Back to the gym

    I bought a gym pass this week. After spring break I decided it was time to get back to the gym, and it was the first of the month, so a great excuse to make a healthy change. Plus it's starting to get hot here and I just can't run in the heat. So I paid the equivalent of around 40 dollars for a month to the gym right by my house. It's two blocks away and the hours are great because it doesn't close for siesta, so I can work out when everybody else is sleeping. It's a really nice gym; three levels, lots of machines, aerobics classes and a sauna. They have all the machines I need for my workout, so I'm definitely satisfied with my purchase.
    A lot of gyms in Argentina require that you have a medic give you permission to use the gym, but they also normally have a person to do the evaluation and sign off on the medical form right there in the gym. I tried going to the gym on campus, but the doctor's available hours are really inconvenient, so I didn't end up being able to use that gym. The person who signs off on your medical form is also the "professor" of the gym, and they walk around while everybody is working out and give pointers and make sure you're using the machines right. It's a really nice benefit, almost like a free personal trainer. I saw the professor mostly helping with stretching. People would take turns lying on a work out bench and she would help them stretch by pushing their legs back towards their head and holding the stretch for a while. I actually noticed a lot of other people at the gym doing their stretches in pairs with this same routine. I've only been to 3 or 4 gyms in my life, but haven't really seen this done much at home at the gyms I've been to.
    I went to lift some weights the first day I was there, and wondered why the 5 pounders were so much bigger than normal... and felt so much heavier than normal... Had it really been that long since I lifted weights? Oh yea.. they use kilograms here. So I had to convert all the weight sizes from what I normally use.  The conversion came up again when trying to plug my weight into the machines. All of the labels and stickers on the machines at the gym are in English, but when you turn them on, the options are in Spanish. The gym plays a lot of English music too.
    The one thing that bothered me was that the gym doesn't promote the "wipe down after use" responsibility as much as gyms in the states do. I didn't see any sanitizer or paper towels. Also, nobody carries water bottles around with them in the gym. There was a jug with paper cups, but I was the only one with a water bottle that I could see. This goes for walking around the city too. Many host parents have commented on how all the American students always carry their water bottles around. I think Argentinians don't really like water, or don't drink as much water here, because water costs more than wine in restaurants, and people normally drink soda or tang instead of water.