Bruce Lee returns to America
For the first few weeks Bruce earned a little money by giving dance lessons, however the amount he made was barely enough to pay for the most basic of provisions. Eventually, a restaurant owner who was a friend of the family, Ruby Chow, offered Bruce a room in return for his evening services as a waiter Bruce happy took the job and soon enrolled at Edison Technical School as a day student. Within a short time, Bruce earned his high school diploma and in the autumn of 1962, he enrolled for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington. By now, his days as a trouble making street kid were well and truly behind him.
It was during his time at university that Bruce Lee started to teach kung-fu. At first he taught to small groups of Asian enthusiasts, but soon started teaching to anyone who was interested. Bruce Lee was obsessed with the idea of developing a version of kung fu which was simple and practical in a real-life situation. In fact, he once stated, "99% of the whole business of oriental self-defence is baloney. It looks good but it doesn't work." These convictions led Bruce to formulate the beginnings of a new version of Kung Fu which Bruce would later name "Jeet Kune Do".
Lee's controversial viewpoints had another, less positive effect- they soon caused offence to many of the local practitioners of the classical martial arts. Tensions reached a head when a Japanese Karate black belt challenged Bruce to a fight to determine who had the superior method. According to eye witness reports, Bruce quickly executed a series of straight punches followed by a kick to his opponent's head. The fight was over within a few seconds.
Word of Bruce Lee's exceptional martial artist talents soon spread like wildfire among his peers and Bruce soon realized that he could use his Kung Fu skills to earn some money. Late in 1963 he opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute at 4750 University Way in Seattle. This was the first of what Bruce hoped would become a large chain of kwoons. The joining fee was $22 per month.
Just over a year after opening his school of martial arts, at the Space Needle resturant in Seattle, Bruce went on his first date with Linda Emery. Linda was a Caucasian girl of English and Swedish decent. She was a fellow student of the University of Washington and was also a student of Bruce Lee's martial arts classes. Despite fears that her mother would object to Linda dating a "chinaman", the couple dated regularly well into the summer of 1964
After an 18 day boat trip, Lee finally made it to San Francisco with $115US. Bruce had spent much of his time on the boat trip teaching cha-cha dancing to some of the passengers. He also decided to distance himself from the name Lee Jun Fan and diligently practiced his English on fellow passengers as often as he could. By the time the boat arrived in San Francisco, the Hong Kong street kid, Lee Jun Fan, had been transformed into Bruce Lee- an English speaking US citizen.