stepping out

I realized last Thursday that I really only leave my house here for one of two reasons: to take my daughter to school (or pick her up), or to do a grocery/bakery run. It's boring, and even though my daily life in Thailand was very routine, there was more variety to my comings and goings. In HCMC, I haven't really found much else to do on weekdays yet. 

Weekends are getting a little better, though. A block or so up from Chris's office is a tailor shop, and we stepped into it on Saturday to kill some time. "Well, I was hoping to have a couple of pairs of pants made," I said to the woman who came forward to help us. She showed me a photo of a pair of trousers being modeled by an impossibly tall and impossibly thin lady (which I don't really resemble), and sort of communicated to me that those trousers were the only ones that they made. I had expected a more customized experience for my first getting-pants-made expeditition, with a seamstress suggesting flattering cuts for my body shape, so I was a little uncertain about how to proceed. Chris started discussing having a suit jacket made, I chased Sadie around the shop, and sort of decided to take a chance on the tall and skinny pants. Worst case scenario is that I'll look like a Vietnamese office worker, best case is that I'll have a nice pair of pants to wear on a holiday somewhere cooler than there.  I have visions of having a couple of skirts and casual dresses made, but I don't think that this particular tailer shop does anything other than business wear. 

The other thing that I did this weekend was stop by the gym that Chris has been going to; he purchased a family membership for both of us so I am somewhat obliged to start using it. The first step to starting to work out there is having a fitness assessment with a trainer, so I called the gym this morning to schedule one for 10:30 am. I hung up the phone with the feeling that the receptionist really didn't understand what I was talking about. My suspicion grew stronger when I reported to the gym at 10:30 and the manager said he wasn't sure where the trainer was at the moment. He sent me off to the cardio room to find a treadmill to warm up on. About ten minutes later, a trainer appeared at my side, and she indicated that I should continue what I was doing, but for fifty minutes! Really? Fifty minutes? I was sort of hopeful that I misheard her English, and it was really fifteen minutes, but half an hour later, I was still on the treadmill. After very nearly fifty minutes, she came to fetch me for the rest of my assessment, so I was weighed and measured and performed a bunch of flexibility tests. The only highlight was that she thought that I regained my resting heartrate quickly. It was seriously a weird experience, or at least, not what I was expecting. Chris mentioned that he only spent three minutes on the treadmill for his assessment earlier this week. I still have the feeling that I am missing something important ... 

Comments

[nonlineargirl]

Yeah, so I have this appointment, but I will be done in an hour, so keep going 'til I get back. No no, it is part of the routine, don't worry...

Well, I suppose at least it is good for you to get some cardio!