French Boxing?

Ok. So today was pretty normal too, so I shall skip to tonight. Where Chelsea and I were introduced to the world of boxing.

It was at 7:30, so we met 10 minutes before to walk over to the building together. There was no difficulty finding the 'petite gymnase' and we nervously entered, hoping we weren't the only girls there (which we were afraid we would be..that plus being the only americans...oh gosh). But when we entered we were suprised to find a room full of people already practicing with atleast 10 other girls there too! Ok nervousness gone about that.

However, now we were unsure what to do! We were there 5 min early and people were mid exercise! Was that our class? We had no clue. So we sat down to watch. So awkward. A guy came in and asked us if it was boxing, I said I didnt know. So he went and asked the teacher (which we failed to do because of language difficulties), and he joined in so we figured we should too.

People were just bouncing around the room in pairs, kind of, mock punching people/the air. So awkward to join in. Chelsea and I are the type of people that laugh and smile at just about anything, and that is our default face in uncertain circumstances, therefore, we could not stop laughing. Yes we were uncomfortable, yes we had NO clue what was going on, yes we looked like idiots.

The teacher, this short muscly guy, stops everyone, and we do some ab exercises for like, 1.5 minutes, then commence bouncing around again. Then he says something else, which we did not quite catch..and everyone starts walking in the same general direction, so we join in! Context clues get you so far when you have no clue what is going on. They were headed to the closet to get boxing gloves. OH YEAH. It's go time.

Oh and I forgot to mention the smell. Oh.My.Gosh. THe closer you got to the glove room, the worse the body odour was. It was like standing on a crowded french tram, x 10000. I could feel it permeating through my clothes and skin. Yuck.

So Chelsea and I finally got to the room and started looking through all the sorts of gloves hanging on the wall and attempt to grab some. Large, nope wrong size, size 10? Not sure, that works! There was a hole in my thumb part, but I figured it was tucked away and wouldn't matter anyway.

We head out and the teacher is just finishing the instructions, so he comes over to the small group of stragglers, and explains again. Stuff about how to kick, how to block, etc. So we pair up and Chelsea and I attempt to punch eachother? We are stopped shortly there after by the coach who informs us we have the wrong gloves..apparantly the thumb hole ones are only for punching bags...awk. So we head back to the room (I hold my breath), and grab some other ones. Chelsea and I laughed the whole time I'm pretty sure. Boxing is so serious, and, not hateful, but are hitting someone the whole time haha. As uncoordinated as I am, I think I am better cut out for dancing. And that is saying a lot haha. We were too smiley.

But we continue and he would tell us new exercises, and we would practice them, mostly different hitting patterns, like 2 punches and a kick, or other things like that. By our last time, I actually felt like I improved. Not that it was hard to do, since I started at literally, ground zero. The coach had come up to us a few times during the practice to explain various things, and with our nods and occasional "d'accord", which is 'ok', I don't know if he knew we weren't French, although everyone knows, so I am assuming he did as well. If our english or horrible french accents don't give us away, the blond hair does.

So that ended the hour of boxing. All levels were there, and we were definitely in the minority as beginners. But we saw improvement in ourselves. Boxing is so uncomfortable for me haha. It is insanely difficult to protect yourself properly and focus on an attack at the same time. Holy cow. Even 45 min of practice and I will forever respect boxers in a new light hah.

So anyway, until next week, I can practice in my room haha.

Also, I am super sore from volleyball today. And I noticed that when I dove in volleyball, I got a hole in my leggings I wore :(

Sports attire shopping this weekend I guess! Which I haven't seen ANYWHERE...hm..