Week 22: The Aerobics Class

fter three months at site I discovered there is an aerobics class in my village. Excited by the fitness enthusiasm and invited by one of the teachers I went to the aerobics class this week. What the teacher failed to mention is that I would be teaching the class. My aerobics history involves playing in the basement in a leotard, while my mother did step aerobics, clearly I am a very qualified teacher. Luckily this teaching opportunity also coincided with a recent half hearted motivation to work out which usually ended with me laying on my floor while Jillian Michaels workout videos played. In the moment I felt lazy for not working out but in hindsight I now realize that I was simply preparing for my new aerobics teaching. Lunges and squats may not be stereotypical “aerobic” moves, but if they work for Jillian Micheals then they are good enough for the aerobics class in Moshana.

I may have never envisioned myself as an aerobics teacher or class attendee however that has been the highlight of my week. Squats have never been so fun as I find myself squatting all the way down to the ground and collapsing with laughter based on the varied interpretations of what a “squat” means and looks like. I am sure that I look just as funny as the other participants, however since there are no mirrors I can only see the ridiculousness of what my classmates look like. Including the open interpretation of butt kicks to mean fist pumping and taking photos of themselves, hey we all work out in different ways. After one week of classes I think my abs may have gotten a better work out from all of the laughter then my body did from the “aerobics.”