GLORIOSO, BENFICA!!

Another late morning for the travelers' clan. I go to bed way too late, and expect myself to wake up at an actual decent time.. and I'm figuring out that, well, that doesn't really happen. This morning I did happen to wake up at a decent time and I was going to read.. and do so many productive things.. and then, then I woke up an hour & a half later. Real cool.

So yet again, there was the afternoon becoming my morning again. Yet, this time I did do some things that I am able to check off the check list. AND Luey decided to be really great and served me well when make me cheese scrambled eggs with tomatoes. He is good for my heart. (& belly) We then hung out and Luiz was in chef mode because then he decided to create a fresh mushroom sauce from scratch for some noodles that needed a seasoning. The ladies in the house hung out until the creation was complete, and let me tell ya... it WAS definitely complete. It was so good. He is so, very talented. Luckily he knows how to create something edible in the kitchen, because I sure don't... I put my book down and plunged into the food that was once again served to me.

By this time it was mid-afternoon and Luana went out to run errands, and I got all done up in my red & white gear for the Benfica soccer game we were going to attend later on in the evening. Luey started to play his guitar and his strumming eventually led me into drifting off once again on the luxurious white sofa. This whole sleep concept is sure taking over my brain. That's okay, right? I woke up right in time to gather up my Portuguese colored Kanye West sunglasses and our "Foreigner" sign for the airport, and we headed out the big wooden door for the evening.

We drove to the airport to pick up a friend from TCU that had just finished studying abroad in Scottland and was now here in Portugal to hang out; Jeff Hartman. Go frogs! Seeing that his flight was delayed we hung out and grabbed a (super cheap) espresso for me, and anxiously stood by the baggage exit waiting for him to walk out. We kept questioning all the people coming through the doors with a "Jeff?" and eventually when he turned, we threw up our "Foreigner" sign just so he would feel wanted.

Now that Jeff was in town, it was time for the main event for the evening... BENFICA FUTEBOL! That is why the red and the white were necessary. Even though dear Luey doesn't support this team due to the fact that he is the other Portugueses' teams die-hard fan. We got the the car eventually through swarms of red and white wearing fans on the streets and joined the crowd headed towards the ginormous stadium. This is also when we decided to invest in a Benfica scarf to become even greater fans.. you better believe that thing was around my neck! Getting through the security, we learned that large cameras (thus being what I was carrying) and metal water bottles were in fact not allowed in the arena. That means... no epic pictures to capture every ball being kicked or every fan screaming obscenities. (But, luckily for me, Jeff had is tiny compact one for the times to be captured.)

Getting ourselves situated behind the gates we walked down to our seats... down being the first row on the side of the goal! Do you hear that!? Our seats were located to where we almost thought we were apart of the team and had to warm up on the sidelines with them... We were so close! Luiz prepped Jeff and I, and told us the most important chant, and that being "SLB! SLB! SLB! SLB! SLB! GLORIOSO! SLB! GLORIOSO! SLB! BENFICA!!!!" Now you try... So when it came time to scream and shout, we got that down. We waved around our newly purchased scarves, and we devoured many stadium foods. I loved it. Every bit of it. Then to really get the game started, their mascot, an eagle, flew around the sportsplex with pride and glory and eventually made it down to the center where the crowd went nutso! Epic. This eagle I speak of also was being brought around to the fans, and since we were located on the first row, we were able to snap a picture with it! YES!

There were many corner kicks and fouls called by the referee, and the love that I once had for soccer started coming back. I could've been there.... haha, that is not true. But anyway, the game was so fun and the team ended up winning 3-2 and that means that the spirit was high. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be European. If it were between football and futebol games, I would definitely purchase season tickets to the European sport. The cooled weather helped with the deciding factor too. I wasn't sweating in the hot summer heat to watch a game, which ended up boosting my enjoyment level. It was also really neat to see some of the World Cup players on their actual home team... I wanna be a true futebol fan.. I do, I do!

After leaving the game and walking proudly in my red & white, we went back to our car which meant that going the mall was inevitable. I then noticed that the stores were open much later, and that maybe a snack from the food court would be quite lovely. So, we made our way up there and Jeffs' milkshake desire was quenched and I ended up spotting a frosted strawberry muffin behind it's glass case. We were able to wait until the crowds died off which meant that the traffic wouldn't be so crammed on the highway. The highway led us back home and we showed Jeff the place and then everybody settled in for bed.

I really am not sure I will be able to leave this place...
Sou oficialmente um europeu, devido ao meu amor por jogos de futebol!