Delicious endorphins

FINALYY! I found physical activity! BOXING! Of all the horrible things to do, I’m a boxer now. Since well before I moved here, I’ve been asking for some sort of physical activity. At first I was told no problem. Of course there are gyms and exercise for women, easy! But when I inquired further I was invariably met with a dead end. So when people would say “Sure! No problem, you can exercise!” I would say “where? No but seriously? Where? I’ll pay you to take me right now, to actually show me,” but all of it proved fruitless. Finally my friend Khalil came through for me. He found a man in the town of Sheikh Ulthman who teaches boxing for girls only, and was willing to let me join. This was incredibly fantastic news because my mood directly correlates to how recently I’ve eaten, and how much I get to play during the day.
So Khalil came by to take me to meet the coach (Ra’eed), and to try my hand at boxing (Mulakema). There were only four other girls besides me, all around 18 years old. Interestingly, although they wore t-shirts they still wore long pants and kept their hair covered.
In a stunning turn of events that is outrageous for Yemen, they are allowing Khalil to train with me and the YEMENI GIRLS. WHAT?!? It’s awesome! The girls don’t speak any English at all- and are having difficulty grasping the fact that I can’t comprehend a dang word that they are rapidly saying to me.
The first day Khalil didn’t know he could work out so he was ill prepared-wearing jeans and a button up shirt. The room is small and stiflingly hot, and let me tell you, boxing is sweaty business! so as we were working out, in a move that I found unbelievably forward- and completely delightful because of that- the girls told Khalil(who is a very good looking fella) that he should take his shirt off. No No! Not like that! Because he’s so sweaty and shouldn’t get his good shirt dirty! But they had sly glints in their eyes that betrayed their ulterior motive. Haha, fantastic! I appreciate EXERCISING, girls with a slightly devilish personality that aren’t wearing a burka, and finally having a release for my pent up energy and stress! It’s Heavenly.
What makes it all the sweeter? I’m good at it. Ra’eed has been training the girls for over a year, but because I come from an athletic background I’m rapidly catching up.( I can just imagine my LUSB girls scoffing while they read this, just because I hate running doesn’t mean I’m not athletic!!) My first two days were equal to their first six months.
I just started but I will be going three nights a week, and loving every minute of it. Its just so nice to get some endorphins pumping again, I literally haven’t had an ounce of physical activity in the two and a half months I’ve been here (I really mean in the last six months because I was a big lazy-bones in Wash as well..) Maybe in a few weeks I will feel emboldened enough to teach them how to icky battle, but where’s Torbs when I need her!
I went for a jog for the first time in months a few nights ago. I was extremely furtive, I went after dark, I wore long pants, and I went in the area around Amideast- large private gated compounds out of the public eye. I lasted maybe 12 minutes- My Yemen 15(think Freshmen 15) combined with suffocating heat and humidity proved nearly insurmountable odds. The next night I went to dinner with Ben at our friend Nour’s house in Mansoora. After dinner, Nour comment “oh Taryn! I saw you running last night!” And I was all “WHAT?! HOW?” I went under cover of darkness, on out of sight lanes, a twenty minute drive from Nour’s house, and I was super stealth about it. He said he was just walking along and heard someone running (a rare occurrence in Yemen) so he stopped to investigate and saw a white girl run by. Clearly it could only be me.