PINK gi... in Turkey!

I must be getting old. I tried to clean out some of the 1000+ emails in my inbox, which date back over a year... and found one from a cool chick named Sara. I don't remember if I ever posted this stuff!! So if I did, oh well, review :) And if I didn't-- Sara, I'm so sorry. I wanted to brag on your non-Dharma Trading dye job and traveling a year ago and I'm just a slouch on timing :) Shoutout to the pink Fenom in Turkey!

Here's her report, last year...

"We are in TX right now, but my husband is a part of Corvos Fight Team out of Istanbul, Turkey. It's a Brasa team, and the instructor there is a purple belt so Felipe Costa has been the only one to promote anyone there. My husband is a white belt (one stripe) and I just started training with him while we are in the states.

While we are in the states we are using the Gracie Combatives DVDs because there isn't a BJJ gym here in this little town in deep East Texas. We have small children, 2 and 4, and we couldn't both participate in a class at the same time anyway unless it was in our living room! We have puzzle mats in the living room and we roll after our kids are in bed. And this is temporary. When we get back to Turkey my husband will go back to the BJJ gym there and his teacher's wife and I are planning on training together. She's actually a Muay Thai girl, but I can't remember her rank at the moment. It's pretty high. But I think I'm the only girl in all of Turkey that would be willing to train with her, so I will probably get a crash course when we get back!

Our kids are learning a little at a time, and our son, who can barely talk, even asks Daddy to "roll" with him and sometimes he'll point to the floor and say "Joo joo!" He'll either say, "Roh! Roh!" or "Joo joo," and he even has his action figures and our daughters Disney princesses roll and do "joo joo." We love it. It makes us chuckle every time.

BTW: My husband and I are both Americans, we just live and work in Turkey.

I read your instructions on how to dye a gi, went to the Dharma website and started going through the purchasing process but the shipping cost was just way more than our limited budget could handle. So, brokenhearted, but still determined I went to Wal-Mart and bought their store powder dye. They had two brands that had the same exact instructions, were the same exact price, and the color dot looked the absolute same. One brand called the color flamingo pink, and the other just said pink. There were more packages of the Tulip brand, so that's what I bought. The dye has sodium carbonate mixed in already, so thanks to your instructions, I was much more comfortable with using it. The instructions said to use 1 pkg of dye with 1 gallon of water and 1/4 C of salt. (I also used iodine free salt because of your instructions.) I knew 1 gallon of water wouldn't be enough for my gi to sit in so I bought four. I measured out 4 gallons of water ready to dye one evening and got rather frustrated because I knew the water level was still not high enough. I went back and bought 2 more packages of dye and started over. I used the hottest tap water I could from my kitchen sink, 6 gallons of water in a large plastic tub (I think it's about 2 feet high,) inside of my bathroom tub, 6 packages of dye, 1 1/2 C iodine free sea salt, and a pair of large rubber kitchen gloves. I had to stir the solution for the first 15 minutes and I got a work out! I used my gloved hands to stir because I didn't trust anything else I had to be clean enough for the job. I kept turning the kimono and the pants over and over, pushing it down fully into the dye... I couldn't really stir because there just wasn't enough room to really "stir." After the first 15 minutes the instructions said to let it soak for another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Honestly, I think I stirred it once after that first 15 minutes.

When time was up, I followed the instructions and rinsed it a few times with cold water, then washed it in warm water and went ahead and dried it in the dryer because it was too bright and I was hoping the dryer would fade it a little. It looks really pretty, especially against my husband's blue and black gis! Really sharp. He says it fits me. I'm really glad I did it. I really felt confident doing it because I felt more educated after reading your instructions. Thanks for writing that!"

Well, Sara, the gi looks awesome. I'm about to shoot you an email and get an update. Hope you've been well.

EDIT:

Update from Sara!

"No worries. We actually do have the Bullyproof DVD set and we have
started some of it with our kids already. They love watching it and
practicing the things they see. They especially like that there are
children doing the games on the DVD's. My daughter is 4 and she likes
the fact that she can identify with another 4 year old girl on the TV.
It IS great.

I actually just got home from a women's seminar at the gym where my
husband trains, Corvos MMA Academy in Istanbul. It was great. The
instructor there is actually now a brown belt. He was promoted by
Felipe Costa this past fall. We learned some basic self defense and
did a few Gracie techniques. Burak is a great teacher and was very
careful with us and very respectful toward us. He is planning on doing
some more seminars like this in the future and even challenged us that
next time he will test us! So I'm hoping maybe in the next month or
two he'll make good on that promise. If you are ever in this part of
the world, you should stop by. Christian Graugart did. They would love to have you!
There is actually a girl who is a regular there and I had a great time
training with her today. Her name is Suzan and she is quite good.

The color on my gi has held on really well. I honestly think the
details I got from reading your dyeing instructions were a great help
and have probably made a difference. And the Fenom gi is still super
soft. I really enjoy using it."