New Leaf

I joined a "leisure centre" this week to get back into fighting form and improve my overall outlook on life. Regular exercise has a radical effect on my mood, and after three workouts I feel like I've emerged from a 6 month fog.

It's been amusing to be an exerciser in a nation of non-exercisers. When we first got here I would go out running and could sense people thought I was either fleeing danger, or just a weirdo. You will see joggers in some of the areas where Americans live, but mostly it is a rare sight.

I suppose the fact that one goes to a "leisure centre" to work out should have given me a head's up, but I've been kind of shocked at how little exercise actually happens there. So far, I've yet to see anyone sweating. One exception was a woman on the treadmill next to me, but she was dabbing her brow with an embroidered handkerchief so that might not count.