Vai Figuerense, Vai!

I was sitting in my living room the other day with a friend. He got off the phone and said his buddies were going to a soccer game. The #1 team in Serie A (Palmeiras) was in town playing Figuerense (Florianopolis' local Serie A team and by default, my team). I said, "Why the hell don't we go?" I had wanted to go to a game since I arrived here and couldn't think of a reason not to go. Therefore, we grabbed a couple other friends and hit the road (the stadium is about 45 minutes away). We arrived to pure mayhem. People were partying in the street everywhere you looked. The game started at 10PM so it's safe to say that these people had been drinking for awhile. It was exactly what you would imagine a Brazilian soccer game to look like. We had a beer or two, hung with the crowd for a bit, and then headed inside to our seats (after a lengthy body search!). In an effort to stop the madness, they no longer serve beer or alcohol inside the stadium. Once I got inside, I realized exactly why. I couldn't possibly fathom what these fans would do if they were able to drink all night. They were going nuts the whole time. There was, however, one very favorite part of the night for me. There was one section going crazy and I wanted to sit by them. After being there for a bit, it finally dawned on me that these fans weren't cheering for either team. There were cheering for Gremio, an entirely other team from Rio Grande do Sol!!!! I was flabbergasted. These were true fans. There must have been at least 1,000 of them. I asked my Brazilian friend what the hell was going on. She said that Gremio is in 2nd place and, therefore, these fans were there to cheer for Palmeiras to lose. I couldn't believe it. I was trying to imagine a bunch of Bronco fans going to a Raiders game to cheer on the Chargers. I'm not quite sure what the reception would be like, but I know it wouldn't be good. The other hysterical part was listening to the songs about the referees. The most popular one had to do with the sexual preference of the referees. The fans were loving that one, and I thought it was pretty damn funny too (it's safe to say that these soccer games are not a great place to take the kids - it wasn't exactly Disneyland). To make a long story short, we cheered all night and had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, the game ended 0-0, but I learned some great new songs, had a few laughs, and can't wait to go again....

Lastly, I went to the best party of my life on Friday night. I'm trying to find the words to describe it all but don't quite know how to put it into context yet. More to follow soon....