copa day2, end of day

well you can call today the first "real" day of the copa event.. nice crowd, a few people bought shirts, and one guy even said hed come back with the guys he plays "peladas" with and buy 20.. slowly but surely the event is taking form.. the games today were exciting.. in the first game england bested paraguay on an own goal by gamarra.. paraguay could have won if they knew how to finish.. trinidad and tobago surprised everyone holding sweden to a 0-0 tie, sweden should have won that game by two or three goals.. in the final game, the ivory coast surprised as well by giving argentina a hell of a match, the ivory coast played their hearts out but in the end, argentinas experience gave them a 2-1 victory.. lets see what tomorrow brings.. the pics on top are from todays event.. love and miss you guys.. :)

copa day2

ok guys it’s a bit early here, 0646 (5.46 am, dst, miami time), but I got stuff to do even BEFORE todays copa games, that begin at 1000 (9am dst miami) with a game im really looking forward to watching, england v paraguay.. the 1300 (12pm dst) miami game is sweden v trinidad and tobago, and closing up the days games at 2100 (3pm dst miami) is argentina v ivory coast.. aside from working the event i need to go to the stadium in the morning for a practice game between the b team to test some players out.. woe is me.. part of my work requires me to watch every game of the world cup and watch games in person.. oh well....

test run

ok we did a test run today for the first two games, we had some glitches with the projector, it would keep shutting off, but that seemed to be an overload problem with the circuit breaker.. we have some problems with the glare from the screen, and we should be able to solve that tomorrow.. poor me, i need to watch every single stinkin game of the world cup and get PAID!!! 64 games of world class soccer instead of being cooped up in the office, or back in miami worrying about hurricane this or tropical storm that.. oh well, such are the sacrifices i made when i moved to brasil… on the games, costa rica impressed me, but germany was too much for them.. poland disappointed, they missed at least three goals, one on a fast break, and two that hit the post.. ecuador played solid, well enough to shut the eurosnobs up, and if costa rica plays against poland like they did against germany, they might be fighting ecuador for second place in the group..

finished product

literally running out he door to get to the event and set up, but I wanted to show you guys the way the shirts came out.. compare it to what I originally sent them.. such is the way things are done here in brasil.. now some of who you heard my frustrations can see what the reality is..

finally in the spirit of the world cup

finally, in the spirit of the world cup, a special post, just to put up a special picture.. its for papa, papi alfredo, abuelita ana, mima fela, canita, papapa, gaston, yia, gueli, pin and papi miguel who can read these posts from above and will watch every game.. its for mama.. its for mami marcelina.. its for my sister who will think its funky.. its for henry, jose, and val who will get a kick out of it.. its just a pic of me with a cuban soccer jersey.. enjoy..

copa event

ok everything seems set up at the bar.. we set up the screen, tested the projector, and all went well.. so far so good.. i will be very busy at the event but will keep you guys posted.. at the too is just a pic of the screen, and a big brasilian flag put up in the bar.. its there everyday, not just for copa.. which brings up an interesting point.. country bars aside,how many bars do you go into back in the states that ALWAYS display the american flag? its not just this place,most every store, bar, cafeteria, even the cabaré and boites have the flag.. (quick note, one of the cabarés has a picture of Jesus hanging up right on top of the bar and dance floor, which is kinda amusing in its own way).. anyways, i just think national pride is a funny thing, how people express it around the world..

COPA!!!!!!!!!!

well its down to hours.. the copa starts at 1300, brasil time, 1800 in berlin, 1200 in miami,, 3 years and 11 months of waiting, for a whole month of nothing but the best soccer in the world.. inspired by my good friend jose at hispanic marketing today i have decided to post my first round picks, which appear at the end of the post.. the whole city, the whole country,most of the world with few exceptions, is ready for this to begin,, here, the schools have let the kids wear brasil jerseys in lieu of uniforms.. banks, government and city offices, in fact most every type of office have rescheduled their ours so as not to conflict wioth brasil and other high profile games.. some weeks back there was a huge war between the police and a criminal gang in other large cities, and part of the deal made to stop the nonsense was to allow the prisoners to get access color tvs for the copa.. thats a whole another issue, social commentary post, but my point is, in this soccer mad country, even prison riots and civil unrest are connected to to copa.. ok guys i have ALOT to get done but will try to keep in touch..

group a
germany-poland

group b
sweden-england

group c
argentina-holland

group d
mexico-iran

group e
italy-ghana

group f
brasil-croatia

group g
france-sou korea

group h
saudi arabia-ukraine

the copa event

ok the copa event.. so this is what happened.. I was sitting at a bar/ restaurant (here, most every place is both) having dinner and the owner is complaining that every bar in town has a big screen.. so this light, it goes off in my head and I call him over.. in my head I came up with the following plan.. I would get him the projector and the big screen, set it up in his bar.. id get these shirts (they are called kits here, I will explain that later) printed up with the schools name, the bars name and RUMO AO HEXA (on the road to hexa, because if brasil wins this world cup, it is their 6^th, the hexa championship) printed up.. id make up banners and get radio sports to promote the event.. id charge a cover of R$5 (about US$2.30) per person every day they came to watch the games in the bar.. as an option, they could by the “kit” at R$15-R$20 (its about US$6.73-US$9.00, we still haven’t decided how much it will be) and watch all the games without having to pay each time they came.. the owner of the bar (btw, his name is nilton, and the name of the bar is mercatto) gets to keep all the food and drink he sells, and the school gets to keep the money form the cover charge and shirts.. we are also going to make up tickets, where people write down what they think the final score and stats from that days games will be.. we sell the sheets at R$1 or R$2 and whoever picks the most games right will get half the money, and the school gets half the money.. right now this event is taking up A LOT of my time, and I need to get back to work on it.. ok love and miss you guys….

free gym membership!!

Entry for May 30, 2006

ok guys not much new to report, dont know if i told you but the owner of a gym here gave me free membership in trade for english lessons while i train with him, and he gave me a new program to start, so thats kinda news i guess, and brasil is getting ready for the world cup.. everything pretty much stops when brasil is playing.. winter is rolling in, there are some days i dont see the sun at all.. stuff with the school is moving along, we started clearing another field today, it should be done tomorrow, they will stop at 3.30PM for a "warmup" game that brasil is playing in preparation for the world cup.. everything is aok.. love and miss you guys..

easier?

ok guys maybe this is easier for everyone.. one central place where anyone can post, comment blablabla.. im gonna transfer the fotos to another site, havent figured that out yet.. i dont have too much time right now because the copa event has alot of odds and ends i need to complete..this way ma you can forward this to whoever, wherever and anyone can post if they like.. everybody happy now? like tony the tiger said, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat