Guess what?? I just read Susan's page and found out that she went to Step class. Well, the coinky-dink is that I went to Step class too! It was a typical Tuesday. I was tired from work and wanted to just watch TV for five hours straight to unwind from a day of teaching and thinking and giving the eye to my students when they misbehave and all that good stuff. But I had made a promise to myself. I shall go to Step class. It took me a while to figure out where this gym was located and when I arrived, I realized I had no idea what to do. I had never REALLY gone to the gym, and now here I was trying to take a class. There were all these unspoken rules that I had to figure out. For Step class, you need to sign up, go grab a step, and then find a place to plop down. Of course, I don't know anything, so I just sit on someone else's step and wait for class to start. Everyone is either reading a magazine, lounging on their step, or talking to their friend. I try acting nonchalant, as if I've been there before, and start stretching. Right as the instructor is about to start, the owner of the step comes over and says "This is my spot." Whoops! so I scramble away, find the last step, and then with the help of a kind stepper, I manage to find a place near the front.

My goodness! What a workout. It was an advanced Step class and it was my first time. It took me some time to get used to the commands, like "V-step," "shuffle," and I forgot the rest. You should've seen me! You would be proud. I was keeping up and was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the middle-aged Korean woman in back of me. I watched her in the mirror, and she not only had the footwork, but she was doing fancy motions with her arms! I was kind of jealous, but also proud to be Korean. Yes, even in Step class, I feel a strong sense of my ethnic background.

On that note, I noticed that most of the women there were Asian. There was one African-American woman in the bunch. She was talking the whole hour while all the Asian women were silent. It was so telling. The culture split was so evident. I wish I could be more call-and-responsey. But it's just not my nature. I suppose I could get into it if the majority of the people were responding. Looking around the room, I knew that most women felt the way I did: The teacher is talking and so I must not talk back. The teacher is a person of authority and must not be questioned. To respond to the teacher means that I think I'm on the same level as her.

Anyways, I enjoyed Step class and would go again. The next class I want to try is a spinning class. There's an "Easy Spin" class in the Campbell gym that would probably fit me best. The exercising adventures of Jieun continues...