It’s late and it’s not getting any earlier. I already walked a full block past my house on my home this evening without even realizing it. As you all may or may not know my heritage is mennonite and tonight I was a disgrace to my people.For those of you who are familiar with mennonite circles you may heard this joke:
Q: What’s the problem with sex?
A: It might lead to dancing.
While tonight wasn’t my first night out dancing, it was my first night out at dance class. Woooooaaaaaahhhhh … A mennonite out at dance class? That’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one. It was free. I didn’t know which part of my heritage should play out stronger, no dancing or free stuff. In past, both values were able to exist in harmony as they had never been juxtaposed together. It was a real internal debate for me.
In the end free stuff won out over my principles against dancing. I thought that a free culture lesson to help me fit in with my adopted people was in every way worth it. Salsa Dacing really is a part of Spanish culture here, and above all else I had fun.
On a side note, the actual salsa dancing itself is not that easy, the music is quick and even the timing of the basic steps can be tricky. I don’t know why but for some reason I thought that I would be to fly around the dance floor after only one class. This is not the case, my “moves” are still embarrassingly horrible.
Well it’s 01:30 and my proofreading skills are really not that strong at this time of day so maybe I should wait till the morning to actually publish this.
6 responses so far ↓
1 David // Nov 16, 2006 at 14:20 EST
Hey Jamie! Thats COOL, you need to come to Barcelona and show me your new dancing skills!
2 jamiefehr // Nov 17, 2006 at 11:57 EST
But don’t worry David, I am coming to Barça anyway, it’s just going to have to be in January.
3 Jaime Lauren // Nov 19, 2006 at 2:04 EST
Hey boy Jamie…Q: What’s the difference between a Menno. girl and the trash? A: The trash gets taken out at least once a week! Hee hee…apologies to other Menno. girls reading this… ANYWAY, Way to shake what your mama gave you and get out on the dance floor! I’d say just go w/ the whole “It was free!” excuse…a good Menno can never turn down freebies! Last night a bunch of us at the Menno Simons Centre (it’s a dorm) in Vancouver had this huge impromptu dance party as the Mennonites and non-Mennos in my group of friends have recently got into salsa and swing…good thing we get to be Mennos in the 21st century hey!!
4 Jake Fehr // Nov 21, 2006 at 6:37 EST
Son what are doing writing about the brids and the bee’s and about dancing on the World Wide Web. We never do those things in La Crete. I think we must bring you back home. This being so far from your mama and papa maybe is not the best for you……..
5 jamiefehr // Nov 21, 2006 at 12:21 EST
Dad, I’m sorry but even the bible spends a lot of time talking about sex and dancing and you let me read that. So, just laugh at the joke.
6 KB // Nov 23, 2006 at 23:02 EST
So, a Mennonite, a Baptist and a Catholic were going to a Gospel music workshop in Poland. The Polish Catholic asks the American Mennonite, “What’s a Mennonite?” Pausing, he reasoned that the best way to answer this would be with an example. So, in his broken Polish he told the story about a Mennonite who encountered free dance lessons. Well, you know how the story ended with the Mennonite chosing what was free over what was forbidden. The Polish Catholic responded, “Well, if that is what a Mennonite is, I am a Mennonite!”
…true story from 19 November 2006…