Imagine
a long bench at a tram stop. Now, imagine a bunch of people on it.
But instead of imagining a bunch of the same looking nationality,
imagine a couple Asian men, a young adolescent Belgian boy, an old
African American man, a blonde Swedish little girl, a young British
man in a suit, an old French man in a ripped T-shirt, an Indian
family.. You are now imagining a bench at a Brussels tram stop. Yes,
it is that international.:)
DANCE:
These
past 10 days I've been here, I've been trying out some dance classes
around the city.. And I must say, they have been quite an experience.
I have never done anything like them before, and I've been dancing
since I was 6 years old. The first class I went to was called
"Movement Contemporaire" and was basically a roomful of
women in their 30's jumping around and rolling on the floor. But, it
really was fun. The teacher, a very young man named Etienne, was very
good and very professional. The minute the class started, we were all
immediately throwing our legs in the air and doing turns, arms out
and then rolling on the ground. I actually really liked this kind of
dance because it gives your body much more freedom to just feel the
music. Yes, there are steps, but they are not so specific and with
perfect posture like ballet or jazz. And the movements are big unlike
that of hip-hop, which I have always had trouble with because the
movements are so small and fast. The music was also very different.
it is like Indian-electro music.. I never knew you could
combine those two, but somehow it works and is actually lots of
amusing to dance to.
The next class I did was simply Jazz, but it was much more structured. We learned specific steps, like in ballet, with posture and all.
Finally, the other day, I tried one more class called Contemporary dance, which was similar to the first class I took but instead of it being a giant class-full of middle-aged women, there were just four of us, and a very strange mix it was: one older British guy in his 50's, one 30 year old blonde Belgian women, and one maybe mid-50's old French women, and then me..an 18 year old American. The teacher, an older Belgian women with a strange sea-weed looking earring hanging from one ear, was very friendly (unlike the first two class's teachers). She asked me what I was doing in Belgium and why I chose Brussels. I told her about how I wanted to learn French and German and figure out what I want to study at university. She seemed pretty impressed that I's do this on my own, calling me adventurous and a “pioneer” of my generation...I think she was overdoing it a little, but I took the compliment. She then preceded to talk about Brussels and how “there are worse places in the world to live”....I wonder what that’s supposed to mean..
The next class I did was simply Jazz, but it was much more structured. We learned specific steps, like in ballet, with posture and all.
Finally, the other day, I tried one more class called Contemporary dance, which was similar to the first class I took but instead of it being a giant class-full of middle-aged women, there were just four of us, and a very strange mix it was: one older British guy in his 50's, one 30 year old blonde Belgian women, and one maybe mid-50's old French women, and then me..an 18 year old American. The teacher, an older Belgian women with a strange sea-weed looking earring hanging from one ear, was very friendly (unlike the first two class's teachers). She asked me what I was doing in Belgium and why I chose Brussels. I told her about how I wanted to learn French and German and figure out what I want to study at university. She seemed pretty impressed that I's do this on my own, calling me adventurous and a “pioneer” of my generation...I think she was overdoing it a little, but I took the compliment. She then preceded to talk about Brussels and how “there are worse places in the world to live”....I wonder what that’s supposed to mean..
I was
reminded yesterday at my first French lesson that it was 9/11...how
embarrassing.. She asked me what they do in New York on this day to
remember, and honestly I have no idea..but I was not going to tell
her that so I made up something about a parade (not a happy one of
course!), lots of flowers and the president giving a speech.. And
that was really the limit my French would allow me to say anyway.
So,
you are probably curious about the boys.. I went to pick them up at
the bus stop yesterday for the first time. I had to bring Felix with
me in the stroller, and while I was waiting for the bus, some crazy
old man kept asking me something about the baby that I didn't
understand. Finally I just told him it wasn't my baby and that seemed
to satisfy him and he walked away. I got the bad feeling that he was
reprimanding me for having a baby at such a young age..or maybe I'm
just paranoid about people thinking that.
Anyway,
when the boys got off the bus, they ran over and gave me a big hug
and I asked them how their day went. They love to talk about what
they learning and Jonas especially loved to use his new English
phrases that he's learned. Like “I was freezy!” (he means
freezing, of course) and “I love it!” (what he says to basically
anything edible). We had an American dinner of hamburgers, corn and
watermelon one night when my dad was visiting, and he said it about
everything! I have a great picture which I will post.
Also, Jonas loves to read the English books I gave him. Well, he likes to look at the pictures and then have me translate the English into German (sometimes he can even translate it himself!) Yesterday we read through a book I got him about how maple syrup is made in Vermont (Ahornsirup in German).
The also love to ask me
about my flight here and what kind of plane it was. And Niki, who is
obsessed with sharks for some reason, has asked me about ten times if
I saw a shark or an orca from the window of the plane when we flew
over the ocean.. Goodness.
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| Jonas and his first real American hamburger! "I love it!!" :) |
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| Felix loves his new teddy from Vermont! |
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