echo's answer

I recently bit the expense bullet and joined a gym in the neighborhood. Casa is full of spas and fancy fitness centers, healthfulness being a la mode, new and trendy to Moroccan lifestyle. this one is a relatively simple establishment but still more self-possessed than what the independent North American is accustomed to (e.g. during my first visit, I was applying my puny arms to the biceps bar machine[?] and a woman came over to grill me about my status here in Morocco and as a member of the gym. only living here three months, and mon premier fois en Cap Forme! she proceeded to guide me through several different sets and repetitions, presuming with some fairness that I had no idea what exactly to do, and insisted that I return on mercodi. it was sort of sweet to be so cared for, actually).
it has been a challenge to find time in the workweek to exercise, especially with the sunset now at around 5:30pm, and so now I've been trying to restore my modicum of muscle tone after it's total depletion during my amoeba infection this past month. in keeping with the modernized private v. public conventions of Islam, it is only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays that the facilities are open to women, and on Saturday to a mixed gender crowd (though only the men can use the locker room). while the gendered access can seriously diminish the value of a membership, it does have its own sort of easy rhythm. tonight at the gym I left the cardio room and escaped the pounding disco of the aerobics dance class to the weight room upstairs. it was empty. I found a mat and let my eyes glaze as my breath fogged my glasses and I moved into pavanamuktasana, a yoga pose that I like to use to equalize myself pretty much anytime. soon the music downstairs subsided, and I noticed a purple blur come into my right periphery a few feet away. looking closer, I saw that it was a woman covered completely in one floral cloth, kneeling on a small rug by the wall to pray towards Mecca. surrounded by barbells and mirrors, there we each were in a distinct and natural brand of private routine meditation. we stayed together this way for several minutes.