spinning and swimming

My parents gave us an early Channukah present--a 9-month membership to the gym that's between the subway station and our apartment. Both of us had really wanted to join the gym to burn some anxious energy from random things that happen in this crazy place every day (like yesterday, when there were 250 people crammed on a bus the size of the 86th street crosstown, and I was no joke molested 5 times by people trying to get out.) as well as counteract the fact that we are unable to find food at restaurants that isn't fried or drenched in oil. But because we're going on some AMAZING trips the next few weeks (check out this website for the one that has been adapted for us for our Sept 30 to Oct 7 vacation), we decided to save our money for travel instead. Long story short, it was the best. present. ever...and we were so excited to start exercising that we went the next day for spinning class.

To paint a picture of the class--the room has lots of discoballs, strobe lights, and lasers, and the music alternated between Chinese hip hop and American songs from the 90s (like Aqua's Barbie Girl). Of course, the instructions were all in Chinese, so we didn't know if we were climbing up mountains or racing downhill...and after every song we stopped to wipe off, drink water, and stretch before starting the next song. The best part, however, was that the guy in front of me was doing acrobatics on the bike--pretending like he was speedskating, throwing one leg behind/in front/across the handlebars, doing push ups on the handlebars while pedaling, etc. It's hard to describe the level of his awesomeness, but it kept us laughing the whole time. I hope he's back there next class!

Then, yesterday, I went to their 25-meter pool, and I swam for about 20 minutes. For those of you who aren't familiar with my "career," I loved swimming until senior year of high-school started, but became so burnt out that by sophomore year of college, swimming (especially at meets) made me really unhappy. Due to my friendships with my teammates and psychological support from my Amherst coach, I was able to plow through the rest of college swimming, but when I got out of the pool after my last race, I vowed to never swim another lap again...It's crazy now to realize that, a mere 5 years later, my attitude towards swimming has done a 180--instead of causing me so much stress, I'm plan to use it as a way to clear my head and relax.

Tomorrow, Alison has to work, but we'll talk about Yom Kippur and flexible travel plans.