Moving to South Asia was a pretty big stretch. I mean not many things on a daily basis come across my path and I think, "Oh, this just reminds me of home." Nope. Actually, I'm more likely to think "... this would never happen in America." Then, I have to remind myself I'm not in America; I'm in Asia and just move on.
One of the funnier things I have recently come across that is pretty different here is the concept of exercising. Many people can be seen out briskly walking about 5 am to get exercise. Or there are the type that believe yoga is the way to go and flail their arms about to get the blood flowing. And then there is the breathing yoga which has been recommended a few times-- not really exercise if you ask me.
In our apartment complex, there is a little work out room with a little trainer man whose job is to show us how to use the machines and junk like that. At first, I was pretty stand-offish to him, well, because that's how I am with all Indian men, and because he just started pushing buttons on my treadmill trying to teach me how to use it I guess. I had to politely inform him that I had seen one of these things before, and I knew what I was doing. Then, the staring commenced. Which is pretty normal, but I don't think they had ever seen a woman actually run on the thing before. My friend said she heard them talking about her saying something like, "Oh, she thinks if she runs faster, she will burn more calories...". Wonder what they think about me?
Well, no need to wonder! Turns out my roomie and I are the talk of the gym. We were talking with our neighbor and she was saying how the trainer talks about us and how we can lift all kinds of weights. We laughed so hard! I'm thinking it was that one time I told him to up my quad exercise thing from 10 kg's to 20 kg's. I don't think he thought I could, but when I successfully did it, he exclaimed, "oh..so powerful!" And he just kinda stared like "what has this girl been eating?" Then, the next time I went in, he walked up and saw me bench pressing about 50-60 lbs, which I feel like isn't that much! When he saw me, he just said, "Wow!" Haha. Who knows what I'll impress him with next?
One of the funnier things I have recently come across that is pretty different here is the concept of exercising. Many people can be seen out briskly walking about 5 am to get exercise. Or there are the type that believe yoga is the way to go and flail their arms about to get the blood flowing. And then there is the breathing yoga which has been recommended a few times-- not really exercise if you ask me.
In our apartment complex, there is a little work out room with a little trainer man whose job is to show us how to use the machines and junk like that. At first, I was pretty stand-offish to him, well, because that's how I am with all Indian men, and because he just started pushing buttons on my treadmill trying to teach me how to use it I guess. I had to politely inform him that I had seen one of these things before, and I knew what I was doing. Then, the staring commenced. Which is pretty normal, but I don't think they had ever seen a woman actually run on the thing before. My friend said she heard them talking about her saying something like, "Oh, she thinks if she runs faster, she will burn more calories...". Wonder what they think about me?
Well, no need to wonder! Turns out my roomie and I are the talk of the gym. We were talking with our neighbor and she was saying how the trainer talks about us and how we can lift all kinds of weights. We laughed so hard! I'm thinking it was that one time I told him to up my quad exercise thing from 10 kg's to 20 kg's. I don't think he thought I could, but when I successfully did it, he exclaimed, "oh..so powerful!" And he just kinda stared like "what has this girl been eating?" Then, the next time I went in, he walked up and saw me bench pressing about 50-60 lbs, which I feel like isn't that much! When he saw me, he just said, "Wow!" Haha. Who knows what I'll impress him with next?
