Change du cavalier!

I went to a senior club the other day for a ball.  Okay, it was a guy playing guitar and a bunch of people dancing, but it was called a ball.  It was really great to see them all having such a good time!  They were excited about the songs and dancing with each other, and it was a really festive atmosphere.  I had a lot of fun dancing too, although I’m pretty horrible at following people.  One person called me out on it and said “what are you doing?”…I think it was clear I was dancing.  It was also awkward because I was taller than most of them, so spinning around required some flexible moves on my part. 

There were a lot of line dances which were pretty amusing, including a Spanish one that talks about a grandmother who drinks and smokes all the time (la abuela bebe la abuela fuma), and one dance where the singer would announce to change partners (change du cavalier!).  It made me kind of sad that our generation doesn’t dance like that, and I wonder what it will be like for us when we’re older…will we learn that style of dancing and listen to classics?  Or will we be grinding to Get Low?  (I hope not…that sounds weird). 

They also had a snack in the afternoon (so cute!) where they distributed small croissants and pastries.  I said I didn’t want any because I wasn’t hungry, but this one guy was pretty insistent.  And after I said no several times, he asked the director of the club if I could put them in my purse.  And she said sure.  I didn’t even want them in my purse…but he said “it’s okay, everybody does it, put it in your purse!”  I was pretty embarrassed, so he took me into the hallway and wrapped it in napkins and gave it to me to put in my purse.  And I noticed a lot of other people did it as well, which made me kind of sad.  I’ve definitely done it before (yay for dining halls), but for some reason it felt worse seeing older people do it…like they weren’t sure where or when they’d get their next meal.  It’s good not to waste food though!