which did nothing to justify it but only make me push him more tonight at training.  "Extra rounds for you!!!" I yelled and that's exactly what I did.  Perhaps his rough day of training was due to me, fair enough, but if he's as serious about training and losing weight as he is bragging about it, then I'm definitely going to hold him to his words.  I pinky swore him I'd make him my next so-called poster child of success if he stayed dedicated and followed my guidance.  He's been pretty good at staying hardcore dedicated to the plan set forth, even after having puked not once but twice after training.  Tonight was his third time.  I knew I had pushed him a bit too much but he needed it.  A good kick in the butt with a reality never killed anyone.

It was kind of nice to know that I wasn't the only one having a rough day, nor was I the worst one off today.  Ya, I said it... I found comfort in knowing others were having a tough day too but strangely enough we amused each other struggling through it for others to see.  Better to laugh at yourself than to be laughed at, right? Right.

My former sponsor and my current one.

Moon Tower used to sponsor my boxing but he really had no involvement with it which is the complete polar opposite of WOW Motors.  I see WOW Motors every single day, both he and his son... and sometimes his wife too if he takes me out for dinner.

This picture was taken in 2008 -- me with my two of my teammates, a friend and my [former] coach.

This picture was taken today, 2013 -- in 2010 Snickers joined our team and now we're training at a different club but we're still together. 

Tonight our team reunited and trained together.  Our team may only be a team of four now but we're tighter than ever.  Those who train together stick together.

Our Team Reunited... Tuesday, May 21

Despite what people think, boxing isn't an individual sport.  No sport really is if you think of the coaches, trainers and others that one athlete in a so-called "individual sport" needs to have to go from training to competing.  Boxing is no different.  Whether it's a coach to teach you, sparring partners to spar with, or someone to hold your water bottle and towel during a fight, you need others.  

In my third year of being here in Korea, I joined a team -- the UP Boxing Club team.  It consisted of a handful of us boxers and all but one of us were professional boxers -- the one amateur boxer was our assistant coach.   Over the years, our team has adopted the random new member here and there as well as it's lost members too.  In 2010 when Snickers fired his coach at the time, he joined our team.  Black Skinny has always been our team captain from the get-go but when he stepped away from the boxing scene after his fight in Japan his title as captain somewhat fell on me.  It could have been passed on to Snickers but he had also had stepped out of the boxing scene at the same time Black Skinny did and I had seniority.  I was no longer simply training at UP but instead being confided in by my coach and brought into a world of boxing politics that went beyond just our club.  I was quick to become the person my coach discussed all our other club boxers with and I was also quick to be held somewhat responsible for them -- took the blame for them too.  I was now his new Black Skinny and it was stressful.  

Last year -- December 2012 -- when Snickers and I sat down with Junior Mint and told him we were making our new club he instantly turned us from being his prized boxers to the club's outcasts.  He told us we'd fail, he told us he could do anything we could do but better and he told us to save our money and go to Canada.  

I haven't spoken to him since but I can guarantee he's spoken about us and it hasn't been nice.

I don't think bad of him though I don't understand why he turned on us in such a nasty manner.  We never wanted to be competition and we still don't view ourselves as being that.  The boxing community in Cheonan is very much close-knit community.  Four of the nine boxing clubs are owned and operated by Snickers and my friends, one is Snickers' former coach's club, another is UP, and we're the 9th.  Only two boxing clubs we're unfamiliar with.

Our UP team used to be so close, so tight.  We were together when Black Skinny got married, when he had his first son and then when he had his second.  And even though some of our team members have moved on and stepped out of the pro ring, we're remained very tight... heck, I even married one of my teammates -- Snickers.  It's going to take a hell of a lot more than a former coach turning his back and trying to break us down with his verbal slams to split us up though.  And though Snickers and I have opened our own club and have broken away from UP, our team is still very much in tact and tonight that proven.

I was sitting at the juice bar counter when first Panty Boy Jr walked in and called my name.  And then, as he was gearing up, Black Skinny came into the club.  "Let's get training!" Black Skinny yelled and with that I smiled big.  Our team may be small but it's mighty.  And with three of our four members being former champions and me being the former third ranked female flyweight, our team is staked!!!

Snickers teased me today and said I'm only a girl when I wake up and then after work when I shower. 

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but both Snickers and I have different thinking about what is beautiful.  While I sat in front of the mirror, checking out my midsection and checking my back, he shakes his head and says, "stay soft".  'Soft is not in my list of vocab under the word beautiful unless you're talking about hair.

"Soft is a pillow. I don't want soft to describe my body!"

... and then I transform into Coach Amy and all the girlyness and femininity gets left on the shelf at home.  I put my tough girl pants on.

Snickers is more attracted to my softer side whereas I'm much more attracted to his tough side.  

He ends up being quite the distraction for me at work when he's working out -- he's hot!!!

Dug Up an Old Interview... Monday, May 20

I was going through my old Word files on my computer and came across a random interview transcript I had.  The interviewer had called me to ask me and Snickers about boxing and this interview was conducted a couple of years ago.

PERSON BEING INTERVIEWED: Me

Where are you from? 

I am originally from a small city just an hour outside of Toronto, Canada but my family is Polish/Austrian. 

How long have you been boxing? 

I started boxing in Canada, about a year and a half before I moved out to Korea. I wasn’t familiar with any boxing club in Korea so it wasn’t till my third year here in Korea that I started boxing again. In total, I’ve been boxing for about 4 years here in Korea. 

What made you choose the sport boxing? 

I didn’t really choose to get into boxing, it was more or less chose me. I say this because back when I was a university student I use to work as a head bartender at Toronto bar/club that was gang-affiliated. We had security but that didn’t stop many of the male customers from stirring up trouble. I had kept my job a secret from friends and family, and because I was living on my own, it was pretty easy to do so. However, getting into fist fights started to become a weekly routine and so hiding bruises and scratches became harder and harder to keep a secret. Then one Sunday afternoon I got into a rather brutal fight with one of the club’s security guards. The fight ended with both us having to go to the hospital, me for a broken hand and he for groan injuries. I kept it a secret by no getting a cast put on and attending my brother’s wedding, but friends found out when I returned from the wedding and agreed to cast it. Questions and concerns spread like wire fire among my friends and that’s when one of my friends Mark Simmons approached me. He suggested I take up boxing to defend myself and was willing to teach me (he went to the Olympics for boxing). When I declined his offer he found out where I worked and sent someone else to approach me about boxing. The person who approached me then became my coach, Egerton Marcus – Olympian silver medalist. 

What challenges does a female boxer face in the sport? 

The challenges faced by me as a female boxer are different now that I’m a female boxer in Korea. Being a foreign female boxer in this country gets me a lot of attention – both positive and negative. When I turned pro I was living in Korea. I became the first foreign female to turn pro while living in Korea so the media has given me a lot of attention because of this. However, because of Korea and it’s very distinct gender specific roles, I get a lot of negative comments. Teammates joke and call me a guy, other females at the club consider me some kind of freak of nature, and now that I am married, there’s my husband’s family questioning why I even do it. I know they mean no harm by their joking or questioning, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt at times. I know I don’t fit the social norm of what is expected of me as a female here in Korea, so I know I face a lot of opposition. Moreover, female boxing in Korea is definitely lacking in financial support and interest, and this is reflected in the fact that I really have no choice but to spar with my male teammates and wait months for a fight. I really could care less about what Korea thinks of me as a woman but I know my fellow female boxers who are Korean and who are living in Korea do care about it. I have a ton of respect for them -- THEY are admirable women.  

What advice would you give any person or gender trying to enter this sport? 

My advice for anyone trying to enter this sport would be to do it only if you really love it. You have to really love it because your commitment and passion for it are going to be tested in more ways than you ever thought it would. It’s easy to stay in love with the sport when you win, but it’s getting to that win or picking yourself up after a loss that your passion for the sport is really put to the test. You have to be a very hard-headed, thick-skinned female in Korea to get into boxing here. As for anyone anywhere getting into it, boxing takes more than just hard training to be good. It, along with so many things in life, takes a lot of self-discipline, self-respect, and passion if you want to take it beyond just doing it as a sport.

PERSON BEING INTERVIEWED: Snickers

Your story is very unique and inspiring. Give the readers a bit of your history and success as a boxer/fighter. 

My story as a boxer really began when I got caught for street fighting and was sent to jail. The courts had sent me to the Cheonan jail, the only jail in all of Korea that had a boxing club located inside its’ walls. I started boxing at age 20 while serving my jail sentence and during my sentence I had 10 games in total; 4 amateur and 6 professional. Being assigned a fight was a big deal to me because it meant that I got to leave the jail walls behind and see my family. Getting to touch my mother motivated me to train hard. For my amateur games, I was allowed to leave the jail for 4 days, but I only got to leave for 2 days when I had a professional game. It wasn’t until July 7, 2008 that I won the title of Korean Super Lighweight Champion. In total, I’ve had 11 professional fights – 10 wins (9 by KO) and 1 loss. 

Do you think more Asian (Korean), boxers will be recognozed in the future? 

To be honest, I hope so but I think it will be hard. Our country doesn’t really support boxing. Being a professional athlete isn’t considered a serious job (a 'real' job) so almost all professional boxers here have to get another job to financially support them self and their family. 

Who is your favorite boxer? 

Prior to starting boxing during my jail sentence, I didn’t really pay much attention to boxing, but in jail the first boxing fight I ever saw was of Julio Chavez from Mexico. The jail only stocked old videos, so it was old footage of an early fight of his. It was basically one of the few boxing videos I had available to watch so I watched it so many times. 

How often do you train? 

I box five days a week and I go running about 4 times a week. At boxing, I also do some weight training. 

What is a typical workout like when preparing for a match? 

A typical workout in preparation for a fight would consist of me waking up really early and going for an hour run. I like to run the river path outside my house and sometimes I go running up one of the local mountains nearby. Morning exercise is then followed by a good morning nap and the followed through with training at the boxing club in the evening. Because of the fact that there are two other Korean champion boxers at my club, I’m able to get in a lot of hard sparring in. I usually spar a couple times a week when I have a match set. Later in the evening, much later, I then go outside and do natural weight training at the park beside my apartment. By natural weight training I mean I use my body weight as supposed to free weights, and such exercises include things like pull-ups on the monkey bars. I had a large transport truck tire that I use to train my back with but the city garbage men took it away. 

Is being married to a female boxer challenging? 

Is it challenging?... no! It’s a lot of fun but we both view boxing and box for different reasons. Because we’re both professional boxers, we go training at the boxing club together and go jogging together but we get very competitive, more so Amy than me. We can understand and relate with each other, so preparing for a game (ie. the hard dieting and need to increase our training) is met with lots of support from the other person. The one thing that I must say is challenging is watching her, my wife, fight. She deals with the stress and pressure of having to drop weight and increase training while working a full time job but she takes her fights too personal. I am always telling her to enjoy the actual fight but I can’t enjoy watching her fight and seeing someone punch her. I feel heartbroken. 

Do you have any advice for the future Asian (Korean) boxers? 

My only advice is to try to enjoy it. It is important to enjoy it and do it because you love it.   When you stop enjoying it, stop doing it.

The dynamic duo, my two twin nephews, came to  visit Hulk's today.

My sister-in-law told me that they're the "cool kids" in class.  Not only do they have a foreign aunt that speaks English and Korean to them but now their uncle and aunt run a boxing club.

We may have scored major cool points today but my sister-in-law was minus points today when she dropped them off and then forgot what time we closed.  Ended up taking them out for dinner and then returning to the club.  We didn't return just because of the twins but I'm not very kid-friendly so an hour or two is all I can take of mini-Koreans.  I love my nephews but I also love being child-free.

Soon they'll be training at Hulk's... very cool!

They're only 7 years old but already they know how to do padwork with each other and are you surprised, really?!  They're related to Korea's former Super Light Champ and he's their hero.

Familyship... Sunday, May 19

After pondering over our membership list, I wrote down "K 5, NK 17" and Snickers asked me "Is that Korean vrs. North Koreans?!"  Very funny; I should have upper cut him in the bum for that.  No, it stands for Koreans vrs. non-Koreans, as in the number of Korean members vrs. the number of non-Koreans we have at Hulk's here.  Note, I really don't like to use the word "foreigner", actually I hate that f-word!!!

Koreans: 10 males and 5 females = 15

Non-Koreans: 4 males and 13 females = 17 

The non-Koreans outnumber the Koreans, the females outnumber the males and the non-Korean female is the biggest percentage of our crew... very cool!!!  With the exception of a few members, many of our members are connected to each other and by that I am referring to the fact that they initially joined Hulk's and then brought another person to join, like a friend or family member.  Take for example my friend King Kong.  He called us up tonight, a bit after 9pm, and asked us if we could train him tonight.  We actually close at 8pm on Sundays but stayed until almost 9pm, then we headed out for dinner.  King Kong is dead set on becoming the poster child for fitness, insisting on training hard, so we came in to push him with it.  It's now 11pm, he's still here training but he came with two other guys.  There's been no promise made whether or not these two guys will sign up and become members but there's a definite promise that we almost killed one of them with training -- another puker?!

1 week of soft-opening and we're at 31 members!

We've only been open one week -- week one of our two week soft-opening too -- and the turn out for our club has been awesome.  We've done absolutely no advertising and are holding off until we kick off the grand opening.  Hulk's is 4 away from the half way mark to my goal of 70 members.  Snickers wants something like 120 members and I want to set a definite cap of the number that can join.  Packing the place would mean packing our pockets with cash but that's not why we got into this and it's not the vibe we're going for here.  We want "familyship", it's friendship but with a closeness of family.  To grow large in membership numbers would just kill the familyship we've already got in motion and everyday are working on.  Today I had a member come train that I actually hadn't met before.  He had signed up while I was doing boxercise class the other day so today I trained with him.  We did weight training today and it gave us the chance to get to know each other and get comfortable.  All our members may not know each other, after all they all come at different times, but we want to know them and we want them to know us.  This isn't just a place to workout, it's a part of a community.

We've got "familyship".

This was how I ended my work day, receiving an unexpected check from someone who already supports me way beyond what I ever expected.

And then some boy buddies showed up and kidnapped me.

I wasn't too eager to escape my kidnappers though.  There were six of them in total.

I Have Been Kidnapped... Saturday, May 18

I have been kidnapped.

My kidnappers are six Korean guys that range from super duper cute and pudgy to ripped, stacked and flat out, undeniably hot.  All are equally dangerous with their weapons ranging from sarcastic laughter and smiles to packed on muscle, raw brute strength and hypnotizing cologne.

Their demands, me for the evening.  They made me fill up on caffeine, talk about boxing-talk, and make verbal bets about tomorrow's UFC fights.

I have been kidnapped.  Don't try to find me, please... pretty please with a cherry on top.

....

Ok... so I wasn't exactly kidnapped but I WAS told I had to go out with them.  A bunch of ultra cool K-boys that ooze of humor and smell like teen spirit insisting I take a break from my work, work and more work schedule that's been consuming.  I wasn't going to argue with them.

I pretended like I was being kidnapped while some of them pretended we were on a big group date with all them dating just me.  Typical Korean guys are all about doing things for their girl, like carrying their bags and paying for their food and that's exactly the same manner they showed me.  I didn't have to lift a finger and it was nice.  When it got chilly outside on the outside deck we were on, one guy took it upon himself to wrap my legs in a blanket while another got the waitress to add more hot milk to my coffee.  I felt quite spoiled but the icing on the cake was when one of them insisted he lift my coffee cup up for me to drink from...  hahaha.

Ahhhh... gotta love my K-Crew!!!

When I joked with Snickers, asking him if he was jealous of all these men tending to me so attentatively, he said, "No".  And when I asked him why not he responded with, "Because I know I can knock them all out and you think that's hot".  He wasn't serious with his answer but his answer was somewhat right.  His one-punch knockout rate isn't why I'm with him but I do think it's hot.  My husband is hot.

This is how I spent my morning... chillaxin' with my four-legged beauties.

We renacted some fight scenes off of National Geography and then watched Iron Man for the fifty zillionth time.  It was nice to just cuddle on the couch with them and do nothing really at all.

I made the mistake of falling asleep on the couch and then they all fell asleep on me.  But with cute faces like that, it's impossible to get mad at them.

Today's a holiday so we were only at the boxing club for half a day... or so we planned.

Was pleasantly surprised by two of my former teammates, Black Skinny and the Cheonan Bulldog.  The Cheonan Bulldog absolutely refused to be in our front door visitor shot because of fear of my former coach (his current coach) and I thought that pretty lame.  Junior Mint has his boxers on such a tight controlled leash.

[Note, I had to sneak this shot.]

After a very fun boxercise class, WOW Motors treated us all out to dinner at his restaurant.  Both WOW Motors President and his son are members at Hulk's and I just think they're sooooo damn cool.  Love the WOW Motors family!!!

Late night fooling around shots after training.

One of our members, a good friend of ours, has been coming in late every night to train so when he called us up tonight we knew we'd be going back to train him.  Originally we told everyone we'd only be open till 9pm but we stayed till about 1am.  

Hey, if he wants to train than we will always support that desire!!!

Love my man.  Together we're happily painting Cheonan green!!!

How I Went from Me to Hulk's... Friday, May 17

Here's my article that got printed in this month's issue of 10 Magazine.  Note, this is my unedited version that I submitted to them.  They picked the following title.

Flipside Fitness and Hulk's Boxing

One boxer's journey turns into a fitness revolution 

in Cheonan and beyond

In Cheonan, there’s a name that is often mentioned; a name with which 60+ foreign females already identify—Flipside Fitness. What initially intended to be a social club, providing its members with healthy social alternatives, has grown into an elaborate fitness company—a sisterhood—sponsored by local businesses and international company, Adidas. It publishes its own monthly magazine/newsletter (The Fab Gals Gab) and is evolving into what could be Korea’s biggest boxing club ever. 

Flipside Fitness stemmed from a terribly sad but all too real situation -- a young girl discussing life at the foot of her mother’s death bed back in August 2011. The young girl was Amy, a professional female flyweight boxer fighting out of Korea, who had traveled home to Canada to visit her mother one last time before her mother’s fight with cancer would came to an end. After its conclusion, Amy returned to Korea to officially launch Flipside Fitness on October 27th, 2011 in hopes of “being the change [she] want[s] to see” as her mother had advised her. 

Flipside first came on the scene with its unique training program that Amy had devised specifically for potential members—boxercise. It’s a group aerobics class that combines the drills, techniques and skills of traditional boxing with the fast pace intensity of aerobics. The boxing club at which Amy competitively trained volunteered its weekend space for her to use. Flipside quickly grew in popularity and membership and, from it, stemmed even more activities and events. Glam Girls Night Out, a semi-formal dinner on March 10, 2012, was the first Flipside Fitness social event and is now an annual favorite. Flipside now includes weekly ROBO Time runs (Running Our Butts Off) and bi-weekly Shopping for Abs (fresh market shopping). Since 2011, Flipside Fitness has hosted 27 fitness-related social events outside of its regularly scheduled activities. 

As the group’s popularity and boxercise classes grew, the boxing club could no longer accommodate the group. Flipside simply needed more space, more equipment, and more time than just the weekends. The next logical step for Flipside Fitness was to set up its own boxing club and that’s exactly what is happening in a massive, 200 pyoung building. 

In spring of 2013, Flipside Fitness will officially open its club doors for business under the name Hulk’s Boxing. Because Flipside Fitness is widely known as a girls-only company, Amy and her business partner decided to use a different name for the club so that all would feel welcome, beyond just foreign women. Regardless of the club’s name, Flipside Fitness will persist in name and mission. 

As for the name ‘Hulk’s Boxing’, it is an adaptation of Amy’s business partner’s professional boxing nickname—the Korean Hulk. Kim Young Bin, Amy’s husband, is a once bad boy street fighter turned pro-boxer and was South Korea’s four-time reigning Super Light Champion. Amy, who is Korea’s former 3rd ranked flyweight boxer, and Young Bin have been the focus of various MBC and Arirang TV documentaries and have earned the nickname,“The Danger Couple of Cheonan” so they are quite the known and respected athletes within Cheonan already. 

Hulk’s Boxing will offer members not only boxing, but weight and crossfit circuit training in addition to Flipside’s signature boxercise classes. Hulk’s is a bilingual club owned and operated by foreigner, Amy, and her Korean husband, Young Bin. Their aim to to make Hulk’s an active part of the community; a tool to make Cheonan more fitness- and foreign-friendly; a place where labels like “Korean” and “Foreigner” are replaced with “member;” and a place where equality, respect and unity are the foundation. Flipside Fitness is the result of Amy’s desire to foster change within Cheonan, to make healthy alternatives for others and to make Cheonan feel more like a home for its foreign residents. Hulk’s Boxing will continue this mission on a much larger scale by reaching out to the estimated 9,000 foreigners who live here, male and female, as well as the Koreans and the community as a whole. It will be more than just a boxing club, it will be a much needed beacon of change in Cheonan.

Hulk's Boxing is bringing all the tough gals out, including one of my longest female friends here in Korea who is also by far the buffest of bodies I've ever met in Korea!!!

And then of course there are my boxercise gals who ooze of fierceness and fun.  

Nothing like being surrounded by strong, tough females and calling it "work"... I love it!

Respect the Title... Thursday, May 16

The Comeback Kid once posted a saying on her Facebook page, it read something like "How someone acts is their karma, how you react is yours" and I couldn't help but remind myself of it when I was poorly introduced this morning. 

I was turning on the front computer at Hulk's when K-Gere walked in with some other man, whom I assumed was a friend or some kind of associate.  Instantly I stood up, brushed myself off and said hi to them both.  

"This is Amy," K-Gere noted to the other man, "She used to work as a Dankook University professor". 

I used to work as a Dankook University professor, that's all you got?! As if that's my biggest accomplishment in my life, like I should be proud of it, like the fact that I built a boxing club literally out of a pile of crap meant nothing -- THAT'S more crap than the crap I shoveled!!!  

Instantly I thought about a million and one slapstick responses to that comment but decided to not kill my karma points and just throw a relatively harmless response out.  "I once was 12 too for a year" was my answer.  Hey, I thought it was funny and I thought it kind of got my point out, my point being the nonscense of the label used to introduce me.  

I worked at Dankook University once, it's true.  I worked there for three years and I would have continued too if it weren't for the fact that they threatened to deport me and sent immigration to my house on a late Saturday evening.  Me boxing was an issue to them and me boxing professionally was against my visa regulations because I get paid to fight.  But I'm the kind of person that if you tell me not to do something I'll do it anyways just to prove I can and I'll go extreme with it.  Dankook told me that if I had another fight I'd be deported, meaning I'd have a 24hr notice before I'm pushed out.  So you know what I did? I DID have another fight but I had it in Japan.  Yup, I did what they told me not to.  I represented Korea in Japan and there was nothing Dankook or immigration could do because it was out of the country and thus out of their reach.  I then finished my contract, refused to resign for another year and then spent that following year just living off the royalties of my boxing.  I wanted nothing more than to just do my boxing so that's exactly what I did, I just boxed.

Needless to say, I didn't leave Dankook on good terms and though I'm definitely over it, I surely don't want to give them credit by being introduced in connection to them.  I was rather insulted actually and not just because of how and why I left Dankook but because that's not what I am associated with or have been for OVER four years now.  

I am Coach Amy, manager and co-owner of Hulk's Boxing and leader of Flipside Fitness here in Korea.  Learn it, accept it, R-E-S-P-E-C-T it!

This is how I started my day off, with the shadiest of shady introductions.  I refused to let it get me down because I know no matter what I do to prove myself to others, first of all I shouldn't have to prove anything, they'll always think whatever they want.  

I'm so over trying to be something I'm not; I've got nothing to prove, nothing to hide and no one really to impress besides myself.  I will say this though, I am definitely all about boosting up the confidence and empowering the women in my life, especially the foreign females here in Korea.  It's not easy being a female here in Korea especially a foreign female who doesn't fit the ideal of what it means to be a female.  I've spent over nine years now in Korea and you'd think they would have given up on trying to make me fit a certain mold but they haven't -- they're more stubborn than I am.  Me marrying a Korean man only amplified the pressure in more ways than I can count on my stumpy little Polish fingers.  

It's funny because though I coach many female foreign woman, I often feel more of an older sister to them than a coach.  I can definitely relate with them with regards to the stresses of living in Korea as a foreign woman but I consider them so much more blessed than I was when I first came here.  When I first came to Korea, now over nine years ago, Cheonan was not very foreign-friendly.  I could go a full week, possibly two or three, without seeing a foreigner and now the foreign population has just exploded.  There's an estimated 9,000 foreigners now living in Cheonan.  For the most part, they're either ESL teachers or factory workers from East Asia but most of them are ESL teachers.  The foreign population has more than tripled since I first landed here.  The younger generation of Koreans are definitely more open-minded towards foreigners and foreign culture and this has been the biggest improvement I've seen.  More businesses have bilingual Korean workers and English signs nowadays and Korea has taken on a lot adopted a lot more pieces of Western culture.  New Korea is definitely more Westernized than the Korea I first met but Old Korea still very much runs the country and the proof is in the mentality of many Koreans.  There is still very much an age-related, male-dominated hierarchy present in Korea -- the older rule the younger and the men rule the women -- so though the younger generation is evolving and becoming more Westernized, open-minded and independent, they still are restricted and controlled by the older.  And that's exactly what I experienced today when my father-in-law introduced me and Snickers held back from correcting him -- he knew I was cringing over the introduction but being young he felt he couldn't say anything.

"Oh, I'm not Korean," I told Snickers, "and I have no problem saying anything."

Our juice bar isn't up and running yet and we've gone a bit ghetto with bringing in a gas range to cook up some eggs for some members and using my small house blender to make a HULK OUT shake.

I've definitely been stashing my share of food behind the juice bar though.

I've loaded it with grade A clean eating favourites... like yellow peppers!!!

Behind the juice bar is also where Pyen Chi goes to escape her social duties of being the crowd pleasure.  She's totally out for the count here... hahaha.

Fueling up on Food... Wednesday, May 15

My food stash behind our juice bar:

milk
Greek yogurt
oatmeal
almonds
walnuts
bananas
cherries
oranges
spinach
yellow peppers
red peppers
raw eggs... 60!!!
hard boiled eggs
corn
coffee
raspberry vinegar
pineapple juice

For the most part, many of these I eat raw but I have stashed away a blender, a gas range and a kettle too.  Tonight some of my members complained about being hungry so I whipped them up a spinach egg omelette for one and some fried eggs for another.

I'll have to bring some olive oil and spices, get a good dressing going for any potential spinach salads!

Eating is responsible for an estimated 80% of how your body looks, feels, and works, and with genetics accounting for 10% and training only a mere 10%, you best believe eating clean is the way to stay lean.  You can train till your blue in the face but if you're not eating healthy then there's really no point to all your hard training. 

Eat clean. Train mean. Stay lean.

These days I've been hosting two boxercise classes a day, with the exception of today actually.  In addition to my boxercise classes though, I'm also busy training random members and doing my training.  All this excessive training on my behalf means excessive calories burned which, in turn, means I've been eating like a machine to keep myself fueled and ready for MORE training!

I couldn't have possibly asked for a harder working, more fun, and more kicka$$ boxercise class to ring in the importance of today to me than this particular crew of boxercise babes.

Panty Boy Jr. came by to visit us and he was here when my boxercise class was going on so there was such a great overdose of positive energy at Hulk's. 

One of our members and close friends, King Kong, treated us to chicken soup and veggies after a late, late  night training and he was especially excited about our special day.

5th First Kiss... Wednesday, May 14

Today is actually a pretty significant date to both Snickers and I. It's an important date that resulted from one chilled-out date five years ago so today I curiously checked on my homepage to see how I had spent this particular day for the past five years.  The importance of this particular day all stemmed from a run-in with someone at my former boxing club. As it turns out, all but one of these May 14th were spent either at the boxing club or doing something with the boxing club. Boxing IS my life so is it any surprise really?!  

Occasionally, I look back at specific dates on my homepage; it's interesting to note where I was, what I was doing and my thoughts that I had shared publicly here. Having said that, I thought I'd share bits and pieces of what I wrote on this particular day each year.  So here it is, a little recap backwards year-by-year leading you back to why today is very special to us.

May 14, 2012 -- Good Things Come to Those who Train

Am convinced though that despite how tired and mentally, physically exhausted I come home as being, if I can just get myself out to the boxing club for training it makes everything right. Nothing is quite like working up a good sweat. 

Feeling sick?!... sweat it out.

Feeling down in the dumps?!... work it out.

Feeling tired?!... soak up the energy at training.

Feeling good?!... share it at training.

Sometimes I'm convinced that if my teammates knew just how much I adore and feed off their awesome energy, Junior Mint would seriously have to make double doors for their inflated egos to enter the club. I've got a solid, solid crew of teammates I train with.

May 14, 2011 -- Bear Bites Bear

As you know, the other day a surprise wedding ceremony was held for Snickers and I, well today I scored yet another surprise when Snickers rolled over and told me he had taken today off.  "We're going on a mini honeymoon" he told me, "and it's a beautiful place that is a mix of a favorite place of yours plus luxury and exoticness!" And it was exactly like he had said it'd be. He took me to Bear Tree, a tucked-away gem of a place here in Cheonan that I had never heard of.

The bear park turned out to be quite a perfect day date spot and may very well go down in my books as one of my favourite places in Korea. We ended our little trip to the bear park by giving each other one massive bear hug... and a bear hug to the biggest teddy bear I've ever seen!!!

May 14, 2010 -- UP Boxing Club Dinner Party

I had to rush off to the boxing club dinner party. I had just enough time to rush home and wash my face before Snickers swung by to pick me up. I wanted nothing more than to stay home and nurse my haywire allergies, or whatever the heck is going on with my nose and throat these days, but I had promised I’d at least swing by the party to say hi. Swinging by the party was good in that I got to see some of my favorite boxing boys (my teammates) and I got to see Motor Cross’ new super cute hair cut. However, it wasn’t so good in that a long-time-no-see sponsor of our boxing club took note of me being minus Q and asked “Where’s your boyfriend Amy?” 

The last dinner party Snickers and I both attended Q also attended, so I could see why this particular somewhat wouldn’t have noticed anything last time. But tonight, when he asked me where my boyfriend was, he was certainly shocked when I turned and said, “I don’t have a boyfriend. This is my husband.” He insisted I was joking, so he went around the table asking my teammates if I seriously had a husband. Snickers found it amusing but I felt so uncomfortable. It wasn’t until later, when we were out the door, that this same person came up to us and apologized. There really was no need to apologize. I knew he had meant no harm and considering everything, I understood where he was coming from. Nonetheless, it was still awkward.

May 14, 2009 --  Us Both Training for Upcoming Fights

Junior Mint killed me today at training… seriously. Training today took about two and a half hours!!! 

Today’s training:

30 minutes of skipping

5 rounds of shadow boxing

6 rounds of pad work with Junior Mint in the ring

8 rounds of heavy/sand bag work

3 rounds of shadow boxing

10 minutes of skipping

10 minutes of ab work

Spilled my beans to Junior Mint today… “you know how I mentioned to you that I’m dating someone, well, that someone is someone you know.” I told him and, needless to say, my comment was followed by a million questions from Junior Mint. I told him who I was talking about, not before I made him pinky swear over it though… hahaha. Both Snickers and I agreed that we should keep this relatively on the low at the boxing club because of various reasons, him having an upcoming fight and many members not knowing about Q and my split is just the few. Snickers’ coach is all “anti-girlfriend” towards Snickers and so we’re waiting till after his fight to tell his coach. In June/July, Snickers’ coach will be opening up his own boxing club here in Cheonan and so Snickers will be training and working there. We figure this will be the appropriate time to make our little announcement. 

As strange as it sounds, I can’t stand the way my face looks now. This past week my body has really changed a lot, my face included. I no longer have my cute cheeks but instead have quite a slender face that’s makes me look somewhat older now. I miss my cheeks. 

Later in the evening Snickers came over and we laid on the floor talking. Tomorrow he'll be officially entering the 10-day pre-game stretch and so we talked a lot about that. He has to be 63.5kgs for his fight. Last week he lost an astonishing 3kgs; he's got 4kgs to go. He's super confident about his fight though and so we giggled the hours away chatting and joking…

… and then he kissed me. Today marks Day One.

So there you have it.  Today, May 14th, 2013, marks the fifth year anniversary of our first kiss and how did we spend it, you ask.  We spent it at our boxing club, training together and then training others.

Who should be the first person to arrive at our club today but ANOTHER Cheonan boxing club manager and one of his boxers.

Our work day started on such a positive note and then it ended on an equally awesome note when 11:30pm rolled around and two of our friends came to train hard.

Training hardcore -- hulking out with some unconventional training.

Training late means eating late and I for one am not for eating and then sleeping right after, so we stuck around and chillaxed together.  I enjoyed some sushi but I'm all about my spinach-packed drinks!