Okay my peoples. I'll admit I have not been up to that much peace corps goal one relating things.....
I was (am currently that's why I have wifi) sick and miserable and spending an entire week in the capital Cotonou. To be fair I didn't expect to be here this long and was hoping to leave with doctors permission, but alas permission was denied. This happened right after I said goodbye to Xochil which was another weekend away. All these things add up and are a bit frustrating but I learned something vital.
I am a lover of dance!
Here in Africa dancing is so ingrained in life it's hard to avoid it. In my classrooms if we sing a song about days of the week some kids start to dance, if I play any music on my phone people dance, if someone claps a beat people dance, if they are happy people dance. I think this is starting to rub off on me.
I went to a concert at the Institut de Français in Cotonou which was a modern mash of local music and dance. It was beautiful, colorful, and I could not stop my body from moving in my seat and neither could my friends. The beat is so fun and the music has repetition so it makes creating dance moves easier. While at the concert RANDOM people would stand up and go on stage and dance to the music. These moments were beautiful and so fun, I just imagine they couldnt bear to sit down anymore with fun music. Also the dance moves are so intracate and difficult I watch with so much attention to see how they move their shoulders and feet and arms so so quick.
When going out for a few nights, I also feel a similar pull and want to dance. While I'm not good at dancing, actually when I was in show choir I DREADED dancing, I now have so much fun!
I know a part of this is me being comfortable with myself and letting loose for one of the first times. This makes me even happier that I'm surrounded by people that do the same. The other volunteers join in and we just have the times of our lives. Music is in all of our bloods you just have to let it loose.