1. I don’t celebrate Halloween but today I was reminded of my father who, some years ago, retired on this very day after continuous years of dedication to his company, my mother and my family. Thank you dad… Papa Bere!
2. Did the usual Friday plan… raced off to Seoul for Korean class but I missed my bus today and so I showed up late.
3. Strange things interest and fascinate me and buying my new book for the next level in my Korean language studies made me all giddy… I’m such a geek… hehehe.
4. Ran into an old friend while waiting for my bus home in Seoul. I was standing in a crowd when he ran up to me and pretended to be a paparazzi. It was quite embarrassing but funny and after we chatted for a bit, I was left with a crowd of people wondering just who the heck I was… hehehe.
5. On my bus ride home, Gangster Oppa texted me, asking me what I was up to tonight. I told him that I was on the bus but added that I wasn’t feeling too peachy… and then the questions really started. The text message conversation ended with me almost in tears and with him urging me to come see him at the club. I had mentioned to him that I was missing my friends and that at that very moment I wanted to go home… home being Canada as supposed to Cheonan, South Korea.
6. Everyday Italiano in Canada texts me and, as much as I love his text messages, it reminds me how I have no close friend like him in Korea and I hate that. And as much as I have tried to make a close friend like him in Korea, I’ve failed. Things got messed over when Drama Boy thought he was in love with me… boy, did I ever handle that situation wrong. Staple-Stomach is way to rude and self-absorbed, hanging out with Panty Boy consists of high-end restaurants and scooter riding which only gets me in trouble with Junior Mint, Jae Min always wants me to either go drinking with him or go beat the pulp out of someone, both of which I refuse to do. Hanna is all over the place, changing her boyfriends more often than she changes her socks and Byung Hyuk is way the heck down under in Australia. And then there’s Gangster Oppa… he’s convinced he’s my ticket out of this blah pit I’ve found myself in.
7. I never did go to see Gangster Oppa, like he had suggested, instead, upon arriving back home, I headed out to boxing.
8. Apparently people were waiting for me at the boxing club, which was unknown to me. Junior Mint had mentioned something about sparring this week but I didn’t think he was serious, nor did I know he meant sparring tonight.
9. Regardless of who I spar with, I always get the jitters and even when I spar with boxers that I know in my heart I am much more prepared and skilled than, I still get the jitters. Tonight I was told to spare with Little Miss Sunshine. I didn’t really feel so comfortable doing so considering she’s just an amateur and doesn’t take her training so seriously. Nonetheless, we sparred.
10. Scored a TKO (technical knock out) in the first round after I cornered her in the ring. Milk Dud yelled out for me to stop and so I did. Little Miss Sunshine was crunched in the corner with her hands covering her face. I thought I had really hurt her bad and so I quickly ripped off my gloves and knelt beside her to see if she was ok. There was no blood but a couple of tears from one shaken up Little Miss Sunshine. I told her we could stop but she suck it up and said no. I was impressed. I tried to take it easy on her but me being easy on her meant Junior Mint got mad at me. After our sparring match we hugged and I repeatedly told her thank you. She wasn’t so much as a challenge for me as I had hoped for but I really had a new respect for her. No one else at the club ever agrees to spar with me but she had and so for that, I really think she’s an awesome girl.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Will I ever feel at home?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Home is not where you live but where they understand you.
-- Christian Morgenstern
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.
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