Thankfully, the Yoga is in English

I have begun taking yoga classes thrice weekly at the Indian Cultural Center downtown. It's very convenient, although I have to walk through an area that is tout central and, on Sunday when I was walking home, a man was so insistent that I talk to him he followed me through a crowded store in which I'd gone to escape.

Touts trick you by approaching as if they know you. "Hey, it's me!" they say and do their best to look disarming, so effectively that on the aforementioned instance I forgot my previous promise to myself to forget English in public.

I like to tell people I'm Czech so they'll leave me alone. It's possible an enterprising salesman would speak Spanish or French or Italian, but Czech? If some random Egyptian busts out with that language, I'll buy whatever he's selling in awe. But in order for me to know it's real Czech, he'll have to say one of the four things I can say:

"Hello."

"Wait for me!"

"You are crazy," and

"You are a shit house."

As you can see, my education in Czech culture has been both broad and nuanced.

Back to yoga. I've only take two classes so far. It is not of the style of yoga that I usually choose - that being the drenched in sweat, boot camp variety - but this is very relaxing. Today, for instance, I was so relaxed at the close of class that I fell asleep.

And, best of all, the class is in English! The teacher is a rather petite gentleman who is newly arrived from India (I don't know where exactly). He speaks no Arabic and was delighted, it seemed to me, to find a native English teacher with whom to converse. Several of the class-members speak no or very little English, but the movements are simple and the teacher demonstrates them on this raised platform at the head of the class. There are little dressing rooms so that we needn't walk the streets in our workout wear, and even a water dispenser with deliciously chilled water! All in all, I love the Indian Cultural Center. I might join the movie club (weekly screenings! Bollywood!) or the music club (Bollywood music!) or the library (I'm not sure there are Bollywood books, but Rabindranath Tagore is excellent and also very difficult to spell).

I just hope that the subtitles in the movie are in English, because a Hindi movie with Arabic subtitles? It had better have some darn good music if I'm going to sit still for four hours.

Now, you may be wondering how these images correspond to the text herein. They don't, but how much is there to really say about Harry Potter and Batman and Superman in Arabic?

I have Batman in Arabic. My roommate has Harry Potter.

The end.

I've been reading the Batman comics as best I can, and they are generally entertaining. Bad guys break various laws, see, and then Batman beats them up. Works in any language.

Even Czech:

Criminal One (struggling through a broken window): Wait for me!

Criminal Two (kicking One away): You are crazy?

Batman (swinging in from the rafters): Hello. You are a shit house.

Fin.