Not in a Million Years...

As I was dancing in my dance class last night I decided that I wanted to write about my experience with these lovely ladies. It’s funny how things happen because not in a million years would I have thought I would have joined a dance club with a group of Ajummas (women in their 50-60’s). I have built a friendship with these beautiful women and even though we may not speak the same language we still enjoy our times together.

So you may be wondering, how did you find out about this dance class? Well, it is a funny story actually. One Friday night, a few of my friends from Boseong and I went to go play screen golf in town. Being a Friday night there was no room for us to play so we decided to leave. As we were getting into the elevator we heard loud “club” music. We were curious what was happening, so we decided to follow the music. We stopped at the next floor below us to a dark hallway with doors. My friend went to the first door and opened it to find a group of Ajummas dancing. We all poked our heads into see what was happening. As we were about to head towards the elevator again, one of the Ajummas ran after us and told us to come and watch.  As I watched them I was first, laughing because what a crazy experience this was and second, amazed at how well they could dance. That is all I needed to see, I wanted to join!  So my friend and I signed up for classes and we started the next week.

There are about 15 of us attending the class. It is Mondays –Fridays, for an hour. We dance to everything from, Maroon 5, Britney Spears, country, and K-pop...  The first few weeks of dance class I was a mess! I am very thankful for the dance classes I had when I was a child because surprisingly those classes have helped me with this class. I am so thankful that I know what a “kick ball chain” and “grapevine” is and that those names are the same in English and Korean.  Now imagine starting a dance class when all the others already know all of the dances and have been dancing for three years now. Now on top of that imagine not knowing any Korean and having none of the others knowing any English. Wow, how do you learn anything you may ask… luckily it is dance so I don’t need to speak their language even though it would help immensely I just have to follow the others.

I have been dancing with them for almost three months and I have been seeing a difference in a lot of aspects of my life. I am surprised that I am actually getting a hang of all the dances and am actually not that bad. Even the dance teacher complimented me! I am feeling healthier and am getting fitter (which the dance instructor pointed out during class one night ^^). And I have something to look forward to during the weeknights. I no longer sit in my home by myself watching T.V. and eating, I have a place where I can be surrounded by others, laughing, dancing, and enjoying each other’s company.  

I was asked to join them in a dance competition at the Boseong Green Tea Festival on May 18^th, so for the past week we have been learning our new routine. I am slowly getting it down and will hopefully be ready by the competition because I already know that all eyes will be on the foreigner with the group of Ajummas! But it is going to be an experience that I will always remember and cherish. I know there will probably be lots of photos of that so keep your eyes posted for that in the next month….

So to wrap it up, I think my new favorite thing about Boseong is my dance class and my wonderful new friends. It is always fun to be able to familiar faces and greet them on the streets. I am slowly becoming a part of the community and am even starting to be able to communicate with them (with the very little Korean I know). I am excited to continue dancing and to see what other crazy things happen in the future. Anything is possible!