If you can't take heat in the locker room, then...

You'd think that in living in the most populous nation I would get tired of crowds of people. I would hide in my apartment to get away from street noise or seek refuge by leaving the city every so often. However, the streets are pretty wide here and the city planning department has knocked down all the hutongs to make for well-paved sidewalks and building towers that have courtyards and fountains in the front. Lucky me to be in the city after it's lost a lot of it's architectural charm. But at least I have wide open spaces, right? Beijing is not like Shanghai; not condensed at all. However there's only one place that I get claustrophobic: the gym, particularly in the women's locker room. I have an incredible urge to get out of the changing room as fast as I can.

You see, Beijing women enjoy taking up an 8-foot long span on the benches, laying out their towels and clothes after getting back from the pool or the shower. They spread themselves out enjoying their naked time with each other. They are not afraid to be naked. Infact, they stay naked for as long as they can resisting putting on any clothes or even covering up for that matter while meticulously slathering on lotion on their bodies and beauty products on their face and hair. They have enormous totes which they carry to the shower carrying all these essentials. Those take up another foot and a half on the bench. They bend over naked in precarious positions while getting dressed (at a snail's pace) and all I want to do is close my eyes, not take another breath, and get out of there before anyone touches or bumps into me. Now I will address their grooming habits. For areas of hair that are more private I am appalled by the Chinese custom to protect their rainforests. I mean, it's thicker and more lush than the Amazon! No trimming, cutting, shaping, or modifying of any sort. And apparently it requires extensive blowdrying. The blowdryers are always in use creating a drumming noise that now every time I hear one I have the gag reflex.

Why can't they get some clothes on! It's freezing outside afterall. I can speak for the few other foreigners at my gym that we tend to be in and out of the locker room. No fussing. We are at the gym to workout remember? We rarely use the sub-par by Western standards shower stalls. Which makes me realize that the popularity of the showers at my gym might be due to the fact that most average Chinese do not have showers in their apartments and often have one communal bathroom for each floor. But it's hard to believe that people who can afford gym memberships would live in those types of apartments. But then again, my gym is not a fancy one (and is not marketed towards Westerners) and it just might be that the time spent at the gym might be their one chance that day to be naked (they often even share rooms with several people) freely and have a hot shower.

Perhaps I'm just trying to make excuses for them when all I really wish is for a little modesty in the women's locker room. At any rate, some days I've even started wearing my workout clothes under a cover up so I just get to the treadmill and strip down real quick, lay my sweatpants and fleece on the ground with my jacket, gloves, hat, and backpack right next to the machine just in order to avoid a trip to the locker room. I wonder what they think of my changing habits!