BODYJAM ROCKS KOTA KINABALU

Uniq invited Kevin, Nik and I as guest instructors for the Bodyjam 62 relaunch in Kota Kinabalu. After she got the approval from Ken, BodyJam's Head Teacher in KK, we were all set to go. Then I had to fall down the stairs and sublocated my toe finger a week before the event. And they printed the poster and everything..!!*cries* However, I had a great time there. Made new friends and had a huge blast. We're definitely coming again..!!

 

24th September 2012 (Monday)

 

I was supposed to fly to Kota Kinabalu the night before but due to circumstances I had to delay my flight and had most of the day free. So I did what any normal girl would do on her day off. Go to the doctor..!! Haha.. No la.. Since I'd be travelling, I thought it would be a good idea to get my toe checked out and see whether there have been any improvements since the last week. I went to Kelinik Suren with Mama and we had to wait a while because there was quite a queue for the X-Ray. The good doctor told me the bone has moved back to its original place but only slightly and then he plastered the fingers back together.

 

I finished my packing and then Zaim sent me to KLCC. Took the Skybus from KL Central to LCCT and I was already in the plane by 8pm. I was awefully hungry but didn't feel like spending in the plane and only managed to get about an hour of sleep during the entire 3 hour flight. The turbulence didn't really help. Thankfully, I didn't get airsick and we safely landed by 11pm.

 

Uniq and Kevin came to pick me up. Along with Bobo, our driver for the trip. Best part is, he doesn't have a licence..!! Haha. We stopped by a foodcourt in Tanjung Ara beach for some satay and drinks. Then I checked in De Galleria near Kampung Air. Saw Nik and the guys' room , unpacked a bit and off to Zzz Land.

25th September 2012 (Tuesday)

 

We woke up early because Ken wanted to preview the new release in his morning class. Originally I was just supposed to sit there and enjoy the music. As if... As soon as the first track played I already took off my sandals and was happily dancing. Hee. Then, we had a practice session for tonight's event. Since we did all that without a morsel of food in our bellies, the first thing we did was to find breakfast. I can't remember what I ate but I had two drinks..!! Haha..

 

The three of us were left on our own after that so we practiced a bit and even laid down on the studio floor to rest. We had to go down to the lobby when some guys came to install the new spotlights. Yes, they even brought in SPOTLIGHTS for us. And then we fell asleep waiting for Liana and Ken.

 

 

About an hour before the event, we got ready. We went to Guardian and Giant to get some plaster and drinks. By 6.30 we were all ready to rawck! Ken introduced all of us and the BodyJam party begins. I didn't really get much stage time, just shadowed the groove downs and taught the Fantasy track. But boy did everyone had fun that night. The studio was packed and the spotlights really helped all of us get in the party mode. The two hours just flew by and no one wanted to leave.

Sam, the big boss of Core Fitness was so impressed he wanted to buy us dinner. So we got ready and got into Christine's car. Our dinner at Sailor's was super yummy and surrounded by friends it was definitely memorable. The food was awesome. We were the last to leave the restaurant. Bobo kinda took us around the town looking for 'girls' to pickup. Ehhe. But then as soon as I reached my room, lights out. Figuratively of course.

 

26th September 2012 (Wednesday)

 

We checked out at ten that morning. Then went to pick Ken and Liana up. Seven of us in that one car. Ohoho..!! We went to get breakfast and then proceeded to the jetty for our island trip. We're going to Pulau Sapi..!! The boat ride there was nice. I got my hand out and felt the waves. Then we put down our bags and got ready for the beach. I walked along the shore, careful not to let my other foot wet. Then the others were having fun in the water. Hehe. There were not many people by the time we came so we mostly enjoyed the waters for ourselves. Because of the clear waters we could actually see the fishes swimming. Nice.

 

 

We were already changed and waiting for our boat ride back by 5pm. There was an unpleasant experience with the handlers that we had to bring up to their superiors. We freshened up in Uniq's in-laws and had a brief down time. They brought us to a seafood place for dinner. The siput and freshly boiled prawns were amazing.

 

It was time for us to say goodbye and we made our way to the airport. For some reason we thought our flight would be later but thankfully we managed to check our luggages in on time. Not surprisingly, the flight was delayed and only took off a little before midnight from the scheduled 11.20pm. The three of us sat in a row and was quickly sleeping when the plane left the ground. Goodbye Kota Kinabalu..!! Thank you for the memories..!! They were LEGENDARY.. :)

 

WHEN I MET G...

Guess who was in town a few days back..?? G..!! G..!! Haha, cannot stand it.. Need to say it twice.. LOL.. Anyway, G is Gandalf Archer, Program Director for BodyJam also choreograher extraordinaire and inspiration for all BodyJam instructors. He is like THE MAN for BodyJam. Like nobody owns BodyJam but him. Ok, I'm starting to swoon. Ahha. So it was like a totally surreal experience to see him with my own two freaking eyes and my BodyJam team even got to be on stage together with him. WITH HIM!! Sorry, freaked out again.

 We met him several times during his visit to KL. The first ever was at the LesMills Quarterly Workshop at the Twin Tower Fitness center. Even though I was kinda tired from Sh'bam seing him come from the prep area was like unbelievable. Plus, the Herbalife shake I had in the morning really helped..!! (ye, ade iklan sekejap) Everyone kept screaming when he came and when he was teaching we laughed at everything he does. Most of us were like schoolgirls meeting their first crush. I think he likes that. After BodyJam he did some freestyling before education. Super FUN..!! Then everyone was like scrambling to get photos with him. He was in a hurry so he couldn't entertain everyone. Bummer.

We met him again for rehearsal at the MBf for the O.M.G. event. It's an event organized by Fitness First where we danced for more than 2 hours and the proceeds go to charity. During practice I kept asking myself whether I was dreaming. Haha. The rehearsal was fun though. We didn't manage to do the BodyJam 62 dance school because G changed the routine around, but sill we were all very satisfied. The boyband stuff was highly entertaining. After practice, there was a long line of BodyJam instructors wanting to take pictures and get his signature. He signed my shirt and shoes. He also signed my phone but by the end of the night that was gone. Sobs..!! We had another rehearsal at the actual venue, Neverland.

And it was time to get ready. The BodyJam team had hair and make up done by A Cut Above. Made my eyes pop..!! We took pictures while waiting for the members to register. G also shared the same prep area with us so I took a while to stop staring at him. Haha. After the briefing by Ken, our amazing BodyJam Head Teacher we went down to mingle with the members. Lots of them came. The management only targeted about 250 people to join, but 400 turned up, which was why the place was uber packed..!! Being on stage was mind blowing. Everyone I saw had such a great time. We were supposed to have one more block to present but G had to cut it short due to lack of time. So he was just winging it towards the end with all the BoyJam team on stage with him. WITH HIM..!! Haha.. During the closing nobody wanted to leave. G was like, "Get off the stage and go home..!!" But he did say to the crowd "See you next year" wchich brought up lots of cheers and woot woots. We had a lot of nice comments about O.M.G. afterwards. Even G said what he saw that night was something totally not BodyJam and it was next level stuff. He even said the F word so he means business. Ahaha.

So, that's one of my ultimate wish list done. I'm still having withdrawal from all that awesomeness. Seeing G on stage really made me learn a lot of things. Like how to be a better instructor and how its all about putting everyone around you at ease. Getting along with all levels of people and even how to let go and just have fun with the dance. G, U DA MAN..!!

BANGKOK - TILL DEATH DO WE PARTY

I mentioned about a surprise trip a few posts back and OMG it was totally life-changing. Me and a very good friend Nik went to Bangkok for BodyJam instructor workshop and it was an experience like I have never had in my life. And for me one of the challenges was we didn't have one single clue what we got ourselves into. We had no idea where the training was and that our hotel though fairly comfortable was a bit out of the way and quite difficult to find. And our total ignorance of the Thai language made things harder.

The taxidrivers were a bit cekik darah, especially the hotel ones. Other than that the Thai people are really friendly and sweet. I especially love how they greet each other, it really reflected how much respect they have for everyone. But I think they must've thought that we were also Thai because almost everyone would talk to us in Thai and we would correct them and ask them to speak in English. LOL.

Fitness First

Let me just say this. The Fitness First where we trained were soooo frikking HUGE. You can throw a party at the lounge. They even have a juice bar. And the changing rooms have two entrances each. And get this, TV in the changing room!!! How cool is that. The cycling studio has like 4 rows and the Mind Body studio is like three times as big as the one in KL. And my favourite is they have TWO GX studios. TWO!! And both were the size of two studios here. When we first saw them we were totally in jakun mode it was not even funny. And the gym was the THIRD biggest in Thailand. It boggles the mind how big the BIGGEST would be.

Anyway, we spent a good three days in the gym and the people there definitely made us feel welcome and for the both of us it definitely will hold a special place in our hearts. Its where we had our first taste of what it feels like to be an instructor. Where we had our Masterclass with the coolest trainer, Arnold Warren from Phillipines. BTW, the Masterclass was mind-blowing. I had soo much fun. The FF there was also where we met a few incredible friends. Most of them don't speak in English but they were still awesome. And most importantly that was where we received the official recognition of being a BodyJam instructor trainee.

Fashion Island
Fashion Island is literally located in the middle of nowhere, yet the stores in there are largely recognized brands. I guess Thais don't really mind the travel because on weekends there seem to be much activities going on in the open areas, especially for children. Arnold even showed us a space used by kids to practice dancing.
-Starbucks
We spent some time in Starbucks, even sat for a good two hours there talking and finishing up our pizza. I tried the Peppermint Mocha (not available in Malaysia) but no drink can ever top Toffee Nut in my book and both of us got the Happy Birthday Starbucks card.

-Pizza
On our first and last day at the mall we ate at this Pizza Place. You wanna know why. They have Cheese Garlic Bread. We bought one each the second time. At first we ordered the Tom Yum Kung Pizza. It was OK. Our waitress was soo cute, she didn't understand English, so we ended up pointing our orders on the menu. And she would write down our orders giggling.

-Movie

We had some time to kill on the first day, so we thought why not catch a movie and it turned out Sherlock Holmes was on as we were buying the tickets. As we took our seats, we were surprised when suddenly everyone stood up. It was to sing their national anthem, which I thought was a good practice to instill a bit of patrioticism in their citizens. Anyway, the movie was nice. The Thai subtitle were a bit distracting but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Thong Ta Resort and Spa
The hotel that we stayed in was near the airport but was bit far from Fashion Island. But our room was quite spacious (Queen beds for each) which made it easier for us to practice for our presentations. I would however like to apologize to the people below us (as we were jumping quite a lot) if somehow we annoyed you. Haha. We met a nice staff whose name is Earth. Very original. And I love how they folded our towels after we checked in.

So that's about it. Our very first step in our journey towards becoming an inspiring BodyJam instructor. We couldn't get over how lucky we were to be training in Bangkok with Arnold, doing BJ 59. It was like fated. Can't wait to see and face our challenges ahead. Dear God, please give us strength, courage and determination in our new endeavour.

BEGINING AND ENDING

If one is to begin the other has to end

But is the other's end at one's fault

What if both one and the other continue on

Will there be enough for both

Or will one be left with dashed hope

Maybe the other will also have a new beginning

At least the other can still smile in the end

And one is utterly content with the new beginning

SECRET SANTA

After the semi-successful November babies birthday celebration in Times Square, (I say semi-successful because we were kinda complaining towards the end.. Heh..) Kevin was in full organizer mode. So he proposed another get-together for the gang... SECRET SANTA!!

After much planning and changing dates and venue, he finally decided presents were to be exchanged on the 20th December at the KFC near Menara MBf at 9.30pm. Names of Santees were drawn four days before and I have to thank Ecah for drawing out my Santee because I was out of town for the ceremony. I was however a little pressed for time and only barely managed to get the present(s).. Hee~ Just one hour of shopping yo.. So apologies to my Santee if my gift(s) were short of your expectations.

Kevin had a last minute shadow at Axis, so we started the party without him. We pooled all the presents on two tables and then ordered food. Most of us just finished Zumba with (none other than) Uchop and were absolutely ravenous. I only got a tiny cute little chicken wing, corn on the cob, Twister and Oreo Krusher.. Suddenly that sounded like a lot, LOL.. And Sherli even brought candies for everyone.. Nice~

After Kevin came, there was a bit of photo session going on and not long after gift exchanging time..!! One by one names were called and each time everyone wanted who their Santa was. And surprise surprise yours truly got TWO presents. Haha.. My friends joked that the other was from a Secret(?) Admirer. As it were I would once again like to thank whoever it was that gave me the gifts. They are lovely.

It was a bit late by then and we were tired out from the workout and the fun. I was among the last to leave as I had another business about an unexpected, awesome and most probably life changing trip. Stay tuned for more..