First time at the Gym

Shilin Sports Center (http://www.tms.gov.tw/2008/english/slsc.asp)

I hit the gym for the first time this week (the week of 10/12). Terry and I found it Sat night. It’s a 10-story new building with archery, swimming pool, rock climbing, ping pong, basketball and badmitton. You’d think for something this nice that they’d have a bigger gym. There are plenty of treadmills and stationary bikes, but the free-weights are dismal. There is only one set of free weights. There are a number of nautical-type machines for use…and some weird ones.

It seems that a popular item is this funky stool…well, it’s not really a stool. You see it at Brookstone in most U.S. malls. You sit on it, and it wiggles all over the place. It almost seems like a mini-mechanical bull. It’s hysterical to watch people on it. We saw one in a mall on Friday night and Terry proceeded to entertain the kids by ‘riding’ it, much to my embarrassment as the sales people were simply staring in disbelief at his antics…until the kids decided to follow suit. I just thought that these contraptions were for show…apparently people REALLY believe that by wiggling your belly, perhaps some of the excess fat simply wiggles off!

Most of the people at the gym I found to be rather old. I was surprised by the number of people over the age of 65 ‘exercising’…well, stretching mostly. There were not a lot of young people, and definitely not the stereotypical gym-goers I’m used to seeing in the US. The other odd thing is that the people at the gym wear street clothes. As if I don’t stick out enough, I REALLY stood out in my running shorts and tank top. People were REALLY staring at me running through the streets of Shilin (Taipei district) on my way to the sports center, then going into the gym in my gym clothes. I am not certain what the protocol is; but one thing for sure is that my attire makes me stand out more than EVER.

I took an aerobics class today. It was more of a dancing class, and I didn’t really burn that many calories…but I did look hilarious as I REALLY found out that I suck at dancing, and I’m DEFINITELY not the typical petite Asian woman who takes these classes. Thankfully, having taken aerobics in the past, the moves weren’t that difficult, but the combos were a killer! I stood in the back and was spared from most of the embarrassment at being the worst in the class…except at the end when apparently we were supposed to be partnered up to stretch. Oh no! I had NO idea what was going on when a woman approached me and, mercifully enough, in English explained what was going on. Phew! SAVED!

Everyone was nice enough and a few people asked me where I was from, why I was here, etc. I do find the Taiwanese people to be very hospitable and I was thankful to have a few people to help me out when I was completely lost.

Oh yeah…did I mention the cost?? The way this gym works (and all public gyms) is that, as it’s subsidized by the government, I pay 50NT/hour, which is about $3.50. I paid more for the class (300NT, or about $10), but that cost will go down if I buy a package. If I pay for 10 classes, the cost is 2,000NT, or $62. That’s right, $6.20 per class. While I don’t anticipate going to 3 classes per week, I think that 1/week or so would be quite nice. And who can beat the pay-as-you-go mentality? I LIKE IT!