Rest of Day 2

After the less-than-beneficial experience with the therapist (which did not meet my expectations, and therefore I must accept it -- you know, this really is a crock of horse manure), I met Dad for lunch (salmon burger!) and went to the gym for the afternoon.

Well, actually, I killed about an hour in the gym.  Was on the Elliptical machine for about 15 minutes, in which I Ellipticalled for about a mile.  I was wearing my heavy-duty ankle brace, and my ankle was fine with the workout, which was a really pleasant discovery.  I then poked around the gym for a bit more, trying various machines.  I'll probably be pretty sore tomorrow, but it felt great at the time.

Every day they have a class called "Let's Dance," in which you try to get all fit while learning a new kind of dance.  Today, in honor of it being Sprituality Week (who knew?), we had "Gypsy Dance."  I totally had to take that.  The first five or ten minutes was taken up by the teacher (in full gypsy dancer regalia) wrapping each of us (about 15 women and one really brave guy) in a large piece of fabric (about three-and-a-half-yards) that was to be our skirt.  Actually, later in the course, it also doubled as a veil.  Here's what I learned:  I can shake my hips in time with the music and I can shimmy my chest with the best of them -- but doing both at the same time requires a level of physical multi-tasking that is beyond my current abilities. 

The class was pretty amusing -- and ultimately fun and a decent workout -- once we all stopped rolling our eyes at how ridiculous we were and just enjoyed it.  OK, sure, there was that one bit when were supposed to throw our veils in the air in front of us and catch them behind -- and I missed, and ended up with the veil falling right over my head like a burqa.  Happily, nobody yelled, "Smooth move, Salome!" at me, although I was thinking it.  Besides that, the only time I actually giggled was when she told us to move forward "like a tigress stalking her prey" and I had a Little Miss Sunshine flashback.

Tomorrow morning, I may take a class called "Fit Strip" (which is exactly what it sounds like), purely for the entertainment value.  (The things I do for you people.)

After "Gypsy Dance," I headed for the showers, spenta little time in the sauna, and made it out in time for a "stretch and relaxation" class before meeting Dad for dinner.  (A "surf and turf" special -- a small medallion of beef and a coupla grilled shrimp.  And a real live chocolate brownie for dessert.)

That's about it.  We attended an after-dinner lecture on Chinese Mind-Body Philosophies, and now I've come back to my room and am trying to do everything but scratch at those damn bug bites on my wrist.  ("Living in the present moment" my butt!)