Fake it til you make it

             This week some of my projects took a step forward while others took a step back. With the encouragement of the local nurse and many women from the community I started up an exercise class. Back in the states I always romanticized about attending regular exercise classes, meeting potential new friends while getting my sweat on, and essentially becoming more fit. In reality I have sampled many different types of classes, worked out plans on a calendar, and bought up several groupons to gyms that I never seemed to be able to fulfill the 7 classes for $30. Needless to say while I have dabbled in many types of exercise, I was starting up these classes pretty blind. I figured all I needed was some good music, and the moves and stretches would just flow back to my memory. I posted signs around the community announcing that I would hold classes Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the health post. I even hand delivered small reminders to women around town and received enthusiastic responses that they would definitely be there.  My hopes were high enough to ignore the fact that I didn’t really know how to lead an exercise class.

                  Tuesday evening rolls around and at 6:00pm I head to the health post to find the two nurses sitting there finishing up paper work, and two of my potential woman talking with the nurses, their babies on their back, and sandals that seem to say they are not there to do exercises. We joke that they are actually going to do the class, but it is clearly a joke. The nurse assures me that she has told all the fat people in town to come, and that I just have to wait out the Peruvian tardiness. At 6:15 the cousin of one of the nurses shows up and I have renewed hope that there might be people for my class so I wait out the paper work of the nurses, and say goodbye to the women and their babies who have to go prepare dinner. By 6:45 it is clear that no one is going to come and I have once again been tricked by the Peruvian urge to please, but the lack of follow through when it comes to actually showing up. However the nurses and cousin seem invested so we put on the jams and I start with a basic side step jump to get the blood going. I try out some fancy turns with the shaking of the hips, we do some lunges, squats, jumping jacks but my urge is to move through the exercises fast and I find that we have hit every part of the body before one song is done. The second song consists of a lot of random jumping around with our hands in the air and laughing at the three year old daughter of one of the nurses who is imitating our every move. Ten minutes in and I have already gone through all my exercise materials so we circle back around to the side step. Outwardly I have a large laughing smile, but inwardly I am at a loss as to how those exercise instructors can take up a whole half hour let alone an hour!

                  We push forward trying to not stop moving, which results in a lot of jumping up and down, and the nurses throw out some suggestions, but my cover is blown and it becomes clear that even though I go on runs most days I have very little knowledge of how to hold an exercise class. I throw out some of my classic dance floor moves and we try out some Peruvian folk music, which proves to be too slow for our fast paced jumping. By the end of class we are all sweating and laughing and talking about what parts of our bodies we want to lose weight, it feels like I am right back in America. Overall they seem happy and promise to spread the word next class. With their enthusiasm I am convinced that even if I only had one person other than the people I organized the classes with, it was worth it.

After the class I go running home, and give my host mom and my host god sister disapproving looks trying to portray my fake frustration that they didn’t come to my classes even though all day they promised they would. My god sister holds up a small cut on her finger and proclaims that since she cut her finger while cutting tomatoes that she was unfit to exercise. We laughed together at the fact that I had very few members in my class, and my host dad proclaimed that he would never marry anyone that is skinny for this was a sign that the woman had no interest in cooking and therefore could not cook well.  The following classes I had two more participants, that I had to drag to class from their homes but afterwards they admitted they enjoyed it. I continue to remind people to come, and with the energy of the nurse’s cousin I go back every class hopefully and unashamed that my exercise classes mainly consist of us jumping around like monkeys with some wall sits, and sit-ups thrown in every so often.

                  Other project successes include getting an environmental club started with a group of elementary students, and while the first meeting reminded me at how disobedient students are here, I am excited for the potential of this group. The school is proving to be the easiest institute to work with, as the teachers are eager for me to come in and take over their classes. The municipality is rarely open, and the tree nursery is busy planting pine trees, so in the meantime I am working my way through many books, hiking around the mountains, and twiddling my thumbs waiting for Spanish vocabulary to voluntarily stick in my brain.