¨Make sure you learn how to dance,¨ she said. It was the greatest advice she could bestow upon me in her crisp, serene Belmont apartment · · · ¨I wish I had learned how to dance.¨
Darcy had done WorldTeach ten years before I had even considered the idea of teaching abroad. So when I traveled to her apartment for my big interview with her, I was a tabula rasa. A blank slate looking to make sure I was even right for a position like this.
She offered me a drink as I sat down with her big, fluffy cat. ¨Just water.¨ Please and Thanks. She handed me an album of her WorldTeach year · · · photographs that were actually taken on film.
Soon she was back and asking me questions, and I was prepared with some of my own questions as well. When it was my turn to ask, I started with specifics · · · ¨What was difficult, how was it different, what did you eat?¨ So when I ended vaguely with ¨Any other advice you could give me while I´m here?¨ her quick response was exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear. ¨My [Spanish] boyfriend and I go out dancing a lot. I just wish I had learned in Costa Rica.¨
Learn how to dance? Yeah, sure, of course · · · do you know who I am?? Ever since I was 4 years old, watching ¨Dirty Dancing¨ for the first time, not understanding much of the plot, but feeling mesmerized and excited by the movement, and having a huge crush on Patrick Swayze. Learn how to dance. I guess if it comes up. Oh. Right. This is what I´ve gotten myself into. My WorldTeach year is going to be more than teaching English to little Spanish speakers. That is my job, and in all seriousness, that will be my life, but there´s a whole culture to be a part of as well. I am here for the students, the community, and, most importantly, myself.
So I´m going to take the time to learn how to dance and to learn other aspects of Costa Rican culture as they come at me. It may get a little dirty, but hey, thank you Patrick Swayze for mentally preparing me and my hips. Hopefully I won´t have to fill in onstage for a ¨sick¨ dance instructor. I´m not too sure I could handle the tickle'move, and I´m still too scared for lifts.
Darcy had done WorldTeach ten years before I had even considered the idea of teaching abroad. So when I traveled to her apartment for my big interview with her, I was a tabula rasa. A blank slate looking to make sure I was even right for a position like this.
She offered me a drink as I sat down with her big, fluffy cat. ¨Just water.¨ Please and Thanks. She handed me an album of her WorldTeach year · · · photographs that were actually taken on film.
Soon she was back and asking me questions, and I was prepared with some of my own questions as well. When it was my turn to ask, I started with specifics · · · ¨What was difficult, how was it different, what did you eat?¨ So when I ended vaguely with ¨Any other advice you could give me while I´m here?¨ her quick response was exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear. ¨My [Spanish] boyfriend and I go out dancing a lot. I just wish I had learned in Costa Rica.¨
Learn how to dance? Yeah, sure, of course · · · do you know who I am?? Ever since I was 4 years old, watching ¨Dirty Dancing¨ for the first time, not understanding much of the plot, but feeling mesmerized and excited by the movement, and having a huge crush on Patrick Swayze. Learn how to dance. I guess if it comes up. Oh. Right. This is what I´ve gotten myself into. My WorldTeach year is going to be more than teaching English to little Spanish speakers. That is my job, and in all seriousness, that will be my life, but there´s a whole culture to be a part of as well. I am here for the students, the community, and, most importantly, myself.
So I´m going to take the time to learn how to dance and to learn other aspects of Costa Rican culture as they come at me. It may get a little dirty, but hey, thank you Patrick Swayze for mentally preparing me and my hips. Hopefully I won´t have to fill in onstage for a ¨sick¨ dance instructor. I´m not too sure I could handle the tickle'move, and I´m still too scared for lifts.
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