twists in the park

When they're not in their nursing homes, or browsing the digital highway, elderly are often found in the parks. This is one of the many things they do: they dance! With the speakers blasting, they twist & twirl in dusk and dawn. It's Latin dances, waltzes, and self-invented pirouettes. 

Aging is a bit of a problem in China. With the one-child policy coming into effect in the '70's of last century, the expansion of the population has slowed down and shown even negative growth in some areas. Four grandparents, two parents, and only one little emperor to take care of all six of them. It's a heavy burden on the shoulders of the young work force. The current fertility rate in Shanghai is the world's lowest at 0.7, below the level to maintain a healthy population.

One phenomenon related to the aging population are the health shops that you see everywhere. Inside these little shops are lectures about the human body, people getting dialysis, full body check up, etc. And of course, these shops are in the park...

Bedouin wedding

Wednesday night we attended the wedding of a Bedouin girl and her husband. Both were from different areas, the one from a more modern tribe than the other. Dinner is hardly over when everyone starts to dance, and from there on pictures have to tell the story.

schudden met die...

07 juli

schudden met die...

vanochtend de eerste dans les, oef, met je ene voet iets anders dan je andere voet, draaien met je heupen, schudden met je billen, je schouders flex en dan je ene hand draaien en de andere schuiven. TEGELIJK! dat is me nog eens integratie, daar kan geen gastgezin tegen op. Nee serieus, het was lachen, en in de pauze gingen we de Margarena doen en een poging tot de klompendans en was het helemaal af.

overal moeten tranen worden gedroogd, wat een leerprocessesen allemaal, niet alleen voor hen maar ook voor mij.

iedere ochtend als iedereen aan komt klinkt er overal, goedemorgen, goe gaat get? terwijl de nederlanders hard op hun Swahili zitten te zwoegen doen de tanzanianen dapper mee in het nederlands.