Week Without Walls: Day 2

Right now I am holding back a smile that just refuses to stay hidden. I cannot help but smile when I think about today; our first day of SALSA DANCING for Week Without Walls. Here is a brief brief summary of my day.

9am: Class starts. Ever kid gets a water bottle for them to decorate and hold as their own for the week. Hydration is essential and the students love having something for themselves.

9:30am- Yoga with Ms. Quane. Cue creepy medication music. Lights off. You can imagine the giggles when we did downward facing dog. Their laughter was a signal that this was too easy. They weren't laughing after our ab workout :)

10am-10:45- Walk to the bus stop. The 10:15am bus never arrives so we wait for the 10:45am bus. After realizing how bad Oakland transportation is, I vowed to my students that we will be writing letters to our congress person demanding changes. Just Me, Caroline, and 20 Oakland students on a street corner with a boom box. Good thing crack heads don't hang around at that hour. We had dance offs and plenty of snacks to keep us going.

11am-11:45 BART ride. Apparently our main activity today was WAITING for transportation. This is the best WWW ever! lol

12pm-2pm: Salsa Class begins. The first move the ladies learn: Diva walk. The next move: ladies put their hands on the guy's chests and shake their bootie. The guys dip left and right. Salsa just got a bit more spicy! The kids loved it, the teacher's loved it, and we were laughing the entire time. Even the most shy anti-dancing guys in our group were up in front showing their stuff. By the end people were practicing moves on each other and twirling people around. Smiles were everywhere. I even walked into the girl's bathroom to over hear some of the shy freshmen girls:

"OMG did you see it when he did that move! I almost died. It was so funny!"
"I know. I didn't think that I would get it, but I did."
"I am so excited to do this tomorrow."
"How did I look? I know I looked good!"
"I'm going to go home and practice to get ready for tomorrow"
"I really appreciate all of the hard work Ms. Quane and Srta. Braun put into Week Without Walls because I am learning so much and having fun at the same time! Thank you to everyone who donated too!"

Well, all but the last one is true, but I hope by tomorrow they will be preaching their thanks to us and everyone who made this amazing even possible. I must say that seeing their smiles really made this entire YEAR worth it. When students ask me, "Are we coming back tomorrow?" and I say, "YES" I can't help but glow when they start jumping up and down excitedly. Yes, these are my hard core Oakland students jumping with giddy joy. These are the moments I need to soak in because I know that they don't last long.

Itinerary for the week: 2 more days of dancing (crafts in the morning), and performance on FRIDAY in front of the school. Even if everything turns to hell, I will remember the amazingness of today. More adventures to come!

<3 Ms. Quane

P.s. As I was walking down the streets of West Oakland with my students, a car stops and yells my name out the window. Who was it? UNCLE TIM! Yes, my dad's brother randomly sees me on the street. What are the chances of that?!?! Funny thing is, my students kept saying, "OOooo! Ms. Q we thought that was your boyfriend. We know you like older men." Sick and disturbing on so many levels, but a good laugh none the less.