Had some spare time so I joined a French Cult.

Before I left for this trip I set some goals, one of which was to find a way to get back into shape and stay in shape throughout my travels. This last year was the first year where I didn't play any sports competitively (with the exception of softball) and while I found lots of ways to occupy my time (coaching, coaching and more coaching) I did not do a good job of finding new ways to stay fit and putting aside the time for exercise. I think one of the best lines that sums up my fitness routine over the last few months was July 3rd or so when I finished a workout and went to leave the gym the coach quipped "I guess that's your workout for the month -see you in august!" Or the person who upon seeing me for the first time in a while exclaimed "what the F#% are you doing here?". Thanks to Chris and Dick for those gems lol.

  The last couple months I was extremely busy with work and travel planning so this first month of travelling, particularly my time with my host family has been a sharp contrast. The first week with them before my classes started I literally had nothing to do. They all went to work and school and I stayed at the house. When they did come home I was in the middle of conversations I couldn't understand and everything still felt new and uncomfortable. All this to say I was DYING to get out of the house and do something. So I did something a little crazy. Probably one of the scariest things I've done to date on this trip. I google mapped Crossfit Montpellier, hopped on the train, and then the tram and hiked down the road to the industrial area, all the while practicing what I would say...

Je m'appelle Danielle....
Je viens du Canada.....
Je voudrais faire du crossfit....







I walked up to the gym at around 2:30 in the afternoon and was surprised and dismayed to find it absolutely jam packed with people all staring at me. But I had come this far I wasn't going to chicken out and I was hoping for the welcoming Crossfit spirit.  I walked up to the reception and spit out my lines and waited for the inevitable "oh shit" moment when a person talks back to me in french and I hear "wah wah wahhh wah". But it went surprisingly well. He said hello with the typical french french 3 kisses which I am still getting used to and certainly wasn't expecting at a Crossfit gym. And then he asked if I preferred French or English... HALLELUJAH!!!

And that was that. I signed up for 3 months with the Crossfit
Montpellier Pirates or the BAM's (Bad Ass Montpellierans)as they call themselves. An unlimited pass is surprisingly MUCH cheaper than I was expecting given that crossfit is already expensive in Canada and pretty much everything in France is even more expensive than Canadian prices. And perhaps even more surprisingly to CFNV-ers I have managed to go at least 2 - 3 times a week since then. It is a little ironic that I couldnt get my self to crossfit when I was less than 10 minutes away from a box that I had been going to for over 3 years and had a car at my disposal.  Yet somehow here with a language barrier, no car and a lengthyish commute, and where I had to brave going to a french docteur to get a note saying I was healthy... I manage more consistency. Go figure.



The first class I attended was great. Someone from my language school who speaks less french than I do was actually there as well (small world). Plus the coach spoke excellent English and would explain everything in French and then throw the two clueless English ones a bone with a quick explanation in English. This is not always the case and depends on the coach of the day. More often than not the instructions are completely in french. Those days are a lot more of an adventure.

Thankfully crossfit is crossfit.Many of the words are the same as they don't bother to translate most exercises into French. I can look up at the whiteboard and see that we are doing "sumo deadlift high pulls" or "handstand push ups" and whether it is an AMRAP or a for time workout. However some things really throw me for a loop like trying to calculate weights in kilograms or reporting my scores using french numbers or times. But I'm betting most crossfiters even with little to no French can make sense of most of this list:

There are also a lot of vital little instructions that occur during the class and when you can't understand them you can end up looking like a bit of an idiot. While I usually just play follow the leader and see what everyone else is doing, it doesn't always work. For example, one day we were getting ready for the work out and setting up our stations and then the coach said something and everyone started doing the WOD. So, thinking I had missed the 3-2-1 go instruction I just started the workout. However after a minute or two I began to realize that everyone else was going really slow and some had even stopped. Oh and also that and a lot of people were watching me with a smirk on their face. Turns out we were just supposed to have done 2 rounds slowly for a warm up and there I was working away at full speed like an idiot.  So ... Chauffment = Warm up, gonna remember that one. Also there are a lot of occasions where people start raising their hands or dividing into two groups and I have to make quick decisions... hand up or hand down? Left or right? its very stressful but I at least have a 50/50 chance.

Plus it makes for some interesting dynamics in class. At a regular gym I could just put my earphones in and not talk to anyone but that doesn't really fly at a crossfit. Upon entry, post wod and when exiting at Crossfit montpellier it is expected to do a double hand tap thingy. Like a low five, but twice in a row. I do somewhat fly under the radar  in the conversation department apart from the simple "bonjour" or "ca va". And and when some one talks to me in passing I still sometimes resort to the almost fail-safe smile and nod technique. People probably think I am some sort of freakishly shy quiet person. Lifting in groups does necessitate talking and thankfully once they figure out I don't speak a lot of French everyone has been very accommodating speaking slowly, repeating and using hand gestures.

I think the weirdest thing for me is the overall attitude toward fitness in France. It does not seem to be very well ingrained in the culture. In Canada, people kind of judge you negatively if you are not active or not going to the gym but here it is hard to find gyms in general never-mind crossfits. I think it starts from an early age because I was shocked to learn that there are no sports at school. School is for learning and if you want to do a sport you do it on your own time. As a result many people just don't do sports or they just do individual activites like running or cycling. Female participation in sport is even less and I think that is reflected in the gym membership at Crossfit Montpellier from what I have seen. Don't get me wrong there are a few bad ass girls at the gym however in every class I have been to there has been maybe 2-3 girls in a class of 16.  This is a little different from the occasional all girl classes  at CFNV. Suffice to say I get some really weird looks when I am transiting home after my workout and am dressed in athletic clothes with a red face.

I showed my host family a video of what crossfit is and they thought I was crazy. Then after the first day of classes I came home with shins looking like this (aka what happens when you are out of shape and lazy and aren't careful with the bar on SDHPs) and they thought I was really crazy. Then
they saw my hands looking like this and I think they are planning a visit to a psychiatrist They couldn't comprehend why we don't wear gloves and I don't have enough of a grasp of french to explain the subtleties of the word "wussy". Its probably a good thing that I haven't really ripped my hands (yet).

The new expansion. A work in progress. 

But a long blog post to say that I am really enjoying working out at Crossfit Montpellier. It is very different than what I am used to at Crossfit North Vancouver but everyone has been very welcoming and helpful.  People have taken the time to have painfully slow conversation in French with me or have braved using their English and the effort has been much appreciated. The gym seems to have a really awesome and passionate community behind it and they are always full to capacity at every WOD. In fact if you forget to register until Sunday as I did this week the pickings are very poor and it is hard to find an open workout to go to. As one of the first boxes to open in France, they just had their 3rd year anniversary and are going strong. They have actually started expanding into the next door building which is exciting.  I am looking forward to my next work out and its actually this week not a couple months from now.

-We always believe that it is impossible until we do it -

(I make no promises about the accuracy of my translation skills)

10(ish) reasons why I ♥ Berlin

 

And Part 2 of Berlin adventures. I think it is some sort of unwitten rule thar every blog needs some sort of cheeay list post at some point. So voila...10 reasons why Berlin grew on me so fast after quite a rocky start. 

#1 - They Speak ENGLISH!!!!

Unlike their next door neighbors Le Francais. Most Germans that we encountered (albeit in the tourist sectors) speak English very well and furthermore are happy to do so. In the Mediterranean part of France between the older generation who don't speak English and those who know English but are too scared/unwilling to use it, English speakers are a rare treat in my life these days. It was kind of fun being in a role reversal with my host family as I was the one who they were relying on to go ask questions or to order food at restaurants. Although this did backfire on me one day where at like 3:00 pm we finally found a restaurant for lunch and I ordered for everyone. While I was in the bathroom the waiter came back with a question and not fully understanding they some how managed to cancel my order accidentally. So when the food arrived nothing came for me and I had to re-order and wait. At the time i was starving and cranky but looking back I love that for once it was not me buggering up something in another language.  I did feel kind of bad because most of the museums and exhibits were in German and English, making it hard for my host family to understand a lot of the time. However I was impressed as Herve, was very stubborn and would read every single exhibit in English because he wanted to understand even if it took him 4 hours per museum (which it did).

German and ENGLISH captions at the Topography of Terror Museum  explaining this guy facing trial at the Nurembourg trials for the murder of 90,000 Jews. 

#2 - The weather

Don't get me wrong I am NOT complaining about the 25-30 degree sunny weather that is the norm in Montpellier, but the crisp sunny days and the gloomy overcast days in Berlin were a nice change. They made me nostalgic for Vancouver autumn days and gave me a chance to wear something other than a tank top and shorts.  Plus there were so many more green lawns and green trees than you find in Montpellier and Palm trees don't exactly shed fall coloured leaves everywhere. It was amazing to walk through the trails and find piles of maple leaves on the ground and to be able to sit on nice green  grass and enjoy a picnic lunch.  I thoroughly enjoyed the change for a week and embraced being a little chilly from time to time... My host family.... not so much. lol

They were not impressed with the cold. 

Although Mathis enjoyed chasing squirrels as he had never seen them before

#3 - The Wall

Berlin divided

I don't even know how to describe the Berlin wall. It is utterly amazing, both in the art work that creates tangible messages about the history and spirit of the Berlin people contained within it and in what the wall represents about that time in history. It blows my mind that it stood for almost 30 years separating grand ideologies at the expense of individual families and friends. We explored a museum that depicts all the desperate measures people took to  break through the wall, tunnel under the wall or sneak through checkpoints concealed in suitcases, ovens, oil drums etc. One person even built a raft out of hockey sticks.  I could not stop taking pictures of all the different images so I apologize for photo overload. 

Wall showing damage caused by people eager to tear down the wall when the restrictions were finally lifted

Herve

#4 - The traffic lights

On the lighter side of things I, and it seems every other tourist, was charmed by the figures on the traffic lights for pedestrians. Where many cities just have boring green light/red lights or simple figurines, Berlin has the "amplemann" aka a red guy with his arms outstretched and a green guy with a hat walking. I googled the history and apparently they were designed by a psychologist to make them appealing and therefore to make pedestrians obey them. I dunno if that is true but they certainly are popular with the tourists and there are numerous stores selling "ampelmann" souvenirs. Mathis was enthralled with the "petit bonhomme" and we must have gone into four or five different ampelmann stores sometimes more than once. I may have added a souvenir or two to my already very heavy bag. 

The inventor of the Ampelmann

# 5 - The History

Berlin has an incredibly diverse and and intriguing history.  However there are probably some parts they would like to erase or at least dissociate themselves from their involvement in. But the city does an amazing job of acknowledging past mistakes and tragedies while maintaining a sense of pride in their change and their goals for the future. You can learn and appreciate the history while at the same time easily recognize that the Berlin you are in today is not the same Berlin it was back then.

We went to countless different memorials/monuments/museums in the five days and only scratched the surface. And the best part was that at most of the museums children under 18 were free with their parents. So I just pretended to be the third Marechal child and probably saved 30 euros or so throughout the week. Looking young for the win!

Monuments for German Soldiers/Members of parliament  


Topography of Terror Exhibition focusing on the rise of Hitler and the inner workings of the Third Reich (ie. SS, Gestapo, propoganda etc.). I love this picture with everybody hailing the Furor and one guy not buying it. 

Memorial to Jewish victims of the holocaust. The pictures don't do it justice. It took up an entire block (a Vegas size block) with cement blocks of varying sizes. As you walked in the middle the blocks got progressively higher and higher and it got darker and darker. Ironically the memorial was built on the land that used to contain the offices of the Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, the man who spear headed the campaign to justify action against non Aryans.
 

Mathis and Chloe

Checkpoint Charlie museum and exhibition.

Mathis with the fake american soldiers

This is one of the universities in Berlin. There are many different vendors selling books here because this is the site where the Nazi's burnt all "non-german" literature in 1933 upon coming into power.

The Neue Jewish synagogue was partially ransacked during Kristallnact but was one of the few Jewish Synagogues to survive the pogrom. Interestingly a German police officer actually stepped in and stopped the SS from completely destroying it. Shortly after the synagogue was no longer allowed to serve as a place of worship for the German Jewish community and the doors were shut for many years. During the war the Neue Synagogue was heavily damaged by allied bombings with the main worship area being completely demolished. Only the front facade remains today however in spite of this many articles have been recovered from the synagogue including these wall hangings  with torah verses and the eternal light. Also recovered was the registry of Jewish families which sadly was taken by the Nazi's and used to track Jewish families.

I'm cool like that w/ my audio guide 

Berlin also has an abundance of non-war related museums. In fact they have an entire island of museums... aka Museum Island. We only scratched the surface of this going to a museum focused on the near east ie. ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and such. Not exactly my cup of tea but it related to coursework at Mathis' school. 

Ancient gate of some marketplace, of some ancient civilization that I forget

Museum Island

#6 The Food

There is really not much that needs to be said here. Berlin food is soooooo good. Snitzel... Curry Wurst... Spatzel...So much to try so little time. Plus the availability of the food and the low prices make it a very appealing city for a budget minded tourist like myself. You can find travelling Bratwurst and Currywurst vendors on all the street corners with a Bratwurst for only 1.5E. 

Even just a simple Tea was awesome coming with fancy sugar and a mini gelato

#7 The Beer

I feel like this probably goes with out saying. You can't really top a city where buying a LITRE of beer is cheaper than a bottle of water. Or where there are countless restaurants that offer over 100 different types of beer. I am not really a huge beer drinker however I enjoy some of the interesting hybrid beers they have - i.e. beer plus lemonade. And this time I tried some Berlinweise. Which is a red or green beer, aka flavored with raspberry or woodruff syrup, and is quite unique and enjoyable. 

#8 - The construction

I have never seen so much construction occurring in one city at one time. We walked for about 10-15 minutes down one street and I swear every building on both sides was under construction. It does detract a bit from the scenery as your views and pictures have cranes and scaffolding in them. However I loved the desire to improve that you could sense as a result. Despite being a massive city Berlin still has lots of infrastructure to be built/repaired because a lot of things were decimated after the war and the bombing of Berlin.  And after the second world war development was further stunted by the division of East and West Germany. Now it is very hard to tell what used to be East verses what used to be West Germany. Berliners are busy making up for lost time and it seems the entire city is under construction. However in their haste to build and upgrade they still preserve vital parts of history for example buildings that survived the war- no matter how damaged are carefully preserved and built around. 

Cranes, Cranes, and more Cranes

New modern cube built on top of old brick building

Church damaged by the bombings but the main facade was salvaged and a new church built next to it.

#9 - The Zoo

the only other Armadillo I've seen was
on  an Alabama roadkill tour

Yes I am a sucker for animals. That goes with out saying. So I was easily impressed by the Berlin zoo as it is massive and had many incredible different species of animals that I have never seen before. They are the most popular zoo in Europe and one of the most popular in the world. We were  keen to go see the Giant Panda as these are a rarity in zoos and Bao Bao is the longest surviving Panda outside of a zoo in Asia. Unfortunately the sign I read that off was a little dated and needs to be updated as Bao Bao WAS the longest surviving Panda having died last year. :(  Ah well it was still a nice light change after lots of museums with heavy subject matter.   

Don't know why it was so entertaining for him but he kept doing it. 

I can almost get past my fear of bears when they are cute and cuddling with a log

Cant wait to see some of these in Thailand

Just chilling

#10 - The Beautiful Architecture

And finally like most cities Berlin has some awe inspiring churches, monuments and buildings. But I  think what I really liked about Berlin was how some of the most beautiful churches or buildings were set apart from the rest of the city. Like the city was built around them while keeping a respectful distance.

Ok so not really the end because I can't help but mention this... #11

#11 - The shopping

My host family introduced me to this thoroughly evil european store called Primark. I usually find European stores much more expensive than at home. Whether this is because they are designer stores or just because they are the same prices as home but in Euros. Not this store though. Everything was soooooo cheap. 95% of things were under 10 euros. I think the most expensive thing I saw was 22 euros. There were shirts for 2 euros, pants for 5 euros, and numerous accessories for 1 Euro. After living out of a suitcase (ok... 2 suitcases) for a month buying some new clothes was just too tempting to pass up. Before I knew it I had a large bag with numerous shirts, socks, a sweater, hair elastics, a pair of pants, a pair of shoes and more all for under 30 Euros. This store was great for my budget but terrible for my already too large carry on bag. I wish it existed in Canada but apparently there is one in Paris so I may have to visit there with Mom and Grandma at Christmas time. 

Ok so maybe 10 was a little overly optimistic, but this is the last one I promise!

#12 - No distracted driving laws

I should probably clarify this. Because I actually do like that our police enforce distracted driving laws (ie. no using a cell phone) as I hope it reduces the amount of people doing stupid shit while driving. And I don't actually know if Germany does or does not have the same policy but I did find it hilarious in Germany as I saw numerous horse drawn carriages being driven by drivers glued to their cell phones. I guess we are trusting the horses to pay attention?