Veritas University offers Latin dance classes twice a week at night. When I first heard about it I was really interested in going, because I have always wanted to learn how to salsa dance. Whenever I watch people salsa or merengue it looks so fun, and I always wished I knew how to dance like that. Dancing is one of those things I always want to try because it sounds so fun, but I just never succeed at. I was not given the gift of grace or rhythm, but I still like trying. Neither one of my roommates wanted to go, so my tica mom said she would walk with me to the school. It's important to remember that it's recommended that no one should walk alone at night in San Jose. On the way to the school she was excited because it gave her some exercise to walk with me, and all the family members wanted us to learn how to dance. It seemed like a win-win situation for us both.
When I got there I didn't know many people, but it was still fun. The instructor was this funny Latina woman whose English wasn't the greatest, but she made it work. She was awesome, and really good at dancing. During the class we had to continually switch partners, so I was able to meet some new people. I learned the basic steps of the Merengue and Salsa. It was a lot of fun, and I'm planning on going back on Tuesday night.
After the class, a shuttle is supposed to pick all the students up at the university and drop them off at their home-stay. A bunch of girls and I waited for about 30 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. The shuttle never came. A group of girls who all lived in the same direction decided they would just walk home together. This left this girl I didn't know and me stuck at the university--no taxi, no shuttle and no phone. Luckily I had my wallet with money, so the next step was to find a taxi or call for one. Even though I only live 7 minutes away, I knew it was a really bad idea to walk by myself back home. We tried using a nearby pay-phone, and that didn't work. At this point I started freaking out, but I tried to stay calm. Luckily there were some ticos standing inside the gate to their house and we asked if they could call a taxi for us. They were so nice and said they would, a taxi arrived outside the university about one minute later. Everything ended up being completely fine and we both got home safely--but it was one of those situations that I hope never happens again. Luckily, I can speak some Spanish, so it wasn't the worst possible situation. I can't even begin to imagine what someone would do if they knew no Spanish.
Through this, I feel a lot more confident with my Spanish. I have been nervous using it when I talk to the locals because I'm not very good, but in this situation I was forced to use it--and it worked! I'm becoming more and more comfortable with my surroundings everyday, but it's much more difficult to get acquainted with a community when you don't speak the language well and you stick out as a minority. Already I've learned so much about myself from being here for five days, and it's crazy to think that I still have four more months ahead of me of learning and exploring.
Pura Vida!
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