Just Dance

One aspect about this culture that I am absolutely loving is their shared love of dancing.  Nearly every event I have gone to here has included a time for dancing.  I went to a weekend event with my Interact club in another city this past weekend.  There were games, presentations and of course a festa in the evening.  But this incredibly animated and lively dance party was not enough dancing.  We had a meeting in a large auditorium and in between the speakers dance music would start playing and nearly everyone at the event got up on the stage, or just below it, and danced.  It was amazing.  At the festa that my friends threw for me to welcome me to school we danced.  The radio is constantly playing dance music, among other types.  I went to a going away party for a girl bound for Germany and we all played Just Dance on their Wii.  But I think that my favorite demonstration of the amazing amount of dancing here is a Rotary meeting I went to last week.  It was held in the house of one of the members and as usual a good thirty plus people attended.  The house was beautiful, big, and was decorated with a older, almost victorian feel.  It was very fancy, in my opinion.  I entered in my dress and Rotary blazer and greeted everyone with a kiss on the cheek and a hug, as is customary here.  The people in the club are mostly all older than me, late 30s.  We ate outside on the patio, served delicious food by a paid staff.  In the beginning of the meeting I observed a DJ set up in the corner of the patio, prepared with a disco ball and big speakers.  I thought that was kinda of strange since the music he was playing was songs like Hotel California or She Will Be Loved, and didn't need the grand set up.  But I pushed that aside and proceeded to talk with a lovely young woman who did a smaller exchange to Switzerland and had amazing stories to tell.  About halfway through dessert I learned why they rented the disco ball.  After the plates had been mostly cleared the DJ cranked up the volume and blasted I Will Survive by Diana Ross.  Everyone got up from their chairs and started dancing away.  I was in disbelief for a second, seeing all of the Rotarians busting a move, but quickly got up from my chair and joined in.  This is my kind of Rotary meeting.  This is my kind of culture.