Going to a salsa party where I know no one

Before

I feel all enthusiastic about dancing more, so I get ready and go despite the rainy weather. However, upon my arrival, outside the venue, doubt sets in. The floor looks very crowded. People are dancing mostly LA salsa, and indeed, I know no one. 

During

I'm wondering whether there will be any dancing for me at all, but decide to go in and pay, anyway. I navigate to the coat rack, and then to the ladies room to change. The ended of the small crowded dancefloor are crowded too, with ladies and gentlemen waiting for their turn.

Sooner than I expect I am asked to dance. However, the person dances salsa in an embrace more suited for kizomba, and still keeps bumping into people. The second person ends his bachata in a seriously dangerous dip, where I wonder whether I will fall onto the floor first, or whether me will first fall on top of me. The luck is on my side, however, and neither thing happens.

The third dancer is very kind, and after our dance points out to me the two guys I might want to avoid. Yes, the very two I already danced with. Starting with the dance with this gentleman, the evening continues quite pleasantly with dances and even discussions.

In the end I also meet someone I had much fun dancing with before, and finish the night dancing many delightful salsas and bachatas with him. 

After

I think I will continue going to new salsa parties in the future too. Maybe in the future I will spend a little bit time in the beginning just sipping my drink and watching the other dancers with the eye of trying to figure out whether some of the dancers there are mostly in it for the grinding. It might not be a bad idea to identify some really good dancers, and talk to them about who dances what quite early on, so I'll minimize my chances of missing a stray zouk, if one is played

Attending a masterclass in the 2nd Dutch Zouk Congress

Before

I really did not mean to. I mean, I consider myself an permanently intermediate Brazilian Zouk dancer, I have a long list of stuff I know I want to practice, I don't really need new figures to make things more interesting. However, a person I know what heading to the masterclass, and there did not seem to be spare followers, so I braced myself and went along.

During

At first I felt really nervous, and wondered what I was doing there. However, soon we got to the middle part of the figure, and as luck would have it, it had a subsequence the Finzouk Student Team had in the performance in 2012, so something I had already spend significant amount of time working on. Suddenly I was almost in my comfort zone again!

After

The masterclass was a nice experience. Later, on the dance floor one of the leaders I danced with there lead me some stuff that I assume was from another masterclass (which I of course did not attend), giving me a chance to further stretch my comfort zone. 

In the future I plan to still hesitate attending these in the future, being the intermediate I am...but possibly still attend one if given a good reason such as in this case.

Calling a friend to tell him I am late

Before

I know I am late and feel embarrassed about it and quilts for not letting him know about the delay immediately when it seemed likely. Surely he will be upset?

During

Turns out he is late as well! He does not sound the least upset.

After

I could have reduced my stress significantly by contacting my friend as soon as possible. Or better yet, going back to my old habit of making every schedule with 15min extra, and using that time reading if it is indeed left over.

Calling for the German health check results

Before the phone call

I do not speak very good German yet, and calling people on the phone is not my favourite activity on the good days, so today I am calling my German doctor on the phone to finally get the results of my health check. One scary thing is enough, so I'll aim to do it in English.

During (part I): Receptionists

Seems this experience will happen in two parts! How exciting! 

I first got a receptionist that did not speak any English, but as I persistent trying with English, she quicky transferred the call to another one who understood a little and between her English and my German we got to an agreement that the doctor will call me back. 

During (part II): Doctor

The doctor called me when I was still conveniently inside the flat. She needlessly apologized for her lack of English skills and proceeded to tell me everything in the tests was completely normal. Whee!

Afterwards

As with most things, the things are most scary beforehand. I think it is possible the receptionists and the doctor experienced this as more scary than I did. It was certainly worth it to make this phone call.