baila, baila!

The weekend was pretty uneventful. I went dancing with some of the girls on Friday and that’s about it. My big plans for excursions didn’t really happen. I haven’t been able to kick the cold, flu, whatever I had so I decided to spend the weekend inside and I’m feeling a little better. I think it’s from all the smoke and walking in the cold.

I decided not to take the “Teaching Spanish as a Second Language” course so I only had Spanish Culture and Civilization today. However, tonight was the first night of Basque Dancing. It was really fun! There are 15 girls in the class. About half of the class is USAC students and the other half are local girls our same age, which will be awesome because they are all very friendly. The instructor speaks Spanish and Basque so he switches off between the languages in his 8 counts. We learned two dances that I’ve learned at the Basque Picnics in Bakersfield, the Marche and… I don’t remember the name of the second one. (Mom, you’d know, it’s the one where you clap your hands then slap your partners hand then turn in a circle clapping under your legs. What’s the name of it?) It’s kind of funny because a lot of the girls on the USAC program are just learning Spanish so they truly do not know their left from their right or what he means by “point our toes”. It takes a little but we all end up on the same page. Anyway, they are really easy dances and the class is really slow, but it’s still a lot of fun. It makes me miss dance!

I finally found a gym to work out at, which makes me very excited. It’s a 2 minute walk from my house. There is a huge hardwood floor recreation area. Looks like they have basketball, volleyball, and I’m sure handball and paddle ball. The weights area isn’t that great, there are a few machines and no free weights but it’s enough to strengthen my knee again! There are also a few bikes and a huge dance studio where I saw a yoga class going on today. I might look into the type of classes they offer. Yoga, in Spanish… that could be interesting! I had a little mix-up with my Spanish today. When I told the lady that I’d like to join and work out there, I think I ended up asking for a job! Haha oops, we figured it out though.

I have exactly one week left wearing my knee brace! You can only imagine how excited I am! I’ll still wear it when I work out, run, etc. but not during a normal day. I’ve been wearing a brace of some kind for 6 months now. It’s going to be a great weekend! 3 days in Paris and no knee brace when I get back :-)

Also, my Mom realized that the mailing address I previously posted was incorrect but it is correct now. Lo Siento!