Sweating and learning

I joined a gym today. I’ve been really grumpy over the past couple of days and my absolute lack of exercise has certainly been contributing to my mood. I know I had all these grandiose ideas about trail running, but honestly, I’m a fair weather friend in that regard. It’s been cold, it’s been dreary, and we actually got about 6 inches of snow on Monday, so now the roads and sidewalks are adorned with slushy mud. I’d been contemplating a gym membership for a little while now, and a few days ago I asked my Korean co-worker where there were gyms in the area and she found one by my house. I was procrastinating on checking the place out, telling myself I should just wait until after this weekend and start a routine, but really was just nervous about the possible challenge of signing up for a membership without being able to communicate. However, I woke up in such a foul mood this morning that I had no other option, all I wanted to do was go for a run and pound out that bad energy.

Korean gyms are pretty similar to gyms in the US – same weight and cardio equipment…however there were some notable things.

1. They provide work out clothes! Everyone gets to wear a cute little red and black t-shirt (I was pleased that it was made of that technical sweat-wicking fabric too) with matching shorts.

2. They had these terrifying hoola hoops with teeth on them, which I can only imagine may be for toning your stomach or massaging while you tone? And there was this machine that looked for all the world like a giant, vibrating rubber band – a woman was standing inside it and it was vibrating along her legs – maybe this was to relax stiff muscles??

3. Finally, the women’s locker room was crawling with unabashedly nude ladies. Naked by the mirror blow-drying their hair, naked and chitchatting, naked and drying off from a shower, and of course naked in the shower room. Generally, I’ve found Korean’s lack of personal space a bit trying – most particularly when I’m waiting to get on a bus or a subway and I am bowled over by much more aggressive/eager riders (also irritating is trying to get off an elevator because people immediately push their way in when the doors open) – there is no sense of propriety or politeness about who is first. However here I realized, after the first jolt of surprise at being surrounded by naked ladies, that the apathy about strangers’ nude bodies was kind of liberating. How nice it is, to not have to struggle to make sure your towel is not about to fall off, or to feel nervous and judged by your exposed body.

Korea has these places called jjimjilbangs, which are supposedly public bathhouses/spas – you can sit in a hot tub and a sauna, and there are a wide variety of rooms (green tea baths, hot bath, cold bath)…I haven’t yet been to one so at this point I can only imagine. But one of the things that guidebooks and seasoned teachers give warning about, is everyone at the jimjilbang is stark naked (they do separate the genders). I’ve been wanting to go to one – I mean an afternoon at the spa for $7 sounds pretty good to me – but like joining the gym, I’ve been a little intimidated by the prospect of having to figure things out without being able to communicate, and also I wasn’t sure how I might feel/react to the nakedness, but I dealt with both of those concerns this morning successfully, and I think it sounds pretty good.