ALBERT'S COMPETITION: BEHIND THE SCENES

On the day of the competition, we woke up to some light rain. It rained for the whole of the previous day and contrary to our weather forecast *coughIslacough* we were freezing! Fortunately, it was only lightly drizzling.

By the time we got to the competition venue, it was already starting to fill up with people.

We were all supposed to be lining up to get weighed and registered, but half of the people there didn't have waivers. Not a big problem, it was quickly solved. But then...

Uh oh.

These two upstanding gents were good enough to help with translation.

This time it went more smoothly, and now came the reward for 2 weeks of dieting:

A slice of cheese in my sandwich! HUZZAH!

This sandwich is one of many, many food items we bought from Paris Baguette, one of our FAVOURITE things about Seoul. Yay for Isla, thanks for the recommendation!

Our competition picnic.

Banana: for the potassium.

Sandwich: for the carbs and to sop up the overflow of stomach acid.

Snickers: for a quick energy hit.

Cherries: because we only have the preserved kind in Kuching.

Jerky: A great way to pass the time.

Cookies: Just because they make us happy. What, we keep fit for a living :p

The field upon which battle (and much bowing) would be done.

My weight division. There would be a last-minute entry, however

(which in retrospect I'm pretty thankful for!).

The seedings for the absolute (open weight) division. There was a tiny mix-up with my registration and I was not listed here, but a ball-point pen came to the rescue!

This is totally unrelated to the competition but we were just so intrigued by those blue things. We thought they were cranks of some sort but then realised that it's soap...

when Serina bravely grabbed the "handle".

On the podium!

What's really cool about this photo is that the referee who presented us our medals is Alvaro Mansor, a 5th-degree black belt, an official with the IBJJF, and the head of Soul Fighters academy in Brazil!

Finally, this is me with Marc Lee, a cool guy and a great organiser and host!