As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, May 29

1. Woke up early in the morning and took Mi Nam for an early morning stroll. The guy at Starbucks lets me bring him into the shop and so I sat there, daydreaming about what life in Korea is really like for me. Regardless of my constant rambling, useless and petty complaining, and stressing over the little things, my life in Korea is pretty sweet.

2. Today it just got sweeter!!!


3. Recently I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a very influential and powerful legal man here in Cheonan and, as if smoozing with him (Mr. Top-Notch) wasn’t cool enough, today he invited me out for lunch with the Donald Trump of Cheonan!!! Without revealing his identity too much, I’ll call him Mr. Money-Bags and say that he owns the infamous massive tower that overlooks downtown Cheonan. He owns another huge tower across town and is notoriously known. If money were clean, he’d surely bath in it and use it as toilet paper! He’s an older man, a married man, who’s evidently very good at his line of work and is very influential here in Cheonan.

4. After lunch, Mr. Money-Bags took me and Mr. Top-Notch to his huge tower were he then gave us a grand tour of 5 the floors he occupies. It was absolutely beautiful!!! Each floor had a different theme with the décor and so it was very impressive and screamed “mad cash lives here”!!! He introduced me to all his staff and so I felt quite elite walking in and out of all the offices with him.

5. As if the tour wasn’t sweet enough, he then took us to his private office where his personal secretary then served us tea and we sat on luxurious brown leather sofas looking out over downtown Cheonan. I felt like I was sitting with royalty… it’s crazy how rich some people are!!!

6. After my lunch meeting, I then had to come back down to reality and head off to school. I
really enjoy my Tuesday classes cause they mainly consist of hyper boys who aren’t so shy to participate. In my attempt to give them a serious lecture about the exam, I had asked them, “What can you do if you don’t know the answer to a question on the test?” I was hoping they’d say things like, “Ask the teacher for help” or “Leave it to the end and then return to the question”. Instead however, one of the guy’s at the back of the room put his hand up and said, “Write I love Michelle”… hehehe. I thought that was quite funny and so we all had a good laugh. What’s even funnier though is the fact that numerous students actually try to pull this stunt on the quizzes! Hehehe.

7. In my evening class I was pleasantly surprised by this one girl who’s notorious for speaking out in class, showing up late, texting on her phone… all the bad habits a student could possibly have, basically. Anyway, tonight she surprised me when she put her hand up during the lesson. When I called on her to let her speak, she then gave this huge speech on how she has changed and is trying to focus in my class now. Her speech was like 3 minutes long and everyone was impressed but considering there’s only 2 more weeks of classes, it’s a little too late. Nonetheless though, it’s good to see she’s finally coming around.

8. Was supposed to go out for dinner with a friend of mine tonight but, at last minute, I cancelled. I don’t consider him to be a close friend of mine but he use to be my friend She Ann’s boyfriend. I’m not too sure how serious they use to be, nor do I really care, it’s irrelevant, but I get the impression that he’s wanting more than friendship. I am SO not getting involved with that. I've already completed that lesson not so long ago and so I called off dinner and instead, had a party for one at Kimbab Nala.

9. I am obviously still hurt over the whole Pretty Boy situation… I can’t even really bring myself to type about it without getting a bit upset.

10. Late in the evening, as I curled up on the couch with Mi Nam, I started thinking about love, life… and my lack there of it (love). I believe in fate but I don’t believe in luck. Everything happens for a reason and no matter what you do, fate always finds you. Having
said this however, what happens if you try to go against fate… maybe that’s what I’m doing. Maybe that’s why love hasn’t been working out for me. Maybe it’s not that I am not “girlfriend material”, maybe it’s because I’m trying to go against fate. I mean, I came here to Korea with the intentions of staying one year, that was the plan. But then I called off my engagement, fell in love with Ryan, and stayed a second year. Then, that too ended but I stayed yet another year. So… what am I getting at here you ask, good question. Maybe as much as I love Korea and as much as I think this where I am suppose to be, maybe it’s not. Maybe the past break-ups and heartache in Korea was God’s sign for me to leave and yet I totally ignored them. Am I going against nature? Against fate? Hmmm…. which brings me to another point. When I visited Canada in January, I actually started dating someone, Kobe. It was totally unexpected but kind of was brought about by the whole purse-stealing situation that happened while I was out with him. We had such amazing chemistry and I spent most of my vacation time with him as oppose to seeing all my old friends and family. When I finally had to leave Canada and return to Korea, I was so upset to leave him and so, a couple of days before I had even left, I started to cry at the thoughts of having to say goodbye to him. Were we awesome together only because we knew we couldn’t continue this past my trip or would I still be dating him if I lived in Canada? To this day I still talk to Kobe on msn and through text messages. Moreover, how come I was so quick to meet such an awesome guy and yet here in Korea, I’ve been single for numerous months, only to then date a guy that, well… wasn’t so great. I don’t know… maybe I think too much. Maybe that’s my problem. Hmmm….

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Am I "unnatural"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
-- Zeno

4 comments:

Beloved said...

I REALLY hate to say this (considering my own situation), but I think you're on the right track. You obviously love Asian men (we have that in common--lol), but you need a Canadianized (hmmm. . .how do you say that in Canada?) one. Korean Korean men are. . .well, how shall I put it nicely?. . very complicated!

Anonymous said...

Amy I think you should stick with dating PURE KOREAN men, despite what people say.
You never really liked Western men and I think that your heart is set on dating a Korean guy. I think that sure they may be complicated but so are you. You have this strange fasination with them and so I don't think a Western man could capture your heart.
When you have your mind set on something, I know FOR A FACT how hard it is to steer you away.
You ARE in Korea and I know how MANY people tried to convince you not to go, but you went.

Bram said...

personally, i dotn belive in fate or going against god. i think god helps us in times of need, and gives us signs. although i dont belive in karma, we do get what we deserve, most of the time. i also belive in everything happening for a reason. nothings planned out, i feel. i think there isnt a right or wrong decision (korea or cananda) only what you feel is best for you. i think you ARE thinkign too much, but still you have a point. im just trying to say, dont let fate, god, or anything control your life. YOUR in charge, gods just there to help out.
-love,
bram

Anonymous said...

don't try so hard, it'll happen...:)