Futebol Project Begins

Where to begin with this pass week... We began our project, which has been phenomenal! Each day we wake-up at 7am to catch two buses to our favela. A favela is the term for a shanty town in Brazil, most often within urban areas. It takes about a little over an hour to arrive at our project. Once we arrive, we meet the head of the futebol program, Carlao. He is very kind and although he does not speak English, we have had no issues in understanding one another. As we walk to the futebol court, we pass through the favela and people yell out, Bom Dia Carlao!! It is safe to say Carlao knows everyone in the neighborhood. Not only do they know him, they love him. We are quite thankful for that because since he is loved, it seems we automatically loved in the community as well.

In Brazil the children go to either morning or afternoon school. Because of this, there is a large gap in their day where there is not much to do. When there are not many things to do, it is more likely that the children will get involved in the incredibly large drug, violence and gang scene. In order to avoid this, Carlao developed this soccer program where the children can come before or after school to play. They love it! In the mornings we have 35 children and in the afternoons, it is the same. The children range in age from 5-16. They were incredibly welcoming to us and by the end of the day, we were exchanging handshakes, hugs and high-fives. I think the fact that I scored a goal helped a bit! By the following day, when the children would see us, they run up to us and ask if we are going to play today! The smiles on their faces are priceless. So exciting! Mike and I, honestly feel so thankful and grateful to have this experience. Seeing how excited these kids are when we are around, is something I never imagined would happen. I thought, ok, one or two might take interest in us. But, literally every single one is grabbing our hands, high-fiving us, giving thumbs up and just smiling when we are around. And, can I add in, they do not speak a word of English. Amazing the connections you can make, when you do not even speak the same language. It does not take much. The little things. Simple things. A smile goes a long way. It is better than I could have ever imagined and I can say, I have never felt this happy before. What they give us is so much more than we can give them. Pictures below are not the greatest but you get the idea of where we are working the futebol program.

I am also working on putting together some information on the houses we build in the favelas. As you can imagine in the, “slums,” there are families of 8 living in what can be compared to a medium to large bathroom in the states, with no plumbing or electricity.

This week, we also had a family dinner with all the volunteers. Our house manager, Marie (amazing woman), made us a traditional brazilian dinner. Again, I could not stop smiling. It was so much fun to sit around a table of 20 people, each from a different background, country, purpose, passion, and talk, drink, enjoy food all together. I think the other volunteers could see and hear my excitement when I started hugging everyone and singing Bob Marley's, One Love.

 Today is Brazil's Independence Day! Which means we had the day off. Brazil loves their holidays. We thought no better way to celebrate, than to head to Copacabana beach to work on our tan and drink some caipirinhas But, before that we headed to the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral and a kilo lunch. Kilo style restaurants are everywhere around here. Basically, buffet style food but, good and fresh. Queria que você estivesse aqui!! (Wish you were here!!)

Outside the Cathedral

As you walk in...

Kilo Lunch all Smiles

hi mom :)

Copacabana Beach

Happy Independence Brasil!

The Real Coconut Water

Copacabana, Hippie Markets, Orientation and Futebol

Copacabana! A group of us made our way out to Copacabana on Saturday to soak up some sun. No one brings a towel to the beach in Rio. Instead, you bring a sarong and use it as a towel, scarf, blanket or even dress. They sell them at the beach, with all different colors and designs. It was sunny and warm on Saturday. Mike and I went on a long walk along the shore. The Atlantic Ocean is quite cold over here, but that certainly does not stop the surfers. There are a lot of them and they are so fun to watch. The waves are large and the current is incredibly strong. Just from walking on the shore, you can feel the ocean trying to pull you in. Brazil beaches are just as they say they are... filled with little to no clothing, lots of volleyball and soccer, and few other sports I have not seen before. There is a lot of love in Brazil. Everyone is so friendly and will want to get to know you, regardless of the language barrier. It is a warm feeling of friendship, that makes you want to smile, a lot! Below are some pictures from Copacabana.

After the beach, we stopped by a restaurant in Santa Teresa for a Brazilian meal. Mike ordered the traditional Brazilian meal, served only on weekends. It is called, Feijoada.  Mike said that it was pretty good! He even ate the pig ears. I went for a shrimp risotto and it was delicious.

Graffiti in Santa Teresa

Sunday, we headed out to Ipanema for the Hippie Market. You could literally spend three days there! There is SO much to look at. So much jewelry, bags, unique Brazil items. And, even after all of that, there is a huge art display in the middle. We ran into some other volunteers at the market and they told us to meet them at the beach for sunset. After a bit more purussing, we made our way over to the beach for the sunset. As we walked up, the other volunteers were yelling, Mike and Ashley! It felt so good to have all these friends, in this foreign country, in so little time. You could tell some had just gotten out of the water and some had ice cold beers. We all watched the sunset together with some reggae playing in the background. It seemed so surreal. The colors, the beauty, the wonderful people, the waves crashing in... wow. But, I did not bring my camera to sunset, so you'll just have to take my word for it. 

Monday was more orientation and a trip out to the futebol field. Since today was more orientation, we do not attend our volunteer project until tomorrow.  With some extra free time, Mike was itching to play some futebol so, we headed over to the Santa Teresa court. It is about a 10 minute walk up the hill from our place. It is not what you would expect, it is actually a cement block, with two goals that do not have nets. Next to the futebol court is a park. We walked through Santa Teresa and found the court and began to play. 

Mike at the Futebol Court

A short while after, children of all ages started showing up. Then, a coach or what seemed to be the head of some sort of practice or after-school activity going on. The man asked us if we wanted to play too. We said, yes! The children were so excited to have Mike on their team. The boys kept pointing at him, to tell him he was on their team. We introduced ourselves and asked their names. We played a full on game with them. Each time there was a goal, the boys yelled GOOOOAAAAL followed by some sort of celebration. Even when Mike Nolan scored, they yelled GOOOOAAAL and Mike ran around the court pretending he was an airplane in celebration. The boys all laughed. There was a little boy, the youngest of them all, named Monticello. Monticello could not score the entire game, no matter how hard he tried. After the coach blew the whistle and called the game, we continued to play with them. This is when Monticello scored a goal! In excitement, he ran up to Mike and hugged him! It was the coolest thing ever. And, in that moment we were seeing the reason why we were here and we loved it. As the sun began to set, each child left saying Tchau! And high-fiving us good-bye.   

Carioca, Ipanema Beach and Christ the Redeemer

We started off Thursday by heading to the Carioca, which is the heart of the city.  (Carioca also refers to a person from Rio, like a Chicagoan from Chicago) We were told we could not go to the bank to withdrawl money alone because once people see tourists, they will follow them. So, we went with our volunteer head, Viviana to the Carioca. We were treated to a mini-tour, where she showed us the Cathedral, the largest oil company in Brazil, a pork belly restaurant and the market.  The streets of the city are packed with people and vendors. It is really exciting to walk down the streets. There is so much to look at, it feels like you want to stop every two seconds and look at the jewelry, clothes, food, sweets, drinks, everything!

After we put some cash in our pockets, we headed back home on the bus to grab a bag for the beach.  Mike and I took a path down the hill/mountain to a subway station called Gloria.  After getting off the beaten path for a second... or longer (it isn't an adventure until something goes wrong, right?), we found Gloria subway station.  It is similar to the El, only here, the subway is very clean and spacey.  Once we hit Ipanema (about 20 minutes), we got off and went on a search for the beach.  Luckily, it did not take too long.  We ended up seeing a barefoot man with dreadlocks and only board shorts on... my senses told me we were in the right place.  A couple minutes later, there it was Ipanema.....

Needless to say the beach was absolutely breathtaking.  You can see in the first picture, that a storm was coming in from the South.  After watching the surfers, climbing some rocks and walking on the beach, we decided to head back into the city before the storm came in.  We made a trip to the market to pick-up some groceries for the house.  Once, we grabbed the bus for Santa Teresa, we were on our way back home. Amazing, already had the transportation figured out... Did you know that the bus and subways here have no timed schedule? Could you imagine? But, that is Rio for you.  Everything takes a half hour longer because there really isn't any concept of time.  Which is nice when you're late, but not really when you're hungry. Sure does remind you to... relax!

And, that is just what we did when we got home.  We had a tea and a nap.  This is what everyday should consist of.. at 4pm everyone should just have a tea and a nap.  Wouldn't we all be so much happier? After that, we grabbed a couple of unbelievable Rio sandwiches from a Cafe on a rooftop in Santa Teresa.  The cappaccino and Brazilian nutcake had us energized to come back to the house and have some drinks and play some games with our fellow volunteers.

Today, (Friday) we went out to the market in the morning for some fres fruits and vegetables.  Everything is fresh and you can bargain with the locals if you do not like the price. We were able to buy 5 bags of veggies for $5 real, which is about $3.50 U.S. dollars. After the market, we gathered with a group of the volunteers and went up to see Christ the Redeemer.

After a long bus ride and a short trolley ride, we arrived.  I'll let the pictures do the talking...

An unbelievable time thus far, to say the least.  Feeling truly blessed. Can't wait to see the children on Monday and play some footy, but until then, the weekend has just begun and there are many adventures to be had.  Below are some pictures of where we are staying.

Our room in Santa Teresa:

 View from outside the house:

 Eating Area on Rooftop:

 Our Kitchen on Rooftop:

 Mike in the livingroom:

Tchau!

Primeiro Dia

After a worldwide United Airlines power outage and waiting in lines for 2 hours, we were on our way to Rio! A close to empty flight, meant Mike and I were able to grab a seat by the window.  With a window seat, we could see the sunrise on our way into Brazil. Fantastic! We arrived at GIG at about 9:30am and were then met by our driver who took us to Santa Teresa. To my surprise it was cloudy... I thought it was sunny everyday in Rio? But, I was not worried, mountains surrounded the whole city and it was so beautiful with clouds, I could not even imagine what it looked like sunny.

When entering Rio from the North side it is full of houses upon houses, lots of graffiti and an abundance of cement blocks, on cement blocks, on cement blocks. The traffic and drivers are similar to Chicago. Wild and fast. In between cars, motorcycles zoom... and when the traffic comes to a complete stop, there are people who come out to sell snacks.  Nothing like a piece of candy, while you wait in traffic.

Slowly but surely we made our way up to Santa Teresa. The house we are staying at is up on a mountain! Very cool. The streets are cobblestone and each house is so unique, with it's design and colors. We were greeted by the caretaker of the house. I must say, I was shocked at how wonderful the house looks and feels. On the first floor there is a very large living room for breakfast and dinner. They serve tea and coffee all day (perfecto!). As you walk upstairs, there is a second kitchen out on the very large roof that looks over Santa Teresa and you can even see the ocean! Oh wow, it gets better. There is a large sitting area outside where you can enjoy your dinner and watch the sunset. Also, Mike and I were lucky enough to get our own room with bunk beds! Top bunk!

As the day went on, we met the other volunteers that are staying in the house. There are people from Australia, England, Switzerland, France, Ecuador and even Buffalo Grove, IL and Colorado. Everyone is incredibly nice and eager to know our story. Each is working on a different project. Some are working on community development, a surf program, teaching English and working with children. You can tell that everyone is excited to be here, each having their own reason. Some as a break for summer, some to “figure things out,” others as an adventure before they start their career. Collectively, everyone has the same mindset, to enjoy themselves while giving back to others.

After meeting everyone, Mike and I set out to explore the restaurants in Santa Teresa. We walked up the cobblestone road where there are several cafes. It is interesting because there will be nothing, just houses or empty buildings while you walk and then all of a sudden, a cafe/restaurant pops out. We passed a park with workout equipment, snuck in some views of the water and mountains, and saw the policia. One restaurant that caught our eye, was a place flowing with people, so much that they poured out of the restaurant. The entire front is wide open, with no doors or windows. We walked in, sat down and tried to mutter a couple of words in Portuguese. It must have worked, because he came back with a forty ounce of beer and two cups. The restaurant menu was in English and they took Visa, what a perfect beginner restaurant. Thanks Brazil! If you are ever in Santa Teresa, it is called Bar do Mineiro and is a great brazilian meal. Mike and I shared a chicken dish, that came with a side of rice and beans. Very large portions! And, delicious. After that large meal, we headed back to the house to watch the sunset from the top of the roof, did some visiting, had a tea and then a nap. It's rough out here.

As I sit in our room, I hear accents and foreign languages being spoke outside the door by all the volunteers. The buses rolling down the cobblestone streets, so loud and fast, it sounds as if a waterfall is right down the street. It is perfect. Tomorrow we will venture out to the beach and hopefully, get in our first run. Should be a great day for pictures and adventure. mais para vir!