no pain, no gain...

I joined a gym for the sake of being social and because it's good for me, but I hate gyms.  I'd much rather ride my bike outside or walk outside or do anything that involves being outside.  But here in this city I am told if someone demands you give them your bike, you must or risk bodily harm.  I think the same goes for tennis shoes, so my outside options are limited (unless I want to run without tennis shoes or bike without a bicycle).  The gym does have big windows that look out on a reservoir, as close as I'm going to get to exercising outdoors...sooo, good enough.  I went to my second water aerobics class today, clad in swim cap and one-piece suit, looking every bit the part of the eighty year olds that usually frequent water aerobics.  I discovered when I got there that I was the only one participating in the class that day with an instructor that spoke only Portuguese (in a country where Portuguese is the national language, go figure).  This wasn't a problem during my first water aerobics class when there were 6 other people in my class and I could just watch what everyone else was doing.  Mostly my personal trainer (she might as well have been) just motioned to me until I did it right and then gave me a thumbs up sign (yaaa for anything that is universal).  We did have some trouble when I couldn't understand that she wanted me to go to the deep end, but she threw me a life preserver, and I figured it out.  I do love water aerobics, even if it isn't for my targeted demographic, but anytime you are the only thing keeping someone from having an extra 45 minutes of free time at their workplace, it can feel a little awkward.  I like attention, I just don't like all of it.  But I survived and made it all the way back into the locker room before I had to use my mostly non-existent Portuguese skills to communicate to a lady who would.not.stop.talking to me, even after I said, "Eu não falo português" and "não entendi" (I don't speak Portuguese and I don't understand).  I think she might have been trying to tell me about Jesus, because I caught God and Holy Spirit and word and Savior and she kept pointing at her heart.  Maybe she was just upset that I was butchering her mother tongue with my poor Portuguese skills.  I haven't any clue what she was saying, and usually smiling and looking dumb works for me, but in this case it seemed to spur her to speak more words I didn't understand.  Maybe the next time I go to the gym she'll want to tell me another story...and maybe sometime I'll start to understand.

*I dedicate this to Beth Elaine, because she cares enough to harass me and she works out on a regular basis (which I have admired since our years as collegiates)