History of Gina and Cheese:
I'd like to thank the lovely gentleman at the Moss Street Market in Victoria for selling my mother three hearty blocks of cheese: one bleu and two spicy chili-infused cheeses.
Now me and cheese don't really have much of a history. I was never a cheese girl. Never liked the mozza sticks, never really craved grilled cheeses, and I would rarely if ever grab a cube of cheese to snack on. I think it's an Asian thing. Asians don't really do dairy. Yeah. Think about it. It's not General CHEESE Chicken. There ain't no Sweet and Sour CHEESE lunch specials. No CHEESE fried rice (Although, maybe that could work somehow). I can only speak for Koreans when I say this but we're really not that into the dairy side of the food pyramid. We got everything else covered. We probably even add to the pyramid with our selections of questionable meat but the only type of dairy you'd find in a Korean village back in the day was breast milk. Of course now that globalization (AKA Western domination of the world) is kicking in, milk and yogurt and cheeses are a lot more common in modern day Korea. But if you ask my mother, she'll still pass on the milk. She's adopted a clever way of politely rejecting the cheese platter at social functions: She's learned that a significant portion of the population is cursed with a condition called
lactose intolerant and she has voluntarily diagnosed herself with this condition. Oh Meera, you clever little grasshopper you! I bet you don't notice the raised eyebrows when you go straight for the mint chocolate chip ice cream table...
Anyways to make a long story short, my subtle aversion to cheese was dramatically changed when this dashing cheese lovin' Canadian came into the picture. He was a cheese fanatic. He could name 20 cheeses off the top of his head. He loved cheese. Even the stinky kind. I mean the kind that smelled like straight up
FEET (And you think kimchi smells funky? Questionable.). So I slowly came around to the idea of eating cheese on the daily and I'm seriously starting to come around to the taste. I knew that I had officially become a regular cheese eater when I decided to persuade my mother into leaving behind a block of cheese for me and Brian. She had originally purchased the Little Qualicum Cheeseworks cheeses to take back with her to the states to share with her Swiss pastor but in the end, she left with none. That's right. All three blocks were MINE. And I ate the two chili cheeses within the first two days. I'm a cheese fiend.
The bleu cheese is a bit of a step for me. The smell is just so.... pungent. I mean it smells like God is telling me not to put it in my mouth. I'm still munching on it though. But it could use a major shower or something. Gotta say, it tastes better than it reeks.
Tales of Gina and her rekindling gym romance:
Alright so enough about my new fascination with the queso world and now onto more exciting things like MY FIRST DAY AT THE STEVE NASH FITNESS CENTER.
Dude. I'll be lucky if I'm able to get out of bed tomorrow. My body is in total shock.
So Brian decides to get me a month's membership at this gym (It's the nearest one to his house) after two days of me moaning and groaning about how bored I was during the daytime (The time I should have spent studying for my final..... I got by with an undeserved B). I'm just so used to having a million things to do, places to go, people to see, working, studying, eating. etc. And while I enjoyed the nothingness of the first day.... It grew old. Like fast. Like... within 3 hours. I almost went upstairs to weed the garden because I was so bored out of my mind but the gardener beat me to it! So Brian signs me up and also throws in the extra classes such as Zumba, Yoga, Spinning, etc. I was able to haggle with the membership guy and get us a better price but it was still a pretty penny at $114 with taxes in. Of course when we get home after signing all the papers, Brian growls "You better go 2 times a day to make it worth it!" and I completely agree. I hate getting ripped off so I fully intended on getting more than our money's worth. And so far, I am.
Today was my first day at the gym and I went for the 10:30AM Zumba class. It was my first Zumba class ever and it was
complicated! I couldn't even get the warm up steps! It's like a bunch of latin based dance sequences with lots of booty shakin' and shimmyin' and rump poppin'. Needless to say, it was fun but I had a bit of trouble with the steps and was always a step or two behind everyone, which was fine. So I did that for an hour. Then I stayed for the 30 minute ab workout session that was held immediately after. AND THEN I stayed for the 45 minute spinning class after that. That's right. THREE CLASSES. Insane, I know. And I don't think I'll ever do it again. It wasn't too bad until 20 minutes into the spin class. My legs were beginning to wobble like crazy. I had a difficult time keeping them moving. But I did it! I already got at least HALF our money's work since they claim to charge $20 per class. But those classes weren't the most painful part of the workout. The gym is approximately one mile from Brian's house and it was the walk BACK that did it. I seriously didn't think I was gonna make it up the hills! My legs were
BURNING at this point, especially since I was carrying all my gym clothes and shoes and water bottles. My calves and hams were SCREAMING in excruciating pain. I seriously considered just knocking on the doors of the Vancouver Hospital (Which is on the way) and passing out.
But then I remembered I don't have traveler's insurance. Oh the agonies of life.
So I gritted my teeth, hoisted my obnoxiously pink bag higher on my shoulder and trooped onward. The mile felt like twenty. Especially with the sun beaming down on me. Needless to say, I got a great workout today. I'm probably lucky that I didn't injure myself. It was stupid now that I'm thinking about it. I just thought, "Hey I'm here at the gym, might as well attend another class since I don't have anything else on my agenda." But I could've chosen a less traumatic workout. Or gotten a ride home. I really need to figure out the bus transit system in this town.... But honestly, I'm proud of myself for getting back into active mode. I have no excuse this month, no school, no clinicals, no job, so fitness will be the month's priority. I could use a little boost before my fall classes begin and I get swept up again in studies and my new job.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to my time at the gym tomorrow. The classes I'm planning on taking are "Nash 360 (whatever that is)" and a 30 minute easy-breezy flex and flow session right afterwards. Then Saturday, Brian and I are heading out to Seattle for the day!
It's a shame that I'll miss out on the Gay Parade festivities that are supposed to take place over the weekend... But I guess it wouldn't be too kosher to hit up a gay parade after church anyways (But I'd still do it!).
Hope everyone is having an amazing week!! The weather in Vancouver today is BEAUTIFUL!!!!
