I just wanted to mention that everywhere that we have been is so beautiful. Some are just beautiful some are breath taking. From the talked about spots to the not so talk about spots. There is just so much beautiful land scape to experience.

I will say, as of where we are now Nova Scotia is my favorite spot for beauty of the landscape. It's so green and lush with rolling hills where you can see forever and of course the shore and bays, which just adds to it all in an extreme way. There is just something about being near water.

In the days that have past we have been to a number of places. We are not in NFLD yet like we had planned, because of the Ferry being booked till this week. It gave us a chance to visit friends in Nova Scotia and hang out in New Brunswick.

In New Brunswick we stopped into Edmunston for the first night. This is where we started staying in Hotels for a few nights. It was raining for about 4 days straight. Next we drove past Fredericton to get to Moncton, where we stayed for 3 nights. We took a little trip down to Alma which is a little town on the Bay of Fundy. On the way we drove down a very nice road that goes along the water front. The cool thing about the water along this area is that it's tide rises and lowers by about 16 feet every 6 hours, which is the most anywhere in the world. When we were in Moncton we spent the night in a nice hotel then a normal one. Spent some time downtown where there was a festival going on. We got to visit some of Tara's family that live there. The other thing we got to do was train with a Ninjitsu group. It was alot of fun and the guys were really great. We were outside rolling around in the wet grass. It is quite a bit different from the Wing Chun in alot of ways but I can see the functionality in what Lee the teacher was teaching. If your in Moncton just check the yellow pages for them under Ninjitsu in the martial arts section.

We were on our way to Pasboro to visit Tara's cousin and new girlfriend when we stopped into Amherst. It is a pretty town. I stopped in to talk with the Karate instructor, he was working on fixing up the new location he purchased. I have been trying to visit as many martial arts schools as I can along the way so I can learn about what others are doing. Both in style and in business, it is a good way to learn about what works and what doesn't when running a martial arts business. While we were there we stopped into a restaurant pub called Duncan's Pub. It was really nice, the chairs were so comfortable, music nice and just a good atmosphere.

When we got to Pasboro Tara's cousin brought us down to the water front where the tide moves in and out every 6 hours like the other place. He showed us a fish net called a Weir. A weir is a three storey high net held up with posts, it traps the fish when the tide goes out. After that we went to his place, went for a walk and just hung out. The next day we headed to Halifax.

Now Halifax is a cool cool place, such a fun place. We were visiting Tara's friend and my friend but more Tara's. We went out everynight, even the first day we got there. We drove straight downtown to have a beer and something to eat, then it turned into park Jeep in parkade and get drunk for rest of night. We love pubs and there are a lot of really nice ones. The few that I really liked were Foggy Goggle, Dirty Nelley's and Maxwell's Plum. If you like to party this is the place to go. We even went to Alexander Keith's Brewery for a tour. I didn't find it till the last night we were there but just down the street from our friends place is a dojo called Bushido-Kai that teachs JKD and all its levels like our Sifu teaches. We are planning on coming through here again to visit another of Tara's friends so I'm going to try and make sure we get in to train with them.

The trip is still going great and we have a lot of exciting things to do that are coming up. Enjoy your day.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

We have now been back on our trip from 1 week now, so I will give you a quick overview of what we have been up to. We started our trip by going to Niagra Falls. The falls are quite amazing really, they almost look like they are falling in slow motion. I find standing by such things a little bit scary because I feel like I could just jump in to go for a ride. Which would obviously be the end of my life, so then I decide not to. It would be fun while it lasted though. While we were there we stayed at a campground about 10km outside of town, so we did alot of biking back and forth. When you are in downtown Niagra it feels like a mini Vegas which is pretty cool. I finally got to do that indoor skydiving thing where there is a huge fan that pushes you up while you try to balance on the wind, it was very cool but I needed a spotter so I couldn't go very high. I must say though that I will not be wanting to go back to Niagra unless its with friends just for a night of partying. It's mainly because of our dining experiences, imagine going to a normal resaurant add $5 to everything, then make it taste worse and if you have a problem with any of it suck it up cause you still have to pay for it. Cool place though.

Then we started on our way to Algonquin Provincial Park. We stopped at a campground just past Simcoe Lake called 4 Seasons Tent and Trailer. It was really nice, lots of trees and quite. I say lots of trees because some campgrounds are just a field with trees planted here and there so there is no privacy.

The next day we made it to Algonquin, we drove through about 5 different campgrounds just to figure out that the first one we looked at was the one we wanted. Funny how that happens alot. The campground we stayed at was Canisbay Lake, it was very nice and quiet. The lake was very peaceful and warm, it almost felt like bath water. While we were setting up camp the first night we saw a bear cub run through the trees right in front of us, the mother didn't follow which was kind of a good thing. We were told that 2 full size bears had been trapped in that past week which means that the cubs mother might have been one of them, sad but possible. The first night we stayed there it rained for about six hours through the night and it rained quite hard, to the point where we discovered we were in a small hole. So we ended up completely soaked and had to spend the rest of the night sleeping in the Jeep. Thanks goodness for the Jeep. The next day was hot so our stuff dried pretty fast.

The next place we drove to was Voyager Provincial Park which is just at the edge of Ontario. That is a huge campground, and like most campgrounds in Ontario you have alot of choices on how you want to camp. You usually get the option of Family camping, Electric or none and no radio playing for the quiet campers like us. So far I liked this campsite we stayed at the best. It had alot of privacy so we got to do some more serious training. I just don't feel comfortable when people can see me training, not sure why but I just don't, unless it's in class of course.

The next day we drove through Quebec. The hardest part was finding our way through Montreal, which we did without any back tracking, it was quite impressive considering the map we have didn't give us much help. When we got to Quebec City we made a few wrong turns but we ended up under some pretty nice bridges so we got to take some nice pictures. Now were in New Brunswick where we will be for a few days.

It is nice having the Jeep with us for this part of the trip. The biking portion of the trip was amazing and I wouldn't have done it any other way but it feels like we a traveling in luxury now. Alot less stressful and we have alot more energy to do stuff at the end of the day. The main draw back is when you see something beautiful you are past it so quickly. Once we get to NFLD we will be taking things a bit slower and checking more things out. We are meeting Tara's parents there so we need to get there quickly. I will let you know more in about a week.

Self Defence
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Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

Hello All,

We just found out today that our Jeep will finally be arriving. Since you probably don't know we have been waiting quite a while for our Jeep to get here. Originally my mom and her boyfriend were going to drive it down for the beginning of June, but they are short on cash and were unable to. Then we got our friends Dana and Jenn who were going to have it here by the end of June. Where that went wrong was that Dana didn't want to drive our Jeep to death on the way here. Makes sense to me since we want to drive it to the East coast and back. So the newest problem was how are we going to get it here. We tried looking into trains which takes way to long, about 2 weeks from shipping date. So we went with a truck which only takes about 3 to 5 days and costs the exact same.

Anyways we are almost packed and ready to go, and very excited. Packing has reminded us of how awesome our trip getting here was. Once again we are going to miss the people we are leaving behind, but this time it is for a shorter time then the people we left behind in Alberta.

Just so you know I will be posting in pretty much the same way I did last summer. Where I let you know where we were instead of where we are going. This is just safer and since I am a Self Defence instructor I should practise what I preach.

If anyone of our new friends in Kitchener happen to read this, we love you all and will really miss you. For our brother's and sister's from the club, we are amazed by how quickly we became so close to you. For our friends at Shopper's we really enjoy working with you and hanging out after hours. I personally haven't worked side by side with women since I was 16 and it is a very nice change.

As excited as I am to leave I am just as excited to get back. I really love it here, mainly because of Wing Chun and the people in our lives. The city is pretty cool too but a far second. I hope this next part of the trip is a safe and enjoyable one. I hope you enjoy the stories to come.


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Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

I'm supposed to be at work right now but my back is bugging me. I broke my back almost 7 years ago for those that don't already know. So sometimes my back muscles get really tense and I need to focus on stretching and resting for a couple days.

Anyways, I would like to tell you a bit about our Sigung Nelson Chan and his Kwoon (club) in Toronto. Since we got here we have been there to visit 4 times. Our Sigung has been training in Wing Chun for over 40 years. He learned it from his Sifu Moy Yat and Moy Yat learned it from Yip Man. Sigung learned the Hong Kong version, which is the original version. It is very cool to have found a lineage of Wing Chun that is so pure and effective. My Sifu prayed to find a good Wing Chun instructor and I searched for one, guess we both got what we were looking for. Other than getting to meet our Sigung at his Kwoon, we also get to meet his other students, which are part of our Wing Chun family. Each time we go we become closer with them which is very cool, and each time we go back we are all a little bit better, so we get to see each other's growth. Our Wing Chun Uncle, or our Sibok, Louis has taught me a few things that are hugely important in my understanding of the System. It's not that my Sifu didn't teach me these things, but sometimes just the way something is explained from another point of view allows it to sink in better.

The last visit we had to Sigung's was May 29th. This visit was different because we were going there for a special seminar about Wing Chun history and the inner secrets of Wing Chun. It was pretty interesting and what we learned sinks in more and more each day. The seminar was done by our Sigung's Wing Chun brother, Moy 2. He is called Moy 2 because he was the first person in the U.S. to learn Wing Chun from Moy Yat. There are many versions to the story of where Wing Chun came from, but what we learned at this seminar makes more sense than the others. Moy 2 has done a great deal of research about Wing Chun history and the truths about Wing Chun, so I tend to believe what he shared with us. One point I will share about what I learned is that Wing Chun was invented by a woman. This has always been hard to believe for men because women don't tend to be the fighting type. Where Wing Chun was invented was in a place called Li Jiang. In this place 300 years ago was a culture wherein women were the dominant sex, so basically they were the ones doing the construction, the fighting, the farting and the burping. I added the last 2 but you know what I mean. They were still physically built the same way but the women were the aggressors and had created an intelligent "martial art" or "fighting system" that required little strength to be very powerful and useful.

After class we got back to Kitchener and went to our friend's house for a barbecue with a bunch of us from class. We have been there a few times now and we have fun every time. They have a kick-ass barbecue set up on their deck and the rest of the backyard is a pool. They also set up the TV on the back deck and we watched UFC. Good times for sure. We have had quite a few good nights with these two, in fact we went to Montreal with them to go to UFC. We went to the one where Lyoto Machida got knocked out. I will tell you more about our trip there in another post.


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Heritage Martial Arts

Well it has been a while since my last post, just didn't feel like writing I guess. We are getting closer to the next part of our journey. The plans have changed drastically but we like the changes. Instead of bhiking the rest of the way across Canada we are going to drive our Jeep. Tara doesn't really want to bike the highway anymore, which I completely understand. Both our knees felt it and we don't want to do anymore damage to our bodies just to prove something. We biked almost 2500km to get here and we're pretty proud of that. We have also decided that we are going to come back here for another year of training. We love Wing Chun and need to learn more. Since I'm going to teach it someday we feel this is the best thing to do. I like to say I'm here going to school, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Our friends Dana and Jen are going to drive the Jeep to us. Dana is fixing it up for me, since it's not ready for long distance driving. They should be here close to the end of June. Then we will be leaving for a two month trip. We are not exactly sure where we are going, we like to just go where we feel. The only plans are to go to the islands and explore whatever we meet up with in between. We are bringing the bikes for day rides and we are planning on biking all around P.E.I.. Before we leave though I'm going to try and tell you a bit more about our Kitchener experience. It will take a few posts but I'll try my best get all the details in.

As you know when we got here we were only going to stay for a week of intense training, 26 hours of class and privates to be exact. Then it turned into "We will stay for the month." Now it has been eight months and we are very happy we stayed. The city itself is okay, a city is a city to me. What we love so much about this place is our reason for being here and the friends that we have made. Every single one of them is amazing, some have become closer friends then others but they are all still great. I won't point out the ones that are closer but I will write down as many names as I can think of right now. Dan, Dan, and Dan, yes 3 Dan's. There was 4th but we haven't seen him in a while. Malcom, Rick, Bob, Phil, Yuri, Alex, Brock, Onno, Ray, Mauricio, Jeannette, Ken, Brian, Ferrah, Larry, Tim, Darren, Paul, Anya, Bill, James, Katie, and of course Sifu Chuck. These are our friends from the club, there are more but I can't remember everyone right now. The friends I've made at work are amazing as well. I work at Shoppers Drug Mart as a Merchandiser and I quite enjoy my job. My friends names are Angela, Julie, Luke, Kelly, Jesse, Alana, Pat, Boza, Nina, Gordanna, Trevor, Andreea, Fallen, Amanda, Melissa, Bethany, Paul, and Ben my boss. Again there are more but can't remember everyone right now. Just mention a few more, Kate, Vicki, and Sharron. They are wives of a few of the guys and two are good friends with Tara.

The main things we do here are train, live, and. Heavy on the live and train, and we love it. We bike, walk and bus everywhere we go, unless we get a ride from someone. It is a completely different world being on the side of the road biking then being on the road in a vehicle. It's funny how such a simple shift can change the world which you experience. Since we walk and bike everywhere we are in the best shape of our lives, I'm sure all the training has something to do with it as well. It is an adventure every time we go anywhere. They are not big adventures but they are more of an adventure then when you drive. The winter was so mild this year that biking was always an option.

The way we spend money has has been another change since we started our journey. Instead of buying things, we have been buying a lot of experiences. We are constantly doing something, from training, traveling to just going out on the town. We don't go to big clubs but we do go to a lot of Restaurants and Pub's. There are many nice places to go to in downtown Waterloo; Kitchener too, but the best are in Waterloo. In my last post I mentioned that we went to Arizona, which was a great time. We rented Harley's for 2 days and the rides were awesome. The desert is so very beautiful. We have gone to Toronto a few times to train with our Sigung, which I will go into more detail later. I just got back from a trip home, which again I will go into more detail later.

We have experienced so much in this past year. It is really very amazing and I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else. The thought of, 'what if we had stayed in Fort McMurray', gives me a sick feeling to my stomach. To think of not experiencing everything we have is just too much. I even had a dream the other night that we had moved back to Fort McMurray. As soon as a I realised that we were there I started to cry, I was so sad that we had left Kitchener prematurely. Then I woke up and everything was okay again. It's going to be nice to continue writing about Kitchener in more detail before we go.

I hope you are all enjoying hearing about our experiences, because we are having a great time doing it.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship
Heritage Martial Arts and Fitness Centre

Hello everyone. I hope all of your holidays were great and that it didn't cost more then you could afford. Christmas is the most expensive time of the year.

I have a couple of exciting things to mention. I have recently started teaching Self Defence again. I am teaching at Heritage Martial Arts and Fitness Centre at 3310 King Street East in Kitchener. It's the same place that we are training in Wing Chun. Beyond the teaching part it's really awesome because now I can go there and train any time I want. I will be having a 2 hour session every weekend. Not sure of the time and day exactly because there is a lot of filming going on this month. I am also able to teach during the day throughout the week for anyone that can make it. I have also had a few things changed with my website. The main thing that I changed is the web page address, it is http://www.realworldselfdefence.ca/. It is also the name of my company "Realworld Self Defence".

Another super-awesome thing that has happened occurred just last night. During class our Sifu surprised me and Tara with our grading. He started by making us workout harder then everyone else. At first I thought he was mad at us for something, but it still wasn't making any sense. I figured it out when we were about a quarter of the way through the testing. We were so surprised because we were originally expecting to get tested at the end of February. Sifu said he figured we were ready so he just decided to grade us. By the way, we both passed! We're so F'n excited. This also means that we get to have an extra 2 months of training at level 2, which is the Chum Kiu level. It usually takes a year of training before you get tested, but because we go to every single class we got tested sooner. Sifu figured out that within the 3 months that we have been training we have put in a year and half worth of regular class participation. I also train outside of class so I have been putting a lot of hours into this.

Just to finish up with exciting stuff, we are going to Arizona for a week to see Tara's parents and her Uncle. They are there for a 6 week vacation. They have rented a trailer so we get to stay there for free and they even payed for half of our flights. It should be a good time and it will be nice to see them again.

Martial Arts
Self Defence
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellow Ship
Heritage Martial Arts