Arrived back in South Korea at 8am.
Arrived back in Cheonan at 11am.
Arrived back in the arms of Snickers at 11:06am.
K-Gere dropped by Ggum Guum today to see how we were doing and then later we headed over to Mama Kim’s house for dinner.
It felt good to be back at Ggum Guum and it felt good to see Mi Nam and give him a little slap on the bum, but I missed the Philippines more than I wanted to be back in Korea, for sure.
I can’t pin-point why and what exactly it was about the Philippines that had left such a mark on me but everything seems so comfortable there. The people are just more relaxed and more carefree. They’re all about the now and I think that’s what it may come down to. Korea is always planning for the future – what they want to get, where they want to go, what they want to have – so it’s always go-go-go, rush-rush-rush with Koreans. They never seem to just enjoy the moment for what it is, instead they’re too busy planning for the next moment. Moreover, Koreans seem so image obsessed. Whereas what I experienced with the Filipinos, they’re happy with what they have, where they are, and what they are right now. There’s no over concern with the future, hence why they always were late. They took each step at a time and were happy.
And then there were those at the boxing club that I really would love to train with. Let me tell ya, it was so damn hot in the Philippines so any thought of training in such extreme heat and with such intensity at the boxing club seemed like a crazy man’s idea. They continually bust their butt off, all of them, and I didn’t see anyone slacking off. If you came to the boxing club to train then you were expected to train. There was no music playing to keep you motivated, only a coach yelling at you and teammates insisting you continue your intensity so that they don’t have to repeat an exercise because of you slacking off. I want to train at a place like this. I want to train like an animal and be pushed to the point where I have to step aside and puke a bit because it’s so intense.
Seeing them train served as both a slap in the face and as a motivator for us all from UP Boxing Club, South Korea. Snickers and I train hard but dang, these Filipinos training in that brutal heat with not even any kind of fan to rescue them was nothing but completely commendable. You couldn’t but respect them for their efforts and passion for the sport.
I’m already looking into booking tickets back to the Philippines. I’ve agreed to work a three month contract at a local university here in Cheonan but that finishes at the end of November. It’d be nice to pack up my life here, put Korea on hold for a bit, and go back to the Philippines.
The perfect plan would be to live in the Philippines from December till March, doing nothing but boxing. I don’t know if we’ll follow through with this proposed plan but it would be a pretty sweet plan. One thing is for sure though, at this point I can’t NOT go back to the Philippines. It IS a boxer’s paradise.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why did we leave?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
One must not lose desires. They are mighty stimulants to creativeness, to love, and to long life.
-- Alexander A. Bogomoletz
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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