After four months, our fearless leader Ed delivered our gift to Kathy Butler, the GSE coordinator who organized our trip. It’s a piece of artwork made by the residents of a drug and alcohol rehab center in Sao Jose dos Campos. Ed had a plaque mounted on it after he returned home.
It was big and fragile, but so touching that we lugged it across Brazil and back to the U.S. for Kathy because, face it, she deserved something a little bigger and better than a typical souvenir. We all took turns carrying it but Mike ended up putting it in his suitcase for the flight home. That’s what he gets for having the widest bag.
Though we’ve said it before, I’ll say it again for all of us. Thanks so much for all your work Kathy.
I finally finished it. I wrapped up a series of articles about Brazilian youth soccer and how it compares to what we have in the United States and Yakima Valley. You may read it on-line. It was four stories over two days and more than 30 photos. Many you have seen, many you haven’t.
You can read it the Yakima Herald-Republic Web site here. This is a link to one of the Day 2 stories, but it’s the only place on our Web site where you can see links to all four of the stories.
Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Many of you know I did a lot of research about soccer on the Rotary GSE trip to Brazil. Through most of it, I was helped by Luiz Machado, a Brazilian-born man who now lives in Yakima, Wash. He played professional soccer in Rio de Janeiro for Fluminese, one of the teams I followed while I traveled.
Through talking with him further, I came across this YouTube video of him scoring the game-tying goal against Flamengo in the Campeonato Brasileiro, Brazilian Championship, the highest level tournament title in the world of Brazilian professional soccer.
Take a look. His goal comes on a corner kick near the end of this video, about the 1:40 mark. Keep watching the replays and you’ll get a close up view of what he looks like. Listen for the name Luis Marcelo. That’s what they called him back then. (If you search for him on-line his name is spelled incorrectly as Luis for some reason.)
Pretty cool. I have been communicating with a superstar for months and never knew it.
After several weeks since returning, we all are a bit more organized with our photos and videos. Wanted to share a few more here.
But first, if you haven’t seen all my journalistic photos amid the Yakima Herald-Republic galleries, try clicking the Brazilian flag icon to the right of this page. We’ve reorganized so all the gallery photos are in one place. In reminder, these photos are more like photojournalism, while pictures and videos on the blog are more about the team and our activities.
Here’s a video I took on Mike’s tablet of what appeared to be a nondenominational praise service at a store front church in Aparecide do Norte. The simple setting struck me as quite a contrast from the ornate Catholic churches we visited, especially the massive National Sanctuary in the very same city. It also reminded me of my church in little ol’ Prosser. Props to my Grace Fellowship friends and thanks for your prayers.
And here’s a video of Jennifer reacting to a Facebook prank played on her by her four male traveling companions. For the rest of her life, she will think twice before leaving her account open on someone else’s computer. I’ll paste what we wrote with the video of the reaction below it. It’s long, and some of the comments are inside jokes, but it’s worth it. Oh, it’s so worth it.
“On my penultimate night in Brazil, I can’t stop thinking about how much I love my teammates and how much I will miss them.
They have taken great care of me and I regret every dirty look I gave them.
I couldn’t have picked better travel companions … four drop-dead sexy men. One of them is the greatest leader of all time. He should run for District Governor.
Amy is the luckiest woman in the world being able to watch Ross wield that huge camera.
I wish Agustin would tell me the secret about how he keeps his hair so perfect and his biceps so huge. And, he’s definitely not mean and he only speaks the truth.
And I can’t stop dreaming about Mike in his pink Speedo on a beautiful Brazilian beach. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Paraiso!
Maybe there is still time to find a Brazilian man to take home as a souvenir.
Looking forward to seeing my teammates in Pentictin is the only thing that will keep me going during the next two long, lonely weeks.
Obrigada.”
Rotary District 5060 conference in Pentictin, British Columbia, is complete. Our final presentation …. in English …. is complete. The District 4600 Brazilians’ visit to the United States and Canada is complete.
We got to commiserate and exchange stories with the Brazilians at the conference over beer and French fries at Salty’s Beach House overlooking the shores of Okanagan Lake on Saturday afternoon.
I think our adventures, what was left of them, are completely complete now. I believe we all will visit our Rotary clubs for a few words but there is little left to say. It was nice for the team to visit at the Days Inn in Pentictin again but we’re done. It’s sad and sweet and we know it complete.
Thanks to all the Rotarians who funded our trip and made the excursion of a lifetime possible. I don’t have words to thank you enough.
I just wanted to show you a video I made about our trip. Ed, our leader, called it 4 weeks in 10 minutes, but it’s really only 8. I think you’ll enjoy it. It has samba music, caipirinhas and Mike in a bikini. What more could you want?
If the last month was a whirlwind, the past four or five days were a full-on tornado. It was all enough to squeeze out one more blog post.
Sunday evening, Jennifer flew home and the four guys checked into the Rio de Janeiro apartment loaned to us by a Rotarian family from Volta Redonda. Their son used it too but we rarely saw him. He came and went at night with us hardly the wiser about his presence. We named him the Jujitsu Ghost Host.
We say goodbye to Jennifer.
The apartment was small, but rocked — two blocks from the beach, a short walk from Ipanema, the stretch of sandy coastline made famous by a girl. We never saw her either. We spent most of our time walking the shore, watching people, working out with concrete dumb bells and swimming. Most of our coordinator’s suggested visits around Rio we ignored. Sorry Marcelo but the beach was enough for us.
Our crowded but awesome Rio digs
Agustin’s and Mike’s biceps frame the beach scene but I still think those dumb bells are hollow.
I joined a soccer juggling circle and a game of beach soccer with some Brazilian men, plus three dudes from Canada. So, a big “Mission Accomplished” to my friend Erik from Whidbey Island.
Not my sexiest pose but you get a great idea of the landscape.
I also spent a long morning taking photos and interviewing people at Bola Pre Frente, a youth center in the poor neighborhood of Guadalupe founded by Jorginho, a member of the 1994 World Cup title team. Unlike many of the pro academies I visited, the staff’s main goals were to teach community service, self-respect and life skills to the under-privileged. Soccer was just the hook.
Jorginho grew up in one of those apartments overlooking the empty lots now occupied by his center.
And yes, all four of us took the train to the famous Jesus Christ statue. It was crowded with tourists but well worth the hype. A sight to behold.
I flew out Tuesday night and made it home by Wednesday afternoon, greeted by warm embraces from my family, a dinner of Mexican food and the sight of my baby girl taking some of her first clumsy steps.
Viva Fluminese!
Mike, Agustin and Ed made the same trip a day later with a few flight delays from what I hear.
Thank yous are in order: Rotary International, all our wonderful hosts in Brazil, our sponsor clubs and the people who supported us with prayer. Obrigado to all of you. Can’t speak for the whole team but my presentation fees will be reasonable. Just kidding.
And just as an anecdote to cap off my personal trip, on the plane from Rio I spoke Portuguese with a 48-year-old woman on her way to visit her daughter in Atlanta. It was clumsy and slow but what else do you have to do for nine hours. We helped each other find customs when we landed in Houston and she said goodbye to me with, what else … a kiss on each cheek.
The 2012 GSE Tour is over. We say goodbye to all these new friends Sunday morning on the final day of the District 4600 conference in Sao Lourenco. This might be the last post, folks.
We all take a bus to Rio de Janeiro city in the morning. A friend here said visiting Brazil without seeing Rio is like going to Rome without meeting the Pope.
Jennifer flies out Sunday night. The four guys will stay a few days in an apartment loaned to us.
We made our final presentation Friday and boy was it short. What started out a month ago taking us an hour with completely unintelligible Portuguese took only 20 minutes with mostly unintelligible Portuguese.
Ed and Marcelo make presentation plans
Ed leads us in our final presentation.
The conference is a busy affair in a nice hotel. Foreign exchange students, some from America and Canada, are here. Ed is busy setting up friendship exchanges, swapping gifts and loving the Rotary scene.
Friday night, we partied Brazilian Rotary cowboy style. Traditional country music, grilled meats on a stick and hot spiced wine under a chilly autumn air. Yes, it’s actually chilly here in the mountains. Take a look at this video of a dance with a name roughly translated as “rag doll.”
Here’s one of Jennifer and Marcelo, our local coordinator. Jennifer seemed to pick up the dancing pretty quickly.
Here’s Mike trying to learn. I didn’t do much better during my lesson.
After the cowboy party, some of us visited a local tavern where we learned how late Brazilian Friday nights can get. We arrived at 11 p.m. to a nearly vacant venue. The band took another hour to even start and at 2 a.m. — last call at home — people finally hit the dance floor. Jennifer, the dancing queen of our bunch, was nearly sleep dancing.
A little catching up before I say goodbye: Since the last blog, we spent two nights in Vassouras, then two nights in Barra Mansa.
Vassouras is an old town known for once being the site of royalty. Not even cobblestone is antique enough for this city. Streets are made of rock laid by coffee plantation slaves some 100-200 years ago. I think the time frame got lost in translation.
Barra Mansa was a larger city with tons of shopping and English speaking hosts. I call it the you-can’t-get-there-from-here city, because pulling into a parking spot on the other side of the street always seemed to require a lengthy tour of one-way streets that added five minutes to every trip.
Our group is all split up right now, so forgive the personal thoughts. They are all I have right now.
I unwittingly became a fan of the Rio de Janeiro professional team. Sort of snuck up on me. First they won a mid-level tournament and celebrated with an impromptu parade below our hotel in Vassouras. Then, my host father Alexandre in Barra Mansa heard my 40th birthday was coming up, marched me into a sporting goods store and insisted I try on a few original jerseys, the kind I never spring for myself. I’m converted.
It’s no secret I like soccer but exaggerating my passion for it has helped me make friends here. Gave me something trivial and non-threatening to talk about.
That’s it, really. Time to give this country a kiss on each cheek and say Ciao.
“I’m just sad,” Jennifer said. “I just want to stay here. … I can’t believe I’m going home, it’s insane.”
We all have mixed emotions, no doubt. We are happy and sad, homesick and wanting more. We’ve learned so much and so little. The trip has somehow felt long and short at the same time.
And personally, I’ve never been so tired in my life.
Many of these photos could use some explanation but we’re all running out of time. I’ll try to blog more Saturday morning but the final social expectations of this trip are breathing down my neck.
For now, know that both Ed and I took these. Enjoy.
We’ve have moved again from the hilly community of Valenca to another hilly community, Vassouras.
We all loved our host families in Valenca. I grew especially close to Edelene, my host mother, and I miss her already. Maybe Mothers Day is getting to me. Or maybe it’s because she served me Budweiser and Johnnie Walker Red while teaching me Portuguese swear words Saturday night. Mothers are great. At left, Paulo, Edelene and me.
Valenca was a beautiful city. We all would have been happy to stay there a few days more. Plenty of scenery, architecture, downtown life, friends and soccer. Coming soon to the gallery, photos of soccer volleyball in the sand. I’ve played soccer tennis before, but never soccer volleyball. And I’ve certainly never worn shorts like the Brazilian players, but I suppose I could have borrowed a pair from Mike. See, “The Beach … need I say more” if you don’t get it.
Speaking of Mike. Here’s Mike riding horses at an equine therapy center. Reminds me of the Pegasus project back in Yakima. Frankly, Mike could use the therapy.
Because of allergies, Jennifer skipped the horse ranch but was attacked by biting ants instead. It would happen to her. Here, she and her host sister, Anapaula pick the buggers out of her shoes.
Agustin got put up in a house full of teenagers. Agustin grew up in a house with six brothers, so he fit right in, as you can in this shot of him wrestling with 17-year-old Bruno.
I also visited another jornal, this one a weekly that boasts about how it’s the first in a long time to tell the truth about politicians. The publisher founded it himself in the eves of a giant historic cathedra and works there everyday. He admitted little has changed about the politicians though. Gustavo is his name.
The other thing that happened was that we though for a half a day Ed was kidnapped. Turns out his driver just didn’t know where to find the equine therapy ranch. We found him later safe and sound. Big relief too. We were going to have to appoint Mike as his replacement.
A few details about Volta Redonda, which is now two cities in the rearview mirror.
We had our first true professional day, splitting up to visit hospitals, schools, city economy offices, youth programs and, for me, Diario do Vale, a daily that leans heavily toward crime news. The publisher there evidently considered my presence newsworthy and published a brief story about my visit.
And I’m sharing this photo of Ed at the national park as a teaser for some more of his pictures, either in a future post or the gallery. He’s got a keen eye for still life, training his lens on architecture, birds and lots and lots of flowers.
I have more videos to share and lots of great photos coming to the gallery but we are at a hotel with time for some much needed rest. We love the excitement of meeting everyone, seeing new things and even learning the language, which we all are doing to some degree. But it’s exhausting.
These are a week or two old now, but Mike shared a few of his videos.
How often do you stumble across an opera singer practicing in a park? This guy in San Jose dos Campos gave us a sample:
And here’s Mike, Agustin and Jennifer (way in the back on the right) in Aparecida trying capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts dance that dates back to the days of slavery. It’s beautiful to watch … at least, it’s beautiful when Brazilians do it.
Stay tuned for more adventures in Volta Redonda and Valenca, as well as some great soccer pictures for the gallery in a day or two.
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