Niagara Falls Ontario Canada: Seeing the sights and getting some Jiu-Jitsu in!

Greetings From Niagara Falls!

I made it to Niagara Falls without any problem, I caught the GO Bus on time and not only was there a stop just across from my hotel, but also the front desk let me check in early! That gave me time to catch a nap and see the sights before class that night. Niagara Falls was a big 'maybe' on the list and I really didn't know if I would be going or not until I was in Hamilton. Originally I was supposed to stay with a friend in St. Catherine's (next door to Niagara Falls) but just before the holidays that fell through. I contacted the gym I was going to go to and it ends up they would be closed for that weekend because of a big tournament in Toronto. I then asked my friend Matt Kaiser if he knew of anywhere to train or stay at, if not I'd just come back to Toronto and see some more friends and maybe check out another club or two. As it ends up Matt introduced me to Coach Rob and his gym, 1812 Fitness. Coach Rob was happy to help out and, although he wouldn't be around, set up places for me to train at. All I needed was a place to stay. As it happens, Niagara falls is dirt cheap to stay at in January! It's off season time so they get very little tourist traffic. The city is a buzz with tourists most the year and prices for everything are easily double or triple in the summer but during the winter I practically had my run of the town. Going there to see the sites without the mobs of tourists was more than worth it (Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!). Coach Rob setting me up with places to train made it a great stop I'm glad I made!

The Clubs: 1812 Fitness and Relentless MMA

Coach Rob runs 1812 Fitness, a place Matt Kaiser said he likes to check into when he's in town, so it was on my place of training at, especially since coach Rob was setting all this up for me, but their class wasn't until Saturday. I got in early Friday which meant it was the night everyone hits up Relentless MMA. The Niagara region Jiu-Jitsu community is a bit different. It's a small area and they understand that support from each club is needed to make Jiu-Jitsu successful. With that in mind they have different days for each club holding open mat. Friday evening is Relentless, Saturday it's 1812 and Sunday they all head down to Fort Erie to Dayboll-Pascuzzi Jiu-Jitsu for Sensei Sam Pascuzzi's open mat.

Fun Friday night at Relentless!

Relentless MMA is new, it had only been open for about 6 months when I visited, but Davide and Pat, who run the gym, have been working hard to make it a success. The space is an old warehouse lot that they turned into a gym, with lots of mat space, heavy bags for the kickboxing classes, and raised area for people to sit and watch, with the changed rooms and washrooms there as well. Word was put out that I was in town for the weekend and apparently that got a lot more than the usual few people out for open mat Friday night. There were a good dozen guys in the mats, and they were monsters! The rolls were tough but fun, no one was trying to rough up the new guy but they weren't playing easy either. I talked with a bunch of them about my blog and where I had been so far, most of them seem really interested in my journey, 'living the dream' as everyone says. It was a good 'Welcome to Niagara' for sure!

Open mat Friday night, a bunch of monsters on the mats.

The next day it was time to make it to 1812 Fitness. They are also in a warehouse lot, but a bit smaller and more square, with an area for weights on the right and the mats on the left. The guys all went out for drinks after training the night before, where I did not, having other plans to meet with a friend, and that seemed to knock off most of them from showing up to the noon time open mat Saturday. I myself was moving a bit slowly, being on day 6 of training and still sore from the 3 hours a day in Hamilton, so I showed up a little late. With my presence it made 5 people on the mats. Despite low numbers we still had a good time, I rolled some good matches with everyone there at least once, all bigger than me I might add (Wasn't joking about them being monsters!). We talked a bunch about different Jiu-Jitsu topics after rolling. At one point we went over some techniques and I showed them some of my favourite moves. It was a good Saturday class, too bad a bunch of the Friday night guys missed it.

Sunday I was going to go to Fort Erie to train at Dayboll-Pascuzzi Jiu-Jitsu and meet Sensei Sam Pascuzzi if he was there but Coach Rob told me he was having trouble finding me a ride. I was tired from such an active week and really needed to get on my blogs for Toronto still, so I told him not to worry and that I could use a rest day anyway. I wish I had more time to see everyone in Niagara Falls, finally meet Coach Rob and make it to some classes rather than just the open mats and make it to Fort Erie and meet all those guys too but as I've said before, if I took the time to hit every club in Canada I've never be able to leave the Country, and there's always next time.

Group shot of the Friday night class that welcomed me to Niagara Falls, thanks for the good rolls guys! Davide, the co-owner of Relentless MMA and BJJ instructor is in the middle with the yellow spats.

I also wish I could have set up an interview with someone, there are so many interesting  people here: Coach Rob who runs 1812 Fitness and has an open door policy and set everything up for me I think would have been a good interview. Pat and Davide who are dealing with a new club in a small but dedicated community would have made an interesting interview. And of course talking to Sensei Sam Pascuzzi in Fort Erie, who is the head black belt for the area would have been a great choice as well. There just wasn't time and I was looking to take a rest from the hectic schedule I had been running lately, so I'm sorry but there's no interview for this week, but there are a bunch of photos from the sites of the city so hopefully that makes up for it.

Pat, who runs Relentless MMA with Davide and instructs the kickboxing classes.

Thank you Coach Rob for setting everything up and introducing me to all the awesome guys in Niagara and Thanks to Pat and Davide for having me over at Relentless, it was a blast!              

*UPDATE* 
Shortly after leaving Niagara Coach Rob had to close 1812 Fitness. It's always sad to hear of a club closing, especially when it's your friends' and you've trained there before. It's too bad you reading this won't get the chance to train there if you haven't already, but with the tight knit Jiu-Jitsu community in Niagara Falls I'm sure you'll see more of Coach Rob and his students!

The Sites: The Falls and The Strip

During my off time I hit up the sites at Niagara Falls, mostly on the first day I made it in to town. I hadn't been to Niagara Falls since I was a kid and my family went on the one summer vacation we did together. To be honest it was fun back then as a kid and I'll always have those memories but I think I'm glad we didn't do it again, it would make those memories not so special I think.

Old photo of the family vacation, I was scared to stand beside Frankenstein, but at least I had style back then.

My mom and brother and I. We're actually under the Horseshoe Falls, there's a tour through caves that brings you out under the falls. My mom was holding us so tight, apparently she thought I jump over the balcony hahah.

This time around I was on my own, as I said before there were no hoards of tourists around. I didn't go into the wax museums or haunted houses like we did when I was a kid (I don't have the money for that, and I still not over being creeped out by them haha) But I did walk up and down the strip of Clifton Hill and check out the falls themselves. Clifton Hill isn't as big as you would think, although it has a tons of stuff there, museums, arcades, even a dinosaur themed mini-putt and ferris wheel.  

Clifton Hill, the strip.

Frankenstein's haunted house, wonder if it's changed inside at all, too bad I'm not looking!

There's an ape on the side of the building..

The dinosaur mini-putt.

More of the strip.

The falls are pretty awesome to see and I think seeing them in the winter, with all the frost and ice around them, made them look ever more impressive to see. If you don't know, right on the boarder to the USA is Niagara Falls, which is the name for the group of three waterfalls, Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls (the Bridal Veil, in my opinion is just part of the American Falls). Right next to the falls is the Rainbow Bridge the connects USA and Canada and is a really busy border point. Its a beautiful sight to see and I spent a good time walking along the mile long stretch, stopping at every view point to get some pictures of the waterfalls. Here are some of the best ones:

Rainbow Bridge, sadly it doesn't go to Asgarde.

The falls, American on the left, Horseshoe on the right.

American Falls, with the Bride Veil Falls on the far right.

Horseshoe Falls, commonly known as the Niagara Falls. 

I rode up one those carts and took the overhead pic from it, its a pretty cool view.

I also went back at night in attempt to get pictures of the waterfalls and the strip, with the LED lights on the the falls and all the shops and signs and buildings and ferris wheel lit up. It was cool to see them but my phone is not the best option for capturing this sights, but I tried to make do.

Clifton Hill at night.

The ferris wheel I mentioned before. the day time picture didn't turn out well, but the night time shot did.

Best I could do to get a shot of the falls at night, this is the American and Bride Veil Falls.

Horseshoe Falls, before I took this picture they had it in a rainbow and it looked pretty cool.

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After a short weekend of training, taking in the sights, and walking down memory lane, it was time to head to Kingston Ontario Canada, for a long over due family reunion!

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

Hamilton Ontario Canada: Jeff Joslin and My Host Zach

Greetings From Hamilton!

Rather than take a bus or train or any of the local city transit to make the short ride from Toronto to Hamilton (they're like an hour's drive apart) my brother, working out in that area, drive me into to town in the morning. Of course it wasn't a nice sunny morning to drive in, no it was a dark, grey, sky and roads filled with giant snow flakes morning. It wasn't near as bad at the snow storm we drove in last winter but it was a shitty drive out of the city all the same. This does make me wonder if maybe the two of us driving in a terrible snow fall is becoming a winter tradition. Once we made it out of Toronto it got better and Jeff was able to drop me off downtown Hamilton no problem. We said our farewells as this would be the last I saw him for a while now and I was off to meet up with my host for the next few days, Zach. Thank you for the ride, going to miss you bro!

My Host In Hamilton, Zach

My host for Hamilton I starting talking to online a long time ago, back when I first started planning everything out and was still just getting the basic outline for this whole concept down. Zach has been a big fan of my blog ever since we first started talking and instantly welcomed me to his place. Being that he was one of the first supporters of this journey I was looking forward to finally meeting him. After my brother dropped me off I waited at a coffee shop until Zach was done work and able to come get me, which was only about half an hour. We talked about my journey experiences and Zach's own experiences going to the BJJ Globetrotters camp, something I haven't done yet but hope to do one day,  as Zach drove around town, showed me some sites and told me the history of the city. For living next to Hamilton for 10 years when I was in Toronto, I really didn't know much of Hamilton other than the steel mills, and as Zach pointed out, I didn't know much about them either.

Not the best picture but you can tell someone is hooked on Jiu-Jitsu when they have mats in the basement and put nails up on the rafters to hang their gis off of.

After driving around we made out way to his place I got settled in to the cool set up he made for me in his office room, we weren't at his place for long though, there was a noon time class for us to get to and my first class at Joslin's MMA. After class, and after most the classes during the few days I spent with Zach, he would bring me out to one of the many restaurants in town. One time it was tacos, another it was burgers, one evening we met with his family and had Thai food, another time we met with Cory of the Gi Hive and had amazing ribs. All these places were awesome, if there's one thing Zach new it was where to eat in Hamilton!

Ribs! Was so good!

The whole time I spent with Zach we trained at the club he trains at, Joslin's MMA and hit both the noon time classes and evening classes. We were getting about 3 hours of training time in a day and it was great! In between classes, we would talk about all sorts of things, training philosophies, different experiences training abroad at different gyms, our favourite movies, work and life in general. It was a great time chatting and hanging out and making a close friend. Zach really took care of me on my stay there and I know I always have a place to go to in Hamilton. Thanks for everything Zach, next time foods on me!  

Zach the man himself, thanks for everything, buddy! 

Joslin's MMA

One of the mats in Joslin's

Originally Zach had an idea of traveling around and hitting different clubs up in the area, we could even go down into Buffalo and train at a club just on the other side of the boarder. I really liked the idea, but I also had been waiting to train at Joslin's for a long time and was really looking forward to meeting Jeff Joslin. We decided instead just to hit every class at the gym we could in the time I was in town, and I am happy we did, because every class I met new people and made new friends, some people I had been talking to online for a while, and some had just heard of me and were looking to meet me. This was a first, people looking to meet me? As it happens, when I decided to get back into martial arts 6 years ago I was in college in St. John's Newfoundland and found a club, St. John's BJJ and Judo. I trained there until I was posted to Victoria BC where I found Fierce Studio. While in St. John's I trained under Mike Samson who is a student of Jeff Joslin. So as I was on my way to Hamilton, both Zach and Mike posted in the gym's Facebook group about me coming to train with them while I passed through on the Odyssey. This apparently piqued the interest of a number of students who came looking for me. It was a weird but cool feeling meeting people like this.

Warming up before class, the other mat area in the club. In the back on the right is a cage was well.

Joslin's has a lot of history, the club is in it's 50th year of not just existing but being in the same building! Jeff Joslin told me of how he grew up above the the gym in their apartment back when his dad ran the gym as a kickboxing club. The walls are all full of posters for fight events, newspaper clippings and trophies. There's two large mat areas and lots of wall space between the two of them, and they're all full. Like I said, lots of history.

Old photos and new articles of Jeff Joslin and his dad, Rick Joslin, who started the gym.

One of the many walls covered in memories of this gym.

I can say just about every class was different, even if we were training the same techniques, the varying students in each class always gave a different vibe, always positive of course, and each instructor taught differently. In the end each class there was already some hard rolls and good times on the mats. Jeff was working on single leg take downs, other instructors were working open guard passing, or leg lock defenses. Lots of information was being shown that week and I loved every minute of it. Every class I made at least one new friend, and got crushed by them. They were a great team, full of positive energy. It was a great time training with them. Zach and I were hitting 2 classes a day, which although tiring I found a lot of fun. Zach, who was using this to launch his 'new year, new training regime' on the other hand was just about dead by the final class. I'm sure he'll admit, it was worth it!      

Rolling with Jason, a friend who always knows the guys out in Newfoundland.

Forget if this is from rolling or drilling something in class. either way, good times.

Cory Dunne of The Gi Hive.

What a good class!

Jeff Joslin

Like I said I had been waiting some time to finally meet Jeff Joslin a I was not disappointed! Jeff was such a nice guy and was happy to have me visit and do the interview with me. His classes were pretty cool, Jeff has a different style than most people. It's hard to pinpoint what's different about it but my guess is his kickboxing and MMA background add a different look into his Jiu-Jitsu. Rolling with him was crazy, I wish we could have rolled more! Jeff moves in a different way than what I'm used to, shutting down my usual moves and catching with submissions I don't regularly see, like the reverse armbar, from usual angles. We talked about it after rolling and he told me he has a few moves he gets all the time because people not being used to it. The best I can describe it is like an old school newaza flair to modern grappling.

What a nice guy, thanks for having me Jeff!

One day After class I set up my gear in one of the mats spaces and we did an interview together. It was cool hearing of Jeff's upbringing around martial arts and how he finally got into it full time. We talked about his time in the UFC and using that experience to run his time now, after retiring from MMA. I could feel the passion he has for the art, it's in his blood, that gym is his home and the students are his family.

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If you like reading these stories and watching these interviews sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account and help support me on my journey!

Also, you can buy my Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive (in the 'Other' section), check their stock too and take advantage of the flat rate shipping for Canada and USA!

After a full 4 days with Zach training at Jeff Joslin's that was it for Hamilton and it was time to head to Niagara Falls for a slower pace and some site seeing!

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

Toronto Ontario Canada Part 2: Toronto BJJ, OpenMat, and The Gi Hive

Greeting from Toronto...still!

We last left off with me training at Xtreme Couture, Greenwood BJJ and Northern Karate in Toronto. Now's it's time to finish off my adventures in this fine city I call one of my many homes.

A shot of Dundas Square.

OpenMat

I have been to OpenMat before, but that was 2 years ago and they have changed location and a lot of the club on the administration end. Although much of the gym has changed, it's still the same high level instructors running the classes, with Elliott Bayev as the head BJJ instructor and founder of the club. The club is in a basement lot but there are plenty signs to follow to lead you to the right place. Once inside it's almost all mat area, there are change rooms, bathrooms and showers off to the left. Off to the right around the corner is a small area for working out and the office as well but other wise it's all mat space.I spent a day at OpenMat, hitting the gi class at noon and the no gi in the evening. In between classes I found a place to eat and go on some wifi to update my posts. I imagine there will be more days where this is a usual thing, rather run back and forth to where I'm staying. Sometimes it's easier to bring gear for 2 classes and hang out in the area.

Come in, Jiu-Jitsu inside!

Down this way!

You've made it!

Anyways, I made it to the noon time class early, signed the waiver and talked to the guys about my journey as we waited for more students to show up. As it ends up, Matt, the membership consultant who I spoke with before coming in via e-mail, has had a dream of doing something similar but with kickboxing. We got along great talking about where we want to go or places we've been to. Taro was teaching the noon time gi class, he's a strong athletic guy and showed some cool Judo tips for take downs. It was a good sized class, and I worked with a few different guys, we drilled the take downs with each other, getting the feel for it with different body types. After drilling was open mat and I had a few rolls with some of the guys, starting from standing so we could work the techniques we are drilling in class. Taro was really slick with his control, it was fun rolling him, I could really feel that he has conditioned himself to go at a high pace for a long time, and out match was only a small fraction of that.  The other students were really friendly and had good technique, the rolls weren't aggressive but they weren't flow rolls either. I fully enjoyed the noon time class, training with everyone and telling them of my journey. I would see some of them again in the evening.  

Taro showing us some guard passing.

After grabbing food, doing work on social media and this blog I met up with my friend Steve, who used to train in BJJ and even had a few fights in MMA overseas. He's always kept up on the grappling world, who's who, the new big star or tournament, etc. with internet forums and him and I always have some great conversations about it all. It was god to see him, not that it had been very long, but he's helped with me setting up my plan on what to do after the journey is over and it was great to talk to him about it all in person as we caught up on life. After we were done hanging out, it was time to get back to class for the no gi portion that evening.

The noon time class.

The evening class was packed, I thought the noon time class was a good turn out but the evening was full! The class was run by Denis who I remember seeing running the fundamentals class when I last visited. He's no gi class was really slick, he showed some great chains into moves I usually wouldn't do, but his step by step made them not so strange to me and helped figure them out. After class was again time for more rolling. I had a few rolls, one with Denis who, being a small lighter guy, was able to jump up on my back and attach himself there and slowly work me down to the mats and submit me. After 2 or 3 rolls I had to stop as my foot was cramping up, it felt like it had been stomped on but nothing was done to it, strange. Anyways, I stayed around and watched some of the beasts train for the up coming competition, one was even training for an EBI qualifier, which was cool to see him train for. This would the only time I could make it in to OpenMat so I said my thank yous and good byes to the coaches and Elliott, who was off in a corner training a private lesson during the evening class. Thanks again everyone at Openmat!  

Evening classes before no gi, kickboxing in the back and I think comp class.

Toronto BJJ

Toronto BJJ,

One of the places that always comes up as a gym I need to go train at is Toronto BJJ. I had never made it out before because I was always too busy having fun at other clubs my friends had sent me out to. This time around I had no excuse not to drop by, especially with Prof. Giacomo sending a message  to Prof. Jorge, the head instructor, I was dropping by. Toronto BJJ has got to be the biggest club in Toronto, not just in member size, which that alone is huge, but in gym size. The gym is in a two floor building, with a mats area on both floors and the changes rooms being in the basement. I walked in and was greeted at the front desk and after filling out a waiver was shown around. The building being old is a bit of a maze to get around, the stairs to the change rooms below was off to the side of the first floor mat space but to get to the second floor mat space you continue past the change rooms through a hall that brings you to another set of stairs that goes all the way to the second floor. I don't where which direction I was facing when I was training up top but it was a big wide open space with lots of light and a lot of bodies so we'll good, haha.

This is the usual size class they have apparently. 

Class was big, lots of people on the mats, and they seemed to be used to a lot of people visiting, coming and going with this club, no one asked about where I was from or how long I was in town, it was like just another class to them. There was a big black belt teaching class, his name escapes me but he had a bunch of tattoos and was dealing with a fresh one as he was teaching. We trained some open guard passing, some chains from guard pass to mount to armbar. Fun stuff. Once class was over it was time for open mat, and half the class left while a new group of people showed up, including several black belts, all ready to roll. I rolled with a bunch of people, staying clear of some of the more serious rollers who looked to be getting ready for the tournament that was the next weekend, I was in no mood to be fodder to those beasts but I hope they all did well.

Rolling hour has started, it got pretty busy later on.

One particular black belt called out me, noted that he noticed my gi and I had been to a few of the camps and always liked to meet and roll with people visiting and passing by. He was actually from a gym north of Toronto, in Barrie a town I wish I had more time so I could go visit, train at the clubs and visit my family who lives in the area. After training and rolling for a almost 2 hrs it was time to leave and meet up with an old friend for the evening. But first I had conversation with a few guys at the front desk about traveling and training and enjoying my time in Toronto. It's always great to have these conversations where I'm asked "What's the best club you've to?" or " Who's the best instructor you've been in a class with?" Because to honest I don't really have a 'favourite' but I do have all kinds of cool stories and experiences to tell them about, and that's always a fun conversation.            

Hanging with My Bro and Friends

During my time in Toronto I stayed at my brother Jeff's place. It was good to hang out with him, as he wasn't able to come home for the holidays and this would be the last time until after The Odyssey, unless he somehow won the lottery, got a passport and flew out to meet me somewhere. The first night I made it in Jeff, his girlfriend, his roommate and I all went for wings. I told them some stories of my travels across Canada and they filled me in on things I've missed since the last time I was in Toronto. It was a good first night back in town, but sadly it would also be one of the only nights Jeff and I got to hang out. We hung out lots at home but he came down with a cold and I was out training almost every evening. Still, it was good to hang out with my brother before taking off to travel the world, Going to miss you bro!

My Brother and I. maybe he should start Jiu-Jitsu, he already has the Kurt Osiander pose down.

We also met up one evening for dinner with an old friend of mine, James. James now has a family and him and I don't always get to hang out when I come to town, so getting him to come out and run around on the old beaten path together was a great way to catch up as well as walk down memory lane. The three of us met down at Dundas Square, Toronto's attempt at their own new Times Square. James and I did what we always do, met at the record shop there, checked out the new albums on sale and chatted about whatever. We made out way to a restaurant where we met up with my brother and had some food and drink. Jeff hadn't seen James in a long time so there was a lot of catching up to do, but in the end it all lead to us bitching about how growing up and being responsible sucks. After dinner Jeff took off to hit up some stores while James and I walked the path we used to do almost every weekend during the college years.

Another view up Yonge St from Dundas Square.

We walked down through the Eaton's Center Mall, on to Queen st heading toward city hall and all the tourist shops beyond. As we passed old city hall William Shatner was out on the steps shooting something. I tried taking a picture but it was too blurry to really pick out who it was. We continued on, walking all the shops and the City TV and Much Music building that I remember us stopping to watch so many shows being taped, waiting to catch a glimpse of whatever celebrity or musician was there as the TV guest that day. Finally we made it to the theatre, now called the Scotiabank Theatre, in future who knows what it will be called, but to everyone who's been around longer than 10 years it'll always be the Paramount Theatre.

The famous truck in the side of the wall at City TV.

William Shatner filming something downtown.

The paramount has for the longest time been my favourite theatre to walk up to, not because it's got a cool outside because it really doesn't, but because of the staircase. While the ticket sales are on the main floor when you walk in, the theatre is about 3 floors up, straight up. The stairs are bordered by escalators, up on the right, down on the left. You might be asking, why do i love these stairs? this sounds boring and a pain in the ass to deal with to watch a  movie. Well the fun to the stairs is this, at the top of the stairs is a huge screen that plays commercials and previews of coming movies for you to watch while you ride up the escalator. If you stare at the screen the whole ride up, an optical illusion happens, you start to feel like you're going straight up a cliff and that you might even fall back. it's the craziest feeling and I love it! I ran into this a long time ago and then told James, who then told other friends and it's become a fun tradition going to the movies there every time. During our walk around town we talked about all the old memories that walking the same path for almost 10 years creates, about the the drunken walks back, all the fun times with other friends who we have since lost touch with, and all the stores that have changed over the years. I was possibly the best evening I could have one last time in Toronto, who knows when the next time will be.

The Gi Hive 

This interview is actually from the future (que the Twilight Zone) I originally had planned to get an interview with Prof. Waggney Fabiano but ended up not feeling well enough to make it to class and do the interview that evening. I figured Since The Gi Hive hits all the tournaments in Toronto it was suiting to put the interview, which I did while in Hamilton, in with this article.

The Gi Hive is a Canadian company selling all sorts of Jiu-Jitsu gear online and at some tournaments. They have a flat rate shipping for all of Canada (If you're in Canada you know that is a big deal when ordering online as shipping, customs and exchange rate can kill a good deal pretty fast), which makes them a top supplier to Canadian Jiu-Jitsueros. I met Cory, the founder and head of The Gi Hive, in the summer at a tournament and when I learned I'll be in his neck of the woods I figured we should do an interview on how he put together a Jiu-Jitsu merchandise website and the trails involved undertaking such an act. Check out the interview below!

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Panda's Odyssey Patches Online!

The Panda Patches are now on The Gi Hive!

Also, check out The Gi Hive, if you're needing anything, especially if you're in Canada, check there first and take advantage of that $5 flat rate shipping ($10 flat rate for USA)! And while you're there, check out the 'Other Section' to find my Panda Patches! Up until now you had to either get a hold of me via e-mail or see me in person to get one of my awesome Panda's Odyssey Patches, but now you can support this journey by buying them online at the The Gi Hive!

If you like reading these stories and watching these interviews sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account and help support me on my journey!

That's it for my Toronto visit, now off to Hamilton Ontario to finally meet Jeff Joslin!

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