Quite Possibly the Longest Blog of the Trip By: Katy #13 :)

What a day. So much happened today- I don’t even know where to begin!

Starting the day with a nice Brazilian breakfast was easier today as we knew more of the things we liked (aka things we would eat for breakfast in the US). After breakfast we headed to the public club we had been to for practice Monday and the match last night. Lynn and I tried to follow the bus route on a map, but we failed due to the crazy twisting and turning of the one-ways in this city. Our practice went pretty well- we are getting better every time we play here! Lynn and Jackie had a little adventure while we were in practice- they went to go for a walk around the club and ended up being beckoned into a dance class! While we were working hard in practice they were working up a sweat learning the samba!

Following practice we ate at a café in the club. Ligia and Hugo tried to convince us that a strange substance was delicious, so we all tried it and came to the same conclusion: it tasted like sand. Thanks guys.

We then got the choice of swimming or going shopping, so we obviously picked shopping. This was a different experience as many of the workers didn’t know English, or even Spanish, so we practiced playing charades to see where the fitting rooms were and how much items cost.

After our short shopping trip we headed back to the club and played Club Athletico Paulistano, the same club as yesterday, but the younger team. We played very well overall and won all four sets we played. Our hitters were really connecting with the setters. Proof of this is Whitney’s hitting percent: over .600! NICE :) Following the match we did another of Berner’s workouts outside on the cement as all the gym spaced was being used. The team we played today got a kick out of our workout and some even tried a few of the exercises. They didn’t like them so much, as they thought the bands were a bit too resistant. However, they thought our legs and butts were nice and big. (Apparently this is a good thing here…) After trying some of our workout they wanted to show us their workout area so we followed them and attempted to communicate. Many of the girls were very good at English, and Spanish, so it wasn’t too difficult to communicate with them. In their workout area they showed us how they dance and wanted to see a few of our moves.

Following the dance fest we took down the “Do not enter” sign on the pool entrance and stripped down to sports bras and spandex so we could swim in the pool. It had gotten pretty cold by that point so we knew the water wasn’t going to feel too great. It was quite frigid, so basically we were ice bathing while we were in there. We got a few strange looks from onlookers, but for good reason: its winter here! They are all walking around in jackets and jeans, and we are swimming in an outdoor pool…

Later we watched the team we played yesterday play a match against a different team. We cheered them on as our stomachs growled. They won in five sets! Brazilian matches are much different than American matches because after each team wins a point they go to the end line, scream, and then get together and scream some more. They also yell while the other team serves and while they are serving as well. As you can tell, it gets pretty loud in the gym.

When we finally got to eat dinner we ate in the café at the club again, but this time we ate with both teams of Club Athletico Paulistano. This was very fun as we were both successful, and unsuccessful (Claire) at communicating with the girls. They were very interested in us and wanted to get our names so they could add us on facebook. Overall it was a great time.

Sorry for the length of this blog, but as you can see we did a lot today!
Chao,
Katia :)