Exercise Accountability Update!

Hey guys! sorry I've been a little MIA. I've been a little homesick lately. Luckily my in-laws are coming next week ... and I am so happy to have some family coming! I think it's just what I need to rejuvenate myself.

Last week was my first week of this "challenge" and... it's been challenging, ha ha!! I worked out 3 days last week. Hey that's up 3 times from what I was doing before, so I'm not being too hard on myself. I did 2 weight lifting days and 1 cardio day last week. This week is going alright - I've done 2 cardio days so far and today and tomorrow I am doing weight lifting. That's the plan and I WILL work out today and tomorrow. I had a certain goal of how many days I'd lift weights and how many days I'd do cardio, and I know the reason I have been choosing cardio over weights is because of my gym. Like many places in China, there are many people working somewhere - way more than needed, so some people really don't have anything to work on. Last Friday as I was doing bicep curls at the gym, the trainer, who is not training me, was standing 3 feet away from me staring at me the entire time. Awkward! I know he probably has the best of intentions but let's face it, I'm a little antisocial sometimes and when I'm lifting weights, that is definitely one of those times.

I think I may have chosen a bad time in general to start a challenge like this - the in-laws will be here for two weeks, and in those two weeks we will be doing a lot of sightseeing and traveling! I don't know how I will workout on the road, so I might have to be a little forgiving of myself - or just count the extensive walking and hiking we will do (we are going to Huang Shan in Anhui Province).

So, let's see - that's 3 days last week and it WILL be 4 days this week. One of my readers pointed me to an article with the theory of doing things gradually - so, maybe this is how I am supposed to do it.... 3 days the first week, 4 days the next, and 5 the third week, which of course was my goal (as well as consistency).

And I leave you with the 5 things I miss most about home:

1. my dog


2. good Western food
3. driving myself everywhere instead of relying on the subway (sardines) or taxi drivers (potential attitude)
4. the ocean


5. fresh air and blue skies (see above)

.... but I also thought it would be good to think about 5 things I like about China

1. the adventure of never knowing what to expect
2. cheap massages
3. the history practically everywhere you look
4. the beautiful parks great for people watching
5. the opportunity to use my Chinese every.single.day.

Steph

Everything has a difficult beginning

Photo taken at the Confucius Temple, Pingyao, Shanxi Province, China

I mentioned earlier that we had the opportunity to teach elementary school kids english. We had a wonderful time, the kids made us smile, and we made some new friends in the process.

One day, one of the middle school teachers was talking about the importance of the kids learning proper English pronunciation early, because bad habits are hard to break and they wanted to make sure the kids had the best beginning they possibly could. He told me in Chinese, there is a saying "万事开头难". In English "Everything has a difficult beginning."

This saying really hit home for me. I adore traveling. I always have. I have an insane case of wanderlust and dreaming of all the places I will see is one of my favorite things to do. I also have been studying Chinese for the past 2 years or so and I love the language. Thats why the difficulty of adjusting to life in China came as a total surprise to me. I've been homesick. I've experienced a bit of culture shock. And I truly didn't even consider that this would happen.

Prior to moving to China, I've lived clear across the country, on complete opposite coasts from my family - about as far apart as you can get without leaving the country. I never felt homesick. I didn't think living in China would be any different considering I'd already been living so far away from family. But a month or so after arriving, sometimes I've felt like I can literally feel the distance between here and "home".

I knew the food would be an adjustment for me, but other than that, I really didn't believe I would have trouble adjusting to my new life in China. I've also never dealt with culture shock before. I've been to many countries but the thing with traveling is, most people never stay in a new country long enough to experience culture shock. It is usually preceded by a honeymoon period in which everything different about the country is looked upon in a romantic light... but the honeymoon phase ends and pretty soon the things that were so unique or amazing are just sometimes obnoxious and annoying....

"oh my gosh that car was really going to hit us! they weren't going to even STOP!"

"this taxi driver literally refused to take us! he shooed us out of his cab!"

"O.M.G. it is 100 degrees outside and they have raw meat just SITTING OUT THERE?"

"...if I hear ONE MORE PERSON HAWK A LOOGIE!!!"

"Chinese food... AGAIN!!?!!"

YOU GET MY POINT!

Its a challenge. About 75% of the time I KNOW how lucky I am! I try to take EVERYTHING in. As I was walking down a hutong (alley) the other day, I literally stopped walking, looked around one minute, shut my eyes the next, and just took it all in. I felt the sunshine on my skin... heard the bikes whizzing past, the man whistling a traditional Chinese song as he walked by me, smelled the delicious scent of Chinese food in the air... there was no where I would have rather been. I LOVED CHINA.

But, the other 25% of the time, its hard, and I miss home and I would do almost anything to eat some tasty American food, and I miss my dog, and just getting in my car and driving where ever I want, and not having to worry about being scammed or having the price hiked up just because I am a foreigner... and just the ease of speaking my native language. (I feel like I am learning ALL DAY and it is exhausting sometimes.) (And my husband has our alarm clock set to the Chinese talk radio station and we really need to change that... when Chinese is literally the first thing I hear when I wake up it PISSES me off. LOL).

A friend I came across wrote in an email "China is hard" ...and I know what they mean. Sometimes, China IS just that - hard. Its no longer the Western world and sometimes those differences are very noticeable.

When this middle school teacher told me that Chinese phrase that means "Everything has a difficult beginning" it really made me feel better because it gave me hope. That particular morning I was feeling a little sad and its just the sort of comforting words I needed to hear. Prior to that, I was feeling a little crappy like I really sucked at this living abroad thing... everyone else seems so well-adjusted! Why am I having this adjustment issue?

So yes, he unknowingly told me exactly what I needed to hear.

Everything has a difficult BEGINNING but over time things get easier.

I'm hoping within a few months time I will be completely adjusted to my China life! I DO love the traveling around, and I think that helps.

Thanks for reading.

Post on Pingyao to come.

Steph