I am not going to be a cheerful and pleasant person. I cannot keep up with the Cuban people's joviality and fall asleep.
When I returned to the casa from the Buena Vista Social Club concert, my host family was relaxing in the living room as usual. *About the casa.Havana, the capital of Cuba with cheerful music and the good old days, Cuba ⑨.reference
As soon as they found me, they asked, "How was Buena Vista? Did you have fun? They were also very jovial.
-It was really wonderful! Cuban music is very groovy and energetic!
Good, good, good! Come on, sit over here and sit over here! I'll get you a drink!"
I did as I was invited and sat down on the sofa in the living room where my host family was relaxing.
They are always cheerful. I am sure they love to chat from the bottom of their hearts.
And as I mingled and talked with them, the Buena Vista Social Club came up in conversation again.
-But I was still amazed at the lightness of the steps of those salsa dancers! Salsa is wonderful!
Right?" Salsa is really great. Cubans love to sing and dance!"
Saying this, Susanna (the woman on the right in the photo) suddenly got up and started dancing on the spot.
"Would you like to dance? It's fun, right?"
-No... I'm ・・・・
Oh, well, don't be so sure! Oh..! If you want, you can take a salsa lesson tomorrow."
-What?
My friend is a salsa teacher. "My friend is a salsa teacher, and he'll be here when you call him. You can take lessons here?"
-What? Here?
"Yes. Right here, right here.
Apparently, this means that the lesson will be held in this living room.
You and your teacher will have private lessons and you will learn a lot! It'll be a lot of fun! What do you think? What do you think?
-Yeah... well... hah...
I consider myself to be a person of relatively, or rather, rather modest temperament.
I'm not very good at clubbing and dancing.
I am the kind of person who would be happiest if I could just sit quietly, drink a cup of coffee, and read a book.
Let's dance!" I don't really follow the club atmosphere of "Let's dance!
In fact, when I visited the famous "Blue Note" in New York City, the hall of fame for jazz in the U.S., I encountered an occasion when the main saxophone player somehow grabbed the microphone and started singing a rap song during a live performance, and all the audience members got up and started dancing.
As usual, I was taken aback by the flirtation and could do nothing but watch in stunned amazement.
At the Buena Vista Social Club concert I just attended, there was a scene in the second half where the entire audience stood up and gathered in the center of the venue to dance.
Again, I could not even stand up.
I am not envious of being able to dance.
It's not that I want to be part of the mix, but it's hard because I can't do that, or anything like that.
But I'm not good at that sort of thing, and I don't know what to do about it. And I don't want to stand out if I can help it, I don't want to be nominated and forced to dance, so I just dropped my gaze and waited for the storm to pass.
But since I came all the way to Cuba, this might be something else.
I've never learned to dance, but I'm sure there's no shame in private lessons...
We have come all the way to sunny Cuba. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I don't know what will happen, but I'll give it a try anyway.
Yeah, let's give it a try! Let's give it a try!
OK, then I'll call the doctor to come in as soon as possible tomorrow, which will be at 3:00 p.m. Is that OK with you? Is that OK with you?
-Yes, please! Please!
Well, I'll see you here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.!"
On the night that my salsa experience was decided by chance, I found myself strangely looking forward to the next day's lesson.
Maybe I can change into such a person. You never know when it will happen until you try.
I fell asleep with this thought in my head.
-3pm the next day.
I waited for the teacher with a tense look on my face.
I wonder what kind of teacher will be there... I would prefer a man if possible... He looked good on the steps yesterday... But I am sure it will be a woman since he is her friend...
!" ! The chime rings. It seems that the teacher is coming.
The teacher appears through the door.
Then I saw a rather stern-looking black woman appear before me.
He is about 165 cm tall. Her shoulders are quite stout and muscular. She has the body of a power athlete rather than a slender woman.
Hello, Nice to meet you!"
The teacher spoke to me with a bright, shiny smile. The atmosphere was cheerful, but I was already overwhelmed by the power of the teacher's smile.
One-on-one lesson with a black female teacher. I was so nervous that I wanted to run away.
Lessons begin with basic step practice.
The steps are performed to a hand clap and count, which is also difficult.
The body becomes stiff, and movements become awkward.
I can relax the moment I am told to relax and relax, but when I concentrate on the steps, I end up becoming rigid again.
Hmmm, it's not so easy. But, well, it could be fun.
After practicing the basic steps for a while, the teacher approaches us.
Hmm? What's that?
Now, let's dance together from here."
-What? ! That's..!
Salsa is for two people! Isn't that right? Let's get started!"
Ahhh... the things I feared have begun: ・・・・
The teacher and I are facing each other with one hand on the other's hip and the other hand on the other's hip.
Now let's dance to the music with the basic steps we just did."
But there was no way I could do such a thing, being so rigid and hardened.
Relax, relax, relax! Smile! Look me in the eye!"
No, no, no! He said that's impossible!
I looked down at the teacher's chin with desperate eyes and continued to dance.
Because, don't you think?
Can a beginner with no dance experience suddenly hold hands with a woman he has never met before and dance? And here in Cuba! And suddenly with a Cuban woman!
Besides, their faces are very close to each other.
As I said before, he is a very powerful person. He is a teacher.
I was so overwhelmed by the power of the music that I couldn't even think about salsa anymore.
The fatigue of unaccustomed movement and the mental shock of the experience were quickly weakening me.
Lessons are promised for one hour.
But time is not moving forward at all! Please finish soon! Otherwise I'll collapse..!
-16:00. Finally, an hour has passed.
The lesson is over. Looks like I managed to get through it...
I sat down on the sofa as if collapsing. I had reached my limit.
Susanna came over after her lesson. The three of us sat around the table and enjoyed the coffee she made for us.
How was it?" Susanna asked me, "Well, it was fun. But I was extremely tired," I replied, and as usual she burst out laughing. I wondered what was so funny. She really is a cheerful person.
"Hey, teacher, I think we still have time today. Do you want to extend the lesson?" Susanna asked with a grin on her face. I see, so that's why she was smiling.
It's not very much, but I can't afford to extend the lesson. They asked me if I wanted to do it again tomorrow, but I politely declined. But I politely declined. I'm at my limit. I'm getting sick.
I retired to my room after a moderate amount of talk.
I just wanted to be alone. I literally ran away.
He collapses into bed.
At that moment, a headache suddenly hit me.
The pain was like a pounding pain that came and went, and then it was like a hive of pain that kept expanding from the inside out.
My body is heavy...I'm also starting to feel nauseous.
I had little appetite that day, and I also had a hard time sleeping because I was strangely light-headed.
The headache never got better, the shoulder area was abnormally stiff, and I just couldn't get rid of the general sluggishness.
I never expected to get hit so hard with salsa.
How many times have I moaned in bed in pain and wished I could go back to Japan as soon as possible?
I was completely tired of Cuba.
Salsa is probably not the only thing that has caused me to become this way.
Since arriving in Cuba, I have always been exposed to culture shock. The atmosphere was so different from that of Japan that it must have taken a toll on him little by little.
Furthermore, staying at a casa instead of a hotel meant less alone time.
My host family was just so cheerful. I was trying my best to match them. I was trying to match them as best I could, and I guess I was overreacting.
The day after the salsa, I bumped into a couple who were also staying at the casa, and we had coffee together.
They are an international marriage; the husband is Australian and the wife is Cuban.
As I was talking with the husband, I told him about yesterday's episode and my headache, and he burst out laughing and said, "Me too. He laughed and said, "Me too.
The cultures in Japan and Europe are quite different, aren't they? But here it is even farther. You could say it's the opposite. Surprising, isn't it?
Japanese are quiet and polite. But Cubans are always so unplanned and jovial in everything they do. My wife dances for three or five hours in a club. I can't keep up with her.
I can understand your headache. I was also surprised for a while."
What the heck. Even Australians are surprised by Cubans?
If that's the case, it's probably inevitable that I'll end up like this.
I have learned that I can't be as cheerful as a Cuban so easily.
The body will reject it.
I ended up spending the next two full days in my room, groaning in a swoon, barely able to move.
Cultural differences are significant. If you live in a different culture, your temperament will naturally be very different.
Furthermore, even within this context, the individual's personal living environment and the temperament he or she was born with are also involved.
Each person lives with something completely different.
Trying to be like someone else is impossible.
I have heard this said in many places, but here in Cuba, I have experienced it firsthand.
What you know in your head and what you know in your body are two very different things.
I think it was a great experience to be able to physically experience Cuba, a place with a culture that is the complete opposite of Japan's.
I had no idea that this would happen from the steps of the salsa dancers who impressed me at the Buena Vista Social Club concert, but this is one of the best parts of the trip.
It was also an expensive learning experience, but it was also memorable.
Cuba is a very interesting country.
be unbroken
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