Depois de um longo período de inatividade, esse blog será atualizado.
Na última vez que atualizei, minha vida estava muito, mas muito diferente do que está agora.
O motivo dessa mudança toda? Alguns mil Kms de distância.
Pois é querido leitores, estou agora em um país tropical, abençoado por Deus e bonito por natureza. Meu querido Brasil.
Na verdade, já faz um bom tempo em que estou em solo brasileiro, mais precisamente um mês. E nesse tempo já deu pra matar as saudades de tudo: comidinha brasileira, futebol, mengão, família e amigos.
Não tenho grandes novidades não, tá tudo naquela vidinha mansa e boa de férias.
O que tá tirando meu sono é a copa do mundo 2010. Não vejo a hora dessa copa começar. Quero ver todos os 64 jogos. Sei que é difícil, mas pelo menos uns 55 jogos eu garanto que vejo! Vai ser lindo!
O que aconteceu de realmente significante foi a minha GPA (nota) que saiu no meu primeiro semestre. Deus recompensou meu esforço e minhas horas de estudo e eu acabei o primeiro semestre com uma GPA de 4.1 . O máximo é 4.0, mas eu tive um A+ em história e consegui terminar o semestre com uma boa nota.
Segue abaixo o link da reportagem que saiu sobre mim no site da Georgia State University.
http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=53564&SPID=5661&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=12700&atclid=204947730
Ah! E também teve uma reportagem que saiu no Atlanta Journal Constitution, que é o maior jornal de Atlanta. A reportagem fala sobre a copa do mundo e o que ela significa para os estrangeiros (não americanos), já que ela não é muito valorizada nos EUA. Enfim, o acessor de imprensa da minha universidade sabia que eu era louco por futebol e me indicou pro escritor da matéria, que era amigo dele. Assim, ele me enviou um e mail com algumas perguntas e eu respondi, e ele usou essas respostas e outras de pessoas de outros países para fazer a reportagem. Ficou bem legal, vale a pena conferir. As partes que eu apareço estão em negrito pra quem ficar com preguiça de ler a matéria toda.
U.S. fans not as crazed as international foes.
Many countries shut down for the duration of the tournament.
By Steve Hummer / Staff
They were uprooted from some verdant soccer culture and transplanted in the red clay of Georgia, where touchdowns, not corner kicks, grow.
But listen to the voices of various Atlanta-based athletes from around the world as they exult in the coming of another World Cup.
Hear how the passion for soccer and its grand quadrennial celebration has survived the athletes' move to the American South.
And try to understand the depths a sport can reach, even without using its hands.
Soccer "is our origin, our people, our passion and our addiction." --- Lucas Santana, Brazil, Georgia State tennis player.
"[The World Cup] means people aren't going to work the day of games, and they definitely aren't going the day after (because of bone-buckling hangovers). Everything shuts down. It is like having a Super Bowl running every day for a 30-day period." --- Rob King, England, Kennesaw State women's soccer coach.
"It's like war. It is the best feeling ever when we win. All the national feeling comes out in you when your country plays." --- Johanna Rasmussen, Denmark, member of Atlanta Beat women's professional soccer team.
"When the World Cup was in Germany (2006), there was a euphoria. Everyone was really happy and everybody was glad to be German. It was the first time in long years you could actually have a German flag with you, or hang a German flag from your window without everyone acting really weird. The German people are scared of being patriotic." --- Shelley Thompson, Germany, Atlanta Beat.
The World Cup begins Friday at 10 a.m., when host country South Africa plays Mexico. There have been 19 of these soccer spectacles since 1930, but this is the first played in Africa.
"It is huge for South Africa's status. This is our exposure to the world, " said Kyle Scott, a Georgia Tech golfer by way of Johannesburg.
South Africa will hold the planet's gaze for the next month as 32 teams play down to one champion sure to be greeted back home as a world conqueror.
Yes, the United States is one of 32, a fully vested foot soldier in the great soccer conflict. Yet, there is not the widespread World Cup rapture here as in many other competing countries.
Being enveloped by the event, sharing it at a gut level with everyone in sight, that is an aspect the soccer expatriates sorely miss.
The U.S. actually will continue to do business during its World Cup games, unlike the countries they come from.
People will not take to the streets by the thousands or gather to watch on big screens in the public squares. Newspaper and television coverage won't be dominated by dispatches from the veldt.
"You do miss the buzz, because there is a constant one back home at the moment, " King said. "Here, if you bump into a soccer person, you get some of that. But it's not constant like in most of Europe."
A fortunate one, Santana returned last month to Brazil, largely to watch his country's pursuit of a sixth World Cup. No nation has won more, and it may be fairly argued that no nation enjoys the tournament more.
The Super Bowl is fairly large in this hemisphere, but seldom do you hear an American football fan put his passions on display like Santana, in an e-mail message from Brasilia: "The anxiety is higher and the patriotism increases. We feel that we are part of Brazil's team and we have the obligation to push Brazil to victory."
Georgia Tech tennis star Guillermo Gomez finished his NCAA obligations just in time to get back home to Spain, the betting favorite to win its first World Cup.
When Spain won the European Football Championship in 2008, Gomez said, the party was epic. "I can't imagine what it would be after winning the World Cup, " he said, dearly hoping to find out up close and personally.
For those left behind, surrounded by Americans who, at best, consider the World Cup a cute diversion, it will be a matter of doing the best they can to create an intense watching experience.
With a busy schedule this summer, Scott has pretty well counted himself out from following in depth how his country handles its hosting chores. Whoever thought golf could be an inconvenience?
King's family will break off from a Florida vacation pre-dawn on Saturday in order to drive back to Atlanta in time to watch the England-U.S. match with a small group of Anglophiles. He and his young son have their English jerseys --- with the distinctive three lion design --- all cleaned and pressed for the occasion. Attempting to sell a new team to the area, the Beat already has an overloaded plate. That won't keep team members, winless six games deep into the Women's Professional Soccer season, from spending their last bit of emotional capital on the World Cup.
The team is a United Nations in cleats, with a roster comprised of players from seven countries, every one in the World Cup.
They will be scrambling the next month to find countrymen with whom to share the matches. Monica Ocampo already has found a sizable Mexican fan base in Cobb County. But for players like Rasmussen or Ramona Bachman, discovering pockets of Danish or Swiss fans is more of a challenge.
The Beat at least will have each other to beat on. A certain amount of soccer trash talk already has commenced.
After a practice last week, Rebecca Nolin was instigating. "I'm typically English, so I don't want the Germans to win, " she said just loud enough for a certain Teutonic teammate to hear.
Looking back to see who else was in earshot, Nolin added, "I don't want the Swiss or Mexico or Japan --- I don't want any of them to win."
No matter how far he or she may be from home, the committed soccer fanatic will find a way to work up a decent World Cup froth.
