extreme unpacking

forget pilatis, forget rock climbing, forget marathon-running... i've figured out the ultimate exercise- extreme unpacking.

on thursday my stuff finally arrived from thailand, a total of 37 cartons which sounded like a lot until i asked a colleague how many cartons he had received- 106!

the workers finished assembling my few pieces of furniture and shifting things into roughly their correct position and left. after that i spent the next 8 hours or so unpacking, moving, lifting, shifting, plugging, unplugging, and last (but not least) swearing.

after around 9pm i spent the next couple of hours messing around with electronics, fine tuning the speaker balances and whatnot. my clothes were still strewn about in piles but hey, i have my priorities!

when i finally turned in about midnight i felt a bit odd- achy, like the type of deep muscle aches i get just before the onset of a fever. i took a tylenol and went to bed right away, hoping sleep would stave off any illness.

the next morning i woke up in a near-paralytic state- it felt like i had gone to the gym after years of sitting on the couch and done every machine to exhaustion. my thighs, calves, my lower back, my shoulders, my arms were all killing me. i hobbled around like an electrified zombie and only felt a bit better after a hot shower.

it's now sunday and only today am i mostly back to normal. now although i haven't been to the gym since i've been in china i'm not a complete sloth- i walk to work almost every day (a 45min round-trip) and used to lift weights regularly.

so if you want to try a new form of exercise, one that provides cardio, strength, and flexibility benefits, try extreme unpacking. if you don't have anywhere to exercise, feel free to drop me an email as half my boxes are still not finished yet!