Have you always been like this?

Okie Dokie Artichokie

So. There’s this gym in the MALL below our apartment. Yep I live on top of a mall/arcade/bowling alley/gym. I haven’t even gone shopping yet. And that my friends deserves a round of applause… let’s hear it for Krystal!

Oh yea, the gym. So we go to check it out since some of our friends who had already joined said there was a deal that ended soon. The guy’s name was Tom. He gave us a rundown of the gym and what was offered and a brief history of the gym. It’s like a Glub; a gym/club. Apparently Vietnamese girls don’t want to get fat so they don’t go out and go clubbing very much like Americans do. So my philosophy is that they brought the gym and club together, air-go the Glub. The music is loud and bumping, there’s people everywhere, and rumor has it that some girls work out in high heeled shoes!

When we were signing up he asked us what our fitness goals. When, of course, weight loss came up, he suggested places for us to loose. Mind you that we had just got there, so he had sized us up before we even sat down and noticed where we needed to lose. We also stood on this machine that measure BMI, BF%, among other things, and I have to lose 5Kgs off my tummy. Hahah. It’s funny how if in the States someone came up to me and said, “Oh, you want to lose weight here,” and pinches the backs of my arms and grabbed at their stomach, I would be offended. But there is no demeaning tone to their question. They are just frank.

That’s not even the good part.

So we got one free personal training session with signing up. They guy was really nice and he kicked Michelle and me’s butt! At one point we were doing lunges down the length of the gym and he asked how often I had been working out. I said I had been doing a boot camp back home for a few months. Naturally, if I had been doing a boot camp I should have been dropping pounds like flies so he asked if I had lost a lot of weight. I said that I did when I wasn’t drinking very much and watching my diet, but then I wasn’t and I was going out a lot so it came back! He paused for a minute and asked, “Oh, so you haven’t always been like this?” Bahaha. I had to laugh. No, Thank you Mr. Buff-tattooed-sculpted-PT Man, I have not. In high school I was quite pleasant. But once again, not trying to be mean. They just don’t beat around the bush. “You have fat here, here, and here.” What?! Where!??! Oh, ya; I am aware.

Movin’ on.

Most traumatic experience so far: I took my first Xe-om ride the other day.  A xe-om is a motorbike-taxi. They carry extra helmets and cart people around on their motorbikes so they don’t have to get in a taxi. It’s cheaper, but there’s no meter so you have to negotiate the price before you leave. So, price decided, helmet on, ready to go. We go not even a block and we come up on an accident. Two bikes were in the middle of the road. As we went around it, there was a young man, probably my age or younger, lying on the road. He was lying in a pool of fire-engine-red blood surrounding coming from somewhere behind his head... you know on crime shows when they have silhouette of the body all awkward shaped? Yeah, I saw that in real life… I don’t think he was living… … I was speechless.

The helmets they wear here are like glorified ball-caps and they don’t protect the head too much, obviously.  Until I saw this accident, I was going to get one. I’m definitely buying one that covers my whole head.

Besides that though, things have been going swell.

I met a young woman about my age named My Chi. She is a cousin of a friend of mine back home! Thanks for hooking us up Nikki! She came and picked me up on her motorbike and we went across town for dinner. Despite the previous story, I felt comfortable with her. I don’t know what what we had was called, but I call it “Vietnamese fajitas.” There was giant plate of greens (I have no idea what all was in there), some rice things that looked like tortillas, a plate of pickled vegetables, and a plate of meat. Put some of each in the tortilla things, dip it in the sauce, and bon appétit! Pretty tasty!

Then we drove around the city for a while and we went to a quaint little coffee shop. First you had to take off your shoes to enter the dimly lit room. Faint music played in the background. It was decorated with earthy tones and floral patterns. The furniture was the kind that you must sit on your rear on a cushion. I loved this place! The iced coffee was excellent and the complimentary tea was to die for. I got the name of it so I can go back.

I really enjoyed visiting with Chi. She speaks very clear but somewhat limited English. I thought she was doing a great job! She was kind enough and patient enough to teach me probably about 10 phrases! WAHOO! It was really fun to talk with her. We are planning to hang out again soon before she takes off for a month for a business trip. I’d love to hang out often and even make friends with other Vietnamese. They know so much about the town, all the secrets it has to offer!

We’re beginning training and planning for the beginning of the school year! I am anxious to get going and meet my first ever class! EEP! I’ll blog about that next. I have been taking pictures of the progress of my room! Can’t wait to show you all.

Until next time,

K