Brazilians + Soccer = No Sleep

I last left off my blog post at the 'Hug an Exchange Student' day. That night (a Friday night) I went out with a group of exchange students in Savassi. We just hang out at a pastel place for basically the whole night. For those of you who don't know what pastels are, I will explain. It is a deep fried pastry with literally anything you want in it. It can be sweets, it can be savory, salty, just cheese, meat, ANYTHING. My personal favourite is the banana filled one coated with sugar/cinnamon. It's practically Jesus. This particular night was quite interesting because it was the night that began all the noise in Belo Horizonte. I arrived home at around 1:30, went to my room, tried to fall asleep but then I kept hearing car horns going off like crazy, people shouting, etc. Then started the firecrackers, and bombs. Some of them were so close to my house, I actually thought I was going to die. I had no idea why people were setting off firecrackers and chanting at 2am until I asked in the morning. My family explained to me that on Sunday there would be a huge game in BH for their soccer team called 'Cruzeiro'. The fireworks and chanting were the fans. It went on like that every night leading up to the game.

On Saturday night, I went out with Eli (from Florida) and some of her friends from school. It was one of their birthdays and since he plays for the other team, he decided he wanted to go to a gay club. I kind of just went with it because why not? Everyone in that club honestly looked like they were having a blast. I honestly wouldn't say that I would go back there again but it was an experience.

Sunday, I watched the game with my family and all of my friends from school were snap chatting me being all excited. It was really cool because every time Cruzeiro got a goal, the whole city was celebrating. Finally, Cruziero won the game and once again, there was no sleep that night. People went all night long screaming on the streets, setting off bombs, and honking car horns. That game wasn't even the final game! I tried skyping my family and they could even hear the loud, thundering noises in the back ground. The whole city literally stopped for that game.

Monday after school, I went shopping with Eli in the center of the city where everything is cheap. We discovered an amazing place that makes juice, coffee, acai, and pao de queijo (my 4 favourite things). I have probably mentioned this before but HOLY the juice here in Brazil is the BEST. This place had a menu full of different kinds of fruits so basically you can choose as many different kinds as you want for your juice then you choose either milk or orange juice as the base then they take the fresh fruits, blend it up, and there you go. It is the best thing in the whole world and it is so freaking cheap.

Tuesday, Eli and I took the bus to Sandra's house to dye her hair for her. I knew which bus to take, which was good, but then Sandra told Eli that I knew how to get to her house and which stop to get off at because I have done it before. HAHAH bad mooooove, I don't remember things like that so Eli and I had a little adventure but thank the lord above for Google Maps. Sandra has a lot of trust in us because she let us dye her hair in her bedroom... but it was surprisingly successful.

Wednesday, Sandra and I got our nails done for the first time in Brazil. We got our hands and toes done for only R$30 (that's equal to $15). When we walked in, the lady gave us these packages that I had no idea what to do with, and told us to sit down. We sat there for about ten minutes until someone told us to actually open the package and put on the gloves with the mushy stuff inside to soften up our nails. They couldn't believe that we had never gotten them done before. The lady doing my hands began cutting off my cuticles and she asked if I have ever done that before. I told her I didn't even know what cuticles were until like 4 months ago. Everyone laughed at me.
The hands went well I think but once she got to my feet, I kind of freaked out a bit. I am ridiculously ticklish so she had a hard time doing anything without me squirming. I just about kicked her in the face at one point. Overall, it was successful. After that, Eli and Sandra came over and I made fresh passion fruit juice and pao de queijo by myself. My host mom told me that I can marry now because I know how to do those things. So that's a plus.
That night was the big game (to be honest I forget what the name of the cup is called but all I know is that it is a huge deal in Brazil and Cruzeiro has won it twice in the past), Eli and I went down the road to a sports bar to watch the game because the city was full of energy and excitement. The fireworks, bombs, car horns, and people screaming was 10x worse that night. Every goal we got the whole bar would roar with excitement. I've never experienced anything like it. People drove around the city with Cruzeiro flags hanging out their windows while screaming 'CRUUUZEIROOO'. When Cruzeiro won, the whole city (other than the Galo fans because Galo is BH's other team), was ecstatic. The parties went all night long because now Cruzeiro is 'Tri-Campeao' which means 'Tri-Champions' of this championship. It literally went all night, morning, and the rest of the next day. My classmates even decorated the classroom with jerseys and flags. It was absolutely insane!

Brazilians are crazy for soccer. I thought I knew that before, but holy I did not know the extent to it. I cannot even try to imagine what the city will be like for the world cup next June. But I am so excited to find out.