Chaos at the gym ....

Better Fitness - not so 'better' with the amount of chemicals being used in there at the moment!

The gym has been thrown into chaos the last few days. They are currently doing some renovations in the changing rooms. What those renovations involve, I'm not quite sure. But I do know that a huge amount of chemicals are involved because the smell is so strong and can't be very healthy for their clients. This I can handle - choose a treadmill near the window, throw the windows open and try not to breath as you run.

The culprit - the women's changing room.

The thing that I found most interesting about these renovations is the way many of the Chinese clients have reacted. Knowing that there is no change room, us laowais simply arrive at the gym in our workout clothes, carry our bags with us and get on with it. So many of the locals were in such a state yesterday afternoon. Most of the men thought it appropriate to work out in a suit or simply to carry their gym bag around the weights room, putting it down now and again (normally on the machine I was about to use!) so that they could admire their bodies in the mirror or sit on the machines and make telephone calls.

I still haven't quite worked out what a 'useless baboosh' is ..... I think it refers to the pink rubber slippers you wear in the shower.

And then there were the belly dancing women! What a fluster they were all in! They all tottered in wearing their high heels and didn't quite know what to do with themselves. It was eventually worked out that they could change upstairs, so they all ran up there, giggling like school girls and then came back down wearing their midriff tops and jingling belly dancing outfits. It was clear that it was the most exciting thing that had happened during their day, because I watched them warming up for their class, as I stretched in the same room. Despite the fact that I couldn't understand what they were saying, there was a buzz in the air as they all worked out where they were going to put their clothes since they couldn't use the lockers. Very funny. So, today, I think I'll avoid the chaos and go for a run outside!