G-OGRAPHY: a southeast asian lady travels...

Last Tuesday my dog was attacked by a rottweiler on our way back to our condo from our usual morning walk. We were this -> <- close to our place when this big black dog came running towards us. It happened so fast. One second she was sniffing Roxy then suddenly my dog was off the ground being mangled by the rot. The owner came running while I stood there frozen...or rather I was screaming "oh my god, oh my god". I didn't know what to do! Thank goodness he was able to pry off my dog from the jaws of death. Roxy emitted this horrible whimpering/crying/panicky sound as I tried to comfort her. It was just so surreal. I still couldn't believe that Rot was off it's leash!!! I'm lucky since the owner was decent enough to give his contact details (he also offered to pay for the vet bills).

After trip to the vet and 8 stitches later, I am happy to report that my dog is recovering. Next time around, I'll be more prepared. I'll be using my krav maga kick and chop on whatever tries to attack my dog! Grrrrrrrrr.

My buddy back in the Philippines recently moved to Palawan which is this amazing island in the southern part of the country. We've always talked about living next to the beach and he finally did it! With wife and son in tow this young family is living a sustainable and organic life (check out his blog: http://myonebigtrip.wordpress.com/ and this is his wife's: http://dharmadream.blogspot.com/). He's been sharing stories on how his quality of life has increased. Now he has time to wake up and watch the squirrels from the trees in his backyard and make his own peanut butter!

Did I mention that he just opened a boutique adventure shop for tourists who want to explore the island the off the beaten track kinda way? If you are planning to go to the Philippines check out http://discoveramazingpalawan.com/.

NNP is back!


Krav Maga is the Israeli hand-to-hand combat system that involves wrestling, grappling and striking techniques (very brutal counter attacks). It's heavily influenced by street fighting with an emphasis on threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggression. The Israeli military isn't the only using Krav...it's so effective that various American law enforcement and intelligence organizations have adopted it. If you've ever seen Liam Neeson's movie Taken, a lot of the fight scenes use moves from Krav Maga.

For ordinary folks like us, Krav Maga can be most useful for self-defense. I'm into my 3rd week of training and so far I really like the practical and applicable approach of this technique. Being a single female I'm pretty vulnerable to a lot of possible hostile situations especially when I travel. One of the things that Krav can teach me is how to handle myself during a life threatening situation. The objective here is not to win the fight but to fight to gain enough time to run somewhere safe or to get help.

I used to take Karate when I was a teenager and eventually became a brown belt. It gave me a lot of strength and flexibility but I don't think I'd ever be able to use it to fend off an attacker. I think it didn't really lend a lot of the mental conditioning that Krav has. For example, drills consist of partnering up with different people (women and men some very big) to simulate choke holds, fending off attacks from the ground and running erratically around a crowded small room like you were being chased while trying to avoid from being grabbed.

Again I'm only on my 3rd week so I am looking forward to what fundamental techniques I can learn from Krav. More to come...

My first test batch of lemon squares were a hit...thanks to my Aunt for sharing her secret recipe! I think I may have a future career in baking...next on my list is bread!