i cannot believe tomrorow is already THURSDAY. it's crazy. omg we are so exhausted so i promised myself i'd keep this short....
i forgot to say a couple things in yesterday's post:
1. i ate my first GRITS at breakfast at the host dad / daughter breakfast yesterday!
2. i drank SWEET TEA at the line dancing YSS battleship tour / party last night and it was heavenly. i made norma boyd from alabama come be there when i tried it cuz she told me all about it at AJM boot camp... :)
3. i also went back for seconds of dinnerrrr (sweet beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and BBQ pulled pork sandwich) AND i couldn't decide on dessert so i had both peach cobbler and banana pudding!!!
4. the other reason why i love opening number: for the past 4 yrs i've choreographed and led a big group of 10-20 of my dancer friends in santa barbara's huge annual summer solstice parade, and it is the day that we look forward to the most out of the wholllle year. this would have been my 5th yr but it fell during AJM so 2 other girls r running the group. but anyway in 8th grade i partnered with this woman who wanted to explore the similarities between belly dancing and hip-hop, and we added some afro-brazilian too and it's just been SOOOO much fun dancing down the whole street every year. so i was SO excited because the opening number dance is just like the kind of movement we would do!!!! angular like middle eastern awesomeness. and the asme time of music. so WAYYY bigger and better than solstice!
today we finished the whole opening number and reviewed the choerography for teh fitness routine (we had to learn fitness by video before we came here, on top of graduating thursday and grants for EDN and such). i was doing well until i got singled out and asked to stop doing handstands during fitness. OOPS! also, weirdest thing ever.... at the end of opening number, we're in these lines and the first line keeps moving more and more center as each girl introduces her name and state in alphabetical order, and we each get closer to the microphone. anyway, we hold 1234 and take a big step right together on 5678. lyndsey, gia's assistant as the choreographer, showed me personally how to do it, and i didn't know why because i thought i was doing it right. the first line kept having to do it over and over and we kept being so close, and then i totally realized that it was all my fault!!! i don't know how to explain this moment - you could only understand if you knew the sleep deprivition i've been experiencing lol and the excitement yet exhaustion of this whole experience - but it was like i was doing it in my HEAD and i KNEW what i needed to do, but i was just standing there nodding my head.!!!!! hahahah. so the choreographer was like, IT'S CALIFORNIA and she said she could pick on me because we were from the same state. lol but the choreographers r phenomenal. i'm usually critical of dance teachers because i am one myself, but both our teachers r GREAT... some of the best i've ever worked with cuz they handle all 50 of us and relate to us and treat us like we're good people and have a good balance of fun and personability (i think i just made that word up) while being extremely productive, efficient and prepared at the same time.
i reeeally need to wrap up, but last story: so yesterday i wrote about marianna's "eyes like doors" comment. well TONIGHT we came home from a luau dance party at a senior citizens retirement home (which was SOOO fun. i'm really starting to find my close buds and it was such a blast!!!! having a 9 yr old sister maddy tottalllly comes in handy cuz we played 2 miley cyrus songs and i knew all the words haha! that's what happens when u teach dance classes to 3-6 graders and have all this high school musical and hannah montana music on ur ipod. i freaking love hannah montana. if any of my girl scout troupe sponsors r reading this, i hope u like them too lol.) ok so we got home and all of a sudden there's this dog in the kitchen where my family's all hanging out. I HAD NO IDEA WE HAD DOGS! we have 2! i totally missed that this whole time! it drew a huge laugh. then i showed courtney's boyfriend my alabama accent i've been working on, and he laughed at me really hard.
so everyone in the south prays all the time, and i thought it was going to be uncomfortable bcuz in california we don't do that in public settings, but it's actually so nice. it brings us together and lets us reflect and be grateful, regardless of your religion. so thats been nice.
anyway i gotta end this - i could go on FOREVER. night!
