Thursday, September 20, 2012

Oh Jeez, This Didn't Have a Title. There We Go.

Why yes. I am still recovering from yesterday. That's a pretty good representation of how big the spider was.
 Okay, I'm done. Hopefully that's the last time I'll have to talk about spiders.

Today was the last day of orientation. I handed in the paper and decided on Track and Field. Karate had practice every day and I didn't feel like I could have much of a social life if I did that. I also decided to leave the 8 classes and go class shopping. I'll drop one if I want to and go to the classes for a week or two. I feel so much like Rory.
Totally, Rory. You made it.

Anyways, another dead cicada got in the way as I tried to take a picture of my finger.
 So convenient stores here have pretty nice looking food compared to America, I think.
LAUREN. Pretty candy.

 Anyways, we had a tour of the Library today. Guess what books the Librarian looked up to show us how to find books:
 HARRY POTTER, YES. A lot of Japanese books seem to split up books into parts.

Oh, oh. And then there's this thing in the basement. So you push a button of the section you want to look at....
 and it...
 opens up...
 like secret agent style...
 SO COOL! (this was a different section open, in case you noticed it was different books than in the other pictures) Worst way to die, though.

The Library was pretty awesome. They have a lot of Japanese CDs, which you can listen to right there since they have listening stations built into some chairs and Japanese and English DVDs to watch there since they have quite a few booths with TVs and DVDs to watch them in.

After the tour and handing in our schedules, we were free to go. Well, that was after finding out that my rent would be a ton more than planned each month >___<. *le sigh* It will all work out in the end.

But yeah! Remember when I said that I would be training Tom today? Well, Evan had decided to join along too. Tom had been a bit late, so when we were waiting for him to get things handed in, Antony and Kirsty asked if they could join in to be trained too. They had their workout gear already since we would be having that meeting to explain the machines at the gym today. I taught Antony a few Yoga moves while we waited.

But oh wow. Suddenly, I had a small class to train. I was pretty nervous, going through possible circuits we could do in my head. I was also wondering where we could workout, since the place I usually do could probably fit maybe 2 or 3 people, including me. But this was exciting. I couldn't believe that they really wanted me to help them train.

I really hoped that the gymnasium at the training center was empty. Luckily, it was! So we workout out there. Sadly, we weren't able to use weights since they were in the room where you're not allowed to use equipment until you had the meeting. However, it worked out for the best because I didn't realize how intense my workouts were for other people.

I set my interval timer (Get one. Seriously. This is totally an advertisement. lolol.) to 36 circuits, 40 seconds active, 10 seconds rest. 

Tom was a bit hungover and didn't have his workout gear, so he couldn't perform as well as I know he's capable of. I felt bad. I told everyone before we started and warmed up that everyone should go at their own pace and everyone is at different levels of fitness, but to give their best effort.

We did things like jumping lunges, mountain climbers, elevated pushups, windshield wipers, sprints, high knees, and lots more.

I thought it was going well and Evan was able to keep up, but the other three had to take a few breathers. I don't think they ate anything during the day yet, so that didn't help. I do wish we had some exercise mats to use so we wouldn't have to put so much pressure on our knees or back when doing some moves.

We cooled down and Tom looked like he was going to "chundah" (That's how they say vomit in England). I hope he got home okay. He still had to walk to the station and get on a train and walk home.

I was like omg, I thought my training would be okay. We didn't use weights. I thought it wasn't that intense at all. But I have to remember, I've been doing this for a long time and this was their first time. So for their first session, they did really well and gave as much effort as their 0 caloric intake let them.

They even said that they want to be trained again! =^.^= That was really encouraging. Guys. Guys, I really might have found my calling.

There is Tom ready to chundah and everyone after the workout. WHO'S EXCITED?! Yay, Evan!

I think I need to start out slower for them. I tried giving different variations for moves for an easier difficulty level. I tried explaining post workout meals and the importance of them (Abs made in the gym, seen in the kitchen), but it didn't seem like they were very concentrated on learning the information. Then, I felt like I was talking too much. I think I'm a bit too passionate and need to gradually share information. Sometimes, I have to remember to put myself in their shoes (hopefully Nike) and remember what it was like to start out exercising again.

But honestly, I hope they continue because they did really well and kept a positive attitude. I hope they weren't discouraged at all either. I'll have to prepare a different routine next time and tell them that they NEED to eat at least a little something before working out.

Anyways, Tom went home and the 4 of us found a field to play some frisbee in. We only played for a bit, but everyone was pretty much starving. We went to the convenient store where they picked up some foodies and went to our place where I made my meal.
 This chunker was on the way to the field.

Then, Antony, Kirsty, and me went to the gym for our meeting. It was completely in Japanese. The instructor showed us how to use all of the machines and had each of us demonstrate some of them after. He said my form was really good and that I looked really comfortable using the machines. That was really exciting. After the demonstration, well. It was like a playground for me. Dumbbells! Exercise balls! All these weird machines! I just had to use some of them. So we all separated to do our own thing there for a bit.

Kirsty and I wanted to go use the pool, but found out it was going to close soon. Since we need a swimming cap in order to use it anyways, we walked with the student from China-whose-name-I-forgot-but-was-my-spider-beast-killer to the 100 yen store (Dollar store in America) and bought caps there.

We'll probably use the pool soon. I'm pretty pumped. There's also a hot tub and a sauna room. woof!
 This house was on the way to Daiso, the 100 yen store. I thought it looked pretty awesome.


 And then I found that Inu Yasha and Pokemon were on TV when I got home. Omgz. The original Japanese versions, guys. Even though I'm not into anime, that's so cO__Ol! I wish the first season of Pokemon was on. I would love to hear the original voices. And well, Pokemon is just awesome.
Kirsty and I were going to go to Shimakitazawa tonight, but decided we needed to be really careful with money right now. The scholarship doesn't kick in until the end of the month and the ATM was all funny on withdrawing money for rent. w00f. Anyways, tomorrow classes start. Japanese communication and Anthropology of Japan. ^___^

I would be very happy with a non-eventful night tonight =]. Since utilities are now included in rent, I'm using the aircon as much as I want now. That means less tiny bugs sneaking in screens. w00t!
Here is one of the double rainbows from home this year.

^___^





1 comment:

  1. I love the Gilmore Girl references. ^^ I'm really surprised how much I remembered those scenes.

    Scariest spider... ever.

    I wish our convenient stores had prettier themes/designs. Ours are so typical and boring.

    Whoa, you must have been in Japanese book heaven! I didn't know they split up books into smaller ones like that. I kind of prefer them all as one. =D

    I think you've entered Hogwarts after seeing those magical basement doors...

    It sounds like your first group training session was awesome. I'm so happy you were finally about to train more than one person at a time--

    OH MY GOD. THERE'S A SPIDER ON MY WALL RIGHT NOW. IT DISAPPEARED BEHIND MY FRAMED TOKIDOKI POSTER. *PANICS*

    --Uhhh. As I was saying, that's awesome! I think you'll learn a lot from training people who haven't had a lot of workout experience. It's good that you're starting kind of "small" by training friends first. Then you can work your way up to strangers, which is an entirely new challenge! You can do it, bb.

    I hope you get a chance to watch Japanese Pokemon more often. How great is that...

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