An around-the-world adventure

Where we went on our trip.

Last year, my family and I took a gap year and traveled around the world. We started in Paris and after 8 months of constant traveling, we arrived back in San Francisco. In total, we flew around the world one and a half times. Here is the list of where we went:

• Nicaragua 🇳🇮
• Guatemala 🇬🇹
• Belize 🇧🇿
• Stopped in LA
• Passed through Bangkok, Thailand 🇹🇭
• Myanmar 🇲🇲
• Laos 🇱🇦
• Cambodia 🇰🇭
• Melbourne, Australia 🇦🇺
• Vanuatu 🇻🇺
• Fiji 🇫🇯
• Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺
• Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
• Seychelles 🇸🇨
• Boston, USA 🇺🇸

A lot of the countries and types of dances that I will post here on will be from this gap year!

✈ Stay tuned for more about this crazy adventure! ✈

Ahlan wa sahlan from Egypt

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Have you guys ever heard of the Great Pyramids of Giza? You definitely have but you maybe haven’t heard of Luxor Temple, Aswan and the Valley of the Kings. And that is why I’m here. I’m not going to give you a boring history lesson like the ones you get in school but try to keep up, […]

International translations

These are translations of words from previous posts. If you click the word it will link to the post where it is mentioned.

Liliuokalani…………………………………………………….Hawai’ian………………………………………………Hawaii’s last queen

Mbalax.…………………………………………………………..Wolof……………………………………………………Rhythm

Ahlan wa sahlan………………………………………………Egyptian Arabic………….Hello/Welcome

 

Senegal

I went to Senegal for the 2014 New Years Eve so I wanted to do a post about their dance. I thought I was really good while I was dancing. But looking back at the video I was horrible and way too stiff!

I didn’t understand much about Senegalese dance, but it must have some tradition, story, ritual or base behind it so I did some research.

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There is Mbalax, it was created around 1970. Mbalax is a type of music. It’s a mix of soul, blues, jazz, R&B, rock, and Senegalese drums. Even though French is the official language in Senegal these songs are in Wolof (the most common language in Senegal). There is a fun, festive, unique, quirky, modern side to this dance and that is why I like it. Watch this video:

 

 

 

Olé!

Flamenco is a mix of several cultures and dances. It comes from Greek, Roman, Indian, Moorish, and Jewish cultures and dances. Originally flamenco was not a dance, it was a song, chant or cry that was accompanied with rhythm (the beating of a stick on the ground for example). Interestingly in flamenco there are usually either twelve, three, or four beats, as opposed to the way we’re used to: eight beats.

Now for the fun part. Watch this video and if you want to you can learn the steps with me.

Thanks to:  expertvillage (from YouTube)

Do you want any tapas?

In Barcelona they don’t speak Spanish they speak Catalan. Catalan is a language close to Spanish but it developed differently. First I’m going to talk about the food. In Barcelona, they serve a lot of tapas. Tapas are very small servings of reheatable food. You usually order a few of them for diversity. Tapas can be crappy; it can just be an already made omelet ( a few days old and reheated ). But it can also be very good; a few fresh sandwiches and vegetables. Also, in Barcelona, strangely enough they made really good fruit juices.

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It turns out we were there during Halloween. So, we got dressed up in what we had brought just in case Spain celebrated Halloween (for me: scarves as a gypsy and for my sister: a flamenco dancer outfit that we had just bought). At Desigual, they gave me and my sister a knife headband.

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We also saw how candy was made at a shop/small factory. First they made a big candy version of the candy. They then stretched it out until it was tiny. It was then hardened and cut into tiny sucking candies.

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Hola, bienvenidos a Espana

Yes, you guessed it we’re going to Spain to learn about flamenco dancing. But first, I have to show you around.

Barcelona was amazing and the thing I remember most about it was the architecture, by Gaudi.

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My favorite Gaudi building was the Casa Batlo:

    The house was designed in 1904. It was amazing!! I loved the colors, on and inside the house, because they blended in with each other very well. The architecture was very different from what you usually see in day to day life. The walls inside and outside are not completely straight. Some are almost bent in two and some have just a a small curve. The stairs were also very unusual: they were like icicles dripping down onto the floor. I’m very into architecture now and I was probably influenced by Gaudi and Barcelona.

(http://www.casabatllo.es/es/marca/)

 

 

 

The Sagrada Familia was good too:

    I didn’t like it as much as Casa Batlo, but it was definitely more famous and crowded. Sagrada Familia is a church that Gaudi made the plans for. They started building it during his lifetime, but when he died, it still wasn’t finished. When I visited it, it was almost done, from my perspective at least. As you can see in the photo, they only need to finish the top of the towers. The whole building looks like dripping icicles (only the outside) and on the inside (as you saw in the photos above) it is a white wall and a white roof with flowers carved into it. There are also white columns that divide into a few thinner tangled columns, like upside down trees with their roots.

 

 

 

 

If you like Gaudi, I think you’ll like this video: http://faithtap.com/2211/man-carves-sculpture-inside-caves/

Speak to God or dance away

I’m now going to talk about Whirling Dervishes that I saw in Turkey. The “dancers” are actually Islamic monks who  have been trained to do this since they were 5 years old. They try to connect to God by spinning around and around. At first it was a ceremony only for the monks, but now it’s also a tourist attraction. To start, watch this video of the ceremony (this video is rather long so take a peek starting from 1min45).

Since you’re not allowed to take videos during the performance, I had to get this video from Youtube (from Chaîne de pavdb092).

Known to the West as Whirling Dervishes, the members of the Mevlevi Order (named for their founder Mevlana) from Konya, Turkey lived in what we might call cloisters or monasteries – what to them was a Mevlevihane. From the 14th to the 20th century, they influenced classical poetry, calligraphy, the visual arts, and music. Orthodox Muslims rejected music saying it hurt the listener’s religious life, so the Mevlud (Whirling Dervish) music was the only one to develop.

All in all, Whirling Dervishes isn’t my favorite dance. It is just OK but it is an interesting and cultural experience.

Visiting Turkey

Before I go into dance, I will be your tour guide for our mini tour of Turkey.

Capadoccia:

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Cappadocia is an area of natural rock formations and a beautiful place to go hot air ballooning.

This is Ephesus:

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Ephesus is a Greek city now in ruins. It was built in the 10th century BC and flourished during the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

And this is Istanbul:

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The Blue Mosque is one of the most famous sights in Istanbul. It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I.

Learn Irish Dance (movie)

Here is a movie that I created. I recommend you try to learn and do the dance steps with us:

This is my last post on Irish dancing. I’m not going to tell you my next topic; you’ll just have to come back and see where I visit next! ♥

This video was filmed at the Sarah Clark School of Irish Dance in Paris: http://www.sarah-clark-academy.com/en

The music was taken from The Red Haired Boy by Eddie Murphy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIpfv0eTn4s