1. Showed up for my language group meeting and was the only one to show up, that is until one of my members noticed me in the room. He asked me why I came today. Turns out once a month their company goes out and does community service clean-up and today was that day. So with no one to teach and nothing to do but go home, I decided to hang out with my security guard friend for a bit and chat.
2. Not too sure what it is with me and security guards but they seem to favor me, seriously it’s really strange. The security guards at Dankook all remember me and even willingly offer me the office key even though I don’t even work there anymore and don’t even ask for it. Then there’s the security guard that directs the buses out of the terminal; he always winks at me though I’ve never talked to him before. At the opposite end of that same terminal, the other security guard always goes out of his way to shout out random English short sentences to me, to which I humor myself by responding only in Korean. And then there are the security guards at the gas company where I have my morning language group meetings.
3. I don’t find myself to be a particularly stranger-friendly person and, if anything, I kind of go out of my way to not meet new people, but for some reason I always have random people approaching me throughout my day. Snickers blames it on my small Polish head, calling it a ‘people magnet’. Not too sure what he means by that but whatever, it’s funny.
4. Snickers head, and feet for that matter, is flat at the back and he once made a joke about my head shape because it’s quite round in the rear. During our honeymoon in Bali, he noticed that my head was the same shape as the other Pollacks we saw, and when he asked me why Polish people had such a unique roundness I told him quite the silly story. I told him that the back of Polish peoples’ head has a unique roundness to it because Poland was never a rich country and after Germany and Soviet Union invaded Poland and took them for all they had, God reached down to Poland. He then cradled the head of the Polish people, like a mother does a child, and said “I’m sorry Poland”, hence why the back of a Polish person’s head can be palmed so comfortably. Of course the story is bunk but it was passed down to me by a few Pollack who -- and you know how the story here goes – heard it from another Pollack who heard it from another Pollack.
5. Like the previous days at the other community centers, today I had three classes to teach, all of which were 50 minutes long. Fifty minutes isn’t long actually but considering the students who filled up my classes today and what went down, at certain moments I seriously thought time was standing still.
6. Time definitely stood still when a certain little boy entered the class late. Somebody said something to him, my coworker told him to sit down, and next thing I knew it he was yelling out a very distinct curse word to which we all gasped. He threw quite the tantrum and in my head I pictured myself throwing him out of my class – via the window. Kids are kids, I know that, and kids do stupid things, I know that too, but who the heck forgot to teach this kid some manners?! I was so shocked, we all were. I didn’t want to see him snap again so I tried to play it cool and I simply told him to play nicely. When I had them pair up for pair work I then went over to help him. It was obvious he was still worked up and about to blow like a volcano. “It’s ok, it’s ok.” I told him. I tried to take a positive approach to him by doing the pair work with him and being somewhat overly encouraging to his efforts, and it worked.
7. One of my favorite kids in the Friday classes is this little pudgy boy named Charlie. I love the name Charlie. He came early to class today so I got to joke around with him as he drew on the white board.
8. At quitting time it felt so good to be calling it an end to this temporary gig but I kind of felt sad saying goodbye to my Korean co-worker who had taught with me in class and acted as my translator. We had a lot of fun in class and she definitely helped to keep me sane when I was forced to deal with some not-so-sane kids. We did our usual walk to the subway together and just as we were about to part she handed me a little gift and attached to it was a little letter.
9. I thought I had played it smart today by buying my bus ticket home in the morning but with only two minutes to get from the subway platform to the bus door, I definitely cut it close – too close! I’m sure I must have been quite the sight, me running full force in high heels down the middle of the terminal… hahaha. The driver assumed I wasn’t coming and so they had let someone else take my seat, meaning that I’d be taking their seat on the next bus. When the next bus arrived, 15 minutes later, I got on and sat down. The person next to me congratulated me on my very public terminal sprint and this spurred a long one-hour ride home conversation. He was an older man whose interests laid in acupuncture but he was very quick to try to give me boxing tips and tips about self promotional work after I told him my interests were health and boxing. I had my laptop with me so I showed him pictures of Snickers and me at boxing and at previous fights.
10. Despite wanting to chat more with my cooler-than-cool bus seating partner, 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.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What scene have you made lately?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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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