May 12, 2008
Schwen Ponders Weather And Much More in Brazil...
By Senior Back Zeyad Schwen (Cincinnati, OH)
Since being in Brazil, I must say the weather has been pretty dismal. It has rained here every day, it seems, and the missing sun is all too reminiscent of Cleveland. But that hasn’t stopped us one bit. The only thing it has affected, so I hear, is the number of gorgeous Brazilian babes that roam the soft sandy beaches, but since I have a girlfriend, I’m not allowed to say that it has affected my trip in any way.
Friday morning we went to a nearby beach where we attended surfing lessons. The waves were unimpressive, but seeing as we were all beginners, we weren’t too disappointed. There were about five or six experienced Brazilian instructors, none of whom spoke English, who taught us how to ride the waves like a pro. They were extremely helpful and taught us how to push off the board properly to get in the correct surfing position to catch a wave and remain on the board. The instructors were goofy and proceeded to give some of us nicknames: Nate Hoffman was Peter Parker aka Spiderman due to his close resemblance to actor Toby McGuire; I was Mr. Bean, probably because I was a klutz; and Justin Steggerda was dubbed Macauley Caulkin. At first, it seemed hopeless, and only a select few on the team could remain standing for more than 3 seconds, but eventually everyone got the hang of things. So far - and I know it’s still at the beginning of the trip- I have to say that it was the most exciting activity thus far.
After our chests couldn’t take the chafing from the surfboards any longer, we headed to a restaurant on the beach for a relatively light lunch (except for RJ French) that served amazing mashed potatoes, fish, chicken, and vegetables. RJ was on a roll and ate more mashed potatoes than the rest of the team combined. This gave us sufficient energy for our next activity of the day, which was sand volleyball- using nothing but our feet. It was a little embarrassing at first when it seemed we had left our touches in Cleveland, but soon we were ready to take on Brazil’s national volleyball-soccer team. I personally did not participate very much because I was busy throwing rocks at coconuts with Coach Palmer and a few others. We found a perfect coconut hanging from a palm tree too high to climb, and we were determined to get it. Direct hit after direct hit convinced us that this coconut was not going to yield. I even went to the extent of trying to ask a Portuguese-speaking electrician if we could borrow the ladder on top of his car in fragmented Spanish. As you may imagine, I didn’t get very far, but I think he was telling me he wasn’t allowed to lend it to people.
After hours of unfruitful rock throwing, we headed to dinner at nicer restaurant that served essentially the same foods as the restaurant we went to for lunch. The only main difference was a small cup of –what I thought was oil- next to the bread basket. I apparently missed the many chili peppers that were at the bottom and soon discovered after dousing my bread in this red oil that it was the spiciest thing I’ve ever tasted. I cannot comment on the quality of the food based on my inability to taste afterwards.
Later that night, we headed to a local club that had a live authentic Brazilian band. Everyone had an amazing time dancing, singing, and getting rejected by Brazilian women. Some of the guys got a little rowdy, but it was all in good fun.
Before we went out, 11 of us decided we wanted to wake up early the next morning to go surfing again. However, some of us were still in comas from the previous night and only half made it out. We picked up Erin, the athletic trainer, who was too afraid to surf with us the first time and headed out for round two. Matt Paglia was nice enough to wear the incredibly revealing neon green Speedo he borrowed from me the whole time.
Once we returned to the hotel, we quickly packed up and headed to Santos where we toured the stadium of the Santos professional soccer club. This is where the world-famous Pele used to play. It was an impressive stadium, but unfortunately since it was raining heavily, we couldn’t go on the field. We took the bus back to Sao Paulo after a filling meal at a churrascaria, where waiters would cut you unlimited pieces of different kinds of meats. I’ve been wondering why I haven’t seen too many older people in Brazil, but these restaurants might be to blame.
That night we went to watch Sao Paulo F.C. play Gremio in a regular season match. Going to a professional soccer match here in Brazil is something that I’m glad I got a chance to do. Their passion for the sport is unmatched, and it made for an exciting time. Fans from both teams were incessantly cheering on their team and I quietly wished people in the US would get this excited about Soccer. The visiting team’s fans were only allowed to cheer in a tiny section of the stadium, but their deafening chants and drumbeats muffled out any cheering from the rest of the stadium. It was a little embarrassing for the home team, who also lost the regular match 1-0.
We then hopped back on the bus and drove to Sao Jose dos Campos. Here we would play a local club team the next morning. But a meal wouldn’t be complete without another churrascaria where we again stuffed our faces with meat, meat and more meat. And I think there was Pizza too.
Posted by Creg Jantz at 09:46 AM
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Category: Men's Soccer