Journey to the World Cup: Day 4
10-11am - Everyone slept until 11, but I woke up a bit early, so I spent an hour sitting on the porch, watching people walk by, and listening to Two Door Cinema Club.
11am-12:30pm - We all went down to Copacabana for the FIFA Fan Fest again, but I'm the only one who actually went in(the others just picked a spot on the beach). I was completely stunned by everything going on in the mile-long Fan Fest. Not to mention that Argentina was playing, so there were so many fans decked out in the Albiceleste colors.
1-3pm - The game itself wasn't fantastic, but the experience was. I met this great guy named Tim, who started talking to me because he saw me holding my Southampton kit (a pretty obscure English team). As it turns out, he lives in LA and is a scout responsible for telling Southampton about promising players that he sees around southern California. So basically, wearing this obscure jersey may have landed me free tickets for life at St. Mary's Stadium along the south coast of England.
3-5pm - Between the end of Argentina/Belgium and the start of Holland/Costa Rica, I played beach soccer with a mixture of other tourists and native Brazilian kids. I don't really need to say more, just know that it really taught me how beautiful and unique soccer is.
5-7pm - Oh, this was fun. I went back into the Fan Fest and watched the final quarterfinal game surrounded by about 20 Brazilians kids, probably all around 13 years old, and 6 or 7 Dutch kids who came to support their country. One really small Brazilian boy became completely enamored by this pretty, 18 year old Dutch girl (who I don't think is actually from the Netherlands because she was speaking perfect English to her friends). So I called him a few feet over to me and asked him "Você quer saber como falar em inglês com ela?" Once Holland scored a penalty kick, everyone screamed for joy, and the kid gave the girl a big hug, put his arm around her, and said "I think you are very beautiful. Can I have a kiss?" It was adorable, especially because he said it really smoothly and the girl's friends all giggled at this adorable little ladies' man. I felt like cupid. After a few minutes, the Dutch sealed their victory, and the Dutch girl kissed the boy on the cheek and left with her friends. I tell you, I've never seen a person blush as hard as this little guy did. He gave me a big hug to thank me for teaching him some English, and we both went on our ways.
9-10:30pm - One of the best experiences of my life. Kai, my dad and I went out to grab a quick bite once we got home, and some random guy pulled us into this restaurant and pointed out what food we should have. Once in the place, ANOTHER person recognized my Southampton kit and began talking to me about the time he spent living in England. While my head turned left to talk to him, it turned right whenever the stereotypical weird drunk guy wanted to talk to me. But he was a really awesome weird drunk guy, so here's a picture of us together. Needless to say, the food was incredible. For being such a run-down joint, I was surprised to eat such great food. The rice and chicken soup were the best I've ever had in my entire life. And to top it off, everyone was so nice to me about how well I speak Portuguese, and spent the entire time complimenting me. The three of us now know what it's like to be treated like kings.
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