Outsider Looking In (3)

It was a little past 8 a.m. this morning as I hurried into my Management Economics course (sounds fun, right?) Since I live a good hike away from school, I usually have to take the city bus. It's amazing how city buses here can be just as crowded as Chinese buses! After waiting at the bus stop, I was only able to get on a bus after waiting for half an hour. And I made it to class just as the professor began teaching. I was a little mortified.

Although my free time of late has greatly diminished, I have had time to go to the gym here. In addition to this gym, I also sometimes worked out at the Y in Topeka this summer. "Going to the gym" is another foreign concept to me after being in China. So here are some intriguing observations on today's topic.

3.) Gyms

In China, at least in the region where I lived, gyms were not an option. If they were, they were strictly for guys. It's much better for Chinese girls to be non-muscular, and as tiny as possible, and maybe even a little frail. Now this didn't apply to every female, of course. The farming women and old grandmothers I saw were anything but frail. But, in general, "working out" was looked down upon for girls.

Knowing this, I chose not to appear extremely athletic as everyone in America knows I am. :) If I wanted to lift weights, I kept one in my room which I could use. If I wanted exercise outdoors, that was limited to acceptable sports like lethargically jogging, or smacking a birdie with a badminton racket. Chinese girls didn't even have somewhat sporty clothes. If they did jog a bit around the track, it was usually in jeans, incredibly tall high heels, and a very lacy, elegant shirt.

Now back in America, I have embraced this blessing to be able to exercise full-out. Although China's working-out culture seemed strange to me, America's seems just as bizarre. It still shocks me that men and women work out together! Americans have no modesty.

Anyway, so I went to the huge gym here on campus the other day. I was noticeably older and less model-looking than most of the girls there. Just like China, the girls were also glamorous even while exercising. Rows and rows of girls were working out on the elliptical. I had on an old NASA t-shirt and shorts that were longer than 3 inches. But everyone else seemed to have fashionable tank-tops, cute pink sneakers, and very long, blond ponytails. I was especially impressed with their concrete-like makeup that never seemed to budge. Was I the only one sweating?

As the girls furiously pedaled away on the elliptical machines, and the guys lifted their ginormous weights, they all had one thing in common--they looked at themselves in the huge mirrors encompassing the room. The abundance of mirrors in America also throws me for a loop, but perhaps that's a discussion best left for another day.

Not surprisingly, I didn't see any Chinese students there. :)