Day 10: Polka, waltz, ring right, now jump!

Alexandra enjoying a break from the Irish dancing.

I've been living next door to an absolute treasure for over a year without knowing it. Tonight, thanks to Ms. Alexandra, I have found it.

I connected with Alexandra through Couch Surfing. This is a very cool online network designed to help travelers find people upon whose couches to crash. It also is a decent way to meet people in one's own community, especially around here, because San Francisco = international headquarters. I haven't actually participated in any Couch Surfing events of any kind, local or not, but I've been on the mailing list for about 6 months now and it seemed an obvious place to look for new encounters.

I proposed a few options of ways to meet up with Alexandra, and she being brilliant and prescient agreed that Irish Dancing at the Starry Plough sounded fun. I was a little late getting there and she was a little early, and waited very patiently for me to arrive. We had a chance to chat a bit before the festivities started, so I got to hear about her experiences living in St. Petersburg and her childcare job search and why she wouldn't want to live away from a big city ($10 opera is key).

Then the evening begin. A very nice man whose name I didn't catch spent a good hour teaching a bunch of beginners how to bob and slide and step in an Irish sort of way and in complicated lovely patterns. Then the band kicked up and the dancing began.

Alexandra is, I quote, "NOT a dancer," but she did great. I got the chance to be her partner at one point and we waltzed our way around the floor. The best part was her enormous smile.

I also found myself absolutely delighted to be slung left and right by all manner of experienced dancers, including a gentleman named Patrick who has at least 50 years on me but sure could spin me great. I stayed to the end, even including the final waltz, during which my partner had to teach me how to count but by the end we were doing OK.

It was SO fun. I'm SO going back. And I hope Alexandra comes too, because the only difference between a dancer and not a dancer is getting out of your chair....