Well, after I returned from Florida recently, I decided to join the senior center in my local town. It's only five minutes away from my house (so it's convenient) and the center is an expansive one-floor brick building that sits on a beautiful landscaped campus. The commission of aging office is situated to the side of the building and they are responsible for managing this senior center. I explored the center this week.
This is what I learned:
You have to go in and sign up and they give you a badge which you wear on a strap hanging from your neck. Every time you come in, you swipe the badge in front of a machine reader. You also need to preregister for classes online. Each day there are different classes, so it doesn't get boring.
On Monday, I took a square dancing class. There were four men and about five of us women. A square consists of four men and four women. They stand as couples that form a square. Two couples are "heads" and two couples are "sides." Everyone was friendly. I sat in the beginning and watched the teacher give them the prompts, like "dosie-do your partner, promenade, circle to the left," etc. He had brought his recording table to play small 45 records of oldies. There are about 50 or so prompts. I still have to learn them. The teacher also sang a few songs with the prompts. I was also allowed to dance with the group. It is an intricate dance and if one person makes a mistake, there's a domino effect that affects the group. But if you are with a good dancer, they will immediately set you straight, and that's what happened to me. By the end of the class, I was able to perform some steps with my partner(s). It's called social dancing because you and your partner hold hands throughout the dance. Sometimes they switch the partners around. There's quite a bit of hand touching, which is really good for the psyche. The good thing is that they didn't move fast, but went at a good pace so I could keep up with all the moves. I felt safe in this friendly environment.
After that class on Monday, I had a short break and then took a strength-training class in the afternoon. We sat mostly in our chairs and followed a video of an older woman doing strength-training exercises (upper and lower body workout using weights). It was really good. We moved our arms up and down and to the sides, and over our heads, etc. Then we did leg movements to the sides, etc.
On Tuesday, I did not take any exercise classes, but instead, focused on watercolor classes (beginner class followed by advanced class). I had brought with me my paint supplies (from a watercolor class I took earlier in the year). The teacher basically left us alone, but walked around observing and making suggestions. I met a lot of people in these classes (men and women) and people were painting and walking around the different tables (while their paints dried), admiring watercolor paintings and introducing themselves to me. Several stopped by and chatted with me. I chose a painting from one of the calendars that were provided to work on. I brought the painting home to finish. I think I would not take both classes in the future because it was a lot of sitting and the chairs are hard. I will probably opt for the advanced class in the future because they were more sociable and I enjoyed their paintings so much.
Wednesday, today, was quite eventful. I joined the walkers in the morning and we walked outside the senior center. We did four laps which equals a mile. They have steps painted on the ground to lead us and for each lap, there's a marker that we use. There were four of us. I walked with the program director and told her about myself. She's very friendly. Two gentlemen also walked with us. Afterward, I went to listen to the band which was composed of a husband and wife team. They played several instruments (synthesizer, saxophone, trumpet, drums) and sang along. The tunes were good - Jambalaya, Under the Boardwalk, and other tunes, etc. They said we could get up and dance, so I did. I went to the far corner of the large room, and the program director who I had walked with earlier came and joined me (she told me she didn't want me to dance alone, which was kind of her). It was not any wild dancing, but moving the arms and legs in sync with the songs. We did clapping also, and everyone sang along with the couple. Afterward, I stopped by the Basic Drawing class and watched how to draw certain shapes, but by 1:00PM I was feeling a little ragged and decided to not attend the chair dancing class (I had already done my dancing for the day!). I came home and ate breakfast and got ready to watch a webinar at 2pm. Now, taking a break and writing all this down.
I wish I had gone to the center earlier, but Covid really did a number on me. I learned that a lot of older people that used to come to the center are afraid to leave their homes after Covid. I can understand that. We don't have to wear masks, but there are wipes and sanitizers in each room, and after using the tables/chairs, we are asked to wipe them down. They also have coffee and pastries on a table. In another room, they have bagged bread and bagels (from Panera, etc) that people could take home with them. I didn't take anything because I'm on a keto diet, but it's nice that they do that. They haven't opened up the cafeteria since Covid, but people can still go in there and sit.
I am looking forward to tomorrow's classes!
