Bloco X!!!

I'm SO excited, I'm going to Bloco X this year!

Bloco X is the pan-European bloco that is reportedly the best samba experience in Europe. It's a bloco that seems to be primarily composed of the directors and leaders of all the other European blocos. It seems to be a seasonal bloco that re-assembles once per year with a big rehearsal weekend, then plays at various events in the summer, like the European Cup, and the World Cup whenever it's in Europe. Then disassembles again (I think).

But the rehearsal weekend itself is apparently the big event. Part party, part reunion. I hear things like: "The only event in the year that I would NEVER miss for all the world", "A giant refrigerated beer truck", "Try to picture a camp that has the organization of the Germans and the partying of the Brazilians". It is, indeed, organized by Germans, but SAMBISTA Germans, which is a cultural blend that I think I'll just have to see first-hand.

I am picturing sort of like a mini-CBC (California Brazil Camp). Like the CBC Advanced Bateria class just playing nonstop for three days. But with something like 15 nations represented, while at CBC we think that anybody from any US state outside of California is pretty exotic ("Hey look, it's the Wisconsin people! wow!").

This year, Bloco X is by invitation only. And I got an invitation!

But of course, with the US economy in its worst tailspin in my entire lifetime, this is not exactly the best month to be planning a trip to Europe. The poor little US dollar... it looks so tiny and shrunken now, next to those big, fat, shining euros, and I'd already spent just about all of my shrunken little dollars buying my apartment in Salvador. So over the last month I was getting pretty worried about money. But - yay for frequent flyer miles, found a FREE ticket from Oregon to London today. Then I found an airplane flight from London to Berlin for one penny. ONE PENNY (okay, plus 9.99 in taxes) - a crazy one-day sale on Ryan Air that I just stumbled into.

How lucky am I? Four great bands to play with here in Portland; four months' vacation off work coming up; a free ticket to London clear from the West Coast; and a ticket to Berlin for one penny, to play with Bloco X on my birthday.