Friday, March 12, 2010

More than meets the eye

One would think this was a serious aerobic class in full throttle. And I guess it was. But not for everyone:

Apparently, the aerobic class, with bom-ba-da-bom-tunes blasting from the speakers, was also a perfect place for reading a book! Who would have guessed?! Not me, anyway. 

13 comments:

Brad Farless said...

I have a feeling she was taking advantage of the free air conditioning her gym membership provided.

Personally, I couldn't read a book in a loud place though. The only real noise I can stand while reading or studying is low classical music. Even a TV is usually enough to distract me.

Anonymous said...

My suspicion is that Chinese people are nerdy/bookworms and go to weird places to do their reading. Once I was taken by my Taiwanese (fine, this point is debatable!) friend's sisters to go to a Rolling Stones Concert, and guess what they did there? Studying ;p

P.S.: I'm ethnically Chinese, please don't throw stones at me.

Anonymous said...

Are you ever concerned about privacy? How would you feel if someone took a photo of you doing something they think improper or funny, and posted it on web for the world to make fun of?

Well maybe privacy does not exist in this day and age after all.

Jonna Wibelius said...

Brad -yeah, and so was I. Nothing wrong with sitting there, it is just not the place I would pick to do my reading!

Anonymous 1 -hehe, u have a point. I rarely see people reading books in the metro though, a place that I find ideal for reading to kill time.

Anonymous 2 -I'm very concerned with privacy these days, however, considering how many photos people have taken of ME (wihtout my knowledge/permission) during my soon 4 years in China and (most likely) had a lot of fun of, I'm not going to feel to bad about this one. You cannot see her face even. Also, it's not her I'm making fun of, it's the fact that this is a quite normal sight at a Chinese gym.

Brad Farless said...

Besides, Anonymous 2, the picture is taken of a person in a public place, not their bedroom. You can't expect privacy when you're in public.

Pete In Syracuse said...

My question to Anonymous 2 is if it were just a picture of the gym & the person was in the picture who is reading just happened to be in it, then it would be OK?
Jonna maybe anonymous 2 IS that reader..... lol

Monkee said...

I think that when you are in public, you are fair game for pictures. I mean, just look at that site "Only in wal-mart" or walmart people or whatever where people take pics of others in walmart and post them. It's hilarous!

Dr. Heckle said...

LOL, Anonymous 2 thinks that Chinese people are worried about privacy?

If it ever becomes an issue, you can blur her face and be done with it. What a strange thing to get all worked up about.

If you're going to be a weirdo and read a book in a gym, you should expect to have your picture taken.

Can I streak naked through a sporting even and expect my face to not show up on the news?

Tarja said...

Interesting discussion about privacy. I usually take pictures without hesitation. I publish them in my blog. BUT if they is a finnish person in the picture who isn't my daughter or huspand I blur out the face. How weird is that?

I must say that most of the chinese people look the same, my finnish readers wouldn't tell the difference if there was a picture of Hu Jintao himself...

Anonymous said...

my point is, if you don't like it being done to you , why do it to others..

Jonna Wibelius said...

Anonymous -that's a valid point. I guess in this case I didn't think the photo was that revealing, u can't really see her face.

Unknown said...

I need a quiet place to read. Loud music or something distracting won't get me turning the pages!

Jonna Wibelius said...

Keats -yeah, me too. I wouldn't dream of reading at a gym!