Leaving Rio and arriving in Vitoria

The morning of the first Brazil game in The World Cup was the same day Julia and I were leaving Rio for Vitoria. We were actually leaving Rio two hours before the game started so if there were any delays we could have missed the game, which would have been terrible. The whole country stops when Brazil plays in The World Cup, malls close, restaurants close and the only thing that remains open and operating is the hospital, the courts (sort of), public transportation (sort of), and bars. So when we arrived at the airport our flight was delayed for 30 minutes and everyone was freaking out because they thought they might miss the game. The plane was full of anxious people wearing yellow and green hoping to arrive in time to see the line-up of players. Finally we arrived in Vitoria to an empty airport at 3:05, 25 minutes to the start of the game. Julia and I were really excited, we thought we could actually make it home in time to see the game but once we got in the car and left the parking lot we quickly realized we would not make it in time for the beginning of the game. Like I had said before the country stops when Brazil plays in The World Cup so everyone leaves their job about 30 minutes before the game starts so the traffic is unbearable, at that point we only hoped we could see the end of the game. Luckily we arrived in time for the end of the first period and we got to see the rest of the game with our family, all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents were there (from my mom's side). Brazil won all the games until they played against Holland and lost, the whole country was devastated people cried, yelled, and even started throwing fits.

New update!

I've been really busy during this vacation so I haven't been able to update this blog as much as I would like to so every story I post is about 2-3 weeks old, just keep that in mind when you read the posts.

Fifa Fan Fest

Towards the end of Copacabana there is a huge tent that the city of Rio de Janiero built for the community to celebrate the games of the World Cup. The tent is called Fifa Fan Fest and there are only 5 others in the world (Mexico City, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Sydney). However the one in Rio is the largest of the six and the one with the best torcida, that’s my personal opinion and I believe the five stars above our jersey proves my point. There we saw the end of the Germany vs. Australia game along with a lot of good-looking Germans. By the way, I have never seen so many good looking men in one place before, I can’t wait until I go to Germany this Fall!

Notice the guy in the background, he really wanted to look good in our photo...lol

Maracatu

This morning Julia and I were getting ready to go out and walk around the city when we started to hear music coming from the street outside. When we looked out the window we saw a group of people playing instruments and dancing down the street. When we got downstairs they were right outside the building so we went and joined the celebration. The group of people dancing and playing instruments were performing Maracatu, which is an Afro-Brazilian dance dating back to the time of slavery. The dance originated in Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil and now represents liberty. The performance was very entertaining, there were a lot of people who would hear the music from the street and join in. There were tons of people dancing who weren’t even part of the group so it was a very cool sight. Julia and I joined them until they reached the end of the beach and stopped dancing at which point we went to see the other end of the beach along the way we ate corn on the cob and I burned my lip :-(...

A Night out in Rio!

Today is dia dos namorados, the Brazilian version of Valentine’s Day, and both Julia and I are single so walking around and seeing all the couples kind of made me want to punch some of them. So tonight we went out and had some fun along with the rest of the singles in Rio de Janiero. We arrived at the Singles party kind of early and it took awhile for more people to arrive but after an hour it was packed and both Julia and I were a little tipsy from sitting around and drinking. But after we started dancing I felt the need for a little more alcohol and went to buy some alone while I was on line waiting to pay for my drinks this guy started speaking to me. With the loud music and the alcohol I could barely make out a word he was saying so I interrupted him and told him I spoke English best. At which point he started speaking to me in English and when I responded in English he started to insult me, he said that I am obviously not from America because I have an accent and that I was lying because I was trying to seem like I was better than him. So I just ignored him bought my drinks and went to complain about his rudeness to my cousin. She then informed me that he was just hitting on me and that a lot of Brazilian boys are dicks when it comes to approaching a girl (well she didn’t really say that but that’s what I took from it). After an hour or so of dancing Julia started taking videos of me and this other guy decided he wanted to get in on what looked like a photo. I stepped away from him forcing his arm, which was resting on my shoulder to fall at his side. He then proceeded to try and grab my arm and I pushed him away, he continued to try and touch me while asking to take a photo with me I then said I did not want to take a photo with him. Julia interfered saying that I was American and did not speak much Portuguese he then called me a snob in Portuguese, a word I did not understand so I asked Julia what it was he said. He then translated it for me, making me feel very uncomfortable and said that by taking a photo with him on his phone I would be proving him wrong. After saying that he tried to grab me and push my body towards his at which point I reacted and pulled his arms off me, he then dropped his cup of beer on my dress. I was getting really upset, which is very unlike me when I’m drunk, and started to walk away. Then he grabbed my arm for like the sixth time and said that now I had to take a photo with him because I was the one who spilled his beer so I reacted by pushing him away forcefully and left. Apparently in Brazil there are some guys who don’t really like getting turned down so much so that they feel the need to sexually harass the woman. So just in case you are planning on going to Brazil know that men grab women all the time at parties and no one finds it odd here. There are even some men who grab women and kiss them out of nowhere so you should be very attentive and if a guy grabs you push him away or move really fast. But whatever you do, do not slap or physically assault/abuse the man in any way because he will do the same to you and no one will find it odd. If a woman defends herself by using force and the man reacts in the same form they find it normal and the police won’t do anything about it here and if they do it would be in favor of the man and not the woman. Even though the night did not end perfectly I did have a lot of fun…