How Far I've Come

Lately,(and by lately I mean for the past two months or so) I have been attempting to just keep track of what has been happening with me here. It seems once I find the time to really concentrate on writing, something changes, and then I have to rework everything that I expected to communicate. Finally I feel like things have come to a still point and I feel like I can communicate what I have been wanting to to all my friends and family. So here it is: the update.

Living here has been an experience like any other. This time around, my journey has been probably about ten times more intense than anything my Californian classmates are experiencing. You can only imagine what I mean by this. Even though this is my second time around, the number of things I have discovered about myself and this crazy place I have been living in have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. I have managed to immerse myself almost completely. While other Californians in my program have branched out and met a new friend from UC Santa Barbara when they are from UC San Diego, and stay in their comfort zone only hanging out with each other,and going to the same burger joint where the waiters speak English I was going out an talking to every technical director of every gym possible begging them to hire me, performing in oriental cabarets, shouting fitness cues in Spanish, and dancing with the 9 pairs of aunts and uncles and 25 first cousins of my boyfriend in two different weddings. So, yes this is what I have been doing.

The experience that has overwhelmingly characterized my journey this time has been that of Worldanz. First off, for the past two and a half months I have been teaching at two different gyms, Monday Wednesday, and Friday. The Monday Wednesday gym has been paying me 13 euros/hr, and the Friday gym compensated me by giving me the membership free, along with an English teaching job, but we'll talk about that later. After getting these two jobs, I went and tried to get hired by the two biggest and most well known gyms here to get more press for the class. I went to the first one, called Yodiez on a Tuesday morning dressed in my work out clothes, walked up to the desk, and asked to speak with the technical director about teaching. By this time I had already got over the nervousness of talking with my potential bosses in Spanish and had already taught my first class, so I felt like I was on top of the world. The two very skinny blond women in the front desk working in their palace were apparently opposed to me feeling this way .One of them told me to come back in three hours, and when I did the other one told me very annoyed that he still wasn't here and that I would have to WAIT in the WAITING room, telling me almost as if it were a feat that no human has yet accomplished. Well I did it ladies, I waited 40 more minutes for the king of the palace to show up. Dario, a young guy probably still in his 20's told me that he only had a two hour space for me in a certain room 4 days of the week. This would have been perfect but the hours were 11-2 and I had class at the University at this time every day, and had passed the date to where I would be able to change my schedule. He told me to call him if anything changed, and I said okay kicking myself on the way out for choosing to take my church in society class, the worst class ever instead of getting to teach at the palace. I went to the other big gym with high hopes as well, only to be told over the phone by the technical director that she had absolutely no space for me and would call me when she did. The thing is is that everything happens for a reason. For example if I had chosen different classes and had been able to teach at the palace, one of the two blond skinny robots could have killed me with here death laser stare as I walked into work one day, and then I wouldn't be here today. (At least this is what I try to tell myself when I try to fall asleep at night.)

I decided to stick with the two gyms that had accommodated me from the very beginning. The owners have been very nice with me from the get go, but even though I have classes the process of getting students has been a roller coaster. For some reason I thought preparing the music, and the dances, and memorizing things would be the hardest part of the whole thing, which I have come to discover has been the easiest part. The trick is getting students. The thing is that a huge dance aerobics revolution hasn't hit here yet. I'm living in a world where there is no such thing as 80's dressed jazzercisers or zumba moms dressed like skittles. This has been an advantage because I was able to get a class really fast, but sometimes has been a disadvantage since, if people don't know what it is they are exceedingly hesitant to try it. I'm living in a world where the men always stay with the weights and the women still choose to do squats and step aerobics for an hour rather than something new and different. The majority of people who have come to my class have told me they love it, and I get to see them fairly regularly. There have been some people, however that have told me that the class is too hard physically, that there is too much jumping and they sweat to much, and then I'm like, in my head WHY DID YOU JOIN A GYM DERRR, while in reality I have to tell them to not be timid, to modify whenever possible, and to keep trying. Promoting this class has been like promoting a business. I talk to everyone I know about the class, when I'm at the gym I go up to people and ask if they've tried it, I put up posters, I ask if my customers are satisfied, if they would like me to change or add anything. Sometimes I have a lot of people come, and sometimes I am my only customer, and these days I have to pack up my music, take a deep breath, give myself a pat on the shoulder, and walk out with pride. The truth is is that I love doing it. I love teaching, but even the things you love aren't always easy and smooth sailing. You must persevere!