Working Out in Amman

Finding a place to work out is usually quite a challenge. However, it's never been much of a problem in Amman. Whenever I'm in town I get a six-visit membership at the Madina Gym (it's embarrassing/resassuring when you're already in the gym's computer system). It is a short taxi ride from ACOR - just go down to the next roundabout (something Vermonters understand) and take a left - it's only a few miles and costs about a dollar. Taxis are easy to find, with the exception of Thursday nights when they are almost impossible to find. A couple times on Thursday nights I've had to walk the entire way to the gym, which at least got me out of doing cardio. You just tell the taxi drivers Madina or Sports City or do a pantomime of bicep curls or just point straight ahead and direct them with whirling hand motions when you get to the roundabout. The gym looks like any fitness center in the west and during peak time plays the same music - I heard a lot of Eminem and that song "I got 99 problems, but . . ." a lot. However, if you go in the morning you get the Arabic equivalent of easy listening.