Mariana wanted to dance...

Yesterday we went to a restaurant called Orakulo because Mariana wanted to dance. It was a beautiful brick building with tables to sit, a live band up front, and room to dance. Kelson's friend, Ricardo, came with us (I think he was Mariana's "date"). It was great to sit and listen to the music and watch people dance. The crowd was mostly older than Kelson and Zairinha, and some of them really went at it on the dance floor! The dance that night was a mix of slower and a couple faster samba-type songs. (I can't tell the difference between the beats - don't tell Kelson, he would be dissapointed ;) ) Mariana and Ricardo danced quite a bit, and Kelson took Zairinha and I both out for one song. It was fun to sit and watch the dances, they all seemed to know at least the basics of how to move, but some of the joy was robbed because it made me miss Murilo like crazy. I would have given quite a bit at that point in order to have him with me to sit and watch or dance with. Sigh... how many more days? One older gentleman (75 years old?) asked me to dance, but I said no because I only wanted to dance with Murilo.

Our favorite person to sit and watch was a local dance professor. He worked his way

around this table of older women and brought them all out to dance one by one. Some of the women were practically professionals themselves, and the ones that weren't quite there he taught how to dance - it was really fun to watch. As he took the last lady out Kelson leaned over and said, jokingly, to me, "you're ne

xt!" I laughed and said I only wanted to dance with Murilo, which didn't make it through the translation, so I said, "Murilo wouldn't like it." That was a mistake. His mom laughed and said, "he's a professional! It doesn't matter." I've never heard Kelson laugh so hard. Ricardo just shook his head, but Mariana got fired up. She marched over to me and shaking a stern finger said, "You WILL dance with him. He is a professional and Murilo would not care." And then she marched up to the teacher, had a couple words with him, and low an behold, I was pushed out onto the floor. He was a good teacher, and taught me how to dance quickly. The dance turned into a circle of old women going crazy - they were so much fun! He taught me how to dance

another song, and that one eventually turned into a line of women, and he taught us a couple different steps. I think I like Samba! I still only want one partner, though...