I realize that makes it appear as me looking for trouble since it rarely happens to people here. However... I was in the UK, eating at a greasy spoon by myself with a couple sitting not far away. Several drunk teenagers enter from a night on the town. They soon recognize me as the guy who prays at the neighborhood mosque. One confronts me, telling me to go back to Afghanistan/Iraq. I apologize, and try to leave. After a shower of kicks and punches hail down at me, I decide to stay on the ground. Five other expatriates and I were at a bar in China. A dozen men dressed in office wear entered. They were friendly to all the patrons, bought us all drinks, singing, etc. As the night wore on, my colleague's wife had too much. We were leaving when the large group asked us why we were leaving. Upon hearing we were calling it a night, one of them grabbed our lady friend's hand and pulled her to him. They all laughed, yet when her husband shoved the man back, it became deadly silent. The bartenders, servers, and other customers froze. Another man got off his stool and barked quickly in Mandarin ("how dare you foreigner?" and something about a dog). A moment later, he punched the husband in the face so strongly that he crumbled instantly. My other colleagues began shoving and punching. As I tried to help him up, a glass bottle struck me in the back of the head. I was lying on the floor when someone stabbed me in the shoulder. And, the final straw was in Canada. A pickup truck in front of me abruptly slammed on its brakes for no reason. I saw the light of a phone in the driver's hands. I assume he was texting. Irritated, I beeped my horn since my motorcycle stalled (I panic braked like a rookie and didn't downshift to 1st). Angry man jumps out. He runs to me shouting what I was going to do, n-word, etc. On a stalled motorcycle, I was a sitting duck. He kicked me hard, and I fell to the side with a twisted ankle and 500 lbs of metal on me. These encounters happened so fast, there was little time to deescalate and run away. I think someone trained could've minimized the injuries, effectively counter-attacked, and/or escaped. I've tried minding my own business. I'm tired of lying on the ground and letting some jerk walk away with it.
First off make sure that any self-defense class/ program you take emphasizes awareness, avoidance and deescalation. If the class you are taking just focuses on physical techniques it's not going to be worth your time and actually could do more harm than good. Pepper spray is better than nothing but also needs training to use properly. Its effectiveness is also questionable as with enough will and pain tolerance it can be resisted. In training I've been sprayed with it, not directly in the face, and while it stung I didn't feel incapacitated. Further in close quarters grappling sight actually isn't that important. If someone is determined enough, can tolerate pain, and has their hands on you spraying them with pepper spray might not stop them but just piss them off more. For that matter you will end up getting some of the blowback from the spray. For personal physical protection martial arts, particularly ones that focus on competition and inclose techniques, are the best. Your own physical abilities and techniques are the weapons that are always with you, can't be taken away and used against you.
That sounds like you've had some pretty bad luck. Last month I did a seminar on self-protection (a term that encompasses more than just defending yourself) while traveling in China to a business group. What I focused on is being aware of your environment, not taking risks, cultural understanding and treating people with friendship and respect. Generally those things will keep you out of trouble for the most part while traveling. I travel a lot and have had very few situations where I felt threatened and only one that I actually had to defend myself. Outside of a bar in Bali several Indonesian guys approached my group and trouble broke out between the Aussie rugby players I was with and the locals. One of the Indonesians came up to me and tried to grab me. I was more worried he was trying to mug me than actually fight so I blocked his arms at his wrist and elbows and kept him from touching me without hurting him or me. After a minute or so of this the locals withdrew. Edit. Adding one more very important thing to keep in mind regarding self-defense while traveling. Engaging in a physical fight should always be the last resort but it isespecially important when you are traveling. You never want to put yourself in a situation where you have to deal with the local law enforcement and courts. At the minimum the laws are different but when you add language and cultural differences on top of corruption, suspicion of foreigners and in many countries anti-American feelings makes it very difficult to deal with.
Glad to help; after reading your stories I definitely think you'll like Larry and the way he teaches. Impromptu weapons, awareness, overall fitness, and even some legal information are included in the curriculum.
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