first yoga class. of course there's a story

I went to the gym a couple days ago and got a new schedule for classes. I have not taken any classes yet because the idea of having a Chinese speaking instructor intimidated me when I first joined. It's still pretty intimidating but I figured I'm more ready to try than I was before. The class started at 10am so I had the ayi come to watch the kids at 9. I didn't get out of here until about 9:45am due to various needs and wants of the kids. I made it across the street with only one car honking at me and raced through the mall and out another exit on the other side of the mall to stay nice and warm en route to the gym. When I arrived I hurried downstairs to where I knew the yoga studios were, and discovered there was all sorts of crazy construction going on in some of the studios. That seemed odd and not so much conducive to the yoga scene, but I walked on and found the studio for my particular class. Oh well, I figured, it's not that surprising to find noise and construction in any part of Shanghai, so once again I had to go with it and see if I could not get annoyed. The irony that the class I chose is called "flow yoga" and I was actively required to "go with the flow" throughout the class and the noisy craziness did not escape me.

I stood outside the studio while someone finished cleaning the floors. I was a little nervous but not that nervous. I've taken loads of classes at many gyms. I could do this. Soon after the cleaner left, another woman came and we said hello. I followed her into the room and asked if she was the teacher in Chinese. She replied yes and asked if I spoke Chinese, and I said a little. Then I got my mat, introduced myself, and sat down. She then came over and said "So Suzanne, where are you from?" IN ENGLISH. Totally threw me for a loop. I said, "why didn't you tell me you speak English?" She replied "I wanted it to be a surprise for you!" So that took the pressure off considerably. She told me that the room was very cold, that if more people didn't come she might cancel, and we chatted a little in English. She told me she teaches in Chinese, and I said I'd be fine. I felt confidant that I could follow along, and it turned out to be true. Another student came so we did have class (yay). The teacher forgot to charge her iPod, so no music. The room was pretty cold, but I managed to stay warm after we got going. And the noise. So much of it. But I tried to focus on my breath, on not hurting myself after having not done yoga in a long while, and listening to her instructions for the key words I could understand. She was so nice and did speak to me in English quite a lot. I did understand all the directions involving left, right, up, down, hand, foot, and of course the counting. I learned "downward dog" in Chinese, xia quǎn, and understood a lot more than I expected I would. It was often hard to hear her over the noise of the jackhammers and saws...not kidding. Overall, a very positive experience. I look forward to trying some more classes at the gym. One of the spin instructors is named Handsome. I will check that out and report back.

Last night we had dinner with my pal Lisa's parents from Sweden. They stayed at our apartment while we were in the US and we met them for dinner on one of their last nights in China. So amazing to connect with people so easily and feel instantly like our network of friends/family is larger. We had a great time, but the kids both passed out after they ate. We grabbed a taxi home and as expected they both woke up in the middle of the night.

Due to the jet lag, the kids and I had a pretty low-key week. We spent some time at the park, and even played outside yesterday for a while. The weather is pretty cold, but we had a slight reprieve yesterday when the sun came out--about 45 degrees F. We went on an expedition in search of marshmallows and whipped cream and came home with both. The whipped cream was actually whipping cream...and I don't have an electric mixer, so the result was whisked and sweetened slightly thicker than regular cream, whipped cream. The kids didn't mind. While out in search of marshmallows, Nathan summed it up best when he said "you know things that would be boring at home in America can be adventures here. Even going to the store to buy food is an adventure." How right he is. We took the train, went to a store a few stops away that we thought might have the ingredients to make the hot chocolate we had planned to make extra special.

Tonight, Nathan made it to 6:58pm. Goal was 7:00pm. I am hopeful that a full night's sleep is in our future.

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