Beto, Nathan Blake and me

Ok, I better write this now, before another week or two passes by. I already knew October would be busy, so I gotta do this while I have the time and energy for it. Well, it's 10 PM so my energy is hardly gone, but I wish to have this done once and for all.

Yesterday I attended a Master Class with Nathan Blake and a mother & daughter duo from Stockholm Zumba (Lena & Amina). More about that in another blog post. First let me think back about last Saturday. The Master Class with Beto Perez.

I joined up with a lot of other girls going by bus. We stopped in various citys along the high way, to pick up zumbanistas as we went by. It was a 6-7 hours bus ride. Some of the girls brought along a sign that we used as a bumper sticker. It reads "Zumba chicks on the road."

As we got to Ballerup Super Arena, we had to stand in line to get inside the building. The weather was extremely warm for an October day. I can't remember when we had a warm day like this in October before.

The line inside was not that long as they arranged a lot of check in points. You just had to use the check point that had your first letter. So I was in the "K" line. I got my two bracelets. One for the master class and one for the after party later on.

As you can see, they matched my sweat band pretty good.

At first we checked in our luggage. Then we went upstairs where the zumba shop was selling zumba wear. The line to get in was so long. Once you were in, there was also a long line to pay. Luckily I was able to skip the line as I was paying in cash.

I bought one top... But they alos had an outlet store and I ended up buying 3 more things. One of them being the the wind track jacket, that I have been eyeing for a long time.

I know some people find it silly to spend money on zumba clothes.. But zumba becomes a lifestyle and some of the clothes I realy like... Especialy those that have a funny print. I do find some of the zumba pants funky... However, I don't even fit an XXL in the zumba pants, yet I'm only a S in UFO pants. I think they should think about that. Some women, like myself, happen to have big thigs - which I now refer to as zumba thigs ;) Although a lot of fat has gone from my thigs, the muscles are still there! Anyway, I'll continue to use my UFOs.
While people were shopping, Beto and his film crew was testing all the settings, as they were doing recordings for a ZIN video, that is a dvd being sent to all Zumba instructors every month, I believe. Unfortunalyely I'm not an instructor, so I might never get to see it.

After shopping, I had to get in line again, to put my purchased items in my bags in my stored luggae.. Because I was shopping, I ended up being among the last 10 people to get in to the arena. The warm up crew was already going on. I snapped a picture before putting my camera in my luggage. Someone told me that cameras, wallets, towels and water bottles were not allowed.. So I left everything in my bags.

I changed my spot every now and then cause... Let's face it. It was too crowded. People would step on your toes, there were huge cables, not to mention the flying camera, to look out for. But all in all, it was an awesome experience. I did see people putting up a few clips on facebook from the master class, but I will leave it to you guys, to find those clips yourself :) There was one choreography that I can't wait to see again. Beto did a mix of river dance and Bollywood... I thought it was fun to do :)

As the acual master class was over, there was a surprise zumba act for Beto. In the end of the arena, I noticed a place with a short line and realised it was an area for having your picture taken with Beto. I asked someone if you had to bring your own camera, and they said yes... So I rushed out of the arena, picked up my bag with my camera, and rushed back to the arena to get in line. I took these pictures from the very end of the arena

I think it was easy to see, that Beto was very exhausted at this moment... He was so tired, which you can definitely tell in the next pictures.

However, he seemed to come a bit alive on my picture :)

I am so happy with the outcome of this picture. I feel like it was me and Beto shaking hands to a healthy agreement that zumba is the best thing that happened to me, and I will continue to zumba far out in the future!

After I changed into some more decent clothes, I met with the other girls that I travelled with. The Danish Zumba shop had arranged shuttle busses going from the arena to the after party. We got on one of those busses, but wanted to go eat some dinner first. On our way to the arena, we had made reservations at a vegetarian restaurent that offered a yummy buffet. It was so nice. I think I will definitely go back there some day. We sent all our luggage in a cab to the bus that would take us home later... After dinner we went to the after party. But to tell you the truth. It sucked. It seemed like part of a shop had been turned into a club for the evening. More than 400 people bought tickets for the after party. Yet there were only seat for 10. There were no toilets. Outside there were 2 festival toilets. Come on. It totaly sucked!

A bunch of us left to find a better place. Afterall, this was the capital of the city and they wanted to give us that crap?!! On our way out in the city, some people stopped me to ask for directions to the after party.. They saw me wearing my new zumba wind jacket. I told them it sucked, and they told me there was a latin club called "Club Mambo" so me and one of the other girls went there. It was much better. There was a live band playing samba. I thought it was a funny way to end the night as it was the birthday of my regular zumba instructor, who moved to Brazil. We received a message saying that Beto had entered the after party. Beto left just 5 minutes later. They poor guy must've been so tired. It turns out that there was a better bar and party next to where the after party was held. That's where the VIPs had been hiding when the party was boring. Dj Francis was there and the party ended quite strangely! The last song he played was Guns n Roses "Sweet child of mine" - everyone thought it was a stupid song. But with my twisted mind, I turned it into a bachata :) Try for yourself

Just after 3 AM we went to find the bus where some of the other girls were already sleeping. We all had a great day and slept for 3-4 hours. I was dropped off around 7:30 AM and slept most of the day. I made sure to cancel next day's zumba!