Just a Hop, Skip, and a Plane Ride Away

Well, I'm home. It's absolutely crazy how you can fall asleep 400 miles away from where you woke up, and still have had time to do something with your day.

I had an easy flight--no problems at security, found my gate pretty easily, flight was delayed only about 15 minutes, and found my dad no problem at the other end. I got home, ate some wonderful dinner, drove to get some frozen yoghurt with some friends and my brother, came home and spent some time with Laura and now I'm off to sleep.

Overall, I feel like these past four weeks have offered me some closure to a year of drastic change for me. I certainly learned some ballet (and hip hop and jazz etc.), made some wonderful friends, and reconnected with pseudo-family that I now love and appreciate in ways I've been too young in the past to really understand.


So this is the end of this blog, but I certainly think I'll keep new ones coming as I travel different places and dance in different areas. It's been helpful to me in processing how my experiences have affected me, and I hope it's helped keep some of you all in the loop about what and how I'm doing. I'm going to miss the food and friends and culture and weather of D.C., but it does feel really great to be in my own bed.

I'm home--safe, happy, healthy, and ready for whatever God has planned for me next!

I Guess This Is It

Well I'm done...I can't believe it's over. No gentle easing off of this, just an abrupt stop. I had 5 great classes today, said my goodbyes, ate a last supper, packed my bags and I'm flying out tomorrow. I just can't believe it. It went by so incredibly fast--I learned so much, made some great friends, reconnected with some family, and ate some really great food. I'm absolutely going to miss it, but I can't wait to be home to some banjo music, annoying siblings, and mom's cooking. (Though Aunt Janet's is absolutely stellar.)

So now the question is, "What's next?" I have no idea what God has in store for me this coming year, but I'm excited to see what he has up his sleeve.

Two to Go

Had an uneventful bus ride (yay!), sweated like my dad during ballet class, learned two new styles of ballet (Balanchine and a modern-asianish thing (see link below)). 

Later, I choreographed with my Spanish friend, which was super interesting. Trying to communicate ideas is really hard. Also I learned the verb "tocar" which means to touch or to play can also be used to ask "What classes do we have today?" which was cool. We also had fun trying different tongue twisters in different languages. "Tres triste tigres traigan (something I don't remember)." That was awesome. 

Then I came home,  had some time, so I walked to a Barnes and Noble, exercised some serious self-control, metro-ed back, grabbed some groceries and walked back home. Look at me being all city-capable. I'm going to miss being able to walk everywhere like this. 2 days left. Here we go. 

(The dancer in the middle is one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Cuff)

The Core by Gin Dance Company 

Fish Dives and Peach Cobbler

Today started pretty well. Met a friend at the bus stop and had a lovely ride to the studio, had a slow, but good ballet class and my day was off to a pretty great start. After lunch I had floor barre which really stretched me out pretty well and let my lunch digest a bit. Then we learned a pretty okay lyrical dance that wasn't on pointe, which made the class fantastic. Then partnering was amazing. Most notably, we learned a fancy little lift thing called a "fish dive" pictured below. 

 

I caught a ride home with a friend, then came home to start packing. I have about 80% of my clothing packed and ready to go, which is just insane. The other 20% I'm either going to wear over the next 3 days or is drying. My day ended with some delicious Aunt Janet dinner and a phenomenal peach cobbler she just "threw together." I have to say, I'm going to miss her cooking, and I don't come from a family of poor cooks. 

It's only about 9:00 as I'm writing this, but I think I'm going to head off to sleep now. Only 3 more sleeps here, which is just insane to think about. Time really does fly. 

Awkwardly Awesome

My day consisted of awkward and awesome moments. Here's the run down:

Awesome: Waking up at 6:30, resolved it's time to get up, checking my clock, and realizing I could sleep for another 1.25 hours.
Awkward: Waiting for the bus, this guy (who due to the events I'm about to explain, I do believe had some mental handicap, or at least was really, insanely socially awkward) came and stood 5 feet(ish) away from me, facing me directly. (It wasn't crowded, and at the bus station the social norm is for people to make like ideal gases and be as far from each other as is possible.) Feeling the awkward, I just avoided eye-contact, and after a minute or so, he just said, "I like your shirt" then walked away. I thought I was wearing a Dr. Who shirt, and then this whole incident would have been excusable, but no. I was wearing my "This is Love" shirt.
Awesome: Quadruple pirouette on pointe. That's four rotations out of one push. And it felt amazing. Just "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whooooosh, done."
AWESOME: Hip Hop class was cancelled and replaced with a stretch class. Oh, it was wonderful.
Awkward: I was running out of the studio, trying to catch the bus. I checked the intersection where I can usually see the bus pulling up, and it wasn't there, so I started walking at a normal pace. Then out of nowhere I see my bus pulling down the street, so I start running, drop my water bottle, have to run back to grab that,  and I resume running as fast as I can and waving like an idiot trying to get the bus to stop. The bus does stop for me (which was awesome) and I get on, thank the driver and start back to my seat when the one other person in the bus (other than the driver) starts talking to me, something like, "You almost missed the bus!" And in response to such a brilliant observation, I said something genius like, "Yeah!" and then took a seat. But then this guy kept grinning back and trying to talk me, but I really couldn't understand him, so I just laughed and nodded, then  put earphones in and pretended to fall asleep until he got off the bus. Blah, I'm so socially awkward.

The final bit of my day, I can't decide it it's awesome or awkward. I have to start packing. How weird is that? So that'll be my evening.

In all honesty, today was no outlier in terms of the strange mix of awkward and awesome moments. But that's me. Awesomely awkward. Or awkwardly awesome. Whichever you prefer.

Mondays are Awesome

Mondays are awesome. Really. In ballet, they are. You're rested from the weekend, you feel strong, teachers tend to go easier, it's awesome. After you make yourself get out of bed, the day only gets better. Or at least that's what happened today.

Started my morning with a latte from Starbucks. (For such a diverse city with so much food, I am disappointed in the lack of local coffee places.) Had a painless bus ride to the studio, discovered the schedule for the week, and started class. It wasn't with a particular favorite teacher, but it was a great class with a lot of corrections, so I was happy. There were also about 10 people missing, which made for a pretty decent class size. I broke in a new pair of pointe shoes, which hurts, but now they're ready to go. They held up pretty well in Variation, where we learned a pretty intense jumping variation that involved some acting, so I was really happy. Then we had Character which is really just an absurd and awkward form of dance, which actually fits me embarrassingly well. And the crazy Russian teacher taught it, and her classes really are just an experience. I'm ashamed to say I actually enjoyed it. We ended with some glorious Pilates--the lights were dim, we stretched a lot and the workout was gentle. It was fabulous. Then I caught the bus, walked home with a little Jesus party going on in my earphones and that was awesome. The plan for the night is to look at my dance schedule, figure out what I'll need up until Friday, then start to pack everything I don't need. That's right. Start to pack. I'm coming home soon.

T-5 days.

It's the Final Countdown

I spent my last full free day in D.C. with Aunt Janet, and we had quite a lovely day. First Church, then some tasty Mexican food, then home to breathe a little. We then visited the FDR and Jefferson Memorials--two of the few memorials of which I didn't have distinct memories. We fixed that today. FDR's memorial was very tasteful, and it was inspiring to read such idealistic words. Aunt Janet was right to say that most modern presidents just don't speak in the statesman like speech of the older presidents--newer presidents lean to political rhetoric rather than idealistic and inspirational prose. A pity, really. Anyways.

The Jefferson memorial was splendid--such a beautiful building. We also were fortunate in our timing of arrival in that we were able to catch a tour of the Jefferson, which was super informative. There's very little to take away from the memorial without some knowledgable person explaining the subtle symbolism scattered throughout the structure. For instance, the guide (whose name, no lie, was Sam Snider) was able to tell where in the U.S. the stones creating the memorial came from, with the floor coming from a southern state, the ceiling from a northern, the interior from a southern, the exterior from the north, the base of his statue was made from stones from states bought in the Louisiana purchase etc.

He also emphasized Jefferson's metaphor of a "coat of democracy", which was a concept I found so wise and humble to come from a man as influential as Jefferson. The basic concept is that as America grows and changes, the "coat of democracy" has to be tailored again and again to fit the changing country or the fabric democracy of the coat will rip and fall to pieces. He's so absolutely right, but what wisdom and humility it must take to be able to look at an incredible document that you poured your time and talent into and be able to say (I'm paraphrasing here), "I know it isn't perfect and that it needs to and should change." Just some food for thought.

 Back to my day, Aunt Janet and I got some frozen yogurt, came home and watched some cheesy movies, I sewed a pair of pointe shoes, she made some incredible pasta, I packed my stuff for tomorrow, and now I'm off to sleep. It's been a wonderful weekend, and an incredible month, but I'm excited to hug my siblings and parents again. 6 days and counting.