Today, despite going to sleep at midnight last night, I didn’t wake up until 1pm. Given how lazy I was yesterday, I decided I should probably try to make it to the gym today…good thing its open until 3PM! (seriously though, nothing is open on Sundays so that’s pretty good)
I had some breakfast, put on my gym clothes and was on my way. Everything was going great until around 2:30 I noticed they turned the lights off. I thought it was weird but there were people continuing with their workout so I didn’t think anything of it. I got back in the zone and lost track of time. Around 2:45 the monitor came up to me and said “nos vamos” (we’re leaving). I thought wow, that was a fast half an hour, but then I saw on the clock on the wall it was only 2:45. Weird again. But I was told to leave, so I did just that.
When I was collecting my belongings from the locker room, that same monitor who told me to go home was in the same row as me getting her stuff together. She said something to me really quickly in Spanish and my brain was not ready to translate. But I’m pretty sure she was saying that they close the main workout rooms at 2:45 because otherwise people would stay in there until 3, and then come to shower etc in the locker rooms. I mean heaven forbid the employees have to stay past 3 exactly. I love Spain, its okay to be up to 30 minutes late before its considered rude, but when it comes to leaving work, they are super punctual.
While I’m on the topic of the gym I have a few other peculiarities I would like to mention. First of all, I am without fail, the only female ever wearing shorts at the gym. I just don’t understand, sometimes I even get strange looks/stared at for baring my legs. I mean this is Spain, not Morocco, I don’t really know why women would choose to wear pants at the gym. It’s a really hot space, and generally exercise produces sweat. Pants just do not seem like the right choice. It’s even more interesting that I never see men in pants, in fact, they are usually in shorts that are way too small in my opinion. But I suppose these are just cultural differences I never really thought about until I joined the gym. As long as no one stops me from wearing shorts, I don’t really mind.
One other thing I noticed today was a woman carrying a gym bag that had cigarettes and a lighter in the water bottle holder. I mean to each their own, but come on, why be a member of one of the most expensive gyms in Sevilla, if you are just going to go outside after a workout and destroy your body with cigarettes anyway? Yes, maybe I’m guilty of eating some chocolate or an ice cream bar after going to the gym sometimes but I don’t think smoking is quite the same. But now that I think about it, its probably quite common in this cigarette obsessed country that people go out for a stogie after/during their workout.
Oh spain…
