Berlin Germany: Hilti BJJ & The Historical Sights

Greetings From Berlin Germany! (5-10 July 2017)

After a fun and eventful time in Hamburg it was time for my last stop in Germany, a city on my list of top cites I'd like to visit, Berlin! The train ride in was pretty quick and easy as was finding the gym, Hilti BJJ as Frank, who I had been talking to about visiting and training, gave me directions to find my way. I'll speak more on my time there later but now I'd like to cover a different adventure that was going on at this time. The adventures of the care package my Mom sent me.

So back in May I was supposed to have a friend meet up with me in Morocco, those plans fell through at the very last minute, but not before already setting up having my Mom send a package to them to bring over to me. Once the package then made it's way back to my parents place it was a while before figuring out when, or where, she could finally send it to me. Since I had my stops in Germany set up well in advance I figured I would have her send it to me when I was visiting Hilti BJJ so that there would be enough time to send the parcel from Canada. It was all planned out and set, I would be finally getting a parcel, that had some important items, I'd been waiting months to get. Of course there was problems as nothing ever works out perfectly and I wouldn't be writing about it if it did.

As it ends up the parcel was held for an extra day or two in customs, and then there was a government holiday, so by the time it was released and dropped off to the gym I was already gone. Missed me by one day. In fact as I was flying to my next stop Frank sent me a photo of the parcel now in his possession to which I could only laugh and reply "go figure". I would have to wait a bit longer to pick up this package now but at least it was in Europe. I would be going back to Germany in about 6 weeks for the BJJ Globetrotters Fall Camp and having just been there I now had some new friends to help me out. After some messaging back and forth I had Ruadhan's (the Globetrotter I met and who helped me set up my visit to Heidelberg) mailing address sent to Frank so he could send the parcel along and Ruadhan would have it ready for me once I got in for the camp. This time the plan actually worked and I finally received the care package, a package that was originally sent to me in May, and that traveled through Canada and USA probably most of Europe, that I finally got at the end of August. The care package probably almost did as much traveling as I did before getting to me.

So at this point there was a lot of waiting and back and forth with my Mom to figure if and when the parcel was showing up. I started and ended everyday off with checking out the online tracking and asking the guys at the security office if any parcel had been delivered. It didn't interfere with my visiting too much but it did weigh on my mind most the time as I traveled around the city seeing the many sights.

Seeing The Historical Sights of Berlin

There's lots to see in Berlin, the whole city is full of historical sights from WWII, some that are memorials and others that are old buildings now modified for modern use or kept as museum now, as well as newer buildings like the TV Tower, or Fernsehturm, or the Mall of B

erlin. I took photos of as much as I could but clearly needed another week or more to really explore this city.

The Sony Centre. impressive square, the Mall of Berlin is even more so.

The Berlin Cathedral Church with the  Fernsehturm in the background.

Brandenburg Gate.

The Victory Column.

The Gendarmenmarkt.

Parts of the Berlin Wall has been turned into an art gallery, called the East Side Gallery sections of the wall are graffiti'd and periodically they re-paint them all white and have local artist do all new murals again. 

There's also still parts of the wall kept to see and read about the history of the Nazi era around a museum called the Topography of Terror.
 

Checkpoint Charlie, the (in)famous security point between West Berlin and the Soviet occupied East Berlin. It's now a famous tourist sight complete with people dressed up as guards to take pictures with and all sorts of souvenir shops and 'checkpoint' theme restaurants, such as 'Checkpoint Curry'.

I have more photos of my travels an adventures over on my Flickr account, head over there if you want to see more and maybe show some love by liking or commenting on few of them, thanks!

Hilti BJJ & Frank

When I was first looking at places to train at in Germany Hilti BJJ Berlin and Frank Burczynski's name came up to the top, along with Ana and Nexus Fighter Academy, who I had just visited in Hamburg. I contacted him through e-mail and he responded back pretty quickly letting me know I was welcome to stay at his gym and train with the club. Frank is a well known and respected black belt in the Germany BJJ scene and I would have loved to do an interview with him but he was busy with a million things and actually was off at a tournament coaching his team and refereeing for most the time I spent at Hilti BJJ. Frank also had a seminar set up before the weekend with Nicolas Gregoriades of Jiu-Jitsu Brotherhood, which I covered in my 'Camps & Seminars' article.

Nic teaching one of his concepts at the seminar.

Hilti BJJ is part of IMAG JKD Berlin, sharing a big space with two different mat areas and a big kickboxing area with pads and heavy bags and mirrors and thick crash mats off in the corner for throws. There's also big change rooms, where I stored my bags, with showers. With the exception of a kitchen I had everything I needed, I slept on a crash mat in a dark corner of the gym and it was probably one of the most comfortable sleeps I had in Europe. More gyms should get crash mats.   

The club was full of different people and skill levels, everyone was generally friendly and I got along with everyone during my stay there. I had some great rolls and everyone was really helpful telling which clubs are good to check out on what nights or where's good to eat around the gym. I didn't get to train with everyone too much, I strained my groin after the seminar with Nic Gregoriades so I wasn't able to train there or the other clubs I was looking to visit like BJJ Akademie, Ringside Gym, or Ralf Warneking Jiu-Jitsu, who I had been talking to about visiting for a while. I was bummed out for not being able to train much while at such a great city for training but it did give me  chance to get out and see much of the sights there. I will say this, from what I saw of the Berling Jiu-Jitsu scene it is amazing, friendly and definitely worth checking out. Thank you Frank for everything, I hope we cross paths again in the future and get to spend more than a few classes hanging out!

This was the only photo I got of Frank, teaching class.

This was my last stop in Germany and with that the end of my 3 months I was allowed to stay in the European Zone. If you don't know most non-European countries are only allowed 90 days out of 180 in the European Zone, or Schengen Area. I had come to the end of that time and I didn't want to risk going over and being kicked out if caught while crossing a border down the line. I have yet to return to Europe as I've headed East toward South East Asia, I'm looking to return early next year (2018).
The first stop heading East after Germany was one of the first spots I planned out before leaving Canada, and I had been waiting excitedly for this, St. Petersburg Russia: Home of Sambo!

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account.
Buy Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.
Buy a shirt at Panda's Jiu-Jitsu Store.
Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
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Hamburg Germany: Nexus Fighter Academy

Greetings From Hamburg Germany! (25 June - 1 July, and 3-5 July)

Actually, I’m in Australia, on a train from Melbourne on my way to Sydney as I write this. It’s been a busy past month, my last article I managed to write during my layovers flying to Perth Australia from San Diego USA. It seems during these long travel days is the only time I’m finding I'm able to write this blog now. It's getting hard to find time to sit and write when you spend all day meeting cool people, training at new clubs and seeing amazing cities. Of course that just means I have more adventures to tell you all about, once I'm able to write them. 

So I last left off in Dusseldorf Germany, walking to the train station as a Bavarian marching band played a few songs for the hostel, for reasons beyond me. I found my train and got on, only to realize that my ticket had no seat number on it. As the train left I found an empty seat, only to be told I’m in another passenger’s seat when they boarded the next stop. I moved to another seat only to have to move again, and again and again. Finally I gave up, this was a busy route and I was on standby for a seat, so in the interest of convenience and not having to move over and over I did the rational thing, I sat in the hallway between train cars by the door.

Once I got in to Hamburg main station I switched to use the local trains and make my way to Nexus Fighter Academy, where I'd be staying during this visit. I had been speaking to Ana Yagues, the head black belt and co-owner of the club, on Facebook, we met through the BJJ Globetrotter community and she had invited me over. It was an easy trip to the academy but I had three different people ask if I required help, basically every time I looked at the the map on my phone there happened to be a local around noticing and willing to help. I partly suspected they were just as happy to show a visitor they knew English as much as they were happy to help someone new get around their city. In any case I’ve yet to be offered so much help in any of the cities I’ve been to so far. It was a great first impression for Hamburg and actually made me feel bad for not actually being lost so they could help me more than just confirm I was indeed on the right track.

During my time in Hamburg I took off for the weekend, flying back to London England for 2 days for the Kieth Owen seminar and my friend Ellie's birthday party. I've written about that crazy 48 hr adventure before on the 'Seminars and Camps' post, if you want to read about it again. One thing I didn't cover during that piece was the heightened security all over the down town core and especially the Hamburg airport. There were teams of 3 patrolling all over the place, I got asked for my passport twice while walking to check into to my flight and something like 4 times before ever leaving the airport when I returned from London. I was wondering why so much security and then when I got onto Facebook it all became clear. The G20 meeting was happening in Hamburg that week. The G20 meetings are infamous for the amount of protests and riots they bring to the city. I could see now why they kept checking me, an up-to-no-good looking, black hoodie wearing tourist. Luckily I wasn't confused for someone else and detained for an absurd amount of time, although that would have made a good story.

Sights of The City

While staying with Ana and her club I did manage to get out a bit and see some of Hamburg, although it was rainy half the time so I didn't go out exploring too much. I would have liked to get out during the night time and really experience the entertainment district of Reeperbahn but I couldn’t draw myself to make the effort and go out to the night clubs on my own. Given that it’s also the red light district it’s perhaps better I didn't venture into the streets lined with bars and strip clubs on my own after all. I did however make my way down to the center of town to see the Rathaus and other old buildings around the area.

I don't know what this building what before, but it's a Starbucks now. A really nice one.

The Rathaus. 

A Beatles memorial at Reeperbahn.

Reeperbahn, die sündigste Meile.
Doesn't look like much during the day.

If you like checking out my photos head off to my Flicker account and give some love to your favourite shots, thanks!

Nexus Fighter Academy

Nexus Fighter Academy is just around the corner from the train station, on the top floor of a industrial building that had different businesses on each floor, the club has a lot of mat space with a big main space and a smaller room for the kids classes. When I first got to the club I meet Lilo, a black belt who and trains with Ana and teaches at the club, she showed a quick tour of the club, told me of the schedule and of the stores around the area and showed me the couch in the back room I’d be sleeping on during my visit. Being Globetrotters themselves they’ve hosted a few travelers so this was nothing new. There was a class about to start that Lilo was running, and she ran the morning classes during the week as well, but I was quite sore and instead just watched and stretched out, using my foam roller on my aching and knotted back.

Always be prepared, my rope and knot tying skills come in handy from time to time.

I wasn’t able to stretch or foam roll in Dusseldorf as there was no room for it at the hostel and now that I was able to use it I realized how badly in need of stretching out I was. That’s actually one of the many cool things I noticed with Nexus Fighter is they are very good at stretching both before and after class, doing group warm ups and cool downs. I’ve picked up a few usual stretches from them, particularly a set of stretches they do after class using their belt to really open the hips and groin so they don’t become tight afterwards. As the week went on I noticed Lilo's moves are so graceful and slick, there’s a few times she was teaching where I got lost on how fluid and seamless she made it look, not just techniques but her cool functional movement warm ups as well. This was something I told my friends in Heidelberg during the BJJ Globetrotter Fall Camp just before her class she taught there, they were blown and away watching her as well and even have since had her back for a seminar. And Lilo isn't the only one there, the whole team of instructors at Nexus Fighter were great at showing some new chain or body movement that blew me away. 

The class doing their cool down stretches.

I finally met Ana the day after arriving and handed her the chocolate I had bought for her in Switzerland, which I had somehow been able to avoid eating all this time. It was a key component to staying at the club, my rent so to speak. Ana is very nice and friendly, she was happy to have me come and not just visit but be a part of the club. It’s easy to see Ana doesn’t just run a club, she makes feel like a Jiu-Jitsu home. Any time she was at the club we would find time to chat about traveling and visiting different people or all the thing she had going on running everything. She had a genuine interest in my visiting and also having others a part of helping out the club.

Ana teaching the kids class.

There is a camaraderie with Nexus Fighter that made me feel at home training and staying with them. Prime of example of this was one night after class there was a going away birthday party for their wrestling coach and co-owner of Nexus Fighter, and a fellow Canadian from Montreal, David Mendelsohn. I jumped in a car with a bunch from the club after class as we all met up at a restaurant for his party, once everyone had shown up they all finally took off their jackets or sweaters they were still wearing, which I found was weird in the first place, to show they had all got special shirts made up for the occasion. It was a great night full of conversation and laughs, I believe we were one of the last groups out of the restaurant, only to continue conversing on the streets until it started to rain.

It was a great night out, we took up almost half the restaurant. 

David's wrestling class.

During my time training with everyone I made a few new friends, learned a few new techniques and even ran into a fellow Globetrotter I had met in London, my first stop outside of Canada, but most importantly I got to train with a great club. I highly recommend visiting Ana and Nexus Fighter Academy if you travel to Hamburg Germany!

Ana Yagues

One day after class Ana and I did an interview together. Being a mother of 2, by the way I should warn you that if you visit you might end up being kidnapped by them and made to play games, as well as a gym owner, instructor and a top level competitor. Ana’s ability to juggle it all is very impressive and inspires everyone around her. I had to get her story to share for you all and show what is possible when you just set your mind to it.

If the video doesn't load for some reason, head over to the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel. While you're there show the channel some love, like, comment, share and subscribe please!

Ana and I after the interview, so happy to have met her. Thanks for everything Ana!

Hamburg was amazing experience and my time there came to an end all too soon. I was sad to leave but also looked forward to seeing the next city on my stop, the last stop in Germany: Berlin!

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account.
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Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
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100th Club and 1 year Traveling!!

Hello all my Panda-maniacs!

Yes, if you follow me and are a fan of my blog, my videos or you just like me you are a Panda-maniac. Be proud of this nickname as I'm proud of all of you, you have all helped me along this way. Even if all you did was quickly check out my latest post, read a few lines and look at the photos and then pass on to the next thing in your life. Just seeing the view counts on my blog posts give me inspiration to keep writing. All the small comments on my social media accounts, the messages send to me saying 'good job!' or asking me where I am or how I'm doing, all those seemingly inconsequential interactions keep me going, pick me up on a bad day and drive me to continue the Odyssey. I have a new article ready to publish but first I figured I would fast forward to more recent days when I made some rather significant milestones. So before I pick back up about my adventures in Germany, where I last left off, I first want to tell you about hitting my 100th club and making it to one full year of traveling and training around the world.

100th Jiu-Jitsu Club!!

I originally had set for my 100th club to be in Bangkok. I was in Koh Tao, Thailand at the 10th Planet club at Monsoon Gym and they were club number 99, but then I got a bug bite. I went hiking up the island's one mountain to get some awesome photos of the sun setting from View Point, the ultimate lookout point on top of the mountain. Then next day I felt an itch and at first figured it was a pimple on my leg from all the sweating I was doing while there, and man I was doing a lot of sweating, but soon realized it was in fact a bite that was now infected. I was off to Bangkok the next day and the first thing I did was go to a pharmacy and get some ointment and antibiotic pills to sort it out but the damage was already done. I had a staph infection. There would be no training in Bangkok, but I could take the time to get better and ready for my San Diego trip with the Free Rollers group from Australia. At this point my thought was that I was going to make my 100th gym the first class with the Free Roller guys at University of Jiu-Jitsu. I was excited for it, not just to meet the guys and train at Uni JJ but also to make our first class together some a big milestone. But then I checked my flight itinerary update.

I had a series of connections going from Bangkok to San Diego and one of them was stopping off in San Francisco. At first I was scheduled to get in at midnight and not fly out until noon the next day, then that changed to flying to San Diego on the first morning flight then changed again to make the last flight out the night I got in. I lost track of which itinerary was the newest one so I messaged the flight centre to figure it out. As it happens I was on that last flight of the night, meaning I would be getting into San Diego around 1am and would then have to wait until the guys showed up in the afternoon, giving me the full day to figure out what to do. I ended up making plans with a fellow Globetrotter I met at the Fall Camp in Germany, Trevon. The plan was I would meet up with Trevon in the morning and make the morning class at his gym, making that my 100th club now. We kept in contact and Trevon had everything planned out for me. But then there was a delay in my flight.

While I was in Manila waiting for my flight something happened that required a 90 minute delay before we could board. My layover in San Francisco was scheduled to be a short one, 90 minutes to be exact. By the time the plane landed in San Francisco the last flight to San Diego was already boarding, and by the time I got through customs, picked up my carry on that the airline made me check, and made it to the front desk to get my ticket it was too late. It was late, the last flight of the night was already boarded and I was really tired. I wasn't upset, this was all comical, I was actually joking about this with my friend Luke, who organized the San Diego camp, before ever catching my flights. As I talked to the front desk about re-booking my flight to San Diego and looking for a room for the night I also got onto the internet and checked morning class times for a certain academy in town. The flight attendant asked "Do you want the first flight out or do you want to have a good night's rest and leave later in the day? We have flights going there hourly." Quickly checking Google maps to see how long it would be to get from the club to the airport after class to make sure I had more than enough time for the forming plans I then asked "How about around noon time? So I don't have to rush in the morning" and like that it was set. I would take a short nap at a far too expensive hotel then set out for the morning class for my 100th club, a class with none other than Kurt Osiander.

I would like to mention here that by this time that I had been on antibiotics pills and ointment for 8 or 9 days and the staph infection was no longer an infection now but rather just a small wound of dead skin, a deep one that would take a while to fully heal but also no longer a contagious zombie disease that would prevent me from training.

So I get into the hotel, order some awesome pizza, pass out on a pizza coma and wake up 4 hrs later to take off into San Francisco for the morning class. I make to the Ralph Gracie Academy a bit early to find the lights out and a car parked out front with someone waiting in the car. I walked up to the gym door to look inside and I saw someone behind the desk, figuring they were just getting the club ready I waited for the club to open. The person behind the desk saw me so I waved, they in then turned on the lights to see me better. Who do I see but Kurt Osiander himself standing in his underwear brushing his teeth looking at me like 'what the fuck do you want?' before opening the door and letting me and the person inside.
'Either you two are really early or I'm really slow this morning'
'No sir, we're early, sorry for interrupting you'
After a brief conversation of me telling him I was dropping by on my layover and us talking about the last time I saw him, which was at the Black Belts for Butterflies fundraising seminar in Seattle at Professor James Foster's gym, he showed me the change room and let me dress and stretch out while he got ready himself. The gym is a big square space with an open mat area on one side and a gym area on the other, It's a nice big gym that I was happy to finally visit and have as my 100th gym.

As I slowly stretched out and got ready for class more and more people showed up and we ended up had a full class of 20 or more. The other person who showed up early as I did was a seasoned blue belt and Kurt had him lead the warm up. They must do this same warm up all the time as everyone seemed to know exactly what he was going to call and were a step ahead of me for switching to each new movement. It was good thorough warm up, and with the jet-lag from being in airports for almost 2 days I was drained before class even started, but I got my wind back quick enough. We worked a sweep from open guard, working shin on shin guard to side control to a choke. Little things got changed or added as we worked it out, Kurt was great at describing exactly how to move yourself and the opponent to make everything work. Counting the seminar this is twice now I've trained with Kurt and although he has an entertaining rock star persona, Kurt is always dropping some great knowledge on the mats and if you get all caught up in his hair and swearing instead of listening you'll miss it.

After class, as some were still rolling and others drilling I talked more with Kurt and told him of the Odyssey and him being the 100th club since beginning the journey. He thought the whole thing was cool and asked where I'd been, usually adding 'I'm going there later this year' or 'I want to go there next year' it seems Kurt's always working on new seminars and traveling. As I was talking to Kurt and some of his students about traveling and training Kurt mentioned that there was another class in an hour that I could stay for. I had to look at the times for making back to the airport for my flight and as much as I'd like to stay and have another class with Kurt Osiander that would be cutting it way too close to make my flight. I will say though it was awesome making it out and meeting the great group at Ralph Gracie's in San Francisco, thank you Kurt!

One Year of Traveling the World!

Earlier this week I hit the one year mark of traveling and training around the world. I was in Melbourne, training at a bunch of gyms that were all places I was referred to by other Globetrotters, making new friends and generally just loving life. I didn't do anything big for that day, like jump in a shark tank or train a bunch, I was actually pretty tired from all the training lately so I had a quiet night and went to the movies. The days leading up to the milestone I was thinking of it a lot, typing out a master list of countries, cities and clubs, talking about it to the people I was staying and training with in Geelong, before Melbourne. Just letting it sit in that I've been traveling and training around the world for one full year.
Here are the numbers I have for traveling for one year:
22 countries
72 cities
112 clubs
and countless friends made along the way.
There are so many people I owe to the Odyssey being able to work, too many to name individually, but know that if you are reading this you are one of them. One person I must give a big shout out is Christian Graugart, the head guy how created BJJ Globetrotters after his own traveling around the world and training. Without Christian putting together the community as he traveled and using social media to bring us all together I would never have found most of the places I've trained at and most likely never have met any of the people who have hosted me on this journey. Thank you so much Christian for creating BJJ Globetrotters and thank you to the BJJ Globetrotter community for all the help you've given me and wonderful hospitality you've shown me.

I have plans to travel for another 6 months, if I can mange the finances to cover it, before heading back to Canada and going back to the 'normal life'. It will be hard to re-adjust I'm sure but once I'm settled I'll be sure to have my door open and repaying all the good karma I've had sent my way.

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account.
Buy Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.
Buy a shirt at Panda's Jiu-Jitsu Store.
Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
Check out my full photo albums for each article at my Flickr account.
Add me and follow along on most social media @pandasodyssey