Ladies swimming morning

After 2 "service" rides (set-route taxis) and walking through a few back streets we arrived at our destination - "The World of Exercise"! I had come with my neighbour to the swimming baths that she has frequented for the past 20 years. Apparently it is one of the oldest swimming baths in Amman. We descended the steps and were greeted by a rather large lady in a rather ill-fitting swimming costume! This was the first of a range of attire I encountered- bikinis, cycling shorts over swimming costumes, cycling shorts under swimming costumes, t-shirts and leggings, and a set that looked like pyjamas plus swimming caps!!

Ladies' sink or swim session

From 9am - 1pm was for ladies only, girls were also allowed but not boys. After changing we headed for the main pool which was about 25 m long. My neighbour was very proud that she could swim, although my breaststroke was faster than her attempted front crawl! But she was much better than the other ladies we saw splashing around. There was a Ukrainian lady giving a swimming lesson to 5 of the ladies.

Luxurious but scruffy at the same time

Everyone was very friendly and we chatted to all the other ladies there, either in the very hot jacuzzi, lovely warm power shower pool, sauna or steam room. It sounds like a luxurious place but it needed a bit of touching up to the paint work and I was a little horrified to see 2 big dead cockroaches in the power shower pool!!

Holy Massage

The large lady in the ill-fitting swimming costume was the masseur and I had a very relaxing back massage for only 5 pounds! It was the first time I've ever had a massage begin with the lady saying "In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful"!

By 1pm we quickly changed and were shooed out before the men arrived for their time slot.

Tact vs Principles

In the afternoon, after visiting a local friend with the children, a doctor telephoned me. She works at the university and was going to send my CV to any relevant people at the university. She explained that she needed to have a telephone interview for a university fellowship in 2 weeks and bluntly asked if I could do the interview for her! I was amazed at her request and tried to answer tactfully "no". In this culture, people expect you to help them in anyway that you can, especially if they are helping you. Therefore to say "no" can be very rude. So I explained that I could help her with her English before the interview but couldn't pretend to be her!