I Went to the Club Last Night

This is 3 blocks from my home.

I went to a place called Mariuzinn with some coworkers last night. Brazilians love hip hop, but they call it hippee hoppee down here. I wish I’d taken my camera because the place was bumpin. I ran into a few fellow ex-pats in there, but I think they were mostly tourists passing though. I’m excited to think that I get to live here for a few months. I’m also glad that I’m hitting the ground running, in a sense. If I get invited out on a Thursday night, I’m going to go. I’ve actually been battling some kind of sore throat thing ever since I left DC but it seems that Mariuzinn cured me.

Anyway, I showed up at the club around 10:30 or so to get in line with Karina, a girl I work with who is leaving Rio to go home to São Paolo on Sunday. She was with another friend, but I forgot her name because: a. I’m bad with names, and b. I’m learning too many names these days. Anyway, we stood there waiting with our VIP coupons we had printed out from some promotional site on the internet. They finally let us in a little after 11 (I’m glad to not have a cell phone here and therefore have a very hazy sense of time) and we were the first in there.

First observation: the club is freezing. They crank the A/C in there because it gets pretty packed. It took a while for everyone to filter in, but it didn’t take long for everyone to warm up to the sounds of Petey Pablo, Dr. Dre, and, well, I don’t remember what else, but I remember being really amused at times. The DJ was pretty good. I went to the bathroom at one point and thought I’d stepped into the twilight zone because when I came out everyone was dancing to some really deep techno. I didn’t mind, but the switch surprised me. It reminds me of a club I went to in Venezuela that would play 4 or 5-song blocks of different genres: salsa, hip hop, heavy metal, techno, merengue, classic rock, etc (I’m not kidding). I guess they don’t mind mixing their palettes down here. It worked for me.

Second observation: they keep it well lit. I’m not used to seeing so many people sweat in such close proximity. I didn’t mind the clarity, although I’m sad to report that my observations regarding the myth of ubiquitous Brazilian beauty haven’t changed since I first made them about two years ago (scroll down towards the end of the entry).

Third observation:

Apparently, these two people are named Mario and Edna. I’m gathering that they own the club, but I’m not sure. All I know is that there were pictures of these two (especially of Mario) all over the club and they started to freak me out after a while. She’s got a little Ellen Burstyn from Requiem for a Dream going on and their faces all over the walls and the video slideshows of them created a weird Lynch-esque creepy ambiance to the place. Still, no complaints. They’re a fun-loving couple and I’m no fun hater. I love fun.

Work is going well, I’m getting a better grasp of what I’m going to do here and I’m really learning to love the people I work with. I’m sure it sounds hasty (I’ve been to work for 3 days now), but this place is great. It’s got all the idealism you’d expect from a kind hearted non-profit, but it’s BRAZILIAN. We just had a little birthday celebration for everyone with a June birthday and I’ve never seen an office have so much fun. Come to think of it, the ~20 people crammed into the little kitchen had more fun with a cake, a liter of Coke and a liter of diet Coke than is likely had at most non-office birthday parties in the states. I couldn’t stop smiling.

I can’t stop smiling!