The amount of readings for Week 2 was not overwhelming–yet. I ‘reserved’ a book (Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children) to read in my free time. Let’s see if I will finish this book without disrupting my study.
Our 2nd destination for A&S fireld trip was St Paul’s Cathedral. Saying that my neck still hurts from constantly looking up at fresco paintings and the building itself was a magnificent yet exquisite piece of art is an understatement.
Too bad we weren’t allwed to take photos of the interior. Our professor was looking forward to taking us to the top galleries (it’d be his first time to see the city with the persistent snow) but the two of them were closed that day. We ended up visiting only the ground (Cathedral) floor, the Whispering Gallery and the basement (Crypt). He said, from there we’d able to enjoy a good panoramic view of the city of London. Considering that admission to St Paul’s isn’t usually free, I am still not sure about coming back for it.
Aside from schoolwork, I have been researching about the belly dance scene in London and I discovered a cyber community for London belly dancers (www.londonbellydance.com). That’s also where I found the 5-week advanced/improver workshop with Belly Dance Body Mind (www.bellydancebodymind.com) run by Ms Claudia Yasmina.
She was recruiting students for shorter ‘drop-in’ sessions to fill out the gap between her much-longer ‘courses’ on the London Belly Dance forum. In her post she mentioned Camden Town then something inside my head went “DING!” Her studio just happens to be a 10-minute bus ride away from my dorm.
I attended her free session on Monday but since it was for beginners, I didn’t feel like I learned much but it felt great to stretch out my stiff muscles. But oh my! I really need to work on my flexibility! I use to be a rather flexible person but now I’m the least flexible person in the belly dance class!!!! Good grief!
I told Claudia was unsure, and she offered to let me attend another session (the advanced-level one) on Thursday for free! Claudia is by far one of the nicest people in the world, hands down. She greets by kissing on both cheeks and hugs. She hugs me so tightly, by the end of the lessons I start to smell like her. We went over shimmies and layering today. Maintaining two or more movements at the same time–AND SMILING THE WHOLE TIME–was definitely a challenge. But the sour/numb legs and hips confirmed that the improver workshop is the one for me. I paid the fee (40 GBP) and signed my name. I was informed I will get my invoice via email. I’m so excited for new moves I’m about to master and new friends I’m about to make there! I’m very happy to be able to continue to do what I love the most.
Thanks again for stopping by and have a nice day everyone!
Location: London, UK