At the very top of the list was lap swimming. In Seattle I swam every single chance I had. Typically, I would swim every single weekday while the kids were in school. I would probably average 1.75 miles per day - roughly spending 45 minutes to an hour in the pool. It was quite honestly one of the best parts (sometimes THE best part) of my day, everyday. If I was tired or grumpy or sad or worried, swimming nearly always helped. The rhythmic breathing and muted sound of being underwater was so soothing to me. I can't believe I lasted as long as I have without swimming here.
On Monday I finally had an appointment to meet with a guy at the local fitness gym that has the pool. The public pools had been closed for the last part of August and early part of September for their annual maintenance.
After school drop off on Monday I pedaled my bike to the Fitness First, a typical Seattle looking gym just about 1.5 miles from our house. I had to meet with a Fitness First staff member because when can you ever just get a "what is the price" quote from a fitness gym? It seems it is the same here as in Seattle where you have to make an appointment, they have to show you around, they have to try to upsale you on getting the towel service or extra hours or whatever.
My English speaking fitness agent finally shows up in the "lounge" after 15 minutes of waiting. His name is Konrad and sounds exactly like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. I kept waiting to hear "I'm going to pump you up!" Sadly, he just broke down all the options. Apparently you pay a 49 € registration fee but get it back if you show up at the gym at least twice a week for the first 2 months. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
It is interesting the prices of things here. Some things (food- except popcorn. See below) is way way cheaper. Other things (electronics, gas, and apparently gym membership) is more expensive. The gym for a month is 89.99 € This is over double what I paid a month at my Seattle gym. But since I can smell the pool from the "lounge" and am just about frothing at the mouth to finally get in the pool I tell him I'm 90% sure I will sign up but need to think it over. And at that point I was probably 90% sure. We are saving money in other places, right?
When I scheduled my appointment with Arnold - I mean Konrad, they said I could bring my things and use the facilities to check it out before signing up. Konrad and I shake hands and I'm on my way. The locker room is nice. Communal showers but they are nice and clean and I guess I should expect nothing less from Germany. The pool is divided and there are what seems to be just two lanes for lap swimming. The other 2/3 of the pool is filled with people just leisurely swimming. Kind of back and forth but some are doing the breast stroke and some the back stroke but they aren't really staying withing any imaginary lanes or anything. So, I assume "lap swimming" is to be done in the two lanes that are roped off. One of the lanes is full (probably 8 or 9 women) taking some kind of class. There is a trainer telling them about their strokes - I'm assuming as I can't really hear and it is all in German. The other lap lane has 2 or 3 guys in it. One is just standing at the end of the lane. I ask him if he speaks English and he says yes, a bit. I ask if they just circle swim and he says that yes, they try to. So, I hop in and go... and swim for 45 minutes. Probably not my typical speed or distance but it feels good. The water and the pool itself is very clean. The water is salty so I'm assuming it is a salt/chlorine mix like at Colman Pool. While I'm swimming I think through the gym option vs.just paying to come us this pool as a non member ($5.50 per time) vs using the public pool ($3.50 per time) I'm not sure I will swim every single day here. It is a longer ordeal since I will need to bike or bus to the gym. Benjamin only goes to school until 1PM and so I don't have as much time. Plus I'd like to start taking a German class and the class I'm looking at is for 6 weeks from 9-1PM... leaving no time to swim during those 6 weeks. Like in Seattle, I do some of my best thinking while in the pool and I come up with an agreement with myself that I will give the public pool a shot and see what that is like and also see just how many times I come per week and then do a cost analysis.
But the swim itself was lovely and exactly what my body, soul and mind needed!! Yay! Even though Konrad never said it I did, in fact, feel very pumped up.
Later in the afternoon I finally got around to popping my first batch of popcorn. I LOVE popcorn. It is my very favorite snack and it isn't that big of a deal over here and quite hard to find. The typical popped variety (that we have only found at that automatic machine at the zoo) is the sugary type. Julie says that even at the movie theater it is typically the sweet variety not the salty. So when I found a tiny bag (500 grams) for 3 € I jumped at it. Look at just how tiny this bag is!! It is nearly gone already and I've only popped two batches! Not all that cheap but oh, well. In Seattle we go through at least 2 huge Costco sized tubs in a year!! In Seattle Marty and Jodi became friends with Jesse, the owner of Uncle Woody's Popcorn (the VERY best popped popcorn out there, in my opinion. The truffle salt is out of this world and the caramel - OMG and the caramel and cheese mix!! - oh, what I wouldn't give for someone in Berlin to start selling Woody's popcorn!!!) Anyway, we were lucky enough to go on a tour of Uncle Woody's popcorn factory last year and Jesse told me all about the smoke points of oil and that olive oil has a low smoke point and not good to pop with. Sunflower is OK but not as healthy. The best oils to pop with are avocado, which I use in Seattle, or soy oil. 
I'm going to have to buy several more of those teeny tiny bags of unpopped corn... something tells me that we are going to be going through a lot of popcorn now.
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