Day 20- Domingo 5/6/11

Wow. I went to the Flamengo vs. Corinthians soccer game today and it was the most amazing experience! I have never seen fans so enthusiastic in my life. Yeah, even NFL does not compare to the enthusiasm of these fans. The game took place at Engenhao, which is close to Rio. As we were walking through Rio there were Flamengo fans EVERYWHERE. They were all gathered in front of this building singing and chanting stuff. We took the train over to the stadium and it was packed with Flamengo fans. The entire trip they were banging on the train and singing songs. I don’t know the songs, but they are kind of like fight songs, but with more tune to them. Walking to the stadium was one of the most chaotic experiences. People and cars were everywhere and there was no organization to entering the stadium. I literally got chills when I saw the stadium because it was unreal feelings to be standing in front of this place with die hard fans surrounding me. There was no organized lined, but rather people formed a line and it curved all around. We missed the first few minutes of the game unfortunately. But once people got into the stadium, it was literally as if people were running from the bulls in Spain. Almost everybody would start sprinting, as if missing a few minutes was the end of the world. So, we decided to join in and we ran with everyone. The tickets are not labeled with seats, rows, or sections. You must find a seat when you enter the stadium, and you get to pick where you sit. We found a bunch of open seats at the corner flag really close to the field. We picked the perfect seats! When Corinthians scored the first goal, it was almost like the fans erupted with more cheering and would not stop singing and clapping. All of a sudden this massive flag covers all of us. It was a huge Flamengo flag that covered about 20 rows and we were at the very front of the flag, so we got to hold the end of it and wave it up and down. Here is a picture off of Google of what the flag looked like:

It was sweet! Flags were being waved by everyone. The end of the field, people were lined up with flags in the stands. There was toilet paper being thrown everywhere, and massive flags covering rows of people. I felt as if I was at some championship game or something, so I can’t imagine what a championship game is like or the world cup for that matter. Every single play, people were yelling, cheering, clapping, singing, or something. The fans favorite quote that I heard was “o que e isso?” which means “what is that?” If a player screwed up, they went crazy. If a player did something good, they went crazier. I can’t even put into words how awesome this place was. Another observation was that there was no clock posted anywhere in the stadium to let us know how much time is left, which I think is smart in terms of how crazy these fans get. There were two big screens and they were not that good of quality, but showed the game from a different perspective. Stadiums in America revolve around entertainment and the idea that everything has to be big and bold. Here, the entertainments are the fans. The score ended up being tied at one to one. Flamengo scored an amazing free kick goal. Overall, they were both good teams that utilized the entire field and used every single player.

Afterwards, we all got food at a buffet. Let me clarify buffet in Brazil compared to America. American buffet: unlimited food, which encourages the country to be the most obese country on earth. Brazilian buffet: For every kilo (every plate is weighed) it will cost you a certain amount, so you have to limit your food intake if you want to not spend a lot of money. I thought this was interesting and it is a small example of why Brazilians are skinnier and Americans are not. Or rather why everyone in the world is skinnier than Americans. Hmmm… food for thought (haha I just laughed out loud with the irony of that line).

I had a talk with my host dad today about me feeling discouraged about my placement and this is what he said to me:

“as vezes, christie, na vida temos que abrir mao, para nao criarmos constrangimentos, mas mesmos assim seguimos em frente, e nem por isso voce vai deixar de atingir seus objetivos. o bom e se entrar em um consenso.”
Translation:

"Sometimes, christie, in life we have to give, not to create constraints, but they still go ahead, and even so you will not actually achieve your goals. The good and enter into a consensus."
I needed this...  a new perspective.

There were about 48 thousand people at this game!

My camera died, so all the good pictures and videos are coming!!!! Stay tuned... :)