Culture Shock

The United States is so much like Canada that it's easy to forget how different we are, and I don't mean the cute, minor things.

At my Jiu-Jitsu group back home women are totally integrated. There are more males, and females make up about 25% of the advanced class.

Here at the Gracie Academy, it's more like 10% female. Also, they act differently than the guys do. During practise time, they usually seek out other females.

During sparring time they usually do the same. When it's time to grab a partner, the men walk about trying to make eye contact with each other trying to pair up. The women either grab one another, or one of a few chosen men. If they don't get one, they move to the side and intently do NOT make eye contact with anyone. The men seem to pretend that they can't see these women and don't try to engage them. Very strange.

Twice when this was happened, I distinctly walked into their field of vision before making contact and bowing with a smile. Both times they seemed happy to roll, and smiled broadly when finished.

They both seriously kicked my ass, by the way. There seems to be a set of female-preferred attacks, which I also found strange. Maybe it was a way to handle their opponents here. Back home I'm one of the bigger guys, but around here I'm one of the hobbits. The Jiu-jitsu women down here have all ranged in size from small to tiny

I get the distinct impression that if I hadn't made a point of getting female partners I would never have one. If there are an average of 3 women training at every class that means that In two months I would have shared the mat with 312 women and never partnered with any.

It's different.