New Jersey – training @ Hwang Karate (13 and 16 November 2010)

 

We trained at Headquarters (WOOHOO we made it! First day trying to navigate the New York City train system), which is Hwang Karate (Springfield New Jersey) on Saturday 13 November 2010.  It was the first session that we had where we didn’t have to ask for a drink break.  We were so proud of ourselves, our bodies were finally acclimatising. 

We had an hour training session with Dan and Gup members and went through Ki Chos, Il Soo Siks and turning jumping kicks. Challenging with the kicks but FANTASTIC session! 

Afterwards we had a tour of HQ :O)  Although Kwan Jang Nim was away in San Diego for Ko Dan Ja, we felt star struck just being at HQ.  There are pictures of Sa Boms on the walls, we saw the storeroom of where our texts books are kept and the room of where our Certificates get printed off.  It’s a maze of a building.  There’s even a SBD car outside!!! WOW!!!

 

 

I went to training again on Tuesday (whilst Desiree got some much needed retail therapy in NYC... haha) (Hah!  My retail was for other people! – Desirée) and assisted with Il Soo Siks in the adult Gup class.  I even got help with Joong Jol.  Knowing how and where to breathe in the hyung is a bit tricky and so will have to work on that.  It was a great session and looking forward to training at HQ again.  Fingers crossed next time Kwan Jang Nim will be there :O)

 

We reckon HQ is a MUST visit for any SBDMDK practitioner.  The students attending the Dojang are totally spoilt to have Kwan Jang Nim based there.

Please see website: http://hwangkarate.com

Thank you Del Sordo SBN, Mr John Fantell, Ms Briana Clement-Bell and the students at Hwang Karate for welcoming us and sharing insight to HQ.

New York (12-17 November 2010)

First impression of New York City was that it was dirty.  Rubbish everywhere!!!  We arrived on a very late night time flight and were welcomed to streets filled with garbage bags and the air reeked.  Having come from pristine Aspen, NYC’s atmosphere was a shock to the system.

NYC is a massive city.  Once we looked past all that ugliness of our first impressions, we ended up really liking the city.  NYC is the most intriguing cities we’ve visited in North America and we reckon a must visit!  We were really lucky because Desiree’s relative and friend lived in NYC and they took us out and gave us an insider’s view of places like the Rockefeller Centre, Grand Central Station, Bryant Park and non-touristy spots etc. It really pays to know a local wherever you go ;O)

 

We ate really well in NYC and have fond memories of digesting cupcakes (Magnolia’s Bakery twice in one day!) mmm... they were just that good!!! ;O), organic fruit, Korean Fried Chicken (unfortunately Heather missed this one), Japanese Ramen and frozen yoghurt...

 NYC probably has the best public transport system in the USA.  Once you get your head around the subway and streets it’s quite straight forward to get from A to B.  The city is essentially mapped out as a grid.  Street names and avenues are numbers i.e. 42^nd Street, 5^th Avenue etc.

 

Desiree got some retail therapy in NYC and LOVED IT! Only regret was that our stay in NYC was too brief, hence leaving limited time for more shopping.  Friends took us to Brooklyn and I grudgingly got my first real taste of shopping in the USA.  OMG!!!  I screamed!!!  Just ask Des...(I’m pretty sure, the whole block, let alone that shop, heard!  I made sure she got the Coach shoes, but I should have also persisted on the Armani leather jacket too!  Damn shame she missed that one!  At least we got pictures! – Desirée)  LOL... Op Shop (aka Thrift Shop) shopping in Brooklyn was THE BEST!!! :O)  That’s where I’m heading to next time I visit.

We also visited Central Park and that was cool.  Couldn’t figure out where Strawberry Fields were though :O(  Unfortunately we hired bikes from dodgy people off the street – we should have known better.  So an hour or so into our bike ride (we hired the bikes for 2hours), the chain from Desiree’s bike came off.  Because Central Park is colossal we only got to see about a 1/3 (if not less) of it.  If we had only paid an extra $5 for bikes from the proper Central Park bike hire place we would have saved ourselves the long walk back to those street vendors.  Oh well...  Central Park itself is a world away from the concrete environment of NYC and it’s worth exploring :O)

Times Square lives up to all the hype.  That is, bright lights, Broadway (we saw The Lion King – the show and the costumes were SPECTACULAR!), people, the NYE ball, fire-fighters, police officers and a half naked cowboy just to name a few...LOL...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much to the family and friends in NYC for showing us that there’s more to the city than meets the eye.  We would go back to NYC most definitely ;O)

NOTE: Ko Dan Ja was on while we were in NYC.  So unfortunately we missed the Moment with the Masters event.  Had we known about it we would have liked to attend.  If planning a SBD training holiday in the USA see if you can attend a “Moment with the Masters” event, it would definitely be awesome.