This past Saturday, I participated in Dance Marathon. It is a charity event in which the volunteers, or dancers, stand on their feet for 15 hours to raise money for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. I thought it was going to be like one of those crazy dance marathons from the 30s where people had to constantly dance until they were the last ones standing- literally standing. But there was actually a lot more than just dancing. Every hour, we would preform a morale dance that the leaders taught all of the dancers at the beginning of the event. For the rest of the hour, there were lots of games, inflatables, four-square, Wii, demonstrations by clubs like the Swing Society and Judo, and competitions like the classic passing-the-orange-neck-to-neck relay. If you have every seen Charade with Carey Grant and Audrey Hepburn, you know what I mean.
Every hour after the morale dance, families also shared their stories, and each team had an adopted family with whom we were able to spend time and do activities. My team's adopted family had two kids with Hirschsprung Disease which meant they were born without nerves in their lower digestive tracts. Nate, who is 11, receives the majority of his caloric and water intake via an IV through his chest every night. This has kept him alive even though the doctors thought he wouldn't make it past three months old. The problem is that he might have to get a liver transplant since it doesn't get used very much, and he is very prone to infections with the IV. He was a really cool kid, and beat me mercilessly at Wii boxing.
My legs held up pretty well until the last couple of hours. During Power Hour, all of the games were put away and everyone was in the dance room jumping up and down, fist pumping, swirling glowsticks, etc. That was the hardest part. Then, for the final hour, the total amount raised was released to the crowd- $260,000! Thank you so much to all who donated.
Speaking of dancing, I am taking an intro. to ballet class at ISU. I have always wanted to take a dance class, and it is a good break between three hours of lecture and three hours of art studio twice a week. Most of the people have not taken ballet, but there are a few that definitely know what they are doing. It's really fun but fast-paced, and I need to review the terms in our textbook. Yes, we had to buy a text book, and we will be tested on the terms at mid-term and finals. I'm hoping the class will make me more graceful and give me better posture- we'll see. Sometimes I think my movements resemble a chicken more than a swan.
This last paragraph is just a bunch of random stuff. I am still a GIRLS Power mentor until the end of the semester, and today we had one of our large group meetings where we learned self defense moves from the the judo club. You do not want to mess with me now. I also found out that one of my short stories I wrote for Creative Fiction Writing last fall was accepted into Sketch, a literary magazine produced once a semester at ISU with short stories, poems, and some photography. I was pretty pumped.
Have a great rest of the week- hopefully it gets warmer. My memories of Spain are becoming fonder with each layer I add before heading to another class.
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