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.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Highlights of my Day... Monday, May 31

There’s a saying in Korea that says Koreans will share even a grain of rice. In a utopia kind of world that’s all nice and peachy keen but this is reality and, if you’re the one who came with that one piece of rice, it flat out bites.

I always happen to be the person with the one grain of rice in a crowd of hungry mouths.

Unlike my female counterparts who stack their purses with make-up and such, I stack my purse with munchies. I eat six meals a day and, regardless of how out-and-about I am in the city, no meal goes missed.

Take for example my two-day cruise. On the day of the cruise I had to travel to Seoul (1 hour) and then travel down to Busan (5 hours). Total time spent on the road totaled just over six hours in actuality. Now based on the fact that I eat every 2.5 to 3 hours, I knew my anticipated long journey meant I’d be eating at least 2 meals on the road. I had assumed we’d be taking the KTX but wasn’t sure. Regardless, I loaded my purse and, because I am all about keeping my baby (Snickers) happy and fed, I stacked my purse to feed the both of us.


What I packed:
- two packages of dried peas
- two non-fat yogurt cups
- an orange
- a ziplock baggie with my version of trail mix (almonds, walnuts, raisins, etc.)
- a Nature Valley granola bar
- cherry tomatoes

However, because Koreans are all about communal eating and sharing, no sooner did I pull out my orange but it was then split among the eight of us. I managed to get two pieces but only because I cheated and didn’t split it fairly. [Enter your “shame on you Amy” and finger pointing here… I don’t feel guilty.]

We ended up stopping for meals (which was totally unexpected because I thought we’d be taking the KTX train) and so I ended up taking my purse of munchies onto the cruise with us. Again though I was forced to face the fact that pulling out food in the presence of other people meant sharing it. Moreover, because I was followed by a 6-member TV crew and only the three common meal times were allotted in my filming schedule, I had to somehow fit in my other three meals secretly.

Fitting in all my meals wasn’t quite as easy but Snickers had fun pocketing food during the three meal times.

“Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” I asked.
“It’s two bananas... hahaha!” Snickers responded, and it was.

I eat religiously every two and a half to three hours, bringing my meal count to six small meals. I eat like this not because I think I have to but because it's more comfortable on my system. I rather feel constantly content than one minute starving, the next minute bloated and full. More importantly, it’s a heck of a lot healthier.

The Korean culture has it’s positives and negatives, like any and all cultures do, but I will like it’s sharing mentality. I’m always the one person with the one grain of rice.

I’m okay with sharing my toys, sharing my clothes, and even sharing my toothbrush (note I do this on a daily bases because Snickers thinks it’s a cute couple thing), but with the exception of an anticipated situation I’ve prepared for, like a dinner party, or it’s a small nibble, I really don’t like sharing my food.

I have become just like the bodybuilding boys I dated and hung out with back in Toronto, of which I use to tease about because they’d get so cranky if they weren’t fed or if I dipped into their stash of food. And because of this, my apologies go out especially to Big Pete-the-Greek, Big Wheels, Ninja Turtle, and Brown the Bull.

I have officially accepted the fact that I am now a fully-active member of the “touch-my-food-and-die group”. Okay, so I won’t kill you if you touch my food but anything you touch my food with you won’t get back.

Boo-whua-hahaha [that’s my evil laugh there].

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What point of your culture don't you like?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.
-- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

No comments: