Bom dia, gente

So! I think I'm starting to get used to this living-in-Brazil thing...about 4 weeks after having arrived, but it's cool, better late than never. Anyways, I have a few minutes now before class and even though I want to write about everything I've been seeing, doing, meeting, loving, questioning, I'll stick to a them to cut down the time limit. Today's theme: capoeira.
For those of you who have never heard of it, it's Brazil's answer to kickboxing. You may see it in street demonstrations in large cities, composed of a large circle of people clapping and singing while two people perform flowy, dance-like moves with a martial arts flair. You might think, wow, how cool, that would be so much fun! I could do that, no problem!
Fast-forward to when you decide to go with a newly-made Brazilian friend to HIS capoeira school:
it's a crowded high-rise tucked back behind one of the small praças (plazas) along a cobble-stone road that is just wide enough to fit a small weight room on the first floor with a tiny winding blue staircase that leads up up up to the third floor where tattooed TOUGH-looking Brazilians are pounding away on a little weight bag while you gawk and try to be polite by interesting yourself in the pictures of past competitions and expositions on the wall. People gradually trickle in, greeting each other with a handshake that seems a little different but you're not sure just yet what makes it different..until you try to do it and get your fingers all twisted up because you have to interlock them to get it down right. Some guys start doing break-dancing like moves, and all of the sudden everyone has arrived at the top floor, the trap-door leading to the staircase is shut, and it's ON. And actually, it's kick-ass.
We started out just by stretching and limbering, doing some typical stretches then segueing into movement by "ginga"-ing: getting into a stance with a bent leg forward, the other behind, with one arm up to "block" while the other hangs loose, swithing arms and legs at the same time by stepping up and then immediately stepping the other leg back.
AH! CLASS!
to be continued...:)