'Let me take you to Rio, Rio...'

Hi all,

I remember that just before Christmas last year, I wrote some entries reflecting on my time in Brazil and how music and lyrics shaped my experience... all the cute little Brazilian songs I learned from my friends in Juiz de Fora (and other places) and sang them around :) A couple of days ago I heard a Brazilian sertanejo (a kind of folksy music genre) song on Dutch radio - and it has been played again since then. It went something like, 'Nossa, nossa, assim voce me mata' - 'Oh my god, oh my god, in this way you kill me', well this text is to be taken romantically, of course. I guess...

Last Christmas I had a couple of Brazilian guests in house, my dear host sisters from Juiz de Fora. And to think that a year has passed since they were here..! 2011 has flown by so fast.. and yet, on the other hand it seems a year ago was a long time ago, after all, much has happened since then. For me, and in the world. Rough year, right? But then there were also some great times, and some surprising news - what to make of the second large protest against the government in Moscow this past weekend! Now I'm interested what's going to happen next in Russia, ey! Perhaps some political changes are on their way...

I remember coming back from Brazil and feeling as if I was a different person from the one who left five months earlier. Now, once again, I feel like I'm a different person from the one I was a mere year ago (or a little different, in any case). Does this mean personal (and professional) development, or I am dreaming this up or something?

I read a couple of days ago that Brazil is now the 6th economy of the world, while China is the 2nd, with the US still at the top of the list. Honestly, didn't know this about China, though can't say I'm surprised. The way things are going though, it seems in a couple of years I better make sure to be there for the World Cup in Brazil! Well, a year and a bit ago I already had in mind to become something of a contested professional by the time the World Cup rolls in, as to be invited to be there for someone else's costs so I can partake in festivities as part of a super cool job. Hahaha... well I didn't see this tough economic year coming up, but I hope that the rough part is largely behind me now. And that I will be there in 2014 for the World Cup, that I know for sure! 'Let me take you to Rio, Rio...' Talk about music shaping one's life! This one's from the movie so adequately named 'Rio'... :)

In the past couple of months, Amsterdam held a Brazil-themed festival, with all kinds of performances and such taking place around town, most of which trying to go beyond the stereotypical idea held about Brazilian culture (i.e. samba, football, Carnaval). When we headed off to the annual Amsterdam Museum Night (a night when something like 45 museums in the city open their doors till early morning hours accompanied by DJ's and parties), we visited the architecture museum which had a special workshop by a Brazilian dance teacher. After finally having a caipirinha (with forest fruit.... mmm) placed into my hands by the barman, I went to join the little circle formed around the lady teaching the basic steps to... forró! haha :) A traditional Brazilian dance in two's; when I hear the beat and the rhythm, I often have to remember the first time I learned the basic moves in our tiny apartment in Shanghai... to the sound of sertanejo, I believe. Yep, the same genre that I recently heard on Dutch radio... what goes around comes around!

Yesterday, I went to see the musical Zorro in a large theater in The Hague. It's been going on for almost a year and finally I got to booking the tickets. It's so interesting because - as far as I am aware - Zorro was not a musical before this, but was made into one, and it's full of music and dancing next to all the swashbuckling. I grew up watching Zorro (various versions of it, old and new) and I read Isabel Allende's book (of course), but I never imagined I'd see it with that much singing and dancing, too :) Sometimes it even felt like a flamenco show; it's too bad we haven't got snow this Christmas, it would be a great way to warm up your soul (and feet, for the dancers)... well, it does anyway. I think Zorro is one of those stories of which not many people know anymore what exactly the original tale was, but with a bit of creativity you can get the adventure going time after time in various versions. Without getting too philosophical, it's a bit like life, full of adventures and some moments of deja vu, but I guess things never quite repeat themselves, but take their own spin. I guess we can learn from Zorro... how many swashbuckling adventures must he have been on in all his many lives? :)

Well, I think I will leave it there for now and pick up asap... this was probably already random enough!

Thanks for reading!