Who Needs GoodLife

When we cancelled our gym membership in August, we were left wondering when our next workouts would be. We didn't know if there were gyms in Korea or if we would want to join them anyway. On our last visit to Seoul, we came across this outdoor gym on the side of the mountain in Namsam Park. It was full of people pumping iron and doing calisthentics. It seemed like a great place to workout in the fresh air surrounded by outdoor scenery. But we didn't bother using it ourselves for a few reasons. First of all, in order to find this gym we had already walked up hundreds of stairs and had hundreds more to go to reach the summit. This was already after walking from our apartment to the bus terminal, from the bus station to the subway, from the subway to the park, through the park and up the mountain. We were well on our way to getting our cardio quota for the day. This park also seemed to be a mecca for runners, they were everywhere, running up and down the sloping trails and rocky steps. So we seem to have found the place to come when we need to feel fit, even if we don't do anything about it except watch other people workout and run. We would be quite happy just walking the stairs.


Plus we are very active at school with the kids. They are putting us through strenuous work which we translate into exercise. For one, the kids love to dance. Jenn is always playing the Sesame Street song and strutting her stuff. This is Jenn and Annie dancing. Annie loves having Jenn as her dance partner so she can jump high in the air. The kids have also taken to using me as a jungle gym so I am getting to flex my muscles once in a while.

Arm wrestling is also a big thing between the kids. So I'm getting in on that action. One brazen little gaffer in Jenn's Bamboo class who thought he was the toughest kid at school thought he would challenge me, because he had already beaten everyone else in his class. Well, I put him in his place. And I used my left hand. And then Jenn arm wrestled him and she beat him too, so we knocked his tough guy status down a few notches and maybe he'll be better behaved in class now.

We will most likely join a gym when we return to Canada, but for now we are getting our fair share of exercise. Not to even mention the stairmaster of our apartment building that we have to climb every day after work. Did Jenn mention there are 74 stairs to get to the sixth floor? And she plans on conquering every one of them.