Back to the gym...

Hey everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your Thursday... Just think, it's almost Friday! :) The past couple of days have been going very well here. Last night, Brian and I went up to the local gym and purchased our memberships... yay!! I'm so excited to finally get back to the gym! :) On our way back to the apartment, Brian and I were discussing how this gym is so different from the gyms we belonged to back in the U.S. First, the gentleman who signed us up is supposed to be a personal trainer; however, the buttons on his shirt were very close to popping... and let's just say that it wasn't because of his "bulging muscles"! :) We'll just say that this guy was no Grant Pierce! :) (For those of you who are wondering who Grant Pierce is, he was my extremely "fit" boss at the gym I worked at...) Brian and I were also chuckling about the fact that this new gym offers a juice bar, which is included in the membership. And they're really excited about their juice bar... As soon as you enter the gym, they offer you a drink from their fabulous juice bar. Now, in the U.S., a typical juice bar would serve fruit smoothies, health drinks, etc... This juice bar serves apple juice, coffee, and water... Nice! :) Being that we signed up for a membership yesterday, we received two brand new water bottles with the gym's name on them. We were then told by the "personal trainer" that we had to wash them before we used them (always good advice! :)) and he recommended that we use them instead of the glasses that they offer at the juice bar... He explained how those glasses aren't always the cleanest... Now that just makes me want to run right up and get a drink from the juice bar!! :) Irregardless of all of that, we now have a membership at a gym and I am as happy as a clam about that! :)

This morning, we headed up to city hall to find out about me getting a visa... We learned that, for the time being, I can apply for a residential visa. However, if I choose to get a teaching job here, I have to go back and reapply for a work visa... Although, getting a visa here isn't quite as difficult as I was thinking it was going to be. All I need to do is fill out two forms and Brian's work needs to type up a letter for me. I already purchased my passport photos (which are definitely not the best pictures I've ever taken... they don't let you smile in them, so I look really mean in my picture. :)). So, we're hoping by next week I'll get my visa... let's just keep our fingers crossed though... We know how slowly they tend to do things in this country. I'm just excited about the visa because I can add it to my passport... As many of you know, I get pretty excited just to get a stamp from the country I visited in my passport, and a visa is much better than just a stamp. :)

As I said in yesterday's blog, we are supposed to be getting our new car today... Finally!! :) Brian is supposed to pick it up during his lunch. I'll definitely take some pictures tonight so that I can post them tomorrow for all of you to see. :)

One more thing before I head out... I've found a way for us to post all of the pictures that we've taken here. We've taken so many pictures, but I'm only able to post a few of them in the blog. So, if you're interested in viewing the rest of the pictures, feel free. The website is http://kristinandbrian08.shutterfly.com/ . As of now, you don't need to use a password to access it. I'm still gradually adding the pictures (it takes a while to upload all of them), but I'm hoping by tomorrow, I'll have most of them uploaded. After that, I plan to add pictures as we take them. So, bookmark the site if you want and check back often for new additions. We hope you enjoy it! :) On a side note, I have to say, that I can't take credit for finding this website... My friend, Missy, who also has a blog, added this site to her blog and I liked the idea, so I borrowed it from her. Thanks Missy! You know us teachers... we like to borrow ideas from each other from time to time! :)

Well, I'd better get going. I'm heading to the gym... It feels so good to be able to say that again!! :) Hope you have a great day! Miss you!