Finally...

So I finally joined a gym last night, after a couple of months sitting around eating and drinking myself silly. I was a little apprehensive, because joining a gym can be intimidating even in your own country, and there's a few extra things to worry about here. For example, nobody runs on the treadmill. Or pedals fast on the bikes. Or does anything that involves sweating. So here I am, a big tall blonde woman pounding away on the treadmill, sweat pouring off me, going beet red in the face and huffing and puffing like there's no tomorrow. To say I got a bit of attention is definitely an understatement. Two people came and asked me if I was in a soccer team, which I thought was a bit weird, but not terribly unflattering if they thought I looked co-ordinated enough for that. I have pretty much gotten used to being stared at in the streets wherever I go, but when I work out at a gym I very much like to fade into the background - not gonna happen here! And then there's the group shower situation to look forward to afterwards - so after being stared at for 45 minutes whilst I work out I have to strip off and be the big tall naked white woman. Very white, I might add. But I have to say that I think about 2 months of stored up endorphins got released from all that exercise, so I am feeling great today and will have to drum up the courage to return asap.

On another note, I have given myself a rather strange project for the month of November. Ever heard of the National Novel Writing Month? It's an international thing where people register with a website to write their own 50,000 word novel - and it has to be done in one month, November. The theory is that you're made to just write down anything you've got, and not focus on being perfect, so it motivates you to finally write that story you've always been thinking about. There's a group doing it in Seoul, so I'm joining up for a bit of fun. Mostly it seems to be a good way to mix with other nerdy people like me, but it's also a good chance to get some of the crap floating around in my head down on paper, so here goes! I'm strangely excited about it now, but this may change once I grasp just how much 50,000 words is - I'm definitely not expecting anything readable either!