I envision this blog as a very public side of me (which is why it uses my real name). Things I intend to blog about here may include:
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu I started doing BJJ on June 1, 2010. I caught the bug and I haven’t looked back. I was originally interested in it because I wanted to lose weight and get in shape, but it turns out I love it absolutely. There aren’t many women who do BJJ; and so I want to make sure my voice is public.
ESL/EFL/Teacher Training I am an English language professional. BA in English, MEd in TESOL, and a TESOL certificate. I did teacher trainings in Ukraine with Peace Corps, and I do them here in Korea. I love the idea of my former students/participants coming here to read about ideas for teaching and sharing ideas.
My life in general I moved to Korea in March 2010. It had been a dream of mine for years, and it is everything I could have imagined. I live in an apartment with a cranky Ukrainian cat named Miau-Miau. I got her in Ukraine and took her back to America and then on to Korea. She’s my baby and I love her dearly.
While I don’t like the idea of such an unfocused blog, I like the idea of having a place for family and friends to keep track of me, for my ideas to be (mostly) in one place, and even more so that I can track readers. Sadly, my blogspot account does not do this.
So here I am, Julia Johansen: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu-ka and English language professional. Let the games begin 
Cool! It’s brilliant that there are so many female BJJ bloggers out there now: I’ve seen a real explosion since I started blogging a few years back.
Also cool that you’re an English language teacher abroad. If I was single, that is exactly what I’d be doing. Not that I’m complaining, of course – I wouldn’t have travelled half as much as I’ve done if it wasn’t for my gf, besides all the other awesome she brings into my life.
even more so that I can track readers. Sadly, my blogspot account does not do this.
It should do soon: they’re developing some kind of inbuilt stats thing, judging by the email I got a little while ago. Although IIRC, WordPress already has that, which is presumably part of the reason you went for that rather than blogspot?
Personally, to track readers I used StatCounter and Google Analytics. Both are relatively easy to use: just a matter of dumping code into an HTML box.
I have a blog over at blogspot, but yes, I was VERY interested in the reader tracking. It tells me where people clicked in from, if they found it by a search, etc. I’m not much of a code person, but HOPEFULLY HOPEFULLY HOPEFULLY within two weeks if you go to http://juliajohansen.com you’ll see this blog instead of my parking space.
I’m really glad to be part of a community–and that’s really how it feels. But it’s bizarre to be part of such a random diverse group–what I mean is, out there in the “real world” rather than just within livejournal or something where you actually join a community.
Thanks for your comment!
Hey slideyfoot!
I have been contemplating on migrating my BJJ WordPress blog to Blogspot. I started using it for my cat blog, and I am quite happy with a lot of things: it’s easier to post (I always have a hardtime with WP messing up my photos, font, etc.), it automatically saves your post every few seconds, and Google Analytics provide a lot of information. I’d like to explore AdSense as well once I have the time to tinker with it. I am not an IT person, however, so my comments are based on a compose-type-post blogger and not the type who deals with HTMLs and what-have-yous
Oops – messed up last link. Should have been this.
Hey Julia! Thank you for visiting my blog. Reading yours, I realized that we have a lot in common! I am also an educator (after spending 8 years in the corporate world) teaching marketing and business classes to college students, I have two cats (a Siamese and a rescued orange tabby), I am living in Asia (Manila, Philippines), and well, the obvious common thing is that we both love BJJ! I haven’t been training lately (which explains the lack of new post in my BJJ blog) because I am currently focusing on my first step to getting a PhD in Management — scoring good in the GMAT.
We actually have a team in South Korea, under Equipe Fabricio. Please consider joining our international tournament in Manila later this year (most likely first weekend of December)!
Oh, and just in case you’ll be interested to check out my feline buddies, they blog here: http://pawsomecats.blogspot.com/
Happy training and it would really be nice to meet you someday to talk about teaching, cats and BJJ
I just read your blog and I enjoy your writing very much! I have to say that I think it is awesome what BJJ has done for you life, it is an amazing thing, it is is definately a way of life.
Great blog. I’m a 39-year old female fundraising professional who has been training for almost 2 years. It’s become a family support as I train with my husband, my 13 year old daughter and 7-year old son. The sport has not only changed my life, but it has changed my entire family’s life for the better. I’m glad to see so the increase in females training and talking about it. I get some strange looks from people when I tell them about my training.
We are beginning a blog about family training so look for it soon.
Awesome! I’m really excited to see the increase in BJJ women, also! It’s a great time to be a woman in BJJ, I think. I feel a little like the people who followed the pioneers
I look forward to your blog!
Pingback: Reflections on one year into BJJ | Jiu-Jiu's BJJ Blog
Pingback: White Belts Behaving Badly Online | Jiu-Jiu's BJJ Blog
Pingback: Another year in Seoul | Jiu-Jiu's BJJ Blog