The man in the suit at the gym

Stories from the cultural ambassador vault #1:

It was sometime early last fall when i was still an unsure and hesitant cultural ambassador. I was exercising at my gym on a Friday night, excited to leave my small city the next day, and almost done with my workout. Two ab exercises away in fact. I was lying on an exercise mat about to start flutter kicks where I always do them, in the open space near the owner's desk at my cosy (small) gym. And then the man in the suit walked in the door.

He was flanked on his left by an underling. He commanded immediate attention from the gym owner. Within a minute all the men in the gym (about seven, I said my gym was cosy) formed a circle just in front of me. I had just started the flutter kicks when the man in the suit started talking.

Of all the exercises to be doing at that moment. Anything other than abs and I would be safe behind the "foreigner" excuse. I would not be on the floor lying on my back looking up awkwardly at the man in the suit starting to make a speech while everyone else in the circle bowed their heads with their hands behind their backs. So I stopped, stood up, and joined the circle. He quickly finished his speech, which I couldn't understand, and then shook everyone's hand, mine included. I felt included. I wasn't sure in what.

After he left I finished my remaining minute and a half of exercise. The owner told me that the man in the suit was the deputy mayor of my city. Apparently some people who train at my gym were going to be competing somewhere soon, and he was there to wish them well and thank them for representing Gyeryong. I laughed with him. Of course, none of them were there on Friday in the late evening, so the owner just had everyone there come listen. No need to tell the senior official what was going on. Just listen to the senior.

And I had listened. But I also learned something whenever we made eye contact during the speech. He was just as unsure about what was going on as I was if not more so. The awkwardness at the gym that night and in similar experiences isn't me, you, the man in the suit, or anything one thing. It's everything, it's the situation, and when you can step outside of it and enjoy it- it's great.

Written at the homestay in Gyeryong, South Korea.