I must say that my lifestyle in China is much different than in the U.S. At home, I kept myself busy with work, school, family, friends, working out, etc. When there was time for me to just vegg out and be lazy, it would make me feel guilty. What also helped tremendously was I had an amazing group of coworkers who I worked out with and who would hold me accountable for slacking in that department. They were huge motivational factors that played a large role in my workout regimen. Not to mention that I worked for a company with a gym inside of it, so it made it pretty convenient. I was staying in pretty good shape back in America.
Keeping in shape in China, on the other hand, is, hmmm, not really a part of my lifestyle. Although I do walk a lot here, I have a hard time comparing that to what I normally call working out. My schedule here is made for me to be lazy: I work 3 days a week -- Tuesday from 8:00am- 9:40am; Wednesday from 10:10am - 5:10pm (that is comprised of 3 one-hour and forty minute classes and an hour and forty minute lunch break); and finally Thursday from 8:00am- 11:50am. That concludes my week. Yes, I have 4-day weekends every single weekend. Now, one may think "wow, Nikki, you have plenty of time to workout." That is exactly what I thought; however, it has had the opposite effect on me. I don't workout. I take a lot of naps, I watch a lot of movies and TV shows(the shows 24 and Modern Family = awesome!), and I hang out with my friends every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I throw some traveling in there too. The thing about it is I don't feel guilty. It's wonderful being able to have what I like to call "me time." There are weeks where I am busy, but it has nothing to do with physical activity. It's about making plans, having visitors, traveling, and checking out new places in Nanjing.
Saturday night we were out watching one of our friends play in a band. My friend Zach mentioned that he had some baseball gloves at his apartment. We decided that we would play catch on Sunday. I was actually pretty excited about it...physical activity. Besides walking everywhere and climbing that wretched mountain, I have gone for one run since being in China (shameful, I know). Lindsey, my coworker/good friend, was equally as excited to do something different that involved physical activity.
Sunday, we did play catch, and go figure, it was the hottest day we've had yet...37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Boy, we're geniuses. Even though it was hot as heck, we had a marvelous time. It felt so good to get outside and do something. We played for about an hour just tossing the ball around. We ended with some good ol' running down fly balls. Minus the pathetic shape I'm in which caused my legs to shake a bit and my chest to tighten up pretty quickly it was a good end to the session. Afterward, Lindsey and I became ambitious: we have decided that we are going to do some sort of physical activity every Sunday. I gotta start somewhere. In the Sundays to come, we plan to play some soccer, basketball, maybe a lil football...really anything that will make us get off our lazy butts and get a small workout.
Today, I can definitely feel that I worked muscles I am not used to working; therefore, I am watching a little Modern Family and a few movies while I rest them ;)
Here's to guilt-free laziness!
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