belay-certified

Just thought I’d share with the world–I am now belay-certified! <3

After our couples massage class on Tuesday, Melanie and I passed by the rock wall and went in to ask how much it cost to climb. Apparently, it’s free for all gym members, but you need someone certified to belay you and unless you know someone, you’ll have to pay. :O So, being Asian, we decided to bypass this by getting belay-certified so we could belay each other.  At 15 bucks for a 2-hour lesson and certification, it was a steal.

Our lesson was tonight. :D We learned how to tie the knots for if we were climbing and how to belay each other (and what to check for on each other before we started climbing, since we’re, y’know, putting our lives in each other’s hands and all). Our instructor asked if I’d done it before (belaying) since I apparently did it with such ease (I failed for a while earlier when I was tying that knot though, haha). In actuality, I just watched and did it in my head. I’m definitely better at learning when I get to actually do whatever it is that I’m learning. If there were a way to do this for cell bio, I’d be golden, but alas.

The importance of communication was definitely stressed (and for good reason). Hamidah and I were the first to take and pass the test. I actually didn’t even know our instructor was testing me until a guy walked over and started talking to her and she said, “Hold on, I’m testing someone right now.”

But hooray! :D We ran off to the other side of the wall to start climbing after we passed. Our other housemate failed the first time because she let go briefly with her right hand, although of course, I didn’t believe her. Oops. ._. But all is well, she’s passed too, so we’re good to go! I’m good at climbing the easy ones, but it is my goal to get through and past the crazy incline where you’re almost hanging upside down by the end of the school year! We’ll see how that goes.

I’ve been somewhat toying with the idea of participating in the bench press competition that Rutgers is having, but I’m going to be gone for the weekend of the actual competition. :[ I can be there for one of the qualifying rounds though, and I thought it might be fun? As a female, all I have to do is list 50% of my body weight for just 6 reps. >_> Maybe they’ll let me just do the qualifying round for fun?