Holes to Heaven: July 2014

I'm terrible luck for sports teams. The two years I was at Boston College, our football team had some of their worst losing seasons (only a few years earlier, they were #2 in the nation with Matt Ryan). Also in Boston, I watched the Red Sox fail to make it to the playoffs when they lost to Baltimore (go Orioles? I was conflicted). A year in Barcelona and Spain (well... Catalonia... but we'll say Spain for now) brought zero trophies from FC Barcelona, one of the most talented club teams in the world. They blew their chance to win the league on the last day of the season even though they boast a team composed of South American all-stars in attack (Brazilian Neymar, Argentinian Messi, and Chilean Alexis) and a legendary Spanish midfield behind them. But that was just Barcelona losing. Spain, as a nation, tumbled out of the world cup after (what everyone had assumed to be) the most embarrassing loss of the tournament, a 1-5 defeat to Holland. This was promptly followed by a loss to Chile, 0-2, thus completing their early return home.

But my bad luck did not stop there. I decide to come to Brazil, and look what happens. Brazil's worst loss since 1920 (they lost 6-0 to Uruguay back then) and first competitive loss on home soil since 1975. The final score yesterday was 1-7, but the game was over after 28' minutes when Germany scored to make it 0-5. I was watching the game at a bar near Gávea, a neighborhood of Rio near the hill/mountain with the Christ statue. Well, I say bar. It was two bars with an open space in between, full of people. There were two covered areas (thankfully) because the torrential rains began about 20 minutes before the game started. Perhaps this portended their defeat, but who was to know. Everyone huddled under the clear plastic roof area. Great description there, I know. Anyways, large deposits of undraining water collected in depressions along the roof, causing it to sink and stretch the plastic. What did the crowd do? The crowd started cheering. It was a strange, illogical, mob-mentality wish to get collectively showered. A few staff members managed to manage the situation for select water deposits by poking small holes in the plastic with a makeshift contraption of a wooden staff with a thin wire fixed to the end. This worked surprisingly well, making the outflows of the depressions equal to the inflows. Once the rain died down, everything was dandy. But the floor was wet.

The happy futebol mood quickly ended with Germany scoring many, many goals. A few people left before halftime. After halftime, Germany scored goal #6. This was the DJ's queue to turn off the television announcers and game noises, and start playing happy music. Everyone just kinda left the national team to suffer by themselves, moved to the disco lights, and started having a great time. It was an impressively quick turn around, and while obviously not every part of the country reacted this way, the small part I was in confirmed that Brazil knows how to be happy.

Backtracking a little now. Alex, Vinny, and I road tripped to Rio from São Paulo on Friday morning. São Paulo is on a huge plateau, so 90% of the way was downhill (a bit surprising during a 5 hour drive). On our approach to Rio, maybe 45 minutes or so outside, the road climbed and declined a range of green mountains. There was a nice view out the left side of the car:

We arrived in Rio around 10:30 AM and met Rafa and his family at his grandparents' apartment. We took our bags inside, only to find out that we would be staying with Rafa's sister and boyfriend at their apartment instead (they had spare beds). So we took our bags back outside. Vinny went with Rafa and his family to the Germany - France game that afternoon, and Alex and I watched the game on a huge screen on the beach with thousands of people. It was quite the experience. Later that night we reconvened at Rafa's sister's apartment, washed up, ate dinner, and watched the Brasil - Colombia match. Alex made an awesome Caipirinha for me. After the match we went to a party held at the horse racetrack nearby. Apparently they use it as a discoteca/club when the horses aren't racing.

Saturday was a beach day. We got up early (9:30 AM is early, ok!) and drove to Rafa's old neighborhood (his parents recently sold the house and moved to London for work, I believe) and went down to the beach there. It was awesome. Highlights include playing keep away from a local puppy dog with a soccer ball, and the water temperature. It is winter here and the water is warmer than Santa Cruz!

Nice little beach. We had to decline a grassy/rocky path that turned into just grass and rocks by the end.

Juggling circle. Vinny took sneaky photos of us. That's Alex and Rafa, by the way (left, right)

The guys. Eduardo, me, Alex, Rafa, and Vinny.

Not a bad view from Rafa's sister's apartment! Rio sure is beautiful.

On Sunday night Vinny and Alex dropped me off at Luca's apartment. His family is super amazing and awesome. I fear they are making me eat too much, but that's the only qualm. We spent the first few days catching up on times from Barcelona and Brazil, since he had left in December. I've learned a lot of Portugues in the last few days, especially thanks to a poker night with Luca's friends and last night after the Brazil - Germany game. The best way to learn a language is to just jump into it, sound ridiculous, and make a fool of yourself.

My first two days in São Paulo have been really great. I arrived around 5:00 AM to the airport and arrived at Alex's apartment around 5:45 AM. He lives on the 14th floor of a big building - there are a lot of apartment complexes such as his in this city. This city is enormous, slightly unorganized, and full of character. It is difficult to orient oneself because, well, it's just too big for that. There are five areas - the four cardinal directions plus the center. So far I have seen three of these areas. After arriving at the apartment, saying hello, and meeting Alex's dad, however,the only area of São Paulo I saw was the guest bed. This tour lasted three hours and was amazing. I slept extremely well because... Alex and his dad surprised me with tickets to the Argentina - Switzerland game! So Alex, Lucas (younger brother), and I headed out to the stadium around 10:30 AM for the 1:00 PM kickoff. The subway was packed, and the weather was pleasantly warm and sunny (cannot get over that this is the winter weather). The game was a nail-biter and was highlighted by the singing Argentines - this of course was met by all the adopted Switzerland fans, i.e. all of Brasil. Messi dribbled down and assisted the winning overtime goal, that sure was cool. I was secretly cheering for them, always have a soft spot for Argentina despite the criminal experiences. Afterwards we headed back to the apartment and went to see the USA game in a bar around the corner - heartbreaking game. But the food was delicious. First there were these meat empanadas with vegetable sauces. Then they brought out a mini grill to the table along with a long, raw, pre-sliced cut of rump steak. You cook your meat at the table! Cool idea - and it's easier than that sounds. After the game Alex and I met Andre in town after he finished work. I met Andre last fall and spent a lot of time with him all of that semester. He is currently working slave hours at Merrill Lynch - we spent an hour or so catching up and (in his case) eating (late lunch/early dinner for the 5:00 PM USA game left me quite full. Andre invited us both to his house for dinner on Wednesday with his family. After dinner Alex and I went back to the apartment and played some FIFA.

Today (Wednesday) was a day full of soccer. We woke up slowly, had lunch in the apartment, then biked over to the big central park of São Paulo with a soccer ball. We bought some fresh coconut water, then kicked around for a while until a group of other kids asked if we wanted to play a game, which of course we did. Basically, there is this enormous, grassy field full of happy people playing soccer. It was also a beautiful day. I could not have asked for much more, honestly. After the small game ended, we biked to the supermarket to help Alex's younger brother (he's 18 or so) and his friends pick up some meat and charcoal for a barbecue that night. Upon returning home, we decided to play more soccer with Lucas and his friends who he had invited for the barbecue. After playing soccer for an hour or so, Alex and I showered and headed out to Andre's house, which was about twenty minutes away by car. His family is amazing, and we had one of the best meals ever! A huge pan of risotto with, yes, more steak. All in all, a great day!