After a not so good nights sleep because of the rib, it’s easy to pass on this morning’s BJJ training. Katja is up for it and we both go. If I can’t train at least I can watch and take away theoretical knowledge.

I struggle to isolate the pain though. I have some great apps on my iPad that shows muscles, skeleton and more. I can’t really say if it’s my rib bone itself that hurts or if it’s a muscle connected to the end of the rib. Did I just over stretch a muscle? It will definitely heal faster than a busted rib bone. And it’s not like my rib bones are protruding, as can be seen on any picture of me. So just counting ribs from bottom up is a source of confusion.

Middle aged! Once upon a time I thought it meant near death. Now I guess it means more will than skill / ability.

It seems that a fifth degree black belt in BJJ that’s gonna give the class. Fernando Maccachero is the head of BJJ here at Tiger. He came back from  a trip to Brazil on Monday. Just in time for our friend Nezih to miss out. I guess that’s just Thai luck (our un-luck) that constantly hit Nezih.

Maccachero is built quite sturdy. He’s not a little guy and it’s cool to see how a man built not unlike myself, can move so gracefully.

Katja got a large German guy as a partner today. It seems he’s not used to moving up and down from the floor, cause he’s all winded after just a few exercises. After a while he sits down and Katja gets Kevin (the smaller guy who got beat up by the Thai in the BBQ Beatdown). Better size and better stamina. I spend the time writing down the drills so we can take ’em with us and train them on a later date.

When they’re finished with the drilling and move on to sparring I drive down the road and get myself a haircut.  Katja had spotted a sign advertising haircuts for sixty Bath. I go there and find an old lady that keeps talking Thai to me the entire time. Still, my choice of haircut is rather limited, so we get it done. Then she moves on to trim my beard from all possible angles. She finishes with a pat on my back while exclaiming: “Sexy!” I guess Mr. Handsome is back to woo the old ladies of Thailand.

I’m back at Tiger just as they finish BJJ class.

We grab lunch to go and head back to the hotel. Ninety minutes by the pool, a power nap and some writing later and behold! It’s five o’clock. A little protein powder and some water melon and we’re ready for Muay Thai.

This is the last time I spend money on this trainer. Third session in a row, but we’re not really going anywhere. Sounds like a boring set-up, right?

I have another guy in sight that speaks English, and I’ll try him. Today my trainer told me to hit straight when jabbing and simultaneously step forward with the lead foot. That’s OK, but hard to do when he puts the pad to close towards me. I tried to tell him, but I honestly think I could have counted backwards from ten, in Norwegian, and gotten the same respons.

A dinner later we’re home and have stocked up on some pills from the pharmacy. Hopefully this night is gonna give some better sleep. Oh, and our friend Cassy from Australia has informed us that she will bring an ankel brace for Katja to the Mandirigma camp. That is great news. We have been planning on doing a post order solution from USA via my sister there, but it now seems easier and faster to get it from Australia in just a couple of weeks. What would life be without friends?