Brasil Day nine

It is the end of my weekend and I did almost nothing for two days… Thank God. After ‘hell week’, as Kelib and I refer to it, I needed a physical and mental rest. I have only had five days of school and this is my first week… It is hard for me to comprehend these facts for in my head it seems so much longer. I know once things start to become habitual and routine time will slip through my hands like dry sand. But for now, days seem like ages.

This last Friday I went to my first Samba club. Crazy place. I went with my roommates and we all shared a taxi and drove the 20 minutes out of the city into a kind of ‘favela’ like neighborhood. The club looked like all of the run down buildings crowed on the narrow street, old with no signs or any hint as to what lay inside. We walked in and being some of the first people to arrive I was not very impressed. The club was a single room with a stage on one end, a dance floor in front of it and tables lining both sides. It reminded me of any rundown bar in the States. A band was tuning there instruments on the rickety stage; two guitars, one of which was played by a 70 year old man that needed help getting on and off the platform, two drums, and a ukulele. We took a seat close to the band and ordered a few cervejas and I started soaking up as much Portuguese as I could.

The band started play about twenty minutes after arriving. They were good, playing traditional samba, as my friends informed me. It was at this time when more and more people started piling in the small room. The background noises went from a pleasant melody of soft conversations to a roar that often accompanies large crowds. The energy level rose very quickly and within ten minute the dance floor was full with people moving in a quick but very fluid motion with the up beat samba music. The music was loud, people were dancing and the night had begun.

It was not long before the group made me get up and start to learn the difficult beat and the movements that comprised the Samba dance. And you can be sure seeing my first steps were nothing short of funny, and that might be an understatement. To do things right one has to synchronize their feet, legs, hips and music. I have trouble doing two things at once so getting to a point that at least mimicked the experienced dancers was an accomplishment.

Watching the people that could dance was really cool. The men controlled the dance, flinging girls into spins, dip and drops while the women went with the flow. A good couple looked as if they were in a movie with a practiced dance routine, never missing a step, always with the beat, and always smiling and laughing with each move. It was something to see. These Brazilians loved dancing to their Samba music, and most people didn’t stop until after 2:00 am.

In the taxi ride home I thought about the differences between the world I grew up in and the one I was now introduced to. I am very thankful for so much that I have and have had, a safe place to live, a beautiful family, good education; but there things that this culture has that I have rarely lived. I don’t know all of the songs that everyone here seems to know, I don’t watch every game that my team plays, screaming with joy when they win and having a bad day if they loose. Life is different here, and I am thankful to be somewhere that lets me see another side of things. I am in the Jungle… I must now study this foreign language because as I have learned before, wishing to learn something never works as well as working hard and studying. I love you all and until the next time I write… Tchau.