Day 14 Josh

It was all quiet on the plane, until Bradley Rustik with the facts woke the whole team up by sleep talking about some facts. The plane was approximately one hour away from the destination which was Miami, Florida when the team was awoken. The flight attendants handed out breakfast which consisted of, a slice of watermelon, three slices of melon, two slices of pineapple, cheesy bread, and orange juice. The rest of the flight went by in a jiffy and the long eight hour journey ended. At the airport, the group went through baggage claim and customs. After baggage claim we realized that Bradley Rustik was calling his girlfriend, " Ayse Raymond" we could tell he missed her dearly. We were so distracted by this beautiful sight of love that we realized we lost Niharhar Baxi when we were going through security check. Jack Corscadden was brainstorming when Bradley Rustik jumped out from the corner saying, " we should send someone to search for him!"This was another great idea by Bradley Rustik and the group agreed with it, so Brendans Dad went searching for Nihar. The whole group especially the parents were very worried about Nihars safety so all we could do was pray while Brendan's dad, "Scott" carried out the task. After 20 long minutes of playing touchgrind, Nihar was found! An interview was carried out once Nihar was found and he said he was scared. He said it was like being lost in Costco as a little kid. After this crisis we made sure we got the count right and boarded the plane departing for Dallas, Texas. The plane ride from Miami, Florida to Dallas, Texas went by quickly because everyone was asleep through the duration of the three hour flight. The group arrived to feel the heat of Tehas. The group waited for two hours in the airport of Dallas, Texas for the plane to taxi. Once the plane arrived the group boarded and had a peaceful flight. Everyone was excited to get to see their family again! This trip helped all the players get better at soccer but also helped build the characters of the players. Fernando and Xinho helped the players realize that they are all lucky to have what the have on the table because Fernando gave us an inspirational speech about how he got out of poverty by studying and as he grew up he volunteered a lot and started the school, "Quero Ser" which changed the lives of many students and said that helping others makes him happier so the players should volunteer and help others more. The whole group that went learned an important fact of Brazil from Fernando saying countless times, "Cars don't stop!"

Day 13 by Kian: Our last day in Rio

Last night we all had an idea to go to the beach first thing this morning from 6 to 8 o'clock to have one last day at the beach. That didn't work out due to having such a busy schedule today and the weather was unpredictable. After breakfast we checked out of our hotel at 930 and loaded all of our stuff on the bus. We drove to Sugar Loaf which is two mountains connected by a cable car. The cable car was mostly glass and had a great view of the ocean, the beach, and the city of Rio. The first mountain was the lowest mountain which gave a closer view and had lots of little monkeys jumping around on the trees. The second mountain was higher so you could see farther, and this is where my team took a picture with Copacabana Beach in the background.

Next we took the oldest train in Brazil to the top of another mountain to see Corcovado, the Christ statue, which is the equivalent of 13 stories high and a wingspan of about 8 stories wide. The statue was built with Christ's arms outstretched to bless the city. In 1984 the pope visited Corcovado, and blessed the city. A lot of us took pictures in front of the statue with our arms outstretched as well. It was a great view of the entire area.

We had our last meal together in Brazil at a restaurant where you weigh your plate of food to see how much you pay. We all loaded up our plates and enjoyed the food.

We headed to the airport 5 HOURS early because of the Bastian family but I think it was because Fernando was excited to see us leave. He worked so hard for 2 weeks we had everything we needed and wanted and really took care of us. I think he will sleep well tonight.

In our downtime in the airport we played Ninja destruction and with the brazilian souvenirs we picked up along the way. All in all it has been a pretty great day. I can't wait to get on the 24 hour plane ride home :)

Day 12 by Brad

After eating breakfast at the hotel buffet the team decided to all go to the beach even though the weather was less than favorable. We are all from Seattle, we can handle a few clouds, but unfortunately we were unable to swim this tim ebecause the waves were considered too dangerous. so instead, we decided to play beach soccer. It was hard to pass the ball around on the loose sand, but both teams were still able to play a very competitive game. Fernando was impressed with Geena's great defense, Fernando was also impressed by the goalie skills of Scott Long and Adam Lehman. After the beach soccer game, some of the kids decided to go to the street market to buy some last souvenirs for family members and friends back home. Then we went and got lunch at the mall. The food mall is the only place open on Sundays....but most of the boys were able to eat MacDonald's which was so good!!! Then we went back to the hotel and shortly after went to the game between Fluminese and Internacionale. The game featured a match up between the first and fifth place teams in the league. The atmosphere was electric and the stadium that holds 190,000 people was packed. This was the last game at this stadium before they close it for remodelling for the 2014 world cup; it will be the venue for the finals. Fluminese dominated the competition, scoring two goals in quick succession in the first half to take a commanding 2 to 0 lead in the half time. The second half was more of the same and a final goal in the 59th minute silenced any hopes of a comeback. The final score was three to zero. It took a long time to exit the stadium and the entire team was hungry for dinner. After stuffing our faces with dinner and then ice cream, the team stayed in the hotel for the rest of the night. (Mom note: and they had a great time playing soccer in their hotel rooms until well past midnight, and a few had slumber parties on their last night in Rio!)

Shopping/Touring in Rio

Two historic sides of Rio: Copacabana Palace and the Favelas.

Haviana Mission Accomplished!

Xinho checking out the Nike goods

Brazil by John Marcelia

Today we woke up to Brads morning facts, and since Fernando told us the breakfeast was on the 4th floor when really it wasn't, it took us a while to find it. Then half the group went shopping with Fernando's neice Terrisa, and half went to the beach. We only got to swim for about a half hour because the waves had gotten too big, but it was still a lot of fun. After this we went to McDonalds for lunch. Some of the kids said it was the best meal they ever had in their life. Most of the team bought Havaianas and the store owner gave Fernando a hug saying he made quota. After the mall we toured the city in the bus. We saw beaches, slums, and even a guy trying to sell a penguin. Then we went to the Flamengo v. Ceara game at the Maracana stadium. It once had held 250,000 people for the world cup. Then we went to yet another churrascaria for dinner, and finaly ended the day by going back to the hotel. It was a very exciting day.

P.S chibre is not a good word to say.

Day 10-Brendan Long

We had to wake up at 5 in the morning in order to catch the bus for Rio de Janeiro. We all went down to breakfast half asleep, and luckily, no one forgot to wake up this time. On the bus ride most of us slept for the majority of the time and we had lunch at a store in the middle of the highway. After lunch we travelled 2 more hours to Rio, and on the way we were all amazed by the Jesus statue on the top of the mountain. I found that as we travelled to Rio there were some very extreme living conditions. The favelas on which people live look nothing like what we see back home. I found it amazing how very poor areas could be located adjacent to much richer areas. For example, our hotel from the street side looks like any major city, filled with skyscrapers and hotels, but after a look out the back of my hotel room i found a town that looks to be in the middle of a jungle. This interested me because i had never seen a situation such as that before. Once there we all checked into our rooms. Next we all walked down to the Copacabana Beach and swam in massive waves for a hour and a half before playing some beach soccer. The beach had extremely soft sand and the water looked tropical and like something you would see in a brochure. Later at dinner we went to another churrascaria restaurant that had a great variety of foods.

Day 9: by Sam Lehman

Today we woke up bright and early at 7:30 to Brad's morning facts. After breakfast we took a bus ride to a public school across the street from Quero Ser. We dropped in to a couple different classes and got to see what the rooms were like. Their class rooms were very basic with one chalkboard at the front and chairs filling up the rest of the room. The kids were given the opportunity to ask any questions. Pretty much all of the kids were too shy to speak up but one girl who attended Quero Ser in the afternoon was bold enough to ask my sister the simple question, "how are you?". My sister was delighted and replied in Portugeuse, "tudo bem!". After getting our pictures taken by numerous school girls we made our way to Fernando's school, Quero Ser. Compared to the public school, Quero Ser was tiny. It was about the size of an average two-story house. Fernando explained that the school is a place where kids who want to get ahead in life and excel academically can go. Quero Ser teaches most of the same subjects that the public school does but to a higher level. We unloaded our numerous boxes of donations which were greeted excitedly by the kids and teachers alike. Before entering Quero Ser Fernando explained to us the school's motto which roughly means "We cannot change the way we started but we can change our future." The school definitely lives by these words. We also learned that middle schoolers go to public school in the morning and Quero Ser in the afternoon and elementary school kids vice versa. We were then ushered into Quero Ser's main room. We were lucky enough to be there for the christening of their brand new reading room named after Fernando's late wife Gail Barros. Over the arch of the room was a motto that was covered by a paper banner. One by one each player come up to the banner and pealed it away a little to reveal the motto. When it was my turn to peal off the banner I pulled a bit too hard and the entire banner came down revealing the motto, "I Wanna Be, Read and Know". After breaking in the reading room we had a snack of bread and lettuce which was grown from the garden. We played soccer and frisbee with the little kids and then we went to lunch at an Italian restaurant. Once we finished lunch we went back to Quero Ser and met the middle schoolers. We were greeted by the girls singing "Heal The World" and they danced to "Baby" by Justin Bieber. We also had the treat of getting to watch Fernando samba!! Fernando showed our team the computer room and there he gave us a talk about the importance of giving back to your community and helping those less privileged than yourself. I thought that this talk was really important and it meant a lot to the team.
Next, we had a friendly against a local team. The game was played in a large stadium and with people from around town sitting in the stands to watch their team play the Americans. I think the atmosphere really improved the experience of the game. We tied 0-0 with many chances to go ahead for both teams.
Once the game ended we said goodbye to the Quero Ser students and made our way back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we had a farewell get-together with some of the Brazilian families. It was really nice to get to see them for one last time before we left Sao Roque. After our goodbyes we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. We all had a great time singing, dancing, and just enjoying each others company. Our team was talked into singing "Stand By Me" and "What a Wonderful World". Gabe really nailed the Louis Armstrong voice. At the very end of the dinner Xinho, Mido, and Fernando all spoke. They had incredibly nice things to say about our team and each other and I think their words touched everybody.
We bussed back to the hotel worn out and ready to go to bed. There had been talk of pulling an all-nighter but once we got back to the hotel we all stumbled to our seperate rooms and crashed.