Life is good... busy, but good.

When I said that I would be busy with busy on top, I wasn't lieing. I chose to be busy, because I know, that if I'm not busy, I will be lazy. Now I can allow myself to be lazy when I get home from work and zumba, saying to myself, that a time to relax is in order. If I didn't have my active life to use as a good excuse, people could easily call me lazy. But no. I'm not lazy. I just priorotize my time differently. Zumba and dance is my main priority. However, if an invite shows up to from my friends and family, I will have to see if I can make it work. I have usualy been able to go straight from zumba to family and friends' events. My friend asked me if I wanted to go with her to a party. It's a party that I wish I could attend, but since Saturday is the big Beto Perez Zumba masterclass in Copenhagen, I won't be able to go. Hopefuly another party will show up. It's the first time that I'm attending a zumba event far from where I live.

Tuesday is still my day off, so I make sure to spend time with my friends that day. So in the past 14 days, I've been to the movies both Tuesdays and even Thursday after zumba, I made it to the movies with a friend.

The new zumba classes are great. I realy think that I chose the best of the 4 (soon 5) gyms in town, when it comes to the new zumba classes and instructors. There is one instructor that I'm curious about, though. But I don't know if I can make it work, as she only has classes Sunday afternoon and Sunday morning I already have 2 zumba classes. I will try to make it some day. The reason being, It's an African instructor and I would like to see if she uses African music or special steps.. But in the meantime, I'm happy with my classes as the are now.

The new instructor that I go to... at the new gym. She's really cool. Reminds me a lot of the Brazilian instructor I used to go to. I've seen my share of good and bad instructors whenever I've been to zumba events. Well, she's the one that comes closest to him. Her way of interacting with everybody is great. She's very friendly, makes her own choreographys, has an education in ergotherapy which makes her capable to help people with any injury related pain while dancing. She also said, that if we would like her to use certain songs, we should write them down and she will try to work out a choreography that we can use in zumba class. I told her that I like Brazilian funk and I reminded her of the two Brazilian songs that I already heard she had.. Except, she didn't know they were Brazilian... But I told her, so now she will try to use those songs when she sees me ;)
It's the first time I heard this song, but it has "Brazilian Funk" all over it ;)

She also uses this one

After the first zumba class today, someone came over to say hello.. I recognized her. It was my dentist assistent. I have a dentist apointment in October... But I have to reschedule as it was a time they suggested... and with my busy scheduly, it will have to be a Tuesday.

During this upcoming week, I have to decide on what clothes to wear for the zumba master class with Beto on Saturday and what to wear at the after party. I'm getting more and more excited, although I'm also a bit worried, as I'm going alone... I'm going with a bus full of other zumbanistas, so it won't be that bad. I know. Some of them I know. I just know, that if I don't go now, I might regret it later. Everyone suggests that I should become a ZIN myself since I have so much passion for it. However, I don't think I would have the time for it...  As for now, I think I have enough to do with just having fun :)

Keeping busy with busy on top!

It's been some pretty rough weeks, with the 2 hours of zumba every day, to say good bye to our instructor. Every Wednesday after the two hours of zumba, me and one of the other women rushed to salsa in the other end of the city. It's been hectic, but we didn't want to miss any of the classes.

The last day we had zumba with our instructor, we asked him to chit chat with us after zumba. We gave him a small present, that I had arranged. It was a framed certificat saying he was the best instructor in the world and I decorated it with some pictures of us all. The gift was a small keychain with a group picture and the name of our regular zumba place. From the look in his eyes and the big smile, I think he liked the surprise!! The last couple of days, we were allowed to video tape his choreographies to use as home work out dvds. For the fun of it, I had made a dvd cover and presented him. Sadly, at the time, we didn't have any dvd ready to put in the cover. I just thought he should see how it turned out. Well, a couple of days later, he asked me for a copy of the video footage, so I made him a copy of my bad recordings. I just put my camera in one place and didn't move it at all... so at times you can't see his feet and sometimes he's not even in the picture... But oh well. With my memory and what I can make from the recordings, I should be able to work out the choreographies!

I know that it will be hard work to get as much from zumba as he gave me. Zumba instructors are all different, but I will always try to remember what he taught me. To put all my energy into every move, strech out the way he taught us and never give up. It so happens, that one of the gyms I go to, is offering zumba as of this up coming week. With 4 gyms and another one opening October 17th., there will be plenty opportunitys for zumba. I looked through their schedule and came up with the gym near the bus central in town, which is nice cause I will only have to take 1 bus. The local sport's club (outside my window) is offering a cheap membership and it still fits in my tight program, so I will sign up to support them and to take advantage of zumba next to my home. However, whenever I'm done there, I will have to take a bus or train to salsa in the other end of the city.

This is how busy I'll be in the future:

Monday: Latin Mix & Dance Fit
Tuesday: Nothing - this is when I go to the movies with my friends etc.
Wednesday: Zumba (where I live) & Salsa (freestyle - no partner)
Thursday: Zumba
Friday: Zumba
Saturday: 2 x Zumba
Sunday: 2 x Zumba

Taking advantage of 4 gyms. I wonder if I can get used to that. With this busy schedule, I also allow myself to skip classes. The classes Saturday and Sunday are morning classes, so I can still do other things those days. But as you see. I'm keeping busy with busy on top.

October will be even more busy. I will attend the master class with Beto Perez himself, when he stops by Denmark on October 1st. There is a party bus leaving from my city and I signed up to go with them. It's gonna be a long ride, but I asume it's gonna be a lot of fun, too. After the master class, there will alsp be an after party. I signed up for that as well. I don't exactly know anyone who's going, but I just think, that if I don't go, I will regret it. The bus returns home after the after party. I hope I can get some sleep on the bus.

The next week end, I bought a ticket for a zumba marathon supporting the breast cancer society. I attended the "Pink Saturday" last year, to celebrate my mom being cancer free for 10 years after breast cancer surgery. Well, I still want to support the case, so I will go this year as well. I even bought a new zumba top to wear in the month of October - breast cancer month.

The matching socks came along for free.. But they're absolutely too warm for me to wear for zumba. I use them as every day socks ;) Guess I can wear them on the bus ride in case I want to take my shoes off, but want to keep warm.

In the end of October, there is another zumba event in town. This time the money will go to the kids cancer department at the local hospital. Well, if I have the energy, I will go to that event as all.

Again. Keeping busy with busy on top, but also remembering to take care of myself. I know when my body needs rest!

Remembering New York and 9/11.

I skipped zumba today, to stay on the sofa watching the 9/11 Memorial live on tv.

I was in New York 1½ month before the 9/11. July 28th. 2001, I celebrated my birthday by taking a guided tour on a bus in New York. The bus took us under the WTC. We headed to the Statue of Liberty, where we took pictures with the Manhattan Skyline and WTC in the background.

 Picture taken from the Empire State Building,  July 2001

10 years later, July 2011, I returned to New York.

Me at the Empire State Building, July 2011... The WTC is no longer in the sky line

In July 2011, Ground Zero still had major construction work going on.

Watching the Memorial on tv today, I was pleased to see that the memorial park is now ready for use.

I guess I have to go back to New York some day, so I can actualy see the park and not just the cardboard template from the 9/11 Memorial museum!

R.I.P. to everyone who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks!

Tomorrow it's all over...

I apoligise for the lack of blog posts, but I truly have been busy with work followed by 2 hours of Zumba, for the past 2 weeks. Leaving early and returning home late.

It's been some awesome Zumba moments, which I'll write about when I have the time.

Last week I was a bit depressed since the instructor is leaving. But during the past 16 zumba classes, we have all become much better friends, as we've been less people at a smaller location. At times we were only 3 and the instructor. That's why I kinda see it as private classes! I'm sure we will all be able to stay in touch.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's lacking towards an end. These are the updates.

I feel that I have been neglecting this blog a bit. I'm not sure if anyone actualy reads it, but I do see that a couple of people are stopping by every now and then. Well, this blog is like a journal for myself, so I will continue to write whenever I feel I have something to write about.

The bad news I mentioned is that the "Havana Night" salsa club closed down the day after I attended the zumba class. I was not expecting it to close down so soon. The club was brand new, but I guess they must've put more money in to it, than what they earned. It's sad that we have lost this club. I'm sure I could've spent many great evenings there, when everything else is for the young crowd. Oh well, atleast I'm happy that I was there for zumba the day before they closed.

Saturday, August 13th. I attended a master class with Mo Diakite and some Danish instructors. Not many people had signed up, so the event had moved from a big sports arena, to a normal zumba place. It's crazy, but so may people seem to have forgotten about Zumba during summer. Hopefuly more will start to remember the fun they had before the summer break. Mo was trying hard to keep the party going. He brought a guy called Sylvester the drummer. He played an African drum. It's my first experience to have an African drum give beats to dance to.. At times I thought it was not neccersarry, but then I started to listen more to the drum, than the music on the stereo and discovered a new rhytm to follow. I love African music, but when it comes to zumba, I wish I knew the songs better, so that I would know the rhytm before hand. Anyway, I had fun. I managed to get 5 people from my usual zumba class to sign up for the event, that would be their first event/ master class. I was wondering if they would see the joy in master classes, like I did or if they would say it had been a waste of money. Luckily they all liked it. One of the Danish instructors, Dennis Thomsen, brought his camera and took these pictures http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150279478857808.354609.827492807&type=1.

And these are my own

My zumba instructor is moving back to Brazil after spending 8 years here in Denmark. I've enjoyed his classes so much. He has been my motivation for a year now. It's been a year with loads of positive things happening to me. All because of zumba and his passion for dancing. Oh, and my own passion for both as well. I asked him if he would be having any more classes before he takes off to Brazil. And to my luck, he voulenteered in having special "Good bye classes" made for us. That means, 2 classes every day!! Every day! So far I've been to 14 hours of zumba in 7 days. It's very sad that we have to say good bye to him. I've felt so honored to have him as my instructor. He was the best of the best. Which is also why he'll be going back to Brazil. For the fun of it, I took my calendar an counted the many hours I spent following his home made and very professional special touched up choreographies. Yesterday was my class number 100!! I only skipped 2 of his classes ever. Made up for it by joining events and marathons that he would be at. I still have 12 hours left - 6 days. What's gonna happen after that? It makes me a bit sad to think about. He is the guy who made me shrink 5 pant sizes. Will I be able to maintain after he leaves? Will he forget about us? I have so many unsolved questions, that only time can tell. Luckily I now have him on my facebook and hope to be able to keep in touch that way.

I'm my own motivation and I expect to continue my zumbalicious life style. I already go to a gym that offers great zumba almost every day. But it won't be the same without his Brazilian funk and Axe touches. Hopefuly I'll be able to remember what he tought us, but I know, in time, his coreographies will be gone. So sad. Atleast I know that I'll still be able to dance my butt off. People always gave me compliments on my dancing before I started going to zumba classes. He gave me inspiration for more.. New moves and new music I never knew excisted.. Like this one

In this past week he also introduced us to the Brazilian butt lift  and capoeira.. Ohh how I will miss him. I will never forget my first class with him, which was July 7th. 2010. He was teaching us samba and I had no clue how to do it. He then took my hands and followed me through the basic samba steps. Today I'm a pro at those . Who would have thought?

good news, bad news... It's all Zumbalicious to me :)

I can't believe how fast time is going... Or maybe it's something else... I feel that in the past 15 days, so much has happened. Bad new, good news and some realy exciting news.

It involves a great deal of zumba. But right now I'm too tired to write about it. For the next 2 weeks, I signed up for 2 hours of zumba every day, so I need to rest whenever I can. I will try to fill you in on  the news later this week.

Here is a sneak peak of what I was doing this past Saturday..

Reggaeton, Anniversarry, terror and my birthday and showing off arms.

It's amazing how times seems to go by so fast this summer. So much has happened since the last time I blogged 15 days ago. So many good things has happened, but bad things also took place within this short period of time.

Saturday, July 16th., I started off the day, by going to an early zumba class at the new gym. In the evening, I went to a reggaeton class by Karelia, who's a former world champion in salsa with her dance partner Marek. This is the type of reggaeton she was teaching. Not quite the same, but something similar.

There was so many people there, as the couple had just been teaching a salsa class. A lot of sweaty and smelly men was there, but hey... Danish men dancing, is not something you will see every day, so more power to them! :) Reggaeton was at the "Havana Nights" club. I like the place and the people, but for someone like me, who never danced with a partner, I can't join their many dance classes. But reggaeton does not require a dance partner, which is why I like to come for those.

The following week, I was too busy for zumba, but I did join the sals class Wednesday evening.

Thursday, my brother and my uncle stopped by my work. We had to create a long door wreath for my parents anniversarry the next day. Yes, planning the anniversarry is what has kept me busy ever since I returned from my vacation. After work, me and my brother drove to my parents' summer home, where the party would be held in a party tent the next day. We helped with the decorations, tested out the stereo and in the end, before leaving, we wrapped the windows in silver foil, to avoid my parents peeping out, when my aunt and uncle would be hanging up the door wreath early in the morning. My brother and I arranged for some musicians to accompany us with some songs, to wake up our parents, as the tradition calls for here in Denmark. Sadly, not many couples stay together to last a 25th. anniversarry, so I never attended one before.

Waking up my parents went according to the plan. 25 family members showed up at 7 o'clock to wake them up.

The party was a huge succes. Although it was raining the entire day, we all had a great time and kept dry in the tent. Only at one point, late in the evening, a major shower hit in and we had to turn up the volume of the stereo, which of couse, caused a bad fuse or something. The stereo died. Luckily me and my brother were able to connect another stereo and the party could go on.

At one point, I checked the news page from my iphone and read about the bomb in Norway, thinking it was probable one crazy man's work. Maybe he got fired from his job and wanted to put the blame on something. It's happened before, that people do crazy things when they lose their job or wellfare money. Well, little did I know of the crazy injustice that was realy taking place in Oslo, Norway. But when the last guests had gone home and we decided to leave the mess in the tent for the next day, we read on text tv, about the many people being shut at Utøya and was in dispair. The next morning we all saw the special news all morning. It was awful. So heartbreaking to hear the survivors talk about what had happened. Yes, I did get tears in my eyes. I was sure it had more to do about religion that politics. It's true what they say. When being among other people, never talk about politics or religion as it will always cause drama. This guy could not keep his mouth shut and let to terror in the end. This kind of terror, I would describe as opposite terror. He didn't do it to harm people of a different religion. He did it to open up the eyes of the people he was harming. His own people. People who shared his religion, yet not his political point of view. So sad!

Back to something positive. Wednesday this week, I joined the salsa class again. Although we're still not a full group there, I know that more people will show. In fact, I saw 3 new faces there already.

Thursday was my birthday, and as always, I took the day off. I went shopping in town for a bit. Treated myself to sluch ice at 7/11 and strawberry milkshake at Mc Doalds. Things I only do on special occasions. Mc Donald is just across the street from where I lived for the past 15 years, yet I only go there once or twice a year. In the afternoon I went on a ride with my parents and my 2 grand mothers. We usualy have a big party at the summer home, but since everyone was just there for the anniversarry. This year I had no party. Instead we went to a small beach town and had coffee and cake.

I just sent invitations for my friends to come celebrate my birthday with a "Pink Party" on August 20th. It's been hard to find a date that would suit everybody, but I hope I nailed it.

Today I attened a special zumba event at the "Havana Nights" club. An instructor couple had come to town and in a effort to teach some zumba while they were in town, they came to the club. Sadly, in the summer period, it's hard to fill up a class. We were suppose to be 20, but only 7 showed. We had a blast and I sweat so much. I don't know if it's because I put so much energy into my movements or if it's because the other people don't put any energy in it. I think I was the only zumbanista there, apart from the female zumba instructor who's due date is in 3 weeks. He husband is from Cuba, which showed. He took over whenever his wife with the big belly needed a rest. They were realy nice and came over to talk with us before and after the class. I'll write down their names here, so I won't forget. You never know when they show up on a big poster ;) I give Santiago Sotolongo Lomba and Louise thumbs up for their zumba :) Btw. I always use http://www.zumba.com/ to look up information on the instructors I see.. Just a hint.

I talked with the female instructor about the lack of quailfied instructors. We agreed that the best instructors are those who used to teach dance and not aerobics/ gymnastics.. Cause Zumba is all about dancing while doing the work out moves.. Which reminds me! I'm very proud of myself. Today, for the first time ever, I wore my "Crazy Happy" zumba t-shirts without the usual 3/4 sleeve underneath. I'm finaly ready to show my arms, although they still scream "Bingo arms" - after one year of doing zumba, the bingo arms have vanished to almost nothing. Next goal is, to make me feel good enough to wear the racer back tops. That won't happen any time soon, but as long as there is zumba, there is hope :)