Hello Brissy!

Here I am: in Brisbane! Good bye the horrible cold weather in Helsinki and hello the nice warm Australian summer days. Well, my first days weren't really that glorious as I imagined. I didn't spend my days on the beach nor partied with students, no; I spent my days house hunting, that is, browsing different adds with my iPad hoping to find the perfect place. I never thought I would come to Australia and feel so stressed! But you know what did the change? You got it right: dancing.

Before I got here I was emailing with Larissa if I could take any of their Zouk classes when I get here and she permitted me to come to their advanced class to see how I go. So Thursday night I headed down the Valley with my heart going wild. What if I'm so much worse than everyone else? What if they laugh me out of there? So I step in and there is this huge crowd of dancers. I got kind of a festival feeling; you know those big classes where you know no one and hardly can see the teachers - that kind of feeling! I shouldn't have asked around how long people had been dancing Zouk; I lacked five or more years to their experience. Great way to put some more pressure on myself! What we did in the class was quite challenging figure, something really different to F&A's figures. How did I do then? Well, I was invited to Kadu's master class on Monday so I guess I passed the test! I came home with a big smile that night.

I'm lucky to have friends in Brisbane with who I can stay before I find my own place and who introduce me to the locals. I got to know to one Zouk dancer who knew just what is happening in the dance scene. Every other Friday night they are having these Zouk nights in Rio Rhytmics in West End so that's where we headed last night. And bam, I'm back to the festivals. Room full of great dancers you never danced with not knowing where to start! Like a small kid in a candy shop! Before I noticed I was already in the dance floor not able to leave it. After couple of great dances I grabbed Kadu from the DJ booth really looking forward to dance with him again after a long time (last time was in Amsterdam one year ago and I still remember my big smile after our dance). He is a great dancer, no doubt about that. I was looking for Larissa too but couldn't find her.

I don't know if I made a weird first impression of myself in the party though. There was three girls having their birthday, which means birthday dance of course, and I thought taking part as a leader. Well, apparently girls don't lead around here! One guy even asked me later on when asking me for a dance if I danced with guys at all or if it was just girls! I sure made my appearance.

Anyway, the party was just great. People are so nice here and you wouldn't be sitting alone next to the dance floor for a long time. Even though there were lots of people same leaders came to ask me for a dance again, which always makes me feel like they must have liked dancing with me. There was one leader with who I especially liked dancing with; great connection from the beginning. When I was going home I thought: this festival is going to last for the next six months! How awesome is that?!

Well, I'd better get ready for tonight's party! Oh, and tomorrow there's going to be Zouk all day long, from noon till dawn. I sure picked the right place to come!