VARSITY ATHLETICS

August 13, 2007

FIRST TASTE OF BRAZIL FOOD AND BASKETBALL

By David Klink -Sophomore Guard - New Albany, Oh (New Albany)
Monday, August 13, 2007

I would like to start by telling my mom that I am alive and in one piece. We made it to Brazil safely, although we did have slight engine problems and a loss of cabin pressure along the way. I’m just kidding. Also, I promised Jon Radke that I would say hello to his parents for him. He said that his mother would probably start calling any and every number on the travel itinerary if he didn’t check in with her. For some reason, it is a challenge to buy international phone cards here. In the words of our seasoned tour guide, “That’s more difficult!” I don’t know why it is difficult, but it is. So now that I have rambled on to the parents, I will get to the more interesting stuff.

Speaking of interesting, we were stranded on a plane for 11 hours! We had an hour delay because a woman decided that she “didn’t want to go to Sao Paulo”, which wasn’t too much fun. I found it very difficult to sleep on the plane (although I did amass more than an hour of it, collectively), but some of my teammates such as Mason and Brandon Bradford slept the entire time. After we got off the plane, we stood in line for about an hour at Customs, before finally making it out into Brazil.

Once out of the airport, we dined at a Brazilian buffet-type place. I learned several Portuguese phrases, such as “0ligadro”, which I think means “Thank you”. Hopefully I have not been peppering the hotel and restaurant staff with obscenities. The buffet was awesome, consisting of many meats uncommon in America. Once done with our lunch, we headed towards our first destination: Guaruja. There we will be beach-going and learning to surf. The drive over was very scenic, with many large hills that our road snaked in and out of.

Finally, we had a very refreshing experience: practice. The basketball court there was not too bad, but definitely makes one more appreciative of the Veale Center Field House. Our first game will be tomorrow (Tuesday) night, and hopefully we bring home the ‘W’.

Posted by: Creg Jantz August 13, 2007 11:37 PM | Category: Brazil

Posted by: cnj4 (Creg Jantz) August 13, 2007 11:37 PM | Comments (2) | Trackback