Eating and exercising

As I mentioned, was getting quite bored and restless, having not exercised for a couple of weeks. A lot more walking in Tokyo, though, thankfully. I don't miss plonking my butt into a car seat although I do miss my little red car. Hope it's doing well.

Haven't been eating much Japanese food during lunch. Co-workers bring me to different restaurants everyday, and I must admit the selection is quite amazing. Monday was Mansei (万世) a Wagyu (和牛) place, not too bad. Tuesday, Kua'Aina, a Hawaiian burger joint with nice fat juicy burgers--best burgers in the area I heard. Today, Tika, a Nepalese curry place with very tasty Indian-like curry+tandoori chicken+naan sets. Quite impressed so far although it's going to burn a hole in my pocket at this rate. To make up for that I just eat some Omusubi (rice balls stuffed w/ various things) for dinner. There's this simple home-cooked food store that sells bentos and made-to-order omusubis near my apartment--I go there everyday after work now.

Checked out the Minato-Ku (港区) Sports Center today in my search for a swimming pool. Can't run in this heat, so best thing is to swim. Quite an experience it was for me, the proverbial gaijin (外人) waltzing into a "native" place, not knowing the rules and such. A friend back in the US recommended it, so I decided to check it out.

Found it without trouble, went it and found it set up just like a train station--buy a ticket at a vending machine, slot it into a gate to enter. I was amused how the ticket machine allowed one to choose if one was a resident of the Ku (400yen), a non-resident (700yen), a school kid (100yen) etc. Well, my adventure began from that point on :)

First, I forgot to take my ticket after going through the gate and a young lady at the reception had to chase after me indignantly. Luckily I subconsciously heard her cry of "Sumimasen!" and turned back.

Reached the top floor with the pools. Pretty nice, lots of people inside. The lanes were organized neatly, of course. Not wanting to stand out, I asked the receptionist to explain the rules to me and am I glad I did. He patiently told me Lanes 1,2 were 1-way lanes (一方通行), and lanes 3,4 were 2-way lanes, and explained how the showers and lockers worked. Nice guy.

By the time I changed, showered and went outside, I was raring to get into the water. Two seconds after lowering myself into the pool, the lifeguard rushed over, "Sumimasen!" Probably the people around me were staring wide-eyed at me because, horror of horrors, I wasn't wearing a swimming cap! (or whatever you call those things)! So I used my magic phrase for getting out of situations, "Sumimasen, hajimete nannodesuga..." or "Sorry, first time!" and true enough, she smiled and loaned me one for free.

Finally I got into the pool and swam happily for about half an hour. I was in my own little watery world, listening to the bubbles and enjoying the exercise, when an announcement came out of the overhead speakers, and everyone started leaving the pool! Naturally I wasn't paying attention and although I saw people leaving the pool, my optimistic self was convinced that it's dinner time so most people would leave. What the heck, one more lap.... it wasn't until I reached the end of that lap that I realized I was one of two people left in the pool and the other guy was in the process of getting out...

Of course I quickly launched myself out from the pool and sheepishly joined some people sitting down along the sides. The voice from the speakers blared on and on, and I'm sad to say, that was one listening comprehension test that I flunked badly. Didn't catch a single meaningful sentence.... for 5 minutes I just sat there, pretending to blend in until I finally got fed-up and asked the guy next to me what the heck was going on.

Turns out there are mandated 10-minute breaks for all swimmers thrice a day. Regardless of when you entered the pool.... (*scratches head*) When the 10 minutes were up, everyone dived back in and all was well in the world again.

Would definitely go back to check out the fitness center. I'm sure I'll get into more trouble there ;) First I need to figure out if there are closer and cheaper fitness centers around...