Well, I’ve been having great fun here in Edmonton. I’ve got two more weeks left, then I go back to Beijing.
Here’s my first adventure. Within days of first arriving here, I developed a severe toothache in my bottom right molar. It would come and go in severity, but sometimes it would even cause a pretty bad headache and I wouldn’t be able to sleep well because of it. I noticed swelling down inside the mouth near the root line, so I really didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t think it was a cavity gone really bad. So within a few days I was able to see the dentist for my annual checkup and cleaning, and he investigated for me. It took an extra X-ray, but he was able to confirm that I had a tiny bone fragment in my gums making its way out. It came from the dental surgery I had way back in high school. Apparently it takes that long for stuff to work its way out of the body. With a bit of freezing (thankfully!), he was able to get a hold of it and pull it out. Within hours, my tooth settled back to normal and I haven’t had any pain from it since. The dentist said it would probably have taken the fragment six months or so to come out on its own. Ouch! So I’m very thankful that it happened now when I could have it looked at in Canada. Thanks, God!
After my Saskatchewan trip, I gave my friend Carl a call. He was my original introduction to swing dancing when I was studying for my master’s degree. To my great happiness, he told me that his club was still running and that they had lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays, plus there would be a social at the beginning of October. Great! The club is called Swing-Out Edmonton, if you want to have a look. I consequently joined the beginner and intermediate classes on the next Monday. We learned a dance step called the Balboa in the intermediate class, plus we worked on a step called the Grapevine. The beginner class is Lindy Hop, and it was more round of a style than I am used to. The follows don’t go back and forth in a line like we’ve learned in Beijing. I adapted somewhat. My follows didn’t seem too confused, and there were no casualties.
Last night was the social. I brought my Mom so I could teach her swing and also show her how I could dance. We had fun. The dance took place in the Orange Hall in Old Strathcona. About 40 people came. Before it started, Carl was busy getting the sound equipment ready, and since he’s an Electrical Engineer, I assumed he would be able to figure it out, and because of the male pride thing, I assumed he would be able to figure it out, and because of the male pride thing, I stayed away. But later I noticed he was having trouble (it was a different setup than they normally have) so I jumped in and quickly discovered that I was the sound equipment expert for the night. All I had to do was move a few of the inputs into the proper channels and then show him what the various controls do. I didn’t have to play DJ. I knew my Mom would want to leave early, and since I’m sporting a cold still, I don’t have my usual stamina, so we left at 11 p.m. I could have danced longer, of course, but it was better for me to go home and sleep. Neither of us are sore this morning, so that’s great! A fun night of good music and good dancing. I love it!