Learning to Dance

So I just had the most fabulous evening. I went dancing, but not just your typical dancing. I went to a club where everyone (and I really do mean everyone except for myself) was hispanic. However, this really isn't the point of the story, because in fact, it didn't really matter. Yes, I got a few stares, people doing double takes like "who brought the guera?" but after a bit, I stopped caring, and everyone else did too. The real cool part was that I learned something amazing about another culture. I learned a few new dances: Merengue, Bachata, Cumbia, Salsa and even a little Reggaeton (which isn't really a dance, more grinding in a very sexual way to some awesome music but whatever). I caught on to the Bachata which, needless to say, made me feel right at home after a while, and you could tell that when I got on the dance floor and people looked at me and saw that I knew what I was doing, they just kind of smiled and thought, "sweet..." My friends from Brooklyn Bagel....(Roberto and Eusebio) taught me lots of cool stuff, I got sweaty and tired and my feet hurt. I had margaritas and tried to understand the words of the songs but they were all in Spanish so really that didn't come to frutition. I'm pretty sure it cost an arm and a leg to not only get into the club but to purchase the drinks and everything, but neither Roberto nor Eusebio would allow me to buy things so I'll never know really how much it cost. One of my favorite parts of the evening was when we first came in to the club. They pat you down. And when I mean pat you down, they did a better job than the airport. I had a woman all up in my boob area, checking the cuffs of my jeans and feeling in my pockets. The "dancing" music didn't even start until exactly 11PM. No one would go out on the dance floor until the real music began, but when they did dance, it was so great to watch. Everyone knew the songs, the proper steps and all the variations in between. Lucky me because I got to dance with two gentlemen, both of whom knew how to dance very well (contrary to what they each thought) and I had an absolute blast. Perhaps because I grew up doing so many things that left me as the minority (all-asian basketball team, all of middle school...etc) I didn't feel out of place in any way. And lastly, it was such a great workout. The merengue kicked my ass, but I got it down...sort of.