Can't Touch This!

No. Stop laughing. You seriously CANNOT TOUCH THIS. I will slap you. I will. Don't tempt me.

In case you were not sure, this is in reference to how my back felt this morning when I woke up. It is a very good thing that I normally sleep on my stomach (weird, I know. You will get over it) because I could not lie on my back. Even now, just before I go to bed, I still can't lie on my back without pain. That is because, over night, my already existing bruises have now flourished. They are now covering my entire back, and have now changed colors to become a lovely mixture of purple and red. You can't even distinguish one bruise from the next on the top part of my back. Not to worry though! I have pictures. Wouldn't want to make you imagine this on your own. Ask me about it when I get back to America.

This was just driven home when I tried to take a shower, and learned the hard way that A) taking my shirt off was a bitch and B) I couldn't handle the pressure of the water on my shoulders. This would certainly make for an interesting day. I was tempted to just not go outside all day, and not wear a shirt, because it hurt to raise my arms above my head. It took me a while to convince myself that YES, going outside is a good thing, and YES, I should be social.

My day was dominated by studying. I have a 4 page 课文 (text from my book) to read and understand (which was not easy. It was a transcript of an interview, and they did their damned best to make sure that I would not be able to understand it. I prevailed in the end.) In addition, I had to write a 700 character essay, due tomorrow. The topic? My mom. I love my mom, and I think she is one of the best people in the world, but seriously, what I am supposed to say about her in an essay? I really don't like topics like this. Much too broad. I simply resorted to telling lots of stories, and making it super cheesy. Teachers love that kind of stuff.

I also had a meeting with my language partner today. It's always a little bit awkward, because I never know what to do with her. She is not supposed to go off campus with me, because it is "too dangerous" (please.) so we just end up staying on campus, and talking. But campus is not big, and we don't know each other that well, so our topics of conversation are severely limited; mostly just to what I will be able to understand. My Chinese level is at this weird spot where I am basically good enough to get by in most conversations, and it's really hard for me to improve my Chinese by just talking to people. This basically just keeps my Chinese where it is. She has the same problem trying to decide what to do with me. I suggested getting dinner or something next time we meet. That should take some of the awkwardness away.

I have a confession to make. I tried, TWICE, to cancel my session with Jack today. I went once, tried to cancel, got talked out of it, went back a couple hours later for a take 2, and got talked out of it again. I did my darndest to wimp out, and Jack wouldn't let me. Which I suppose is a testament to him. I think that he thought I was crazy.

I did end up going. After finishing my essay, and most of the text, I went. It hurt just to put my jog bra on. I was NOT excited to be going to work out. But I still went. I grabbed my water bottle and towel, and soldiered on out the door. They are not lying when they say getting out the door and getting to the gym is the hardest part about going to the gym. Once you are there, piece of cake.

Jack didn't particularly care that my back was one big bruise. The way that our session started? A massage. Yes, you heard right, I let him massage my bruises. It was oh so comfortable. After that, the fun began. Today was focused on my back and arms. By the half way point, my arms were already nearing the muscle failure point. At that point, I got brave, and told him that I would lie on my back and work on my abs. And surprisingly, it was not as painful as I thought it would be. Throughout the whole work out, he kept giving me massages, and kneading my back. It was not as comfortable as it could of been, but I could handle it. And it definitely got easier as my muscles started to warm up, and I got used to moving around my bruises. By the end of it, I was completely buggered, and my back barely hurt at all. My friend Grace was at the gym, and was shocked when I took my shirt off to show her my back. I probably would be shocked too.

I made a new friend. Louis. He is one of the trainers at the gym. I think that they all just don't know what to do with me, so they just start talking. I am one of the only white girls who has a personal trainer help her lift weights, and who isn't afraid of adding more weight on. And they think that all the Harvard kids are geniuses (they don't need to know that I am not ACTUALLY a Harvard kid... Just doing the program.) Either way, I walked out of the gym feeling completely exhausted, and like a complete badass.

To sum up, even though my back is one huge bruise, and I can't put a shirt on without wincing, I did all my homework, met with my language partner, went to the gym, and got a massage. Awesome? I think so. Whoever said human beings are limited was wrong. So far, so good.

As a side note, I am really amazed at how well it is going working out with a Chinese personal trainer. I was a little suspicious when I first got there, but I was not sure of their quality, but it is really working well. I can see a huge change in my body, and it has only been 2 weeks! I am already much stronger. And he didn't mention that I needed to lose weight. That, my friends, is what I call a step in the right direction!

Good night, and good luck!

(As always, questions and comments are appreciated. )