Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Hey, kids, I'm ba-ack!

Well, I am back from trip, and it was very interesting! I saw some pretty cool things and had some neat experiences. I am getting my pictures developed and will be putting together some information about the trip over the next few days.

Today I want to talk about one of the highlights of my trip, and that was being in Brazil for part of the "Copa Do Mundo" or World Cup 2006 . When I was preparing for my trip, several of my students told me how lucky I was to be in Brazil for the event - I didn't get it - after all, the games were in Germany, and it wasn't like I was going to see any in person. Like most Americans, I know little about the World Cup, except that America doesn't usually do that well.

Brazil's national team, I have learned since, is currently ranked number one in the world and is favored by many to win the event - they are also a heck of a lot of fun to watch! I also learned how seriously countries OUTSIDE of the USA take soccer - or as the rest of the world calls it - FOOTBALL.

In Brazil, the schools, post office, many businesses - even the MALL - close for the duration of the game. Restaurants stay open, but you can fully expect the staff to be watching the game along with you. Almost everyone wears the Brazilian colors of green and yellow - some sport "futebol" shirts with the number of the players like #9, Ronaldo; #4, Kaka; or #10, Ronaldinho - others wear shirts with the Brazilian flag.

Watching the games is an event - folks come over, bringing food. Every goal is followed by rounds of fireworks going off in the streets - it was this excitement that my students were excited for me to see - and it was one of the highlights of the trip!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would give anything to hang out in brazil during the WORLD CUP. I bet it was incredible. oh, and thanks for the links

Anonymous said...

hi mrs. quenan!
well i remembered to come on this, thats good haha =]
wow that would be really cool to be in brazil during the world cup, i was totally rooting for them. i love soccer!

Mrs. Q. said...

Hi, Allison and Connor!

Brazil during the World Cup was AMAZING! I played soccer in high school and college, but I never experienced the excitement like I saw in Brazil. You have to see it to believe it! It's like our Super Bowl, Olympics, World Series, Final Four and NBA playoffs all rolled into one.

Mrs. Q.

Anonymous said...

I love soccer too! But considering this is such an old post, no one will be reading this anyway.....

FIGHT THE SYSTEM! EAT LESS CHICKEN!

Anonymous said...

MS.q I LOVE SOCCER LOl Brasil should have won the world cup but we all know it was a paid game! well see you in 2nd period bye!

Anonymous said...

I would die to go back to brasil to go see brasil play....but i have seen other games in the stadiums when the individual states played.



BRASIL RULEZ =P

Anonymous said...

sounds like it was really fun! brazil is somewhere i would love to go! and u played soccer?! that is so cool because soccer is like almost their life down there for a lot of people.