Nate Watching Ajuma Aerobics While I (purple tee) Try to Keep Up Living in Korea as a young foreigner leaves very little room for thinking about the important things in life-mainly keeping healthy. Because of Korea's 24/7 work ethic, the city of Seoul never sleeps leaving us poor English teachers spending our money on soju, clubs, and dinners out. Like my life back in the States, my work-out routine is cyclical like the seasons. I tend to work out a lot in the Winter because I am usually a member of a gym and there is nothing better to do. I continue working out in the Spring hoping for a decent bikini body, yet giving up anyhow because there is just no way to lose all the weight from Winter hibernation. Nevertheless, the Summer keeps me active and in decent shape for the Fall where I tend to jog more and more outside as it gets cooler. One of my favorite things to do is jog outside. However, because Seoul's air is so polluted, it is very difficult to jog on the path next to the river, which runs parallel to the highway. The city of Seoul cares a lot about the health and well-being of its citizens. They were clever enough to not only create a running/biking path along the river, but also place exercise machines every 500 meters or at least under every underpass. Furthermore, the trail is dotted with food vendors cooking up menus of noodles, rice, and other quick eats.
On one of my jogs, I noticed a large group of women exercising led by an instructor. They were actually doing choreographed routines to music. The women's ages ranged from child to gray-haired senior citizens with the average woman being between 40-50 (which is only a guess since Korean women are obsessed with skin products and plastic surgery coupled with healthy diets). Back home, my mother would go to aerobics classes using a step to pretty fast music. This Korean outdoor aerobics class was much faster. They were dancing to a very fast pace and would end each dance with a pose striking the right hand in the air and placing the left hand holding the hip much like you would see in a girl group pop music video. Intrigued, I decided to join in. Still unable to communicate past ordering food or giving directions in a taxi, I was nervous to join alone. I recruited a girl friend from work (Hannah) and her guy friend (Nate) to join me.
When we arrived at 8pm, the class had already started. The class was stretching to slow pop music while counting 1~10 in Hangul out-loud. We situated ourselves at the back hoping to be unseen and of course to avoid embarrassment. We were non-Koreans with very little rhythm desperately trying to keep up with the quick beats and complicated steps. The class lasted an hour covering 8-10 dances with 1 instructional practice dance. Nate gave up after the 5th song. First of all, he had no idea that he was being dragged to a female dominated exercise class. He was wearing a button-down shirt and khakis that he had worn teaching that day. Furthermore, flip-flops are not friendly to fast-paced aerobic dance classes. By the end of our class, my arms were so tired and my back was drenched from the humid July night. I couldn't believe that I could hardly keep up to women who were much older, had had children, or had worked a full day that day. I am in awe of powerful women like this. Although they kept staring at us, I'm sure they were glad to see not only foreigners joining their class, but young people.
Walking away from the scattering mass of women going home, I hear "Is this your first time?" Shocked to hear such clear English, I turned around to find a young Korean girl. Her name is Kim Hye In (김헤 인). I found out that she is a year younger than me. She had just graduated from Ewha Women's University in Seoul and was completing her 6 month internship at Burson-Marstellar, an international prestigious public relations firm. We hit it off. My own internships in NYC were connected with BM and of course we were both communications professionals. We exchanged cell numbers and promised to meet again later that week at aerobics class.
Despite my embarrassment and awkwardness, this experience was another step toward integration in my new home: Korea. I hope that Hye In and I continue to meet and that more of my friends will join me in "ajuma aerobics." I know this experience only leads me to try more new things during my stay in Korea. Next awkward yet hopeful attempt: interview the aerobics instructor for an article!
