theflailingtrail

Jindabyne has been a rollercoaster. Because there’s very little snow this year, the tourist economy is doing exceptionally poorly, and the season workers that have come from anywhere and everywhere aren’t making enough money to feed themselves.

I’ve had a good mix of days where I want to be anywhere else, and days where I don’t care how poor I am because I’m having so much fun. The problem is though… I’m running out of time to make money on this visa…

Which is why it’s so nice that Jindabyne has so many fun free events! We poorly workers can have a life without sacrificing our life!

As we discussed in a previous post, Jindabyne has monthly line dancing. I missed the last one because *we weren’t here yet*, but now we’re a month into working here and I made it to the very first line dance that I’ve ever been to! And it was absolutely amazing.

Banjos hosts it alongside Cooma’s very own line dance teacher Riley. And please, oh please, let me tell you the story like it happened.

I walk into the bar, and at the back, they have a decent sized event space. And this event space is filled with people. Normally I don’t do crowds, but there was something about the joy and excitement everyone felt, and how warm and friendly they all were, that the crowd didn’t feel so tight and scary. I’m often worried about being trampled (because it happens to me a lot), but people were so careful about sharing space and being kind.

And so I stepped into a Hallmark Christmas flick.

The mountains were snow tipped, suffering, and the small town was cheerful and positive that things would get better. People of all ages and many backgrounds gathered to share a dance, and I was pleased to see a fair bit of men had come to join in – something I’m not used to back home in the world of hyper “masculinity” and fragile egos. Everyone here was ready for a good time, and everyone was friends for the hours.

In walks the instructor. Just like in the movies, he’s fantastically tall, broad shoulders, and has a mess of curls atop his head. Now when I say he’s movie tall, I want you to consider that as he walked past me, I had a nervous giggle because I had to look up just to find his shoulder. Completely dressed like a country lad, charming smile included, he sauntered, cowboy boots and all, to the front of the room and picked up a microphone.

Then we danced.

I was surprised how exhausting it was, and how difficult some of the dances were. And now don’t get me wrong, this is not me telling you that this is a strong dancers only event. Every misstep had us all laughing our guts out as we stumbled into each other over and over and over again. Everyone stepped carefully, and no matter how many times I was bumped into, I never got hurt (huge for me since I’m just a smol person who is frequently hurt by randoms bumping into me).

My scene in the movie hits it’s high point as we all step to the side, instruction done for a few songs, and the instructor tells us that if we know it, we’re free to dance. Tell me, strangers of the internet (you don’t need to tell me, I’m just adding dramatic effect), how half the room stayed on the dance floor and danced along with him, knowing every step, big smiles on their faces, and looked like professionals. Let me tell you, strangers, how I realized that I’m not the main character of this Hallmark movie, and looked out over the crowd to try to peg who might be the belle of the ball, here for a short time to visit her small town family and escape her corporate city job, only to fall for the handsome line dance instructor. One woman stood out, and the way she danced had me enthralled. And like the rest of the room, she was so pretty.

I never saw the two interact, but I suppose the movie’s only just started, and maybe he’ll offer to buy her a drink, or help her change a tire the next day and she’ll recognize him.

Moral of the story, children, is go experience life no matter the chains the bind you. Let joy carry them so they don’t weigh you down.

Also, do more research than I did about where you’re going and who you’re working for so that you maybe you can have fun and not be poor.