The Dance

Thousands of people from all over the world coming together at the New Jersey Int'l Salsa Congress for the love of dancing. Baila, Baila, Baila, Baila! One of the hundreds of reasons I love dancing is because, like yoga, it excludes no one. Tall, thin and sexy. Short, round and uncoordinated. All are welcome.

I won a pass to the NJ congress & flew to meet up with my friend Wardell. I danced over 20 hours in 3 days and slept for about 10. The days are filled with workshops, ranging from ladies styling, mambo turn patterns, to one of my personal favorites-afro-cuban body movement. This type of movement encompasses the energy of the afro-cuban slave to convey emotion & literally communicate through body language. It is primal, Earthy and sweaty.

This trip marked monumental experiences. Not only was it my first official salsa congress, but it was also an opportunity to apply all that I have learned about mambo and BRING it to an event filled with some of the best dancers in the region and possibly the country. I was very proud of myself for being able to keep up with the level of dancing. I was dancing SO hard in fact that I nearly broke my toe, had multiple calluses, mysterious bruises and the entire surface area of my body pretty much hurt. Dancing to live music, with a total stranger, letting yourself go, becoming the dance, allowing the movement to come from a place that is pre-cognitive...it nourishes a place inside me that can not be satiated with food.

This experience allowed me to spend time with some beautiful strangers. Making new friends in Toronto, DC, LA and NY. There is something about sharing the commonality of love for something, that can turn a complete stranger into an instant friend. Perhaps my newly made amigos is a foreshadowing for international friends to come.

This trip was a welcome respite from the endless preparation for Peace Corps. I was able to put all planning, listing and working aside. I was able to fully immerse myself into dancing before I have to take a voluntary salsa-celibacy. I was coming down from the high of dancing for so many hours & working through complete exhaustion, that Wednesday I wept on and off all day at the thought of having to box up my dancing shoes and leave them behind. Salsa has changed my life in more ways than can be written. It became a form of therapy after my divorce. A way to give and receive affection in a healthy, functional way. It became a positive social network and now some of these people are my best friends. I am going to miss my favorite partner Paul. Even now when we dance sometimes I get weepy at the thought of having to leave this behind. I have my ipod loaded with salsa songs & my computer has videos to watch so that I can keep up my moves. I am already looking forward to my next salsa get-away.

My next adventure.....participating in a NASA fitness study.
Until then......Baila, baila, baila, baila!!!
PS. Look closely at the picture, that is not a sweat speckled lens-those are orbs of peoples awesome vibes!!

The Pedulum Swings

I expected to feel emotional about leaving all I love & cherish behind, but it has proven to be even more stormy than I expected. In thinking about what the prospects hold in Fiji & what foreign experiences I will be enduring, I become excited at the "Indiana Jones" like adventure. Then I begin to experience a moment like the one I had today when I looked at my beautiful yoga class & felt so loved, at home and proud. As I was driving home from the class, I felt like I was seeing the trees around me bud for the first time, even though I have lived on that street nearly my entire life.

I've had the sensation that I only have "X" amount of days to live since I accepted the Peace Corps invitation. It has been quite liberating actually. Living through the perspective that my life with never be the same again after my return & that I will no longer relate to all that I do now in the exact same way, has made me feel this acute sense of awareness to how I feel & perceive things RIGHT now.

It has created the perfect prescription for presence.

I can take in the energy of laughing with my little sister much more fully. I can love more deeply when I see all of my student's smiles. And I can appreciate all of the details of a regular day with so much more gratitude, when they would've normally been multi-tasked through. I feel like living from the understanding that life as we know it will NOT last forever gives me the freedom to tell people exactly how much I care about them, even if it makes them uncomfortable.

I have so much busy-ness happening in the next 3 weeks. I am headed to E. Rutherford, NJ this weekend because I won a full pass to the NJ Salsa Congress and will be headed into NYC and going to the Jivamukti Yoga School. I have never taken a Jivamukti class in NY & I am so psyched! I am using this trip as a last yoga, salsa and food huraahh!


More friends to dine with, parties to attend and essentials to buy. More emotions to encounter.
xoxox
Sara

Living an Extraordinary Life

The count UP has begun!! I leave for Fiji May 17th. I have a generous mixed bag of emotions, excitement, fear, missing people I haven't left yet.

I get the same questions again & again so I thought I would address them:

1. Why the hell are you doing this?
Because I have committed myself to living an extraordinary life & i think joining the Peace Corps counts. I feel like I have reached my maximum wing capacity in my hometown of Cleveland, OH & desire to experience living in a whole new way.

2. What will you be doing for 2+ years?
(The work part) My "title" is community health volunteer, so my understanding is doing nutrition education, positive lifestyle habits, confidence building activities etc. I am hoping this includes teaching yoga...I'm sure I will find a way. And maybe I can teach them the basics of Mambo...hmmm, not sure if that will go over so well. I can just hear the village mayor "You sent us this woman that just dances around whipping her head, shaking her hips & doing body rolls all day!!??". HA!
(The fun part) Learning how to cook traditional Fijian foods, learn their native dance, swim, snorkel, learn how to surf, hike, yoga & reeellaxxxx.....the Fijian way--which I've learned they have mastered like a fine art.

3. Will you have a phone &/or computer?
Most likely I will have a phone, but not right away. Training is 7 weeks or so & I may not have one then. I will have my computer but internet access is questionable. Not sure when or how often. Many current volunteers have blogs so I imagine access will be fairly regular.

4. Will you have running water & electricity??
Probably?? Really I have no idea...& somehow oddly I am okay with that.
Probably because its more of a surreal concept then a reality. Hopefully, yes & yes. While water quality will be questionable & electricity intermittent some volunteers have both all of the time.

5. What can you bring?
2 bags, totaling 80#, no one bag can weigh more than 50# How am I gonna pack all of my supplements & skincare?? Ha! Just cause I am on a tropical island does not mean I will skimp I what I consider essential. High maintenance, perhaps, there are other things I can do without though like socks & underwear :) (all I will be wearing is flip-flops & underwear is overrated)

I am a "lister"..always have been..so
Things I Will Miss
My Mom's awesome hugs
Sunday dinners at my dad's & "desserting" for hours after with my sisters
Interpretive W African dancing with my sisters to hip-hop music
The W Side Market
Yoga at a real yoga studio
the local college radio station
Talking to Colleen everyday
Salsa dancing...oh that one reallly stings
Refrigeration
WIFI
My bicycle
The Metroparks
Washing machines & dishwashers..oh yes, all by hand friends, all by hand.
Oh crap this list is getting too long....& I 'm sure once i'm in Fiji it will get much longer--but for now, not to exclude...of course, all of my unbelievably loving friends, students and family.

Things I Won't Miss
SNNNOOOWWWWWWW!
Lack of sun for days on end
Worrying about the price of gas...no driving the ENTIRE time I'm gone.
Wal-Marts
College loan payments

Hm, this list is much shorter. Probably because I have a f*^#ing awesome life & really do appreciate what I've got.

I am going to do my best to keep all abreast of any updates & happenings.
Peace!!
Sara