What was anticipated to be a mellow drive out to our new found favorite mountain side spot turned bloody when Pyen Chi stepped on something in the grass. We're not quite sure what she had stepped on but when we caught sight of her limping we picked up her paw and down dripped blood. Something had gashed open her left front paw, making a hole the size of almost a dime, so off to the vet we took her. She ended up having to get a couple of stitches in her one paw but holding her down to do so took three of us -- Snickers, a nurse and me.
Then, much later on, what was supposed to a night of simply training and then hitting the hay early, turned into a 3am-er. I showed up at the boxing club, already feeling exhausted, and Junior Mint yelled up "gear up -- last sparring tonight". Instantly I let my body fall to the floor and I laid there for a good minute or two. Lately I've been so mentally exhausted with only thinking, doing, and (what feels like it) breathing soley boxing. I knew the sparring would do me good but my head was just not in the place it needed to be for sparring. I geared up anyways.
I was told that I'd be allowed to cut tonight's training short but that it'd mean I'd have to go 6 full rounds of sparring with Captain Jab. With about twenty seconds left to the first round I heard Junior Mint yell out "Satoshi". At first I thought he was trying to get me to relax and loosen up because he's been doing this a lot lately, yelling out random things that is. Usually it's "Fighting" but these days he's been yelling "Ouk-hwa Bi-bim-bap" (that's a raw beef meal I love) at me during training. He's promised to take me out for ouk-hwa bi-bim-bap after my fight and oddly enough him yelling it at me has helped to motivate me and keep me enjoying my training.
Anyways, so there was my coach yelling out my friend's name. I then looked up and there before my eyes was Satoshi! Satoshi lives in Japan but he had come the other day to Korea. He wasn't sure if he'd catch me at the boxing club but had come from his hotel out in Suwon tonight on a whim, hoping I'd be here. At the sight of him ringside I instantly stopped sparring, called him over and hung him from underneath the ropes. He surprisingy me had totally given me an overdose of much needed energy. Captain Jab and I then restarted the sparring session, making tonight's session 7 full rounds.
After boxing, Satoshi came back to Ggum Guum so that I could shower up and eat. I must have taken the fastest shower ever because of all the excitement. I didn't even bother cooking my dinner -- I drank my eggs raw and left the house with a large pepper in hand. We ended up chatting up a storm at a local coffee shop and then Snickers and I drove him back to his hotel in Suwon. It was so great to see him, as always, but him surprising me tonight was exactly what I needed... it was awesome!
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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