Cap-Forme

This post title is the name of the gym I joined here in Casablanca. According to Google translate, it means 'Cape Shape' in french. I'm not sure what 'cape shape' should look like though. Thin as a cape? Strong like superman who wears a cape? The possibilities are endless. (They have a website if you'd like to check it out. It's in French.http://cap-forme.net/)  Anyway, as I said in an earlier post...gyms are the one thing that's pretty expensive here, relatively speaking. The 'fancy gym' that is kind of by our school costs about $100 a month. Which is REALLY expensive for things here in Casablanca, and Morocco in general.  I think I'm paying around $35 a month for my membership at my 'less than fancy' but 'not too shabby' gym. Not a bad price, especially because it's quite convenient. I walk down the stair of my apt., out the front door, and about 10 steps left and I'm in the front door of the gym. I have no excuse to NOT go. Except for when I'm tired. That always seems to be a good excuse.  Or, when a bottle of wine or a cold beer is a necessity after a long day with the kids. Wait, what was I talking about? Oh...the gym. I'm not sure what my point of this post is other than 1) I'm posting 2 days in a row, so yeehaw for me, and 2) you get to learn a little about gyms in Casablanca.  Because of the whole separation of men and women within the muslim faith (not sure of all technicalities on this...but one thing I did learn is that a woman is not to be in a car with a muslim/moroccan man if they are not married. It's actually illegal. But, as one of my friends found out, it's ok to be in a car with a muslim/moroccan man if you are an American woman. She was happy to not be left on the side of the street, or in jail.). So, at the gym, ONLY women can work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  On Tuesday and Thursday, women can work out WITH the men if they so choose, but only until 6 pm. Then it's for men only. And on Saturday and Sunday it is mixed. Kinda weird, but whatever. As most of you know, I stupidly lost my iPod on the journey over here. My dear mother did buy one in the states and sent it over here, as an insured package. But it, along with other essentials, is sitting in customs. Lord only knows if I'll ever receive it. Have a feeling it could end up on the Black Market here. Which, would mean I'd get it for a cheaper price AT the black market....but that's neither here nor there. Soooo....without an iPod, working out kinda sucks. Try it sometime. I dare ya. Imagine my particular pain of working out while listening to women chatter in Arabic and French all around me. (And yes, I'm sure they are talking about the American girl in her cut up t-shirt, sweating like no woman they have ever seen.) In addition to their jabbering, I get to watch, and listen faintly, to the TV's in front of me that are set to some sort of MTV like station. Only most of the music is NOT from the states. Today, for example, I was able to watch a video involving a musical group that had 2 women and one man. Their names were flashed across the screen in a 'solo shot' early in the video, and it reminded me of the Brady Bunch for some reason. I kept watching, and the song somehow had these women in short skirts and loud tops, and it involved a train, some coal being slung around in the train, ladies in big hats, pole dancing in the train, more dirty coal faces, and lots of cheezy smiles and singing. It was troubling, to say the least. However, this was followed up by Fergie's 'Clumsy' video. So, maybe I can survive without an iPod. Or, maybe a trip to the Black Market is in my near future...