Paolos Quest for a better me

The first few months in China have turned me into a chainsmoking, fat, lazy, sleep-deprived alcoholic (sort of)...

While some of the party animals out there might argue that there's nothing wrong with that, my dear flatmate got an entirely different opinion on this matter. He stepped up and put an end to all this by deciding that my body needed reshaping. Now.

So he volunteered to become my personal trainer. I wonder whether I should consider this a gift from heaven or a severe nightmare. Now six-pack-Paolo is breathing down my neck at least three times a week. "C'mon Matt, let's go to the gym!".

Maybe I should have done more careful analysis before picking him as my flatmate. How could I know, I'd end up living with a sports-maniac who works out daily in the gym.

Well, let's hope the pain is worth it and I'll return back home from China looking like Brad Pitt in his best years!

Luojié Feidélè

Today we went to see Roger Federer's (Luojié Feidele for our chinese readership) match against Rafael Nadal. We that is Paolo, Nina and me in this case.

What can I say: It was an amazing experience to witness a tennis match firsthand! Initially I thought it would be quite boring. But actually time flew by very fast.

The match itself, however, was quite lame. It's simply no fun to watch an opponent being steamrolled by Roger at its best. Nadal gave up halfway through the game and the rest became history very quickly.

Nevertheless, it certainly wasn't the last tennis match I'll go to see live.

Chinese jogging

Today I started my own personal workout program. I went jogging for half an hour while listening to a Chinese lesson on my iPod. Generally the whole thing went quite well, except for the fact that I would have been supposed to actually speak after the guy in my headphones. However, being stuck on the running machine in the gym, with several other people working out next to me, I experienced some kind of "speaker's block" and all I achieved was some kind of humble mumbling...

Maybe I should have a few beers before working out next time, just to loosen up a little bit?

I'm no good at basketball

I've got that much figured out by now...

While it seemed like a great idea to do some sports today, I probably made more friends with the opposite team than with those fellows who invited me to play with them.