Wednesday

At the beginning of class our teacher told us that she is sick and tired of practising the routine that we've been practising for the past month or so, so she said she wanted to do some other stuff. We started out with our usual stretches and then we practiced some specific moves. I think one of them is called an Afro, or something like that. Anyways, it's my favourite move, mostly because I think I can do it pretty well. At least I feel comfortable doing it, and it looks awesome!

Then at the end of class, the teacher told us to divide into groups. We've done this activity once before, so I could kind of guess what was coming. So in our groups, each of us had to think of one move we've learned and then show it to the others. Then we had to create a short routine out of it and perform it to the class. In our group, we didn't have any moves that I found so hard that I couldn't do, so that was good. 

It was funny how when we presented our 'routine' to the class, we kind of mixed everything up and didn't really keep up with the rhythm of the music. Anyways, it was really great and we all had a lot of fun!

Holiday start soon, so I won't be able to attend belly dance lessons for the next few weeks, because I'll be out of town. I'll try and get some CAS done while I'm away. 

Folkloric Bellydance

Today we started off our warm up with some folkloric belly dancing. The teacher put on a song that we'd never heard before and then she just danced to it and we had to try our best to follow. It was really fun and it put a smile on everyone's faces. I was laughing by the end of it with the girl who dances next to me. The dance was also pretty energetic so we got all warmed up as well. We still did some stretches and usual warm up stuff afterwards.
Then for the rest of the lesson we pretty much just practiced our routine. Since I missed last class, there was some stuff that was new to me, but I immediately asked the teacher and once she explained, I got the hang of it. We only have about 20 more seconds of the song left to go! Our teacher keeps telling us that we can dance our routine for Santa!
Before we went through our routine for the last time today, our teacher told us to really enjoy it. She said she wanted to watch us dance and she told us not to worry if we messed up or anything, just to enjoy the dance. After she had watched us dance, she told us that we did a good job and it was cool to see how our personalities came out in our dancing!
I had a lot of fun - as always! 

Movember

"Movember (a portmanteau word from moustache and "November") is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and other male cancers; and associated charities. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to 'change the face of men's health.'" 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember

I found out about this through my brother in law. He heard that we need to do CAS for school, and as he is one of the people helping organise Movember Estonia, then he said that he would see if there is anything that we could help with.

So, I spent two hours in Solaris handing out flyers to people. The flyers had some facts about prostate cancer in general, statistics and how to get tested. I thought that they looked really cool. Our target group was men and women over the age of 30. It was quite hard to guess the age of people, so we just ended up giving them out to everyone. We were also supposed to stop the people and talk to them, rather than just give them the flyer as they passed us. This was really hard to do, for two reasons. Firstly, because everyone seemed to be in a hurry and they didn't really want to stop to chat. Secondly, because I didn't know exactly what to say to them to catch their attention.

There was one old man that left me speechless when I gave him a flyer. I gave it to him and he asked me what it was about, so I told him that we are fighting cancer. Then he sighed and told me that he has had 8 cancer operations. I just didn't know what to say..

We were given a t-shirt to wear, which we got to keep! I also took home one of the flyers as a memory.

Oh! We were also supposed to direct people to the photo booth, where they could take pictures with moustaches. There was this group of boys (about my age) who I was trying to convince to take a picture, and then I said that I could take the picture with them, and that convinced them. The pictures are supposed to be posted onto the Movember Facebook page, so I can't wait to see how it came out!

Belly dance routine!

I'm writing about Monday's belly dance class, because I haven't had a chance to write about it yet.
After we did our warm up, we spent the whole class practising our routine. I think that it was probably one of the slowest classes we've had. It's probably cause I was quite tired and dreading going home, because I knew I had a lot to study. We pretty much just practiced the dance, over and over again. The teacher taught us some new moves and then we practiced those. She says that we are improving and learning the dance faster than she had expected. That's good news!

Belly roll..

Argh!! I'm still having trouble with the belly roll..but I guess I just need to keep practising. Yesterday, I quickly looked for some videos on Youtube to help me learn the technique for the belly roll. There were some really useful ones, but I didn't have enough time to actually practice.
Today's belly dance class was really fun though! Our teacher is very motivating, and she keeps telling us how good we are and how we are doing really well. She also says that it's ok if you can't do certain moves, because everyone learns belly dance at their own rate. I also like her, because she makes a lot of jokes.
We practiced our routine again, which was really fun. I really like the routine and all the moves and I can't wait until I've practiced enough so that I know it by heart. 

ECNADYLLEB

Incase you don't get my incredibly creative title, it's just "bellydance" backwards. Amazing, right?
Monday's belly dance started out very very actively. We spent our warm up, or the first part of it, doing knee-highs and kick-buts. We did it for the whole first song, so about three and a half minutes. It was really fun and brought a smile to my face, it also got my blood pumping and it made me warm (it's pretty cold at the belly dance place).
We spent the rest of the lesson practising our routine. I really enjoyed it, even though at some points I was pretty sure that I was dancing a completely different dance than the rest of the class. I find some of the movements hard to do.. or I find it hard to go from one move to the other. I guess it's all about practice!
Oh! I also have a lot of trouble with the bellyroll, so I need to find some time to practice that. We do it quite a few times in our routine, so it's quite important that I learn how to do it!

Back to serving soup!

I finally found time to go to the soup kitchen again this Sunday. I'm really happy I decided to go, because today the place wasn't crowded with volunteers so everyone actually had something to do.
I was in the kitchen again today, serving soup. However, this time I had to do it all alone (because there weren't that many people). It was a lot easier than I expected and I think I did a pretty good job. At first I was a bit nervous and slow, because I was worried that people had to wait too long, but I got the hang of it very quickly and then I actually enjoyed it very much.
There was a bit of chaos in the soup kitchen today, because quite a few of the homeless people were misbehaving and being disrespectful. We have this rule that the customers aren't actually allowed to come up to the window themselves to ask for soup, they have to be served by the volunteers. Today, some of the customers ignored this rule, and the person who was in charge got a little annoyed.
My cousin also came with me today! She is doing some research for university, and so she asked me if she could tag along sometime when I go to the soup kitchen. She is researching third culture kids, and I told her that coming to the soup kitchen might be a good opportunity to meet some. Sadly, there weren't that many people today, but I hope she had fun.
I remember when I first joined Serve the City, I was convinced that I wanted to become a black-shirt and I would work super hard to achieve that. Now that I think about it, I have no idea how I could ever find any time what so ever to deal with Serve the City black-shirt stuff alongside all my homework and what not… Anyways I'll have to rethink that goal. I think that for now, I'm happy being just a volunteer! 

Bellydance Wednesday!

Yesterday's belly dance class was really really fun! Our warm up was really energetic and we had to move a lot. I liked it cause we did it fast and I didn't have to think about all the movements that I was making - they just came to me naturally. I really enjoy having an energetic warm up because then I'm energised for the rest of the class.
We mainly practiced the routine the whole class. At first it was hard to remember the movements that we had practiced on Monday, but with every time that we went over them I felt that I was getting better and better. The new parts that we learned were really confusing at first, but as we practiced more, I started to get the hang of it.
I really enjoy belly dance and now that we are learning choreography, I think I can really see if and how I am improving. 

Dance Routine, continued

Today was a good belly dance lesson. I asked a lot of questions, and I felt like the teacher's answers really helped me improve my skills. I wasn't the only one asking questions, and other people's questions also helped me a lot. For example there's this one move that I thought I was doing really well, but then when someone asked about it, it turned out that I was doing it completely wrong. I was a bit upset, but still glad that I got to improve and now I know how to do it right.
The teacher was in a good mood today, which also made the lesson more fun! We did our warm up, and practiced different movements and then went on to practice the routine. We didn't get much further along in the song, but we practiced the beginning a lot more. I really like the routine and the song! 

Belly Dance: Routine

Belly dance on Wednesday was super fun again! There is still a lot of people, and everyone is at a different level, but it doesn't really seem to be bothering the teacher.
So, we did our warm up and went over some old movements that we've already practiced before. Then the teacher taught us some new movements, but I can't remember what they were called. It wasn't anything incredibly difficult, but like most movements, it's gonna take a lot of practice to get it down. I am actually very happy though, because I can feel that I'm motivated to practice and I want to get better. I also feel like my self-confidence (when dancing) has increased.

Anyways, the best part of the lesson was the last part..or the second half (I can never keep track of time during belly dance). So we started learning a routine, which was the coolest thing ever!! I really really love the song that we dance to. We only learned like the first 30 seconds of the dance, and kept repeating the steps over and over, but it was super fun. I can't wait to learn the rest of the dance!!
Here's the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D49RH6pWmM0

BELLY DANCE!!

Today's belly dance class was super fun! The teacher was super active, even at the beginning when we were doing our warm up. We had to do "knee-highs" and… the other thing - I don't know what it's called - when you kick your but with your heels. I actually really liked the fact that it was an active class, because I was moving around a lot and I actually got a bit tired. It was a nice refreshment after the long school day.
Now we have some new people in our class, so the teacher has to go over some basic moves that we learned at the very beginning. I actually don't mind, because it's also helping me get better. However, there's a lot of people in the room, so that is a bit annoying sometimes. At least today I could see myself in the mirror. 

Soup Kitchen, Belly Dance & Halloween

Ok, so I've been slacking a bit… I've forgotten to write about three things that I did for CAS. I decided that I would just include them all in this one post and in the future I'll try to avoid this.

So firstly, I went to the soup kitchen on October 27th, which is only like a week ago. This time there were a lot of new faces, and fewer old ones. It was nice to meet new people and I had a new partner in the kitchen this time. The person that I usually serve soup with wasn't here again, and one of the other girls who is usually outside of the kitchen bringing soup to the tables said that she wanted to try serving soup. I was happy that she wanted to join me, because otherwise I would have had to be alone. She was really good at serving the soup (it's not really that hard, but sometimes it takes a while to get the hang of it) and I had fun talking to her.
This time at the soup kitchen the soup arrived half an hour later, so we had to open half an hour later. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing cause it was the end of the month, which means that the soup kitchen is always more crowded.
Oh! I also remembered that when I got to the soup kitchen there was already a line of people outside, and the first person in the line opened the door for me. I thought it was really sweet of him.

Secondly, I went to belly dance on Wednesday. We had A LOT of new people, so the teacher told them to stand in the front, which means that all the older people were in the back. The room was so full that there wasn't really enough room in front of the mirror, so half of the time I couldn't even see myself. It was a little bit annoying, but I still had fun. We were doing mostly technical work again, so it was just practising different moves. I really like belly dance and I'm glad to see that I am making some improvements. Something that is really encouraging is that our teacher tells us quite often that we should never compare ourselves to other people in our belly dance class, because everyone learns belly dance at a very different pace and some moves are easier for some people than others.

Lastly, this Thursday was Halloween. Even though Halloween is an American celebration, the student council in our school organised a little Halloween celebration this year. Being a part of student council, I helped organise the event. Me and this other girl organised the celebrations for the high school, which just meant that we asked people to dress up in costumes and we also made a photo booth and put up decorations in school.


However, I also helped with the little kids' Halloween celebrations. I made a presentation for them about the history of Halloween (which was actually also very interesting for me). Then we also played the mummy game, which meant that the kids had to wrap their friend with toilet paper so that they looked like a mummy. After that the kids also had to learn a dance to the Ghostbusters' song. I didn't teach them the dance, our CAS coordinator did, but I also danced with the kids. The kids were super cute in their costumes and I had a lot of fun helping with the event!

Back to Belly Dance

I skipped the previous two lessons of belly dance, because I was away from Tallinn and therefore I couldn't go.
Monday was pretty crazy: we were moving at super speed and doing lots of things that I didn't know how to do. At some points, I had absolutely no clue how it could even be possible to move your hips like that.
I'm going to try to keep going more regularly now, and hopefully I won't feel as lost anymore.
I think I should also mention that I do see some improvement in myself. I feel like I've gotten a lot better at the hand movements, which is supposed to be the hardest thing because it takes the longest to learn. 

Animal Shelter: Last Day

Today was my last day the animal shelter - or at least for now it was. I definitely want to come again; perhaps during my next vacation.
When I arrived there were two dogs in the play area and I was asked to put them away in their cages. It was easier than I expected (considering the fact that one of them was Mäx, the same dog who managed to get lose yesterday). Then I took Rommi for a walk. The people who work at the animal shelter warned me that he likes to jump on people, and indeed he did. However, once we got outside of the gate of the animal shelter he behaved like a perfect dog and I really enjoyed walking with him. When we got back, I put him in his cage.
Then I put Diana and Härma in the play area and was with them for a bit. It was so nice to spend time with them both. At one point I went to sit on the roof of one of the dog houses and then both of the dogs jumped onto it and I got to pet them and cuddle with them.
Diana is a really calm dog and she is a bit shy, so I decided to take her for a walk. It was really nice to walk with her because she didn't pull on the leash and she liked to stop and sniff around.
When I got back I put Diana back into her cage and went to the play with Härma and Tuusja. Tuusja was pretty crazy, but they both like to play fetch so I played with them for a while.
I put Härma and Tuusja back into their cages and went to see the kittens. When my mom arrived, she brought some treats so we walked around and gave out treats to the dogs and I introduced them all to her.
Oh! I also went to see the puppy today. The puppy is in a cage with another small dog that was found somewhere. The poor little dog was trembling so I was trying to comfort it. The puppy was adorable and it almost fell asleep in my lap.
I was so sad that today was my last day, but I'll be sure to go again as soon as possible!!

Animal Shelter: Doggies and Kitties

I went to the animal shelter again today and it was just as fun as yesterday. When I got there, two dogs were already in the play pen so I went to play with them. One of the dogs was Härma, the same one that I had taken for a walk the other day. It was so fun to play fetch with the dogs again. Then I decided to take the other dog, Tuusja, for a walk. She was pretty strong and was pulling on the leash the whole time we walked. When I got back, I played with them some more. Then I went for a walk around the shelter to say hi to all the dogs. Then I put Härma and Tuusja back in their cages and decided to take Mäx to the play pen. Mäx was a bit bigger than the other two dogs and the people who work at the animal shelter warned be that Mäx escapes very often. I was really really careful when taking him out of his cage, but somehow he still managed to open his leash and run off. Luckily he ran into the play pen, so nothing terrible happened, but for a second I was really scared cause I thought I was going to get into trouble. I played with Mäx for a little bit, but then I got tired and I took him back to his cage. Surprisingly, he didn't pull on the leash very much. As I was tired, I decided to go see the kittens. I played with the same kitten that I saw yesterday, because the kitten was really cute and soft and it really wanted me to pet it. Some of the kittens were trembling and quite shaky because the vet was visiting the shelter today and one of the workers told me that it was because they were anaesthetised. Before I left I also took a box of treats and gave it out to all the dogs at the animal shelter and I also went to see the puppy at the animal shelter. I had a lot of fun and I'm glad I took some time to go help out! 

Pärnu Animal Shelter

I went to the animal shelter in Pärnu today to help out with the dogs and cats. When I first got there, I got the impression that they didn't actually want or need anyone's help. As soon as I arrived and asked how I could help, one of the ladies said that  I couldn't do any of the "official" things, because they can't let "just anyone" do that kind of stuff. However, then there was another girl who told me that I could walk the dogs and play with them and that I could also go see the kittens and cats.
So, because I'm not 18, my mom had to give them her signature saying that she allows me to be with the animals and that she is aware of the dangers.
Then one of the girls showed me all the dogs and then showed me one that I should take for a walk. The dog that I took for a walk was called Härma. We went to walk in the forest. It was so nice and quiet; I really enjoyed exploring the forest with the dog. It was a bit different walking this dog than it is when I walk my dog, because this dog wasn't really trained so it pulled on the leash a lot.
When we got back I took the dog to the play area and played fetch with him. It was so cool because Härma was really good at running after the ball and then bringing it  back to me.
After we got tired of playing, I took Härma back to his cage. Then I went to see the kittens. They were so so so so adorable. There was one kitten who was so nice and friendly and I just sat there petting it for half an hour. I wish I could have taken it home!!
I'm planning on going again tomorrow :)

Soup Kitchen Sundays

This Sunday at the soup kitchen was absolutely fantastic! I had so much fun! I was serving soup again (pouring it into bowls so the others could serve it to the homeless people). This time I was serving the soup with the same girl that I served soup with the first time I went. She's so nice and the whole time we were talking and laughing.. It was really great!
We almost ran out of soup! During the last hour we had to tell people that they couldn't give out refills and we had to give smaller portions, because we had very little soup left. However, when we were closing, we still ended up having some soup left over. It's always really hard to decide wether we can give out refills, because you never know how many more people are going to come.
I really love the soup kitchen, because all the volunteers that come to help out are really nice. I also like it, because most of them aren't people from my school, so then I get a chance to make new friends. The people there are from different countries as well. For example, this time there was a guy from Venezuela, so I got to speak Spanish with him! It was awesome!!

Belly dance again :)

I didn't go to belly dance on Monday, because I had a test on Tuesday, and when I went to belly dance on Wednesday, I actually felt glad that I didn't go. I felt refreshed and I felt like I was doing better with all the routines.

We did our usual warm up, which most of us have pretty much memorised. We also did an exercise that we usually do, but this time we did it for longer and it was a lot more intense for my muscles. 

Then we practiced the belly roll again (for the second time). Even though I felt like I did better than the first time we tried it, what I was doing looked nothing like a belly roll. It's ok, I just have to keep practising!

Towards the end of class we also practiced a routine. They had started learning it on Monday, so some of the people already knew the beginning. I'm glad that we are getting good enough to do routines, rather than just learn moves. 

Anyways, I really really like belly dance and I'm so happy that I decided to try it out!

Belly dance! Yay!!

Today's class was so much fun! I was feeling tired again before the class started, but after the warm up I already felt much better. We learned new moves today, but the good thing is that most of the new moves are related to ones that we've already learned.
Another new thing that we did today was dance in circle formation. At first it was really weird, because I am used to seeing myself in the mirror when I dance, but in the end it turned out to be very fun.
Also, in today's class the teacher was telling us about arabic, and then after class I asked her if she has studied arabic. She said no, but I told her that I lived in Libya for a year and half, and that my parents learned a little bit of arabic. She thought it was really cool!
Everyone in the class seemed to be in a pretty good mood today, me included!

Exhausting Monday & Belly dance

Monday is my longest school day and today I had two tests on top of the super long school day, so by the time I got to belly dance today I was exhausted.
My hands got so tired super fast and started hurting and I was really tense and I kept getting annoyed with myself. I wasn't really in a bad mood or anything, but I wasn't in a very good mood for belly dance either.
We practiced moves we've already learned before as well as tried out some new ones. I don't know how much better I'm getting, but I'm trying my hardest to improve. The thing that upsets me most is that I don't have enough time to practice at home, but then again I guess it's ok because I'm learning belly dance for myself and just for fun.
I think that belly dance in general is developing my creative skills, because it is a very creative dance style. Also, it is keeping me active; for example, today's warm up was pretty strenuous and required quite a lot of strength and trained my muscles a lot. 

What's soup?

This Sunday at the soup kitchen with Serve the City was less fun than last Sunday in my opinion. I think it is partly because I was going through some personal issues that were affecting my mood, but in the end the soup kitchen kind of helped lift my mood. I think that last time it may have also been more fun, because it was my first time so it was super exciting.
In the morning when I got there I was quite tired and not in the mood for "soup kitchening", but then as I started working I decided that I didn't want to mope and tried to cheer up. I worked in the kitchen again this time, serving soup into the bowls. I had a different partner this time to help me out. If I'm honest, I preferred my other partner because we talked more.
This time the music that was playing was really cheerful and got a lot of people dancing around a bit while they were serving the soup. The most memorable thing from this Sunday was one of the homeless people who came to eat at the soup kitchen. He had a really long beard and a groggy voice. He ate one and half bowls of soup (the portion that everyone is allowed to have) and then he sat at his table for another hour demanding for more soup (in a funny way) and reading everyone's names off their aprons and calling them by their names. He gave me a new name and started calling me Katarina-Rosalie, which I found absolutely hilarious.
In conclusion, I had fun at the soup kitchen again and I hope I can go again next Sunday!

Belly dance: Asking questions

Every time before belly dance I start feeling like I don't want to go at all and would much rather stay at home and rest, but then after my belly dance class I always feel really good and I mostly enjoy myself very much!

In today's class we learned a few new things. I didn't really understand some of the moves, but I asked a lot of questions today. I've decided that if I want to improve then I have to be brave and ask the teacher when I don't understand how the move is done. 

Sometimes I don't really want to ask, because it's a bit embarrassing when you don't understand how to do the move. However, I always try to remind myself that I might not be the only one who doesn't understand and others may also benefit if I ask. Also, I don't want to get on the teacher's nerves by asking too many questions. 

Today I was feeling really brave and I asked the teacher so many times!! I think it really helped me when I asked her, and I'm going to keep trying to be brave.

I haven't really well with practising belly dance at home. I don't really have any time for it, but I will keep trying to make time!!

End of the month Belly Dance

Today at the beginning of our class the teacher told us that she had a surprise for us. 

At first we went through the usual routine: warm up and then practiced the moves we've already practiced before. I think it's important to note that we did all of this super fast, almost twice as fast as usually. 

Then our teacher told us to get into groups. There were four people in my group. Then we each had to think of a movement that we have practiced and show it to the others. The others then had to do the movement with you. We went around in a circle doing each others movements. Then the teacher put on a song and told us to create a routine, so pretty much decide on how many times we would do each move. Once we had done that for a little while, she told us that it was time to present to the rest of the class.

My group presented second, and if I'm absolutely honest, I think we did the worst job (we were quite uncoordinated). The other two groups did a great job. In conclusion, it was still really fun and I want to keep working really hard to get better at belly dance. 

Serve the City: Soup Kitchen

Wow! What an experience that was! I had so so so much fun and I can't wait for next Sunday!!

I spent three hours at the soup kitchen yesterday (11:30 to 14:30) and I was surprised by how much fun I had. 

Right at the beginning, before we opened the doors to the soup kitchen, people were divided up and made responsible for different jobs. Someone asked whether anyone was interested in serving soup (as in actually just putting soup into bowls) and I raised my hand. So, I was paired up with someone who had already been at the soup kitchen before. She was super nice, just like all the other volunteers at the soup kitchen. I already knew some of the people, but I also met loads of new people and made new friends.

I spent the whole three hours serving soup. People came up to the counter where I was and then they told us how much soup they wanted and we put the soup in bowls and gave it to them. Then they took it to the tables and served the soup to the homeless people that came to eat. 

I didn't really get a chance to talk to any of the homeless people, because I was in the kitchen all day. Maybe next time I want to try and actually take the soup to the people, but I also feel that I'm a lot better at serving the soup than I would be at taking it to tables and serving it to the people.

The scariest part of the day was when one of the homeless people had a seizure. I didn't really see it happen, but it was obvious that something was going on and word travelled fast in our little soup kitchen. Someone called the ambulance and one of the adults was taking care of the man who had the seizure. Luckily most of the volunteers remained calm and the situation was taken care of.

We served over 220 bowls of soup. Firstly, that's really really sad, because if you think about it then that just shows how many people need to come to the soup kitchen to get any food at all. However, it's really great that we got to help so many people and hopefully bring smiles to their faces!

Feeling much better :)

Today's belly dance lesson was much better than Monday's!
I had to hurry to belly dance today because I was running a bit late, so I came into the class panting. Luckily I arrived just in time to start the warm up.
Lately the warm ups have been a lot more rushed, but I kind of understand, because then we have more time to practice new movements during the rest of the class. We also do some exercises during the warm up.
Today we learned a new movement called the camel, or something to do with a camel at least. I went through three phases with this movement in class today. At first it seemed super hard, and I couldn't get it. Then I started to understand and it was working pretty well. Then our teacher incorporated another move with the camel move and I was so confused, I didn't understand at all.
Another thing we did today, which we actually also did on Monday, was my - so far - favourite movement in belly dance. I'm not sure what it's called, but it involves moving your chest out, right, in and left - or visa-versa. Anyways, I think I like it because it's the movement that I'm best at at the moment.
Anyways, I had a lot of fun today in class even though I had to hurry to class and then afterwards I had to hurry home. I can't wait for Monday's class!
Oh and also, there's this girl in my belly dance class who seems to be around my age and I really want to talk to her. However, every time I look at her she doesn't seem very friendly and then I shy away from going to say hi. I'm going to try to keep building up the courage!!

Mondays and Belly Dance

Mondays are my hardest days and by the time I finally got to my belly dance class I was exhausted and in quite a bad mood. This really affected how well I did in class, and today nothing seemed to be going right.

I gave up on things very easily and got very frustrated with myself when I couldn't do the movement right. It was obvious to me that I was having a bad day and I was too tired to cheer myself up. I think it's ok if you have a bad day once in a while, I just hope this bad mood doesn't continue.

Our teacher keeps telling us to practice at home, but I don't know when I'm supposed to find the time for that. I will really try my best to practice the things that are hardest for me, but I really really have to work on my time management. 

Bellydance: Shimmy!!!

Wow! Today's belly dance lesson was super fun!! I was in a great mood and so was everyone else in the class.
We learned a new move today. I think it was called the 3D hip 8, or something along those lines. At first I didn't understand anything at all, but then the teacher took us through it step by step and came up to each of us to help us get it right. She said that she was really surprised by how fast we all got the hang of it.
However, like all the moves in belly dance, this one is going to require a lot more practice. Our teacher also told us that we should practice some movements at home, and this is my new goal. I've decided that every night that I don't have practice, I want to try and do at least 10 minutes of one of the belly dance moves that we do in class. Hopefully this will help me improve a bit faster.
I was so surprised again today when the teacher told us that we have 10 minutes left. I don't understand how the classes pass by so fast!!
At the end of today's lesson we did three minutes of the "shimmy", which is a movement when you have to shake certain parts of your body really fast. I haven't quite understood which parts we are supposed to move, but I'll be sure to ask the teacher next time. I can't wait!

Bellydance

Belly dance classes always pass so fast. This time - my third belly dance lesson - we started with our usual warm up, then worked on our routine and then our instructor already told us that the class was ending so we had to cool down. 

When we were practicing our routine, the instructor stopped us a few times to help us improve in specific skills. She kept telling us that it's more important that we do the movements correctly, rather than quickly. I'm glad she took the time to explain the movements to us, because most of them are quite hard and confusing.

I've always told myself that I cannot dance, and my body just does not work in the way that a dancer's body should. Therefore I'm proud of myself for taking on this challenge and I hope to see myself improve. 

One thing that is really important for me about belly dance is the fact that twice a week I get that time to myself. None of my classmates are in my belly dance class, and I do not really know the people who are. During my dance class I can concentrate purely on improving my movements and I do not have to worry about anything else. I can't wait for my next class!! 

Serve the City: Kalli-Ralli

I decided to spent this Saturday doing volunteer work with Serve the City and I had an incredible time!

All the volunteers met at Serve the City "headquarters" at 10 and we were divided up into separate groups where we met our group leader, a.k.a our Blackshirt. 

I was in the Free Hugs group. The first thing we did was make posters that said "Free Hugs" or "Kalli-Ralli". We got to be creative because our Blackshirt told us to make them as colorful as possible, and they came out pretty nice! We also had two baskets full of candy that we offered to people when we hugged them. Once our posters were ready, we headed to town. Our route went through Balti jaam, the old town and then around Viru. 

The most interesting part of the Kalli-Ralli was seeing the different reactions that different people had. In Balti jaam the majority of the people were old ladies who were quite happy to hug us and chat with us (in Russian, which only some of us spoke). When we offered candy to the people there, they didn't hold back and simply grabbed handfuls out of the baskets.

In the old town, there were a lot of tourists - especially Spanish-speaking ones, so I got to practice my Spanish too! The tourists were all very happy and cheerful, and when we explained that we were giving free hugs many of them even laughed.

As soon as we were out of the old town, there was a clear difference that we were no longer amidst tourists. When we walked towards people, shouting free hugs, many of them walked around us in a big circle to avoid us. It made me sad to see how so many people simply refuse to open themselves up to even the smallest bit of happiness.

There are three incidents that I remember the best.

1. I went over to hug a little girl and offer her some candy, and when I bent down to hug her, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was the cutest thing ever, and it brought a smile to my face.

2. We were walking in a tunnel and there was a couple that we went over to hug. Our whole group started walking towards them, shouting "Kalli-ralli!" and "Kalli kalli!!", and then man said, "Sorry, but I don't understand." Then, all together our group said, "Oh! Free hugs!!" It was so nice to see everyone's face light up.

3. The last memory is slightly more negative than the other two. On our way back, we ran into an old lady who asked us to explain what were doing. After we had explained, she told us that we are crazy and that we should go home. It was terrible how disrespectful she was. 

I had a great time with all the people I met at Serve the City, and I had a great bringing smiles to people's faces by simply giving them hugs. I'll be sure to join the next Serve the City event!

Firsts: Belly Dance

Today I went to the second belly dance class that I've ever been to in my life. 

The great news is that I liked it even more than the first time (which was this Monday - the day before yesterday). Now I'm sure that I'm going to keep going to these classes, twice every week.
I think that belly dance goes under the Creative part of CAS, because it develops my dance skills, as well as my imagination skills (according to my teacher). I get to learn how to be creative with my body, especially my belly!
I was surprised by all the different muscles and body parts you have to use to make the correct movements. I had no idea it's so complicated, but I can't wait to learn all the movements myself!
We started the class with a warm up - for our hips, arms, shoulders, back, etc. - Then each class we learned new moves and added them to a routine that the teacher has made for us. At the moment, the routine is quite short, but if we keep adding moves to it every class then it's going to get a lot longer.
The class always ends with stretching, to make sure that we cool down properly.

Today I thought that the class went by way too fast and I was really surprised when the teacher told us it was time to start stretching.