I Love the Sauna!
Of course, all of this cold weather means unpleasant outdoor runs. I will admit that I am a complete wimp when it comes to running outdoors. When it dipped below 50 degrees, we signed up at a Gym. I am back to my 5 day a week workout schedule now that we have settled in and are a little more comfortable. I asked a friend of mine where she works out, and she recommended Fitness First. We had only seen one other Gym and so we checked them both out a few weeks ago. The first Gym we visited is called McFit. Yes - McFit. You could definitely tell that one Gym catered to poor college students and the other catered to people who are a little more established. Of course, it also costs 3 times as much a month. McFit had all the basics I actually needed, but Fitness First has a Sauna! Not just one Sauna, but three! One for women and two that are co-ed!
This is not exactly what the Sauna at Fitness First looks like, but it is very similar.
I like sitting in the Sauna very much, especially since I can sit next to Russell. Of course, being new to the Sauna scene, we had to learn a few rules.
Rules of the Sauna
1. You MUST be naked. No clothes, no flip flops.
2. You MUST have a towel to sit on. Of course those who are a little shy can use their towel to cover up as long as .....
3. NO skin touches the Wood - Do you want to sit in someone else's sweat? - Kein Schweiss aufs Holtz! (No sweat on the wood!)
Of course, I am not just sweating in Eucalyptus bliss during my time at the gym, I do actually exercise. I have found that, like most things here, the Gym is the same, but different. The only thing that trips me up, and I do mean this literally, is the layout.
The area with cardio machines is slightly raised above the surrounding area to allow for wires underneath. I almost never remember that there is a step down to get to any other area. Usually I can manage to gracefully recover my footing, but today I completely wiped out. On my butt. Luckily, only my pride was injured - mostly. I will have this lovely reminder of my gracefulness on my knee for a few days.
One additional highlight of the Gym here is that distances are in Kilometers. For some reason running 8 kilometers seems shorter than 5 miles. Go figure!
Deutsch Class
My other new adventure for the week was the start of my Fremd Sprache Class. The first class was on Monday and I was a little nervous because I opted to skip the first level since I have already been studying on my own for several months. I walked into the class and sat down next to another woman (from Columbia) and we became fast friends! The class has about 15 people in it and we are from all over the world.
Our textbook is divided into 5 chapters and each lesson is only one to two pages long. Our teacher has to fill 90 minutes with a relatively small amount of material. That means, we have discussions that are sometimes tangent to the topic.
This first lesson covered body parts, illness and injury. We learned all of the body parts and their articles, which I had already learned with my boys, as well as the plurals some of which were new to me. One word that was definitely new to me was Durchfall. Do you want to take a guess at what that means?
I love the German sense of humor.
Bis nächste Woche!
Of course, I am not just sweating in Eucalyptus bliss during my time at the gym, I do actually exercise. I have found that, like most things here, the Gym is the same, but different. The only thing that trips me up, and I do mean this literally, is the layout.
The area with cardio machines is slightly raised above the surrounding area to allow for wires underneath. I almost never remember that there is a step down to get to any other area. Usually I can manage to gracefully recover my footing, but today I completely wiped out. On my butt. Luckily, only my pride was injured - mostly. I will have this lovely reminder of my gracefulness on my knee for a few days.
One additional highlight of the Gym here is that distances are in Kilometers. For some reason running 8 kilometers seems shorter than 5 miles. Go figure!
Deutsch Class
My other new adventure for the week was the start of my Fremd Sprache Class. The first class was on Monday and I was a little nervous because I opted to skip the first level since I have already been studying on my own for several months. I walked into the class and sat down next to another woman (from Columbia) and we became fast friends! The class has about 15 people in it and we are from all over the world.
Our textbook is divided into 5 chapters and each lesson is only one to two pages long. Our teacher has to fill 90 minutes with a relatively small amount of material. That means, we have discussions that are sometimes tangent to the topic.
This first lesson covered body parts, illness and injury. We learned all of the body parts and their articles, which I had already learned with my boys, as well as the plurals some of which were new to me. One word that was definitely new to me was Durchfall. Do you want to take a guess at what that means?
We spend about 10 minutes guessing how to spell diarrhea in German. The teacher had a representative from each country get up and write out the word in their own language and when everyone was finished, we figured out the word is spelled Diarrhö. Durchfall is what everyone calls it, but the clinical term is Diarrhö.
I also learned that if you have a cold, you must stay in bed for two days and drink Grog (or Krog if you are my German teacher). To make this miraculous cure, heat up enough brandy to fill a glass 2/3, add 1/3 water and three spoonfuls of sugar. Drink this slowly while it is hot. Do this for two days and you WILL be GESUND (healthy). So says my German Teacher.
This is what I have to look forward to next week. I guess this girl is working at some sort of printing press.
She wasn't careful enough.
I love the German sense of humor.
Bis nächste Woche!
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