This year, I joined the new gym very close to my house. Here's some cultural differences I've already noted.
1. In China, it's perfectly logical to have a gym on the floor of the mall sandwiched between McDonalds (1st floor) and an expensive dumplings restaurant (6th floor).
2. In China, it's ok to take the elevator up five flights of stairs to the gym.
3. In China, the gym's hours are limited by the mall that contains the gym. You can't get into the mall at 6 am, so the gym can't open at 6am.
4. In China, you can see a guy working out on the elliptical in jeans and a flannel shirt (like I did today).
5. So far, I've never seen ANYONE stretching at the gym. There's just no place for stretching.
6. It's still really full of people all the time (this is China).
7. It's not uncommon for the (male) personal trainers to be smokers. Where would that happen in America?
8. In China, the gym seems to always be about five or ten degrees warmer than is comfortable for me (summer or fall so far).
9. The showers in the locker room don't have doors or curtains, but people use them anyway. By people I mean not me. I'm not that bold.
10. Fortunately, in China the elliptical machine settings are still in English, so once I hop on and plug in my headphones I feel right at home.
1. In China, it's perfectly logical to have a gym on the floor of the mall sandwiched between McDonalds (1st floor) and an expensive dumplings restaurant (6th floor).
2. In China, it's ok to take the elevator up five flights of stairs to the gym.
3. In China, the gym's hours are limited by the mall that contains the gym. You can't get into the mall at 6 am, so the gym can't open at 6am.
4. In China, you can see a guy working out on the elliptical in jeans and a flannel shirt (like I did today).
5. So far, I've never seen ANYONE stretching at the gym. There's just no place for stretching.
6. It's still really full of people all the time (this is China).
7. It's not uncommon for the (male) personal trainers to be smokers. Where would that happen in America?
8. In China, the gym seems to always be about five or ten degrees warmer than is comfortable for me (summer or fall so far).
9. The showers in the locker room don't have doors or curtains, but people use them anyway. By people I mean not me. I'm not that bold.
10. Fortunately, in China the elliptical machine settings are still in English, so once I hop on and plug in my headphones I feel right at home.
