Back to the Future

Hello everyone! Cindy here.

After a long lazy 4 day weekend of reading and wandering (oh and a butt kicking hike up the mountain in our backyard...but that is a different blog) I decided it was time to join a gym. The running thing is great, but I looooove going to the gym, and have really been missing it. There is a very flash gym just behind us. We had been in once before to have a look around. The lady at the front desk spoke enough english to give us prices and permission to look around. One of the personal trainers spoke english very well and explained the classes (they have yoga and dance weeeehooo) and answered our questions. So today when I headed off on my own to join the gym for a month and give it a try, I was a bit nervous but felt I could probably charades my way through the process.

Well, my little bit of nervousness increased when I entered the gym to find a different lady at the front desk. Ok, maybe she will speak english. NOPE. Not a word of it. So I gave my best shot at saying "one month" in Korean. She stared at me. I pointed at the one month price on the posted price list. She got what I was saying and handed me a form to fill in. I looked at the form and laughed and looked at the lady. It was all in Korean. The poor lady. She was checking in other guests, handing out towels, dealing with people wanting to use the spa, and at the same time she would now have to help me fill out this form.....by acting out the labels for me. She pointed at me and then the place for name, she pretended to talk on the phone and pointed to the place for my phone number, and then drew a house in the air and pointed to where my address goes. The rest of the form (the other 3/4) she did not even bother with. She then tried to indicate that my card would not be ready until tomorrow by pointing to a membership card and then tomorrow on the calendar. Ok, phew, I thought the hard part was over. I knew how to get up to the fourth floor to work out........BUT...... no, it just got worse.

The very nice desk lady then handed me a workout outfit. What? I shook my head and pointed to the clothes I had on. She again handed me an outfit. It looked like a school gym uniform. Again I said no and pointed to my own clothes. She then directed me into the door beside the desk. Hmmm. I knew this was not the way up to the gym. Oh no! But I had no choice. The lady insisted that i needed to go through those doors. So in I went. And what did I see? Many naked Korean women. This was the spa room that lead to the sauna and hot tubs. And apparently Korean women are not shy. I decided it was time to just try to blend in. So I took off my shoes and wandered towards the lockers. A different employee started yelling at me and ran after me. Apparently I had done something wrong. I braced for the awkward confrontation. But she just handed me a key for a locker. I jammed everything in the locker, grabbed my gym shoes and socks, and then tried to find the way to the fourth floor. A lady started yelling "yogi yogi" at me.........I have heard that one before, it means "here", and she pointed at a hidden elevator. Success! I was finally going to get to the gym.

Walking into a room full of Koreans is always the same. They all stare. Some point. And I always have the feeling that the conversation is about me. The gym is no different. I do stand out. They all have the same colouring, the same hair, the same skinny frame. I am a jungle woman with curly hair who towers above them and is about twice as wide. However, this time there was something else that made me stand out. I was not wearing a stunning outfit fit for a Jane Fonda video. Seriously. About 70 percent of the women in there were wearing tight shiny nylons, a bathingsuit type work out bodysuit and legwarmers. I think I stared at them as much as they stared at me. Usually I am jealous of the fashions worn by the Korean women here. They are very stylish and inspire me to dress better. However, this time I was not jealous. I was in shock.

I picked a treadmill next to a woman dressed in regular shorts and a tanktop. I did this on purpose because I know I get distracted easily and working out next to a Korean Jane Fonda would just lead to me thinking about her outfit the whole time. This plan failed as I could still see some Fonda wannabes in the mirror facing my treadmill. One lady looked like she was ready to be in a skating show. I tried my best to keep running while observing the fashion show. I could see in the mirror that the ladies were talking about me, but I didn't mind so much this time. Maybe they were saying that I needed some nylons and legwarmers to complete my ensemble. Perhaps I'll return to Canada in a year with a whole wardrobe of Jane Fonda workout clothes. ;)