It must have been the realization that my “carefree” days in the US is almost coming to an end that made me sign up for the beginning jazz dance class. Jazz dance is another thing that I never thought I would do.

Unlike spinning, this class requires me to work physically and mentally. Memorizing the steps, counting the beats, keeping up with the rest of the class, trying to not stand out like a sore thumb (believe me, it’s easy to look awkward when you move right as everyone else is moving left). But it’s a forgiving class since there is quite a large number of never-danced-before students.

I’m enjoying the jazz dance class. I even bought a pair of black leather slip-on jazz shoes I just need to put aside any inhibitions, try my best and not worry about how I look.

It’s funny how the Chinese dance culture evolved to become a performance-only activity. In Africa, dance is part of life. It’s not a teenage-thing. It’s not a clubbing-thing. It’s not a sexual-thing. It’s not a taboo-thing. My African friends dance at every single party: weddings, birthdays, baby dedications, graduations. It’s like laughing: everyone laughs when they hear or see something funny. So is their dancing: everyone dances when they are celebrating. There’s no awkwardness. There’s no good or bad dancing, just like there’s no good or bad walking/sitting/breathing.

Spinning (Indoor cycling): I absolutely love it. I’m not sure why I like it so much. During spinning, I have to physically work really hard, but at the same time, the rhythm of the cycling movements is very relaxing.

It is also a relatively “easy” form of exercise. Since I am controlling the resistance of the spinner (stationary bike), if it gets too tough, I can turn down the resistance or cycle slower. And there’s no choreography or movements to memorize (such as those in dance or aerobic classes).

Spinning is definitely less strenuous than running. Running is hard. I think I have given up on running. I started running just to push myself to do something that I never thought I would do. Even though I ran consistently for many months, I don’t think I really enjoyed running. I was slow and it was really tough mentally and physically to keep going and going.

Yeah, I love spinning

Oh, did I mention that I was in extreme pain after my first spinning class? And the extreme pain lasted 4 days!

My legs (especially my thighs) hurt so bad. It was painful to stand up. It was painful to sit down. It was painful to walk. It was painful to go down the stairs. It was painful to get into my car. I could hardly sleep because of the pain. I never imagined cycling could cause such intense chronic pain.

Thankfully, the pain went away after 1 week. Now spinning is pure enjoyment. However, it’s hard to sell spinning to my friends. I tell them it will hurt like crazy for 1 week but they will really like it after that. But my descriptions of my extremely painful week must be scaring them off.

Or maybe it is this Danish instructor that is scaring everyone away from spinning?

It went surprisingly well. The professors were very helpful. I didn’t feel like I was under attack. And the whole meeting lasted only 1.5 hours.

I have to make some changes to the manuscript and work on the required paper work to submit to the university’s Internal Review Board (IRB) to get permission to run my research with human subjects. If/when IRB approves my application, then I can start running my research.

Now that my dissertation proposal has been approved by my committee, I am now officially a doctoral candidate.