Too modest

In our compound is the SMASH health club. We joined it for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted a place to swim, exercise, etc. Second, it would be a place the kids could fulfill the physical education part of their homeschool curriculum. It was ideal because it is within walking distance of our villa.

As we were walking to the pool for the first time I told the kids I wasn't really sure what the "rules" were just yet. I wasn't sure if they were used to westerners and their form of swimsuits. I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for me to swim or if it was haram for the adult women to swim. When we toured the facilities I did see some adult women in western swimwear (read: bikinis) sitting poolside at the upper pool. So I knew I could go there but I wasn't sure what the accepted wear would be at the lower pool which is the kids/family pool. The lower pool is where we were headed because it had a shallow area for the littlest kids. I told the kids that until I observed what other people were doing, they would have to help Nic and T and I would sit on the chairs and watch them.

We arrived and a nice helper got us pads for the chairs and put up a big umbrella to shade us. I've since learned that they want baksheesh (a tip) for doing this and I didn't bring any money that first time. Ooops. I always now make sure I bring some small change. I took my seat with my t-shirt and shorts still over my suit and the kids took off their shorts and t-shirts and jumped into the pool. We were literally the only ones at the pool so there was no other adult woman I could watch to see what was acceptable.

After a few minutes, the lifeguard came over to me and spoke to me in Arabic. Normally I would ask Todd what he said but Todd wasn't with us. My next backup is Petey but she was at home making dinner and was coming a bit later. So I called over the other kids and he repeated to them what he'd said to me. The only thing the kids understood was that he was saying something about my shirt. After trying for a bit to understand each other, he finally went over and got another lifeguard who spoke English. The second lifeguard told me they have a rule that if I wanted to sit on the lounge chairs by the pool I had to be dressed in swimwear. If I wanted to wear my clothing I had to sit in the "family section" (which is about 10 feet away from the lounge chairs.)

So what it came down to is that I was dressed too modestly for the swimming pool. So I stripped down to my swimsuit and was able to sit in the chairs in all my varicose vein glory. It's one of the many rules of Egypt I'm learning to accept but don't think I will ever understand. At least I won't have to worry about those t-shirt tan lines.