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.