Yeah, here’s a fair warning, this post is once again about Capoeira. Are you guys sick of it yet? I think you’re starting to realize that my life is just full of LGBT activities, capoeira, music, and school. Notice how I put school last haha. I just feel as though there’s more to college than just academics, and sometimes people forget that.

So, being away from home, sometimes it can get lonely. I miss my friends, and I miss my family. However, due to Capoeira, I’ve realized that I actually have a family here. Sure, it’s not blood, but they’re a group that I’d do anything for, and they’d do anything for me. Think of it like a really close-knit athletic team, except we don’t really compete, we all just enjoy what we do.

What made me realize this especially was two weekends ago when I went to Virginia for another group’s batizado. So, I mentioned it in a blog before, but a batizado is a “baptism” into the world of capoeira. It’s where you often get your first cord, and then members who have proved themselves get a higher cord as well. Anyway, this batizado was actually for a group that is pretty close to ours, as the monitor who leads the group there, always comes to our events, even if they’re a very small one. So, to show our gratitude, we went to his event, although it was only a small group of people from ours. Of course, we stayed together the whole event, whether it was going out after the events, or cramming all of us into a hotel room. It was fun, and felt like I was with my family on some road trip.

Otherwise, the batizado was a lot of fun. Since the Instructors weren’t from our group, we learnt a lot of moves and sequences that we wouldn’t normally learn. It was nice to get a different perspective, especially when playing with the same people over and over. Slowly my instructor has been integrating this moves into our own practices. Capoeira is definitely a learning experience, once you get hit a few times. Haha.

And now for some more pictures! I’m off to go finish up some work, and party for Carnival tonight. Axé!