Late last week I found out that Mona Lisa has a dance studio! She invited me to come one day last week and I went and got a sneak preview of the cultural dance performance that happened at ICC over the weekend. On Monday they told me to come to the studio again after work, and since I have nothing to fill my time from 5pm on and no friends besides the Sah’s, I decided to join! I was very tentative walking in because I didn’t see Mona Lisa, Jahnavi, or Arav through the window. Though my plan was to stand outside until I could track one of them down to make sure they were actually coming, I think the dance teacher must have recognized me (can’t imagine how!!) and called me to come in. Pretty much every time I show up somewhere by myself I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be there, but without fail everyone always makes me feel so welcome. The Sah’s did show up a few minutes later and then I felt better because at least I knew I had someone to talk to. Also, the dance studio doubles as a photography studio for Mona Lisa’s brother, so I had him to talk to as well. He is super friendly and is the one with the really cute baby I met a few weeks ago. Anyway, after I arrived they had me join them warming up. Everyone in the class was also a child so that was interesting. After warm ups though, the teacher made everyone go take a break and he walked me through the choreography they had learned thus far. I wasn’t expecting them to literally pause the whole class for me to learn, but again, these people are genuinely so welcoming and inclusive that I should have known they wouldn’t let me start behind. Since they had learned quite a few steps and the song is Hindi, it was a little hard for me to remember the sequence, but it was a children’s class so I wasn’t too worried about looking stupid. Thankfully they at least count in English so I had that going for me. The studio itself isn’t too big, but there are always people arriving and hanging out and kids playing on the side, if not a full other teacher instructing someone in the same room, which makes it very casual and fun.
After the kids class there is the ladies class, which I also joined? Since Mona Lisa and her kids stay for both I was planning to just hang with them, but sure enough, the dance teacher comes to me and motions me to the dance floor. Thankfully the ladies were actually practicing the same dance so I didn’t have to take up half the class learning all the moves again. I was SO sweaty after because it has been a consistent 90-95 degrees since my first week and also because I was still wearing my work clothes which aren’t the most breathable. While my usual state here is sweaty, this was really my first time doing any sort of cardio as well so that definitely escalated things. Instead of going home and taking a cold shower after two hours of dance, I decided it would be good to go out to dinner with the Sah’s. Every time they invite me somewhere I am not sure if I should say yes or not, but Jahnavi and Arav always say “PLEAAASE” and how could I say no to that! Also I never have any spectacular cooking plans so I can’t say anyone is twisting my arm. I was actually regretting my choice when we got to the restaurant, because of COURSE it was the place I went for the infamous lunch with my boss that I think made me sick. I was DETERMINED not to make the same mistakes as last time and said a little prayer to the bacterial gods because there was just NO way I could handle the physical consequences let alone the mental war I would rage on myself for getting sick from the same restaurant not even 3 days apart. Thank goodness Mona Lisa took initiative and ordered for us because as we all know I could look at the menu for DAYS. I am very grateful I opted out of the soup though because even though she asked them not to make it spicy, Jahnavi and Arav were sweating and crying trying to eat it. It did start a whole back and forth between Mona Lisa and the restaurant staff and I was also grateful I couldn’t understand what they were saying because I know for sure I wouldn’t want to be that waiter. Aside from the spicy soup, dinner was SO delicious!!! We had some fried paneer (or as I like to call it: Nepalese mozzarella sticks), chicken drumsticks, chicken tikka masala, garlic naan, vegetable curry, and lemon tea. This time I made sure to not have any water and I think that did the trick!! Stomach remained in tact! On the way home we ran into Mona Lisa’s brother (the photographer) and decided to turn around and go meet him for more tea! They know I can’t say no to chai, so even though I was terribly exhausted and hadn’t been home since before work, I indulged. It was so lovely to sit outside and chat and drink chai with them. It reminded me a lot of sitting outside in Rome having a drink with my friends. I so wish we had more ability to just run into people around town and get together because there really isn’t anything better than that. We sat at the Dhanusa Sagar, which is like a pond? I guess it is considered holy water and on certain holidays people come from all over to bathe in it. They gave me this whole explanation of the 14 or 15 different sites people will go to leading up to the holiday. Apparently they bring all this stuff with them and basically camp out at every place and then walk to the next place each day. Since Holi is next week, people will be showing up this weekend for that. When they saw me fighting off the mosquitos, we decided to walk back and I FINALLY got to take my cold shower. Even though I did take a mostly cold shower, once every 10 showers, it becomes hot? I have no idea if there is a setting for that but of course every time I’m actually looking forward to the cold shower, it becomes hot. I could ask, but honestly it keeps things interesting.
As I mentioned in the title, the theme of the week is dance, so at 5:45 the next morning, Mona Lisa and I were headed BACK to the dance studio for Zumba. The best part about Mona Lisa’s studio is that there really isn’t a set agenda. The Zumba teacher is not the same as the other dance teacher, and is more of a fitness dude, but he is also a fantastic dancer, so after a few minutes of exercises the ladies would insist on dancing instead. Of course since he’s a very good dancer, it’s pretty impossible for us to follow along, but everyone just tries their best, and I don’t know about them, but I just refuse to look at myself in the mirror so as to pretend I’m doing all the same moves as him. The whole time everyone is just laughing and chatting and even though I can never understand anything, it makes me smile so much just watching them all enjoy themselves. It is so funny because every once in a while I hear my name and they all look at me and I just have to laugh and smile and hope they’re not saying anything bad about me. I did feel nervous that they wouldn’t like me being there, but when I went back today it seemed like they were happy to see me, so that’s positive! I have not done an official cardio workout in quite some time, so my body was definitely feeling it, especially my legs which were feeling like jelly even just on the walk back to the house. I feared that going to dance after work would send me over the edge, but I made it through!! At dance in the afternoon, we all started learning another dance in addition to the one I started learning on Monday. Of course they made me stand at the front which is ridiculous because I have no idea what I’m doing. Also I was definitely blocking the literal children in the class, so I really felt badly, but they refused to let me move from my spot. Then they had the audacity to FILM us to put on Facebook and I definitely screwed up a bunch because I still can’t remember the steps on my own. It’s definitely difficult for me to find my place in the song without being able to distinguish the words, so every time I forget a step it’s hard for me to start back up again. I did finally make friends with one of the ladies and she was super friendly!! They were all so impressed with my dancing, but I was more impressed with them because she, for example, had only been dancing one month! I’m so happy that they all are willing to try something new and will show up every day to practice!! I wish I had a place like that in Seattle, because it really makes me so happy to dance and socialize like that, especially after a long day of sitting at my computer.
As I was leaving, the dance teacher told me that tomorrow we would practice a partner dance. I sort of thought he was kidding, but when I went after work, there weren’t really many people there. I thought the rain had kept people from coming and was down to just dip out, but sure enough, he motioned me to the dance floor and we started working on a dance! I’ve never been part of the choreography process before, but it was really fun to take it step by step and see his process of building a dance. Also just so funny that in three days I went from never having stepped foot in the studio, to working one on one with the teacher. Going back later today I’m just hoping I can remember even 1/3 of the dances I’ve been taught this week. Also I finally got some pics of the goats and dogs.
Where on FB can we see this dance?! 😏