Thank you. Just had to get that one out of my system :)
So yesterday I was on my daily run (I don't think I've posted my routine in a while...every day after school I go for a roughly 7 km run and about 2/3 of the way through I stop here to do some bench-presses:
I do about 120-140 reps of it (it's around 60 lbs). Obviously I'm not going for bulk, I just want to slim down (down about 26lbs so far, and starting to put on a bit of muscle) and tone up a little. I think it's working. After that, I finish the rest of my run and do the same (about 120-140 reps) of situps here:
A few funny things happened yesterday. While I was running, a guy on a bicycle passed me at about twice the speed I was running at. I thought hey, this would be a fun challenge, let's see if I can keep up. So I started running faster and managed to keep pace with him. But then I noticed that he kept looking back over his shoulders with utter terror in his eyes. I swear he was pedaling for his life! I thought if this was a movie, it would have to be a really bad low-budget thriller called "The White Man Cometh". In the end, I had to break off the chase not because I was tired but because I was starting to feel really bad for the guy, whose heart rate must have been around 318 and his life must have flashed before his eyes.
After that, I got to my bench press station (it's in a park where the old people gather to play games, talk, smoke and drink...about half a block up from where I saw the passed-out dude the other day). Usually they don't take much notice of me, or sometimes ask me a few questions in Korean or, in English: "agee"..."ageee"...which is meant to ask how old I am :) I usually talk to them for a little bit (mostly saying "no Korean...annayo hangugo"). Well, yesterday this guy (well along the train ride to Utter Intoxication) kept milling about and coming up to me, grinning his yellow grin about 3.5 inches from my face. He didn't say anything, just stood there and grinned, so I grinned back at him and lay down to start my exercises. About 20 reps in, an old dude came by and started lifting and dropping the weights I was working on (to test how heavy they are) and then bent down and started feeling my muscles. My knee-jerk reaction was to swat his hand away, but then I didn't...in Korea this kind of thing is completely normal and not meant as disrespect or anything. They're curious as to how big your muscles are, so they will feel them to find out. Once he got the answer, he grinned and walked away.
I was pretty lucky, as they're sometimes curious as to the size of white guys' penises. So, guess what they do? That's right, they go in for a full hands-on fact-finding mission. I haven't had that pleasure yet, thankfully, so I'll happily settle for some old dude feeling my biceps. As creepy as that sounds.
After I finished my routine, I went home, changed and headed to the grocery store, mostly because I was out of pop. That's another great thing about my life since I got to Korea...I REALLY cut down on my pop intake. Back home, I'd average about 2 litres of pop and a can or two (so another 0.5 to 1 L) of energy drinks. Here, I don't drink any of the energy drinks (mostly because they don't have NOS or Full Throttle) and I drink about 0.6L of pop per day. I drink a TON more water (about a litre or two a day), I drink iced tea, juice,mi lk and other healthier junk.
Anyhoo, so I went to the store and picked up all this stuff (2 bottles of pop, 2 things of Dick Stick - I HAD to get one of these for Dawni and one for myself...they're just sesame stick snacks, but the name sold them for me -, a bottle of ketchup, a bottle of soybean oil and 6 225mL bottles of delicious chocolate milk) all for around $7!!!
Oh yeah...and my electricity bill for the last month was a whopping $6.50 and my gas bill (cooking, heating, hot water) was $7. My phone bill is roughly $10 a month, I spend about $20-25 a month on my bus pass and I have no other expenses (no cable, no internet, no car, etc)...soooo yeah, if you're careful (read: a cheap Hungarian), you can live off of next to nothing around here!
This will be my last blog entry for a few days, as it's Friday here and we have a long weekend coming up. My plans for the long weekend? Oh, you know. Nothing special. Just heading to Seoul in the morning to meet up with my brother from another (but equally pleasant) mother Mark and spending 3 days in one of the world's coolest cities. Then, we're coming back here and Mark is staying with me for a few weeks. You know...the usual. Okay, so dropping the act...I'm ridiculously excited about it.
People always say "oh I'll come and visit you" wherever I move to, and sometimes they do (Jimbo, Nick: remember that AWESOME weekend in Campbell River?), my brother came to Edmonton, the Fat Man visited in Edmonton, etc. But, most of the time, life gets in the way of most plans to actually go through. I know all my friends mean it when they say they'll come and visit whenever I move somewhere, but sometimes reality has other plans. So, to have one of my oldest and best friends come and visit me halfway around the world is an amazing feeling. I can't wait for this!
Have a great weekend (long weekend for those of you in Korea), and I'll talk to you guys on Tuesday!
Keep smiling,
T
Hmm still waiting for that Dick Stix !! :oX Haha sounds like youre having a great time already !! Enjoy !!
ReplyDelete