1. Winter camp, also known as DEIP (Dankook English Immersion Program), started today and so I had to attend a brief introduction ceremony at the university in the morning. As I entered the auditorium, filled by some 90 students, I scaled the faces looking for a familiar face, any former students. No such luck.
2. Having to get up in front of numerous staff and students to introduce myself was rather nerve racking, I mean, I have no problem standing up in front of a classroom full of students and breaking out into a silly two-second dance or whatnot but put a microphone up to me and my hands get clammy and my voice shakes.
3. Q had the day off and so we spent the afternoon together.
4. Gangster Oppa cracking smiles and smirks at me during training wasn’t appreciated by Q… or me. He corned me today at training, to ask me why I never respond to his text messages anymore. He and I use to text message a lot but my interest in any kind of friendship started to sizzle out after that whole over-the-table-spat that I had at his club with Ms. Two Cent, when he totally took her side and let her punk me off.
5. Junior Mint seems a bit pleased to see my friendship with Gangster Oppa diminishing down to mere hello-smiles and goodbye-waves. Junior Mint doesn’t mind Gangster Oppa, as long as it’s just on a surface level. Upon introducing Gangster Oppa to me, I don’t think Junior Mint thought anything would become of it let alone me find myself at his club being threatened by one of his “working girls”.
6. Despite Junior Mint still recovering from his Saturday fight, he agreed to train me on pad work.
Day 1: 55.15kgs = 121.33lbs
Day 2: 54.62kgs = 120.16lbs
Day 3: 54.28kgs = 119.42lbs
Day 4: 54.40kgs = 119.68lbs
Day 5: 54.00kgs = 118.80lbs
Day 6: 53.82kgs = 118.40lbs
Day 7: no weigh-in, gym closed
Day 8: 53.83kgs = 118.43lbs
Day 9: 53.12kgs = 116.86lbs
Day 10: 53.80kgs = 118.36lbs
Day 11: 53.70kgs = 118.14lbs
Day 12: 53.60kgs = 117.92lbs
Day 13: no weigh-in, gym closed for Junior Mint’s fight
Day 14: (today): 53.30kgs = 117.26lbs
Day 15 (today): 52.98kgs = 116.56lbs
Weight lost so far: 1.85kgs = 4.07lbs
Weight lost so far: 2.17kgs = 4.77lbs
7. I’m not much into the Christmas season this year, actually, I haven’t been in the Christmas mood since I surprise visited my family in Canada (during my first year here in Korea). Today I tried to change that. I went to the mall and walked around, hoping that seeing all the shoppers, decorations and being surrounded by the Christmas spirit would somehow rub off on me… it didn’t work. All it did was score me one nasty elbow to the ribs.
8. Christmas is just not the same, no matter how I try to change my thinking about it. I’ve got my little Christmas tree that my mom mailed me set up. It’s surrounded by all the presents she sent me too, along with other presents people have given me. I’ve even blasted Christmas carols in my house the other day, hoping that it’d get me in the mood… it didn’t work. Nothing seems to be getting me into the Christmas mood.
9. Had to return to the university tonight for my orientation class with my winter camp class. For the next two weeks I’ll be teaching a class from 8pm to 10pm. It’s not as bad as I thought though. This week we don’t have classes on Wednesday or Thursday night and Friday night will be movie night for them. Tonight’s class was just a get-to-know-you class, short and sweet.
10. All the students did a TOEIC test today and then the assistants split them into classes according to their English level. I got the second highest group, cool, which means I was able to sit around with them and have full-fledge conversations. And among the 25 students I got assigned to me, I got one of my former students… awesome! Tonight I teased them with a little bit of chocolate to get them talking… hehehe. I told them each to take two chocolate heresy kisses and, according to what colour of wrapping their chocolate was in, they had to answer two questions.
Green: What do you want for Christmas?
Pink: What is one of your new year’s resolutions?
Blue: What was your favourite thing about 2008?
Silver: What is one wish you have?
The activity went really well and so I was really impressed. We had a lot of fun in class and then some of the girls and I sat around chatting and giggling while I waited for Q to come pick me up.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want.
-- Oscar Wilde
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.
2 comments:
I'm having a really hard time getting in the Christmas spirit too. It's 28 degrees here, so that is the first reason that things feel off.
It's definitely hard this time of year!
Merry Christmas to you! Although it's rough, we get to have these memories and experiences that will last us a lifetime! Small price to pay, but there are many more Christmases to experience. A lifetime more!!
Hey Shelly,
Sorry it took me so long to respond to your comment here. I've been so strange lately, Christmas does that to me... strange in that some moments I'm super hyper and happy, other moments when I clam up and become a big secluded mute.
28 degrees and you're complaining?!... hehehe. Just joking. I hear ya. Korea had a brown Christmas and so it didn't have that same feeling. It felt like a Charlie Brown Christmas... a second-rating runner-up Christmas without the snow... and of course, the family and close friends.
How was your Christmas though? Did you and Muscles have a memorable one? I hope so. I hear ya about a lifetime of more Christmases but it's hard to think of that when you're in the actual Christmas moment.
Anyways, it was a good Christmas but I did hit a down point later in the evening when the celebrations had ended. I spent most of my day trying to capture my Christmas on video for my family but when that was over, it was like "what now?" kind of feeling.
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