Brasília-- the volleyball game

One of our number of happy travelers realized a few weeks back that we were going to be in Brasília during a game of the world men´s volleyball championship-- Brasil vs. Finlandía. So he arranged for/insisted that we all go watch.

Now I´m just a little Texan girl, so I didn´t even really know there was such a thing as men´s volleyball. But apparently it is HUGE in Brazil.

So we went and got our tickets Friday after arriving in Brasilía, and as we were walking back to the center of the city my sharp friend Marúsia noticed that there was a bus parked in front of a hotel that had a sign saying "World League Volleyball-- Delegação do Brasil (delegation from Brazil)". There were some official looking people standing there so we went over to check it out. Turns out that was the hotel where they were staying, and although they weren´t there then, they would be there at 5pm (this was about noon). We hung out there for a little while talking with the security and bus drivers, and as we did guess who arrived at the hotel! The national team of Finland!!! So we all cheered for them as they arrived.


Yay Finland!
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

The Finnish team arriving


Má, Ann, Security with bus
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

Marúsia, Ann, and the security in front of the Brazil bus


So we ended up returning to the hotel at 5pm to welcome the team. Security asked us to be pretty cool about the whole deal, but it was pretty exciting! Here is some video of them arriving and my friends rushing for pictures. It ends abruptly because I was taking pictures with other peoples´ cameras.



In case you don´t feel like watching the video (I won´t take offense), here are a few pictures. They´re not very good because they´re actually taken out of the video I shot.


Dude and Guto
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

Má, Aníbal, Dude, Jandira
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

?, Jandira, Dude, Ivan
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

Then Saturday was the actual game. It was SO FUN! I have never been to a Brazilian sporting event before, and to be at one for a national team was awesome! They had an MC who kept the crowd cheering and dancing through the whole game. And we won! Here are some of my favorite pictures. More are in my webshots album.

Volleyball game
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

My peeps!
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

My friends at the game

Being suffocated by the flag
Originally uploaded by sojochick1.

This might require some explanation. I don´t know if you can really see it, but they unfurled a huge Brazilian flag thing that I happened to be sitting on the edge of. It was my duty as a spectator and fan to get under the flag and wave it. You can see here that I almost fell down. :) It was so funny!

This is a video of the crowd singing the national antem.

All in all, it was a blast and I´m so happy I got to go. And by the way, Brasil won!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, I also want to mention that on our flight back to São Paulo, 2 of the volleyball players were on the plane with us! We stopped one and got our picture with him, at which point one of our friends told him that we were there at the hotel the other day and saw them, and at the game. Yeah, he probably thinks we´re stalkers by now. :) Ha! What a blast!