Work It

It's February! We're into our first full month here and I'm definitely settling in. I'm also getting into my workout routine. Weekends, Tuesdays and Fridays I run. I like to run down the stadium highway (the road that goes by the national soccer and track and field stadium). The road is about 5 minutes away from our house, so I run to the road and then run by the stadium up to what used to be the only traffic light in the whole country, so it's said Traffic Light with capital T and L. I turn around and run back, or turn right at Traffic Light and run down to the beach.
On Sunday morning, I ran by a megachurch and it sounded like there was a concert going on. The church sits about a hundred meters of the road and I could hear the singing and feel the bass on the road. I ran by at about 9:30, ran back at 9:45, and then walked by with my roommate Blair at about 11:45 on our way to the beach and they were still singing.
The people stare at me when I'm running because Gambian women really don't go running and no one wears shorts. So when they see a white girl running down the street in shorts, they have to stare and some ask me if I'm training. I say yea and and let them think I'm a big shot American athlete training in the Gambia. It's also strange to run by myself here because when I'm home I run with my dad. So when I run by something I want to comment on (like Baptist megachurches in the Gambia) I have to think it instead of saying it outloud. It tends to get slightly lonely.
My Asics are going to be red by the time I'm home. Instead of grass or sidewalks or asphalt on the side of the road there is a sandy red dust. There is usually a layer that hangs in the air and when I close my mouth, I can feel it coat my teeth.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays some of my roommates and I go to aerobics class at the national stadium. Classes are taught by Mr. Freeman, a loud, ripped Gambian who must have trained with the Germans or Navy Seals. We alternate between skip, step, and low impact aerobics...I am just as sore after his class as I am after a full day of Juniata pre-season. We have to wear long shorts or pants that cover our knees to class. Even when women work out, they do not show their knees. However, it is perfectly acceptable to wear skintight outfits that show enormous amounts of cleavage...just no knees.
Working out as a woman in the Gambia revealed to me some aspects of Gambian society. Women really do not work out because they walk so much and do a lot of manual labor in their daily lives. And if they do, they seem to go to more organized training, like the aerobics classes. Also, in an oceanside country near the equator, everyone wears pants; we in the temperate part of the eastern US, however, wear shorts and flipflops if they temperature gauge hits 55. On the plus side, I've already lost about 10 pounds between all the walking, working out and not eating a lot. Until next time....Malekumsalaam.