One Last Day at the Gym

Yeah it's really a post about going to the gym. There's also a bit about the Chinese mafia though.

A fifteen minute walk north of the East Gate takes you to Pulsation Fitness Club, which is this pricey gym that pretty much all PIB students went to this summer. It's around 600rmb for the two months, or 400rmb for me since I started late. Good times were had working out after class and going to the neighboring supermarket, Wu Mei, to eat dinner, which at their food court was cheap and delicious. The first time we went, the people working at the noodle stand at the food court, seeing our drenched clothing, asked us if it had rained outside.

It's been a month since then, and my card just expired. In a weird way, it's one of the first real signals that my stay here is really, actually, coming to an end. The gym is located on the 6th floor of that building. Also, these window cleaners were really bad-ass.

I had scheduled 5 personal trainer lessons at this place - something I never thought I would do, but I figure it was worth it: cheaper than America, and another opportunity to practice speaking Chinese. The guy was pretty good - habitually late, but also willing to go past the allotted hour. When I shook his hand for the last time, my simple 谢谢 seemed kind of weak in the way of goodbyes. I dunno, he was a good guy. 

There's this manager that hangs around sometimes. He wears these rimless rectangular glasses and tattoos - one of which is a Harley Davidson logo that I think he shows to every foreigner. His classic question is "where are you from?" One day my friend, from Philadelphia, was asked this. The guy, knowing philly, promptly said "ah, there are a lot of Chinese Mafia there!" This seems like some kind of trend, because when I told him I was from New Jersey he gestured and said something about guns.

Beijing I will miss you.