Adelaide & Geelong Australia: BJJ &...Gardens?

Greetings From Adelaide and Geelong Australia (Oct 28- Nov 8 2017)!

I left Perth and flew to Adelaide quite uneventfully. The directions I had to get to where I was staying in Adelaide were quite concise and easy to follow. I was on my own in Adelaide, having picked up a room with AirBnB. I had credit to use up that I had been saving ever since the problem in Heidelberg/Mannheim where AirBnB froze my account inexplicably and took their time to unfreeze it, causing me to miss out on the perfect place and costing me a lot more for the visit. I had been holding on to it for Australia, I heard places aren't cheap so having credit for a free stay I might as well use it here. I rented a room from a quiet Asian couple who were very kind but with our different schedules we didn't see much of each other. The place was in a quiet neighborhood away from downtown but close enough to make it easy to get around, finally having my own room in a quiet setting was bliss and I managed to finally catch up on some much needed rest from the past crazy weeks.

Geelong was a different story. The flight into Melbourne and bus out to Geelong was easy enough, well actually getting to Geelong was a bit tricky but luckily I had help. Instead of a hostel or AirBnB this time around I was staying with Globetrotters who were fans of my stories, Jeremy and Annie. I although I had some time to myself to wander and see the city I was mostly just following Jeremy on his plans to visit different nearby gyms with me. It was an awesome time being taken care of so well by them and having a blast sharing stories and training together. While I was visiting Geelong Jeremy and I and a bunch of guys from another gym all piled into a van and heading into Melbourne for a seminar at Absolute MMA, but I'll get into that story later.

The Sights & The Gardens

One thing that I noticed most all the cities in Australia has is a botanical garden, which kind of stand out given the beach setting on the coast or desert like scenery outside the city. In places like Adelaide and Geelong where there's not a lot of tourism set up in terms of tours or attractions spending my time walking around these gardens seemed the best way to get out and relax. I guess you could say these stops really put the use the whole warrior and gardener mindset into action. I had some great meditative days. In a park in Adelaide there was a Japanese Zen garden, The Himeji Gardens, that was gifted by Adelaide's sister city Himeji. I spent the afternoon slowly walking around this place enjoying the pond and different plant arrangements and the perfectly raked rock gardens.

Geelong's larger Botanical Gardens in Eastern Park was quite the walk with all sorts of trees, plants and flowers displayed from from all over the world. One minute you're walking through a miniature desert looking at cacti and the next you're in a flower bed of roses and other exotic colourful flowers. It's one of the oldest botanical gardens in Australia and is really interesting to walk around, I'm glad I made it out.

Trinity MMA

As I said earlier I was enjoying the rest at my nice and quiet AirBnB in Adelaide and actually end up skipping a few training sessions. One place I did make it out to though was Trinity MMA to finally meet up with Dan Dwyer. I met Dan in the Globetrotters group, connected by my good man Luke, and we kept in contact while I planned out my visit, helping me look for a place to stay and figuring out the gym schedules. Making my way out for the open mat to meet a few of the gym members and finally meet Dan was a great time, if a short lived one. Looking back I wish I was able to make it out to a full class or visit the other gyms Dan gave me information on but having some down time to rest was probably the better decision in the long run. Anyways, I took the Adelaide city buses across town to where Trinity MMA is set up, the gym space was upstairs, an all matted floor with an MMA cage off to the side.

There were a few people already around training, being 'a friend of Dan's' was good enough for them and I started to get changed and warm up. Dan hadn't shown up yet so I made friends with the guys while waiting. Amongst the cool people I met there was Brodie, who at the time was a keen white belt, now a blue belt, who also liked to travel. Brodie gave me some great tips for Japan and it's been fun watching his updates on competing this past year. It's too bad we couldn't meet up in Japan but we had fun training and chatting when I visited. Dan finally showed up on the mats and we had some good rolls, he helped introduce me to everyone I hadn't meet yet and tell them about my travels. The group were very welcoming, every Australian I've met loves to travel so sharing stories of backpacking is was a good time and the easy going attitude of Australia makes you feel at home both on and off the mats. Training with the gym was a good time, we had some good hard rolls and some great knowledge shared on the mats as well. Like I said, I wish I was able to come out to a full class another night to meet more of the gym. Thanks Dan for inviting me out!

DC Jiu-Jitsu

In Geelong Jeremy brought me out to the gym he trains at, DC Jiu-Jitsu where I met Prof. Dan Cherubin, a big guy who has been training in BJJ for a long time, one of the first Black Belts in Australia and the highest ranked Australian under Master Ricardo De La Riva. It was a blast talking to him and hearing all the knowledge and history of the art. Training there for one day wasn't enough but it was unfortunately all we could fit in with the seminar and visiting other gyms in my short stay. The gym is a big square space with the mat space in the middle and there being a low wall around it. Change rooms were in the the back and there was another small space for warming up or other classes back there too.

The class was big and I didn't have much time introducing myself to them, talking a lot with Prof. Dan and Jeremy. The few I did talk to while training were nice enough to me visiting and I had a good time training and rolling. There was a portion of the class where we fought from positions, getting out of side control, that my partner and I probably were rolling a little more stiff than we were supposed to, but all in good fun, beating each other up is how you make friends. Prof. Dan taught a class that was all about the crucifix and all the small details for keeping control from each option the opponent has for defense. I never knew how technical the crucifix actually was, I mean I knew how deadly a position it is especially for MMA but all the fine details for controlling your opponent, particularly the arm you catch with your legs, was eye opening. I've forgotten a lot of the details Prof. Dan taught that night but any time I'm in a potential crucifix position, like from turtle, I always have a few of the things he taught that day flash through my head. I'd like to think it's helped with defending being in a crucifix but that would be a lie, it would be better described as knowing exactly what I'm caught in and when to tap.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it back to Dc Jiu-Jitsu for another class, I had hoped to do an video with Prof. Dan but with all the over things going on and places to see it never happened. I did thoroughly enjoy myself training there however and hope to make it back one day, thank you Prof. Dan for having me!

Sub MMA

Jeremy also brought me out to Sub MMA, a gym that was working on their new space when I visited them. There was no sign up yet and the front still under renovations but the mats were all down and on the walls so the important part was ready. I met Jamie there, the gym owner and coach, hes' a great guy and very friendly, just a few words to tell him who I am and next I knew I was family. The training area was a square space with blue and black mats with the walls matted as well, the guys were already training in there when we got there, doing kickboxing or MMA, so the place was already hot and sweaty. Warm up and training only make it worse, these guys really put in the work. The gym is entirely no gi, more set up for MMA or submission wrestling, I imagine with all the news Craig Jones was making at the time no gi was getting incredibly popular across Australia. We had some good training with lots of drilling, I can't remember the exact details of what we were drilling but I do remember having a lot of trouble shooting to try and catch up to them. I also had some good matches with a few of the guys, even got to roll with Jeremy one last time, there were some killers that could easily run circles around me and a their leg lock game was definitely more extensive. I'd like to think I did well defending.

While training at the gym we went over a little of what was covered at the seminar a few of use were lucky enough to attend in Melbourne on the weekend before. This is how I first met with Jamie and few guys from his gym. One morning Jeremy and I drove out to Jamie's and piled into a van with everyone to head to St Kilda on the far side of Melbourne. The Absolute MMA HQ was holding a seminar to collect money for Craig Jones' brother who had just injured himself. The whole day was an awesome experience, hanging out with fun people, having a road trip to Melbourne, and meeting the likes of Craig Jones, Kit Dale, Lachlan Giles and Livia Guchowska, not to mention learning awesome Jiu-Jitsu, all in one day. We left Geelong pretty early so we would be sure to have time for finding parking and get to the gym without missing anything. I think maybe we gave ourselves too much time as the gym wasn't even open when we shown up, people were waiting actually outside.

We were one of the first few people inside once the gym opened but it got busy quickly and in no time we were sitting along the wall stretching watching the instructors hang out in the middle of the mats. I have followed Kit Dale for a long time now and I've been a fan of Craig Jones since I first saw his highlights, and I had talked to Lachlan and Liv a bit online when Luke connected me to them for my visit, to meet them all in person at the same time was awesome. The seminar had six instructors each teach a short session and I loved everything they taught, even Craig Jones' crazy Z-guard to heel hook that a lot of us couldn't get. One thing I noticed about the seminar was the open camaraderie among everyone there, I know a lot of them were Absolute teammates but there was a lot of joking going on and no one there seemed too serious. It was a great first impression and I looked forward to returning during my visit to Melbourne.

Once the seminar was over we all piled back into the van and headed home, not before stopping for some KFC which is like 1000x better in Australia then back home, and all we talked about the entire time was the awesome seminar we were just a part of. Even during class a few days later we couldn't stop bringing it up. That's what going to a good seminar feels like, it's the Jiu-Jitsu equivalent of being the first in your bunch of friends that sees the newest blockbuster movie out. If there's one way to describe the guys at Sub MMA other than a friendly bunch is passionate, Jamie and his gym loves training and learning, thanks for having me guys!

Thanks again Jeremy and Annie, it was a blast hanging out with you and I'm grateful you let me come crash at your place with nothing more than a few lines in Facebook, the power of the internet and Jiu-Jitsu bringing people together. And after an all too short and busy stop meeting and making all sorts of cool friends I was off for my next adventures in Melbourne.

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

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
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.
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Return to the Odyssey: Perth Australia

Greetings From Perth Australia ( 23- 28 Oct 2017)

After a lengthy detour I'm back to telling my adventures of traveling the world once again. When I last left off, before the BJJ Globetrotters camp reviews, I had met up with the Free Rollers in San Diego for a week of training and shenanigans. I followed them back to Perth Australia and we all met up at the airport. The coincidental timing that everyone got in at was uncanny, Andy got in during the day and had enough time to get home and shower and rest up before coming back and picking up Luke and myself who got in at roughly the same time but on different flights. I was tired from the long flight over but excited to finally be here in 'The Land Down Under' and I was really looking forward to training at the home gym to all the guys I just hung with in San Diego.

The guys from left to right, Zack, Reece, Charlie, Luke, Andy and myself. Xande in the middle of course. 

Originally I was supposed to stay with Luke, who runs Free Rollers and put together the whole trip to San Diego (Which he's doing it again next year in March!), but he suddenly got called into work while we were flying to Perth so I was left still trying to plan out where I'd be staying on the way there. Andy, being a stand up guy despite what all the others say, offered me a room to crash in at his place until he had to take off for work in a few days. That was awesome, a few days was all I needed to sort out things out. As it happens it ended up being a bit of bad time for everyone so I was only staying a night or two at each place. Andy's for a few, Reece and Sharaine's for a few, then Christy's, who I had just met, but more on that later. The important part is I was finally in Australia and ready to fight a kangaroo (Didn't happen and no kangaroos were harmed in the making of these adventures).

'Being Australian'

I got out to see a lot of Perth and the surrounding area, thanks Andy and Sharaine for the drives and pointing out different areas, I got no photos of these trips and actually I'm lacking pics for a lot of this visit.  One thing I do have pics of is the food I ate. During my short stay with Reece and Sharaine it was decided that since Reece was out at work Sharaine was going to show me around and have me try all the quintessential 'Australian Things' or Australian foods anyways, I had already mastered the art of wearing no socks at any time and scandals, or 'pluggers', whenever I could so I was only a mullet short of being an honorary Perthian. During my time living in Toronto I played in an AFL league and so was introduced to the greatness that is Tim Tams and salted licorice, separate of course not together, but there's tons of other candies and foods in Australia that I had never heard of before and still I haven't tried even after this trip (Fairy Bread, seriously 'straya WTF?!').

With Sharaine's help I tried out whatever I could, I had the Rocky Road Bark and Australian Licorice Allsorts, which were quite big compared to what I was used to, and she introduced me to the Golden Gaytime, which was Ok but no ice cream sandwich in my opinion. One day I tried Vegemite, did not enjoy it one bit. I also went to Hungry Jacks, the Australian Burger King which was much better than that shit toast spread but just not as good as the original back home. The all time most Australian thing I did was get sausages, or snags as they call them, at Bunning's Warehouse where every weekend they sell their 'Bunning's Snags' for charity, called a Sausage Sizzle. All in all I'd say trying these foods was a cracka of a time! (did I say that right?)

Nope!

Call it what you want, I'm always down for BBQ!

Gemina MMA

After training with the lads in San Diego for a week it was time to meet the rest of their club, and watch them try some of the techniques we picked up, and fail. As it happens all the real Alphas stayed back and waited for us at their home gym of Gemina MMA (inside joke from the trip). The gym, one of a few locations under the Gemina and Legion XIII banner, is in a warehouse space with room for a big matted space in red and black mats and a kickboxing ring in the front. First night of classes I showed up with Andy and met up with Charlie but Reece and Luke were away with work and Zack was apparently out injured from San Diego but still around to teach the kids. I can't remember the order the classes I attended while training there but one night I met both Aaron, who's the owner, BJJ black belt and Muay Thai coach, and Josephine, also a black belt and I believe the head BJJ instructor. They were both really friendly and helpful and happy to have me visiting, I felt very welcome there despite most the guys I knew not being there.

I remember having a gi class where we worked attacks from different positions. I had a smaller partner and I tried going really light with the attacks from top position and not crushing them but half the movements were new to me so it just ended up being kind of awkward for most the class. I also remember a no gi class where I just couldn't get the movement from guard pass to hip control down and Josephine was really patient trying to help me get the concept and technique working. To be honest after the week in San Diego and the long flight to Perth I was quite tired and jet lagged and learning just wasn't working for me that week. I'm thankful everyone was helpful as I fumbled through classes. At least the rolls were fun. I guess that's part of traveling, sometimes you just have off days. I know I've had many, in fact since being back home now there's been weeks where I just rest and don't bother training at all. I didn't really have that luxury moving around at the pace I was so I just had to try and work through it and get back into the swing of things on the mats. I think I did quite well all things considered. 

There was a guy whose name I forget, a blue belt, who was an absolute beast. I watched him destroy everyone before having a roll with him. I met the same fate as everyone else but the funny part was afterwards when he was very humble and shy asking me, with my traveling experience seeing world class athletes, asking me how he did and if he were to compete in a larger platform like the Australian Open or Worlds how do I think he would do. I have never met such a humble person with so much gifted ability, I'l have to check in on him once in a while because I'm sure he'll go far. I had a blast training with everyone in both the gi and no gi classes, I'll definitely have to come back and next time do it while Luke is actually home to visit. Thanks again guys for having me!

Wilkes Martial Arts

There are several BJJ clubs across Perth and the surrounding area and it seems a lot of the people there like to cross train and hit up open mats at different gyms. One day Charlie and Christy brought me to Wilkes Martial Arts in the city, until now I was mostly around the Rockingham area which is south of Perth where everyone lived so so technically this was my first and only actual time training in Perth. The gym they brought me to was a matted rectangular space which I think other martial arts also used the space for. It was no-gi and the class was very casual and relaxed, everyone seemed like good friends just meeting up to drill and roll rather than a real structured class, which seems to be the way of more modern no-gi gyms from what I've gathered lately. Anyways it was some good fun rolling with everyone and meeting some new people at another gym. It's too bad that it was a small showing so I didn't get the chance to meet and see more of the team structure to tell you about. It was still fun all the same and I greatly enjoyed training and rolling with those who did come out.

Although I don't have much for notes for this visit I will say though that it was great getting out and training no-gi with another gym. With the exception of visiting 10th Planet it was all gi training in San Diego. I am more of a gi person for training and competing and was almost completely just gi when I first started traveling. In fact any time I hit a no-gi class while traveling across Canada I would usually get the comment of "you train mostly gi, right?" after a roll because of how I moved and reacted, and usually paused and thought 'no grips now what?' I wasn't horrible in no-gi but definitely wasn't very comfortable and actually probably wouldn't have agreed to coming to this class if this was two years ago, or at least feel very anxious about it. As the Odyssey has gone on I have trained more and more in no-gi and maybe even have trained more in no-gi overall, given all the other grappling styles I've tried don't wear a gi. Anyways, being able to roll with the killers that were at Wilkes and be able at least hold my own and defend or understand where I'm getting caught was a moment of clarity in seeing the progression I at times thought maybe I wasn't making while traveling. Progression while traveling, that is another topic to cover another time.

Australian Hospitality and a Small World

Luke has been one of if not the first person to reach out to me when I first started posting about my plans to travel the world. Since then we've pretty much become brothers online and had a great time hanging out together in San Diego. I was a real shame he suddenly got called into work and wasn't around while I visited. Of course with previous plans to stay at his place it now meant I needed to find a new place to stay during the visit. As mentioned before this ended up being a bit of trouble as it seemed to be bad timing for everyone all around. Most other places I would have ended up staying at a last minute and overpriced hostel or hotel and going way over my budget for it. That doesn't seem to be the Australian way to let that happen to a guest like me. Instead the guys who I had just met a week ago were there to help me out without any hesitation.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of hanging out with the gym guys or the party at Chirsty's, so here more training pics.

I met Christy while training at Gemina, a very deadly student and good friends with the guys from the San Diego trip. She was awesome to train with and I was pretty much on the defense most the time rolling with her. After class one night a few of us went out for food, Josephine and Christy joined us and Charlie, Andy and I told them all sorts of stories about San Diego, I had a few from my own travels as well. As I mentioned I could only stay at Andy's for two nights before he had to take off for work, and with Charlie already busy working and Luke away that left Reece and Sharaine who gracefully left me stay for another few days at their place. The problem was I had one more day I needed a place to stay at before my flight to Adelaide and I was running out of options. We had only just met a few nights before but when she overheard the problem Christy offered me her spare room no problem. Christy is a hell of a good person, it saved me from looking for a last minute, and really expensive, room downtown and also meant I would be at her birthday party.

The birthday party, I knew about it and was ready for it even though I had an early morning the next day to catch my flight off to the next destination, any chance to socialize is worth taking after all. I got to Christy's early before the party started and hung out while she put the final things into place and got ready for her guests. As the night went on more and more people showed up and I tried to talk with everyone to introduce myself and meet them. I found out that not only is Christy in the Navy but the majority of their guests were too, being former Navy myself that gave me a great ice breaker with everyone. As we were talking I noticed the popular drink with everyone was the Canadian Club and Ginger Ale pre-mixed drinks, as we call them 'C.C & Ginger' back home. That somehow moved the conversation of them talking about drinking these drinks with a Canadian Navy ship while it was in town, and not just any ship but my old ship, the HMCS Ottawa! Imagine my surprise learning these newly made friends had partied with my old shipmates, and my jealously when reminded that I missed that amazing sail because I was on course that summer. Such a small world, always running into people and connections where I least expect it. Anyways, it was an awesome last night in Perth, Christy threw a great party, had a wonderful birthday and I was off early the next morning. I totally owe her, and the rest of the guys, one for helping me out at such a last minute problem.

And while everyone slept off their hangovers or were away working I quietly left Perth and headed for the next destination in Australia: Adelaide, or as the locals in Perth say 'Why the hell are you going there?!'

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

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
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

BJJ Globetrotters Camps Part 3: Return to Heidelberg Germany!

Greetings From Around the World Part 3!

Here's the last article covering the BJJ Globetrotters Camps I attended over the summer. I'll be back to sharing all my stories and adventures while traveling around the world shortly. I last left off telling you all about the BJJ Globetrotters camps in Greenland and Iceland and before that the first part to this trilogy covered the USA Camp and visiting Toronto. Now I bring you the final part, BJJ Globetrotters Camps Part 3: Return to Heidelberg Germany!

I hate, hate, hate unicorns!

BJJ Globetrotters Fall Camp (Heidelberg Germany 13-18 August 2018)

Heidelberg was my first camp last year, to return to it for my 5th camp and my last stop outside of Canada was a roller coaster of emotions. I was going back one of my favourite places to see all sorts of friends I’ve made along the way but at the same time it also meant the Odyssey was over and there would be no more traveling outside of Canada any time soon. I wish more friends could have been there for me to see one last time at this final camp but a group of them choose the Leuven party camp instead, and if I still drank I would totally have been there with them. There was still a large number of friends I'd made along the way attending the camp, with lots of new people to meet and make friends with as well. This time around I was now a veteran camper and knew what to bring, what to expect and how to pace myself for the week, this was going to be a good last stop.

On my way!

Last year I planned my arrival with the start of the camp but left no room for error and was in a rush, showing up a bit late and tired for the starting classes. This year I tried to correct that and planned on arriving in the morning. The event of the Frankfurt airport taking over 90 minutes to unload luggage and having only 5 minutes to rush for the bus to Heidelberg aside, I showed up on time but completely exhausted. The flight over to Germany from Canada was an overnight flight, and while I usually deal OK with those and can get some rest I got no sleep this time around. There was a woman and her teenage daughter sitting next to me, I had the aisle seat, and the teenage girl seating the middle decided she would not only lean on me at times while sitting sideways but also constantly restlessly move around back and forth. Any time I was about to find some rest I'd get a nudge waking me up, so instead of showing up to the camp, on time and rested and ready to start off on the right foot I ended up showing up completely exhausted and jet jagged and unable to partake in anything that first day. I was in worse condition than last year, once rooms were available I had a hot shower and a nap before the evenings celebrations.

One thing I really like about this camp is that it's at the University sports arena where, if we buy the full ticket, we have a room and meal plan all taken care off. Actually, of all the camps I've been to the Iceland camp was the only one where dealing with lodgings and meals was separate. I much prefer the full package, not just because I'm lazy and don't want to deal with cooking or finding a decent hostel or that the meal plan is a more responsible diet than what I'd be eating my own but we hang out and socialize and bond more having our meals and rooming together. The convenience factor of being at the sports hall and not having to deal with transit to and from each day is also a big bonus. Some people stayed at the nearby hostel and I'm sure that went by great with so many of the campers staying in the same spot and it only being a 10 minute walk away, but others ended up in places on the other side of town either dealing traffic driving to the sports place and back or walking 45 minutes each way. I did that in Iceland and would much prefer skipping that adventure again if I could.

The Blackpool club, so glad they made it out and was able to catch up with them.

Had a blast hanging with the Heidelberg group again.

For this camp the schedule was changed slightly, there were only 2 or 3 classes together then a 1 hour open mat as opposed to past camps where there would be 4 classes together and a 2 hour open mat. I found that small change made the day of training and rolling easier and I'm sure others found that too. The new schedule keep a more active flow, not as much down time if you were skipping the open mat for the classes, or classes for the open mat sessions. Throughout the camp I would focus on 1 or 2 classes a day and spend another 2 hours or so rolling, making sure to train with people I haven't trained with before both to make new friends and continue training with different body types and rolling styles. Of course I also made time to roll with old friends and catch up with them, or more like get choked out by them again.

Fun times at the camp. Thanks Jack (center) for the morning Yoga!  

These girls are killer Judo players and destroyed everyone standing, I was too scared to ask to go a round with them!

Made a new friend from Blackpool, so fun hanging out Linsey!

Don't think I'm ever around Dave without him drinking or only being half dressed.

Training and hitting as many classes as I could was a blast, I had a real problem picking and choosing classes so I didn't burn myself out. One day I was tired and looking to watch the afternoon classes, Charles Harriott came up to me and asked to use me for his class on darces and neckties to show 'what to do against big guys'. Then after his class David Morcegao, showing off some big guy techniques from the scarf, used me for a demo as well. I just wanted to watch, maybe drill a little and roll later, ends up I would be fighting for my life defending from those techniques the rest of the day, and week. Really though it was awesome getting those diamond details from both those guys, it really brought my game up. Another day I had the pleasure of rolling with Daniel Bertina and feeling first hand his top pressure class he taught after the open mat and then watched Heather Raftery teach a crucifix class. Some many great instructors, from Jack's morning yoga classes to Christian's 'super string theory of Jiu-Jitsu', another amazing experience and great knowledge gained at a BJJ Globetrotters camp.

So nice meeting Heather and great seeing Daniel and David again. 

Charles Harriott, thanks again for the D'arce tips.

Cristiana, Katla and Karla. great seeing you all again!

Can (Jon) of Artemis BJJ, a pleasure chatting as usual. 

The first night in Heidelberg we held the pub crawl as usual, it's a great way to socialize and get all the party energy out of our system so we can focus on training during the week. This year there was an added bonus to it, a couple were getting married at camp, that's right BJJ Globetrotters very first Jiu-Jitsu wedding, and the pub crawl was their stag and doe party. Last year the pub crawl was about 30 or so people and was a blast dressing up and hanging out at the different pubs while getting to know the other campers. The crawl through the city also showed me where some of the good parts of town for food and drink were, if you could remember where you were after that night. This year however it seemed more like only 30 people didn't show up for the crawl. We flooded the streets and the bars where ever we went, trying not to be too loud and failing miserably. At one point an old woman opened her window to see what the commotion was, only to instantly gasp, cross her heart and quickly shutter her window and lock it. Apparently our crawl was intimidating to some of the locals.

Finally an occasion to wear my harajuku shirt.

One thing I didn't get around to doing last time I was in Heidelberg was visit the Heidelberg Castle, this time I wasn't going to miss it. The view from the castle over looking the city and the Neckar River is quite breath taking. Here's some of the pictures taken from our walk around the castle and area as well as around the camp in general. You can see more of my pictures from this and all my other articles other on my Flickr Account.

It's ok, it just apple juice, I swear!

Throughout the week groups of campers would return to some of the pubs we visited on this crawl, most notably 'The 4 Euro Bar'. That's not really the name of the pub, we dubbed it that name last year when we found it during the pub crawl. The pub, actually named Bob's Burger Bar, is the favourite spot for the Globetrotters, just like the Lebowski Bar in Reykjavik I mentioned in the last article we pretty much took it over for the duration of the camp. In fact the Globetrotters tend to have a favourite bar at every camp, I like to think having us in town is good for business. This year the bar had an impressive menu of pub food that was missing last year. Lots of us dropped by at night to socialize and grab some food and the camp end party was held there. They even let us hold the crazy event of 'body building posing' there, I'm sure we'll be back to take the 4 Euro Bar over again next year.

Hanging out at the '4 Euro Bar'

They have great burgers there.

One event of the camp everyone was waiting for was the Jiu-Jitsu wedding. This was a first for the Globetrotters camps and only started to be planned since the Iceland camp two week prior. I remember sitting at the kebab place with Christian, Giles and Cristiana, scrolling through Facebook as they brainstormed making a last minute t-shirt for the Germany camp when I saw the announcement. Alex had just proposed to Katya and they had only just posted it maybe 10 minutes before I saw it and showed the table. Instantly Cristiana was telling Christian he should get ordained and they could plan the wedding for Germany. A lot of work must have been put in within that short busy time because it ran without a hitch. It was amazing to see everyone come together and help out and share in Alex and Katya's joy. I had the honour of being the one to give Katya away, which was completely unexpected when she asked me but I was more than happy to do. Although it was lovely watching two friends get married in the first ever BJJ Globetrotters Jiu-Jitsu wedding, Christian's opening speech was amazing and I wish it was recorded (see everyone at camp 100 on the Moon!). Afterwards we watched them have their first roll as the newly married couple, and with Katya's newly awarded blue belt, as everyone had cake and drinks and began the camp end open mat. It was truly the perfect happy ending to the camp.

Katya the bride and me ready to give her away.

Nothing like getting promoted during your wedding!

The married couples' first roll together.  

With the end of the camp came the end of my travels, for now anyways. It was great to see everyone, to make all the new friends I made and be apart of the first ever Jiu-Jitsu wedding, as well as all the awesome training of course. Attending all the camps was the perfect way to spend the summer and this camp was the best bittersweet ending. Even if this was my last stop outside of Canada all the great memories I was bringing home washed away any regrets or sadness. After a little confusion on where to catch the Sunday bus I was on my way to Frankfurt to catch my plane back to Canada. This wraps up my summer adventures of attending the BJJ Globetrotters camps, I'll be back writing about the Odyssey next time picking up back in Australia.   

Always fun seeing Giles and Cristiana. 

One last hangout with Christian.

Body building competition, we meet have gone too far at this camp...nah! 

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

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