Guest Post (A story from Alexis, woven by Kate)

"Let me say this to you before you write it: I'm loving my experience here so much that I get sad when I think about ever having to leave. I feel moments of being at peace, happy, when I'm walking down the street listening to music playing, especially in the neighborhood where I've been going to the gym. I feel part of it here." - Alexis

The following are the words of Alexis, re-told as a story by Kate (the speech-language pathologist doesn't know how to write, apparently)

The streets of the Zona Colonial are touristy. In the neighborhood where I go, it feels slightly more authentic. Street vendors sell salami and tostones, children play basketball on the courts, and people sit outside the restaurants and corner stores talking at all hours. The streets are alive, and active, and slightly more authentic than anything we experience where we live. It's not real, and it's not authentic, and even walking down the avenue listening to the blaring bachata, I can both know that but also enjoy it for its vibrance and my peace with it, my piece within it.

At the gym, I feel like I'm doing a real life thing. I go, regularly, and speak in Spanish to my trainer and his other client. I communicate only in Spanish, becoming to some small extent part of some type of community here, a near impossible feat in such a short period of time. I feel like I am becoming part of the scene. I recognize faces. I am starting to make connections outside of our school's walls. Such little differences make all of the difference. If I lived here, I'd have a regular salon to get my hair done, and a regular gym to exercise in, and fall among all of those people who live and breathe those spaces every day.

What I love when I leave the gym is hearing music on the streets that is music I love, feeling comfortable and familiar with the location, and it all gives me a sense of joy (although, author's aside: that's probably the endorphins, too).

Tonight, I literally stood in the stairwell, looking down at the Zumba class and the instructor, for five minutes before joining in today. I was worried, not sure how to get in there and wondering internally if I could move the way any of those women could move. Already exhausted from personal training and cardio, I knew that I'd be even more stiff than usual but a friendly face beckoned me to try. I took a deep breath and fell in line. This was my opportunity to be a part of this class, which was relatively unfamiliar as a work out and also as a location. I can't say that I had all of the moves, but my feet were correct and I will take that as a win for the day.