salsa

It was with a lot of trepidation and not a lot of faith that I accompanied my cousin to a salsa club tonight. For one thing I had to tack on about 5 plasters to my feet to stop my new sandals hurting. Susie also warned me that all the people would be dancing salsa in pairs, some professionally but she said kindly she could dance with me sometimes and show me the steps, playing the boy part. ´´No no no´´ I wanted to cry at the prospect of all this learning.

However it is a Thursday night in Barcelona. It is hot. I had spent my workshift being terrorised by the beckoning beats of a music festival taking place in the courtyard of my centre. Music was all around and I was hungry. I knew that watching a video would not be a happy option.

Also my dad had said to me that very afternoon on the phone that I must aprovechar - take advantage-of the fact that Susie is steeped in salsa. He said emphatically its a very useful skill in the same tone as he uses when he talks about touch typing or learning first aid so I knew it must be important. I tried to imagine the situation that could arise that could only be solved with a dose of salsa.

After all this hmming I landed up at the Bikini club near the beach. It consists of 2 big sections, one salsa and one very vile indeterminate techno. The techno had fun dancers on the bar though. They flailed around, staring glassily into the distance over all our heads

The salsa part had much better music that instantly got my toes tapping. It is also very entertaining to watch. I was way over-dressed, the style was skimpy and gaudy mini skirts and high heels and in one case gold aladdin pants with slits. As promised Susie showed me some steps and it was surprisingly easy and fun, led by the beat of the music.

Then someone asked me to dance and I said yes because I´ve decided that it is very bad form to say no if someone musters up the effort to ask you to do something like that (this is also my rule for the ´playing´in pairs in capoiera.) So yes yes yes I say as I am invited to partake in unknown physical feats. Yes I say and I am deeply happy

Susie met a friend there David, pronounced Da-veeeeeeed. He is extremely cute with little glasses and is the type who shows you he likes you by making a million jokes at your expense. Seeing as it was noisy and I couldn´t really hear him I just grinned a lot and nodded. He is a taxista - taxi driver. He told me proudly that 2 years ago he bought his own new shiny taxi. Then he said that meant he couldn´t buy a flat and had to live with his parents. Not to worry I said and I crudely translated the give a man a fish saying with a lot of mime for the fishing rod. The taxi is your rod! I finished enthusiastically. He seemed encouraged.

David has a friend, another girl called Susie. She has just come back on Saturday from a six month stay in Sheffield and she has post-Erasmus blues. I miss I miss she says sadly! They have such a good quality of life there! I party every night! A Barcelonian keening for Sheffield.