“Can.”

“Ten bucks for this?”

“Cannot.”

Singaporeans don’t say yes or no. They say can/cannot, and when I say can’t they still think I am saying can. I realized both words do sound extremely similar. After much confusion, I too have embraced the can/cannot system here – laaa. They also add a ‘ laa’ at the end of some expressions, I still haven’t figured that one out yet.

In short, I am in Singapore for about three weeks working as part of the MIT-Singapore Alliance on a water quality project. I work at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and live at NUS (National University of Singapore). Do not know why I don’t live at the same place I work, but I actually like the arrangement, because I got to experience both colleges. The universities are very, very impressive. The labs are top-notch, campuses are gorgeous, and the warm weather makes me feel completely at home. I realized even after three years I still feel like a fish out of water with the East Coast clime. I am truly a tropical creature.

I work about ten hours a day and then spend nights and weekend either sightseeing or kicking with the taekwondo teams at NTU and NUS. Tkd can be such a useful tool to cross cultural gaps. I just walked into practice at NTU (thanks to Wenxian’s extremely accurate info), introduced myself and started kicking. The taekwondo culture at NTU is very, very similar to MIT’s. They have a ton of alumni helping out and leading classes, it’s more casual, they have officer announcements after practice, people circle and do cheers. I have been cheering: “NTU, sah, NTU sah, NTU sah, sah sah!” for the last two weeks. Practice usually starts with a voluntary run around the track, and then kicking paddles (they call ‘em handmits!) or gearing up for contact sparring. The black belts seem to trickle in and out, or sit out some drills as they choose to, the color belts do the whole class from start to finish.

Practice can be pretty grueling because of the weather. You sweat off a lot ions and quickly feel dehydrated. Neither the NUS or NTU club practice on mats, which totally killed my feet. I haven’t had such bad blisters since my hard-court karate days back home in Bangladesh. Good times those. I have been practicing a lot spin kicks and other new techniques. Bought new gear here. The hogu is much more expensive here for some reason, but the forearm and shin pads were waaay cheaper. I got smas, a Korean brand, I think. It rocks!

In general, it has been really great experiencing how a different club, a different country approaches taekwondo. I quickly made friends and they took me shopping and to sketchy night places which only a local would know about. Check out the link for pictures.   Wait guys, sorry to disappoint, they are not sketchy pictures, just atypical touristy shots.

http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d5441304e4459354d4452384d6a45774f4451794e44513d0d0a&sb=1

Random facts:

I, as in an American tkd trained person, hold the paddle with the weave facing out. That’s how we usually do it at MIT. But everywhere else in the world, they hold it the other way round. I have lost count how many times I have been corrected here.

Don’t roll up pants when no one else around you is the doing it. The NUS coach called me out for that one in front of the whole class.

When I say padachagi, no one knows what I am talking about.

The little shields are called ‘big brother’.

Intra-club dating is a universal phenomenon!!

That’s all from me. I will be here for about five more days and then I am going home to Bangladesh for a few weeks. Can’t wait to see my family!

But will load tons of pictures (I tried taking a pic of all the animals we got to see) and yea, you will get comments if you’re lucky?? heh =)

I suppose it also suffices to say that, in answer to my question-of-the-day:
“If you were an aquarium animal, what would you be?”
Tara = Jellyfish Judy = Penguin
Jenny = Otter (except we didn’t see an otter)
Snix = Electric Eel
me (Ty) = Sting Ray, I guess? (–I wasn’t sure what my answer would be when I asked everyone xD haha, but it was definitely the most allusive animal that I was trying to take a good and cool picture all day -.-” I may have gotten one.. maybe… or not -.-” or maybe just lots of different angles of sting ray that weren’t particularly impressive…)
Mary = Tomato frog
Aaron = Octopus (I think? correct me if I’m wrong -.-” heh)

(Mary and Aaron came late, so they went through the aquarium by themselves but had sushi/dinner with us)

Ok, picture time
OH!! Before I get started… be sure to FIND NEMO! GO!

Where are we?? ^^ They say “A picture says a
thousand words”–well, this one says one o.O!! uhhh

So many animals!! Including pink penguins and fuzzy
anachondas… I want a souvenir too!!

We found this machine by the gift shop–apparently
it turns pennies into oval-shaped collector coins =D
for 50 cents… I got one too! Mine has a lobster, octopus,
and crab–and it says “New England Aquarium”
“Boston” on it…Too bad it’s too small to take a
clear picture of… =(

Here’s how it works though… pretty neat!

Just keep swimming swimming swimming just
keep swimming swimming…

Aghh the turtle ducked behind Jenny!

Tara, the mysterious and allusive Jelly…

Snix: That looks taaastyy…

Penguins sitting on fake rock islands… and Judy =)

Baby anachonda in the medical section–hey! That’s
where Christine works ^_____^

STING RAY!!

What are YOU lookin’ at? Never seen a gimongous
fish before??

Sea dragon, rrwoar

How many sea dragons are there? (3)
Two twiggy ones and a really leafy one!!

EEKK!! Doesn’t he remind you of Bruce?

Another sting ray!!

Murtle the turtle. No joke.

Sea Anemone vs Sea Star

Giant octopus… did I say giant? I mean, GIANT

Oooh prettttyyyy

What’s this?

Diver in the great big tank–I forgot what it was
called… but there are 4 sharks in there… just sayin’

Electric eel

Shocking… isn’t it? (I don’t know what’s shocking,
but I just wanted to make a pun… =D)

Sea horse! DO NOT RIDE

Snix holding sea star!

Lots of fishies!!

Sleeping(??) anachonda
ZZzz “Do not desturb, I squeeze”

PIRANHA!! AHHHHH!!

big big big big catfish

What did I say about BIG fish? I really do mean
BIG.

Me + Sting Ray down below… =)

Mr Big Fish: Me grumpy grumps, Life sucks, All you who
look at me shall be grumpy too, I’m here to sadden
your day, Be grumpy like me, GRUMP =(

Oh no! Mr Big Fish! What have you done to Snix!??

Group Picture number one! Hooray!

BOO!

Hehe

Mr Electric Eel: Sorry, did I shock you?

(shhhh I’m hiding, no one can see me…)

Colorful… ooh! I see Dory!

Nemo and Marvin? hehe

I found Nemo!! He’s really small!

Nice penguin pictures =) Hey guys! Don’t tailgate!!

Nom nom time!! Where’s Snix? HAHA just kiddin’
^________^

Doesn’t this remind you of the movie? (III)
Either that or I’m just feeling too lazy to rotate it now…

Arrrr matey!! We have captured the infamous Jack
Sparrow! What’s he doing in Boston?

Mega Group Picture! There’s me and Skoot!

Awww Snix is missing a certain Fat Seal??

A social chair ritual? Is Aaron going too?

Or maybe Mr President was supposed to come too?
Mary looks soakkkeddd!!!

Chow time!

Aaron’s food

Group Picture number three! FOOD!!

Snix’s food

Mary’s food

My food–I’M STARVINGGGG NOM NOM NOM

Group Picture number 4–yaay! FOOD!!
Me want nom!

Haha, meet my new friend Skoot the penguin =)
Fuzzy Lion’s on the left–Han gave him to me ^_______^
And Morey is crashing in my room until Jihye gets
back from Korea =) =)

At the Hatchshell… get off at Red Line MGH T stop and walk for a while…
Hmm, methinks it might actually be around Arlington/Copley? Probably closer to Arlington?

Anyways, a blog of pictures! Woot!
And maybe some comments too if you’re lucky!! =) heh

Lots of people, eh? This is nothing yet…

Dan and Aaron! WOOT! =)
Aaron had to leave early… went to have 4th of July
dinner with Mary and her family.

Snix and Tara, yaaay! Peace?

Food. Food is good.

Mini river thing… don’t know what it is actually.
But yonder runs the great Charles.
(My hs Calc BC teacher, from Boston U actually,
calls the Charles a “cess pool.” Hmm er, it IS kinda nasty…)

Souza got a very free and very red Liberty hat.

Snix looks happy with her freebie too–woot!
Green Liberty hat =D

Eh, but I like my cap… Snix said I had anime hair? eh… -.-”
CAP!! Ze cap iz mucho important!

Group picture number one =D Everyone sure looks spiffy!
Snix–caught in the act of eating dinner!

Lots of people. There were people behind us too.
Yea. Lots of people.

The Herald Trumpeters!! WOOT! Trumpet!!

Group picture number two!! Here’s Jenny to join us!
She had to leave at 11PM though…
What’s this? Snix eating again??

The Boston Pops! Woot!

People. So. Many.

The trumpets trumpet, and the Airforce THUNDERS!!!
Yeah yeah!! (EDIT: Apparently I can’t upload REAL videos??)

Niel Diamond singing Sweet Caroline!!
Buh buh buhh =)
Never heard of him before, but he’s a pretty interesting singer =D

Got more videos but uploading is slow… so I will have to sadly stop here… (EDIT: or rather, I never started at all… this feels like a deja vu moment. This feels like a deja vu moment o.O!!!! WHoaaa!! Deja vu. Very much deja vu.)

And now… the moment you’ve all been waiting for!
LET THE FIREWORKS BEGIN!

Ooohh…. o.O!!

Aahhhh… =D

FIRE!!

Ee’z a violent one o.O!!

This one is nice and cool looking =)

Looks like a lightning storm.
Looks like a painting too, with the interesting difference
between the top edge and the main bright streaks.

What would a storm like this feel like?

EEEEKK o.O!!!!!!

ZZzAAaPp!!

in poomse, alicia and i placed 11th overall in the world. we had to do a prelim round, performing taeguk 8 and koryo, and that placed us 11 out of 15. then, the order switches, and from the last place to first place, the semis are performed. we finally placed 11th again, and did not move on to the finals. we did our keumgang and taebek on center stage, and during the stomps and kiyups the whole stadium reverberated. i think it was our moment at the top of the world.

sparring has been going on for two days. in the first day, johnny nguyen (fin), terrence jennings (feather), anees hasnain (fin), and kasey mallard (feather) fought long and tough. i think that was the most inspirational day for me. johnny sparred really tough opponents after two straight days of poomse. anees was the first to kick off sparring with korea, and when she lost and felt really bad afterwards i was able to get to know her alot better by spending time trying to cheer her up. tj won a bronze after some intense sparring, inside the ring and outside (us cheering team vs brazil & russian cheering team). and kasey sparred until her foot broke, then threw a fast double in the last second to try to tie the score, despite her toe being in at least two pieces.

that’s not to say that today’s matches weren’t incredible either. cheryl krause (fly) had the toughest fight before her actual match – she struggled to make weight and only made it through with a lot of support. bonny su (welter) had some great matches against people bigger than her – she had to weigh in after drinking four bottles of water. james howe was probably another medal contender, and we had another cheering battle in a completely unfair fight against korea in which james should have won at least 4-2 but lost 0-2 because of some seemingly unfair judging. and kris uy (welter), the nicest huge asian guy ever, bruised or dislocated his rib, and now it hurts each time he laughs, which is all the time. he even laughs when he hurts from laughing.

to make this post not sound like a typical tournament summary (read the ncta email if you want a straight up summary), i’ll say that life here has become somewhat of a routine. it’s a good routine nonetheless. after your tournament pressure is gone, it becomes like a camp combined with a partial vacation. each morning, someone’s alarm goes off between 6 am and 8 am, and that whole time, life is a fuzzy blur somewhere between dreaming about taekwondo and waking up to face the reality of taekwondo. and if you’ve ever experienced a whole day at a tournament, cheering people, helping warm up, taking video and pictures, and maybe even getting a little mat time yourself, imagine doing that for days on end. it’s been 5 so far, and it’s not getting old at all.

as the time goes by, i find that i’m naturally becoming friends with these people, perhaps more than i usually would in your typical extended trip. maybe it’s because we’re all in some sort of common struggle that puts mind and limb at risk. maybe it’s because there’s always the common mentality that despite being a bunch of goofy college kids, we’re all really damn good at something, and we all have something to prove to the world. maybe it’s because every night we get a few more people who are no longer stressed out, and every night we progress to doing something more fun, and get to enjoy the company of the real people that became free that night, not their weight cutting, stressed out zombie dopplegangers.

tonight we took a team picture. it was under the arches of the village, under an intense rain, with lightning coming down on every side. as the other tourists and athletes took pictures with us, one guy who was from a different american delegation waved to us, took a picture, and said, “happy fourth of july.” so happy fourth, from the us collegiate taekwondo team, to you.

today was the first day of competition for taekwondo, and the men’s and women’s individual competitors went. we went to the training arena at 9 am. it was a huge dome with three large rings – probably more than sparring ring size. the middle ring was elevated. we tried to get around the barrier and they gave some sort of excuse for it being for spectators or volunteers but be realistic, the majority of people watching will be the teams. so jason hwang smooth talked his way in – “let us go just for the next two matches, promise.” and he stepped across without even waiting for the woman to shrug dejectedly and let the rest of the US team in to sit directly behind the center ring.

the individual competition was scary. there was a mix of super amazing people and not so super amazing people, but everyone was definitely well prepared. the scoring was somewhat confusing and many countries who we thought would score lower got really high marks. korea got the only 8.0 and above – for both men and women – and even though the women ranged between 7.0 and 7.5 and the men were usually 7.5 to 8.0 the korean girl was the only to get a 8.13.

johnny and carissa didn’t place past the prelims. they divided the 19 men into two groups of 10 and 9, and the women into 12 and 12, and instead of doing a top 16 and then a top 8 for the finals, they just took the top half each time. we didn’t stay for the rest of the poomse so i didn’t get to see the finals, or any forms after taeguk 5 and 6. one girl from russia started doing taeguk 6 when it was supposed to be 5, and that completely screwed her up for the rest of the time.

tonight we’re going to have opening ceremonies. the weather is drab and wet and chilly. it’s like we’re in boston again. it should start at 8 but we have to attend events with the US delegation starting at 4:45. hopefully the pictures will be exciting, since the event, from the inside, will just seem to drag on. but nothing can be worse than the pan ams opening ceremony, so it’ll be fine.

tomorrow (thursday) is the day for pairs and men’s and women’s teams. we are pumped up.

this morning the men got up early to go for a jog. at 8:00. so i decided to sleep in a bit since we stayed up til about 2 playing poker the night before. but i couldn’t actually go back to sleep because i felt like i had overcome the jet lag. in reality, it was because i’d taken a nap until 2 am EST so now i was up for the rest of the east coast night.

today we had the flag raising ceremony. we got together with the US men’s waterpolo team, who all looked like large, blonde, mustached bears. there was also the US men’s and women’s basketball teams. they made kris uy, our 6′4 welterweight, look like a shorty. we walked up the red carpet to the flags, the same place we kicked outside yesterday. then we saw the Universiade Sparrow, and took a few goofy pictures with them.

the flag ceremony was nice and short, despite having about 100 US athletes there. when i say short, i mean time, because most of those people were either over 6 foot tall or over 200 lbs heavy, or both. i got the women’s bball center to take a few pictures for me, and when she reached up with my camera it reached up about twice my height.

we went to the official practice room a bit late because of the ceremony. there was a long tkd room with a long set of mats, and the spanish and australian teams had been there for a while. we finally got some room and kicked out with some team drills, and i felt really pumped with all the energy in the room. except my calf was getting more and more pained so i could only kiyup loud and pretend i was kicking hard.

on the way to and back from the training space, we took the C shuttle. and one interesting sight was that when we went over the bridge each time, you could see the slums that were under the bridge – old abandoned cars and tin foil roofs and clothes lines hung up between the trees. and there were lines of old abandoned trains with graffiti all over them and broken windows. also, everywhere you see wild/stray dogs running around, in ones or pairs, just hanging out in the streets. serbia is still an old city, with trash and industrial waste all over the place, a combination of the new athletic complexes and the old ruins from the US bombing in 1999.

we had a second workout at 7 or 8 pm today. by that time everyone had been napping for an hour and we were super tired. i was out of it until we did a few warmup drills, then my poomse felt pretty good. i also used a little gadget called “the answer” which was supposed to help you kick high and be stretched and warmed up after a minute per leg.

at night, we got our SWUG swag. nice USA jackets, nike warmups and shirts, and a few polos and a pair of shorts. it’s pretty sweet stuff. that also meant that we got our luggage back – it felt so good to have a real shower, a change of clothes and a shave. also, carissa and becca arrived so our team was all there.

tomorrow the individual poomse people, johnny nguyen and carissa fu, compete. we’ll be up at 8:30 to cheer them on.

Today we arrived at Serbia at about 3 pm Serbia time. the whole country smelled different – it was slightly smokey, like an industrializing country city. you could see distant smoke stacks beside the shiny new universiade buildings.

when we went to baggage claim, the luggage was gone. all of the ones we checked in boston, including the big ones that contained all the team swag, and the small duffle bags that had our emergency clothes in case the big ones got lost. i knew we should have kept them out but laziness got the best of us, the air france got the rest.

the serbian volunteers were very direct. as they talked about getting our bags back they were constantly shouting and gesturing at each other. we figured it was just the way europeans talk. and that explained the way jordan always talks. the drivers and other volunteers were basically what i imagine jordan’s friends and family are like.

we went to the “olympic village”, and even though it’s not really the olympics i guess we’ll call it that. here we saw all the different countries in their matching warmups, tshirts, polos, etc. and we, the american crew, walked through as a ragtag, nonmatching group of mavericks. i guess tomorrow we’ll get our stuff – we got one red polo, one blue shorts, one white tshirt, all way too big.

in the afternoon, after getting our room keys and credentials, we went to a nike store to train. yes, it was a NIKE STORE in which they were selling shoes and other gear, but in the back was an area with weights and an open space. since it wasn’t quite big enough for everyone to kick and do forms, we went outside to an area with a huge red carpet, and step sparred under the flags. pretty soon, a crowd gathered around us to take pictures and gawk at the taekwondo contingent. (keep in mind our ragtag clothing.)

the big adventure we had today, however, was when we all went to go to the team meeting that was on the 1st floor, with the lobby being the ground floor. coach linda buelle told us all to cram in to the elevator, but as the doors closed the elevator went clunk *CLUNK* and we would go up a foot then drop 6 inches. so for 15 minutes we were stuck in the elevator, with 13 sweaty athletes and three very sad looking volunteers. we kept banging on the doors and i thought that the oxygen would be running out, so i kept holding my breath until we finally pried the doors open. we were half way up the door and you could see the gears. i’ll upload images later when the rest of my luggage comes in.

the first day was full of adventure, i guess you could say that. losing all our luggage, kicking on the red carpet, then nearly suffocating (or imagining so) in an elevator. tomorrow should be just as fun.

i couldn’t recall when the last time it was that i left the united states. of course, tijuana and montreal don’t count as really being outside of the country. i looked in my passport, and the last time i was in beijing was sometime in 2000 or 2001. probably a post high-school graduation trip. so this time, going to belgrade, i am filled with excitement, to be competing at an international tournament with the united states team, to be in a completely different country, to be experiencing something i’ve never done before.

we have worked pretty hard over the past few weeks. along with other members of the new mit stkd poomse contengincy – rene and anye – almost every practice has been devoted to perfecting the backstance, adding power to the guarding block, keeping the bob out of the front stance, giving that side kick just a little bit more pop. poomse has breathed a new life into my taekwondo experience. in a way, it’s a completely different world of taekwondo. there’s no cutting weight, there’s no intense pressure to become a physical superman. but on the other hand, all the competition is now within. you fight against yourself to perfect your form. you have to overcome many different obstacles – laziness, inattentiveness, acceptance of imperfection. when you put on a helmet for sparring, you enter your own world. when you compete in forms, everything is still out there, and you have to find the right mental state without the aid of a stifling set of gear, or a blanket of cheering that covers up your doubts. it’s only you and your body, but the whole world is still out there trying to knock you off balance.

soon it will be morning and we’ll arrive in paris. it’s already a treat to hear the airplane crew speak a foreign language, and to inquire whether you’d like “quelque chose a boire”. and i can’t even imagine the foreign world we’ll be in when we enter the SWUG athletic village, and see the multitudes of flags, the different colors of each country parading around in large groups. and not only will there be taekwondo, but there are going to be many other sports – the top in the world of collegiate athletics. and we’ll be right there among them.

**

the moment i entered the airport, i was snapping pictures on my camera like a foolish tourist. and this was when i was still in logan airport, terminal E, international departures. the boston crew carried the SWUG swag in our suitcases because there were the most number of us leaving at the same time, so we each had a huge 50+ lb bag, another medium duffle, and other stuff. fortunately, except for jay, we didn’t have any sparring gear, so we could stuff the bags full of actual clothes to wear.

air france did not have any luggage charges, even though most of our bags were probably over what we thought was the limit. then, we promptly decided to check our second bags – why not? it’ll make the stay in paris and the trip through customs much easier.

ever since i was a kid, i’d loved airplane food. no matter how people complained, i always thought the vacuum packed food served in little plastic trays had an appeal that you couldn’t get at any gourmet restaurant. so when they passed out menus i started salivating – they gave us a choice of chicken curry or a salmon shepherd’s pie, with brownie, cheese, tuna cous-cous salad, bread, and tapioca pudding. and aperatifs! i grabbed a cabernet sauvignon, and finished alicia’s champagne. then i asked for a heineken, and now i’m happily settled down in the darkness blogging about this highly satisfying mile high culinary experience.

on the plane, we all sat in the middle aisle. i’ve always heard stories about how virgin america and other airlines provided free entertainment onboard, and i’ve only experienced this once or twice myself, so i was super excited about the personal tvs that also had music, games, and movies. i ended up watching an indian(?) film about kabbadi, which was really awesome except for the sudden twist plot in the end which really caught me off guard. well, it is a time to experience everything non-american, so no “watchmen” for me.

anyway- quickly to the main point of this entry.  my roommate and i were just coming back from eating yummy desserts and chatting about our plans for tomorrow when at the corner of my eye, i saw a hogu.  i guess after wearing one for four years, i can easily spot a hogu anywhere.  hahaha.  my roommate asked if i wanted to watched the taekwondo team, and i couldn’t help but say sure.  one guy was putting on his hogu; two guys were sparring.  one was wearing the old style hogu with the dots and the other was new style.  the old style hogu guy was a red belt and the other a black belt.  i didn’t know they were training so close to where i live (like a couple floors down.) i got kinda excited ^____^.

i wondered why i didn’t bother to contact them over HKUST.  based on their gear, it seems like they weren’t super old style or anything.  and i understand – people have different sparring levels.  the red belt was doing crazy turn kicks… that were too low and at the wrong distance.  the black belt did a whole bunch of back kicks and doubles… that weren’t really scoring quality.  however, they didn’t really have instep guards, so i gave them the benefit of the doubt.

i peered more closely… the guy putting on the hogu was a green stripe (exactly like how master chuang did it). there were two girls who watched them spar and were chatting.  they didn’t have any gear on.  i was glad that i didn’t contact them… it was a relatively small club and there didn’t seem to be a head instructor.  the girls didn’t seem like they wanted to spar and i definitely don’t like sparring with guys (unless you’re bobby or john wong ).  and then i remembered the flyer: 8-10PM TUESDAYS.  thanks, but i’d like to get in more training than that.

i suppose if HKUST tkd doesn’t work out for me, i can fall back on this one…. first impressions are usually wrong (hopefully).

i miss kicking… and the mit sport tkd team .  i’ll update you guys when i start kicking with the HKUST team.  they seem pretty awesome so far