Before I got to my village I had prepared myself for moving into a situation where I was going to be the only woman in the village who was ever going to do any sort of exercise. And then I arrive and within two months I become THE expert on exercises of all kinds, for all people in the village.
Every day at 5pm, after the women's literacy course at the Association, I lead an exercise class for the same women. This is definitely one of the highlights of my day every day. We've renamed all of the easy yoga poses I know, so here's a typical yoga progression (you can probably guess what poses these are):
Mountain
Fallen mountain
Mountain
Fallen mountain
Monkey
Frog
Monkey
Frog
Cat
Snake
Cat
Fish
Cat
Snake
Cat
Fish
Cat
Snake
Cat
Warrior 2
Triangle
Cat
Snake
Cat
Warrior 1
Airplane
Cat
Snake
and so on...
My 7pm class (usually only 2-3 times a week) is a private class for my host sisters, one of whom is working in the hanut during my 5pm class, and one of whom is just really serious about exercising and isn't satisfied with the 5pm class. This one is really fun, and we end up dancing our hearts out for half an hour and then doing half an hour of intense ab exercises.
I just started my 10am class this morning. I've been adopted by the pack of 7-year-old boys in the village, who love to come along with me when I run, and like to take me on random excursions to nearby plateaus and springs. I promised them a soccer ball last time I traveled, so this morning we all went out to the mini soccer field (with big rocks as goal posts) and played 2-on-3 until they were exhausted. But then I guess they'd heard from their mothers about my 5pm exercise class and asked me to give them an exercise class of their own. This one was really fun too - we did a lot of sprints, leap-frogging, and kick-boxing, all the things you can't do with a group of women in a 10x12 foot room. It was just so nice to be outside in the best weather I've seen in months, in a grassy field surrounded by three plateaus and the high atlas, snow-covered mountains.
