A month ago I spent a holiday weekend at the beach with my roommates, Thiago and Eve, and another couple, Matias and Romina. As much fun as being the fifth wheel sounds...the poor weather, dirty hotel and 8 hour car ride complicated matters a bit. But I can't complain because I knew what I was getting into and it was not all that bad. We did get a little sun on Saturday, the seafood was good and it was a cool beach. Those of you that know we sometimes call my brother Josh "beal the seal" because of his middle name [View Full Entry]

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So I am attempting to bring the blog back…a lot has happened since the last entry and it would take forever to writie about it all so a brief summary….my buddy from college, Daniel Leiser, visited and we had an awesome three week trip through Brazil to Rio de Janerio, Morro de São Paulo, Porto de Galinhas and Gramado. I was back in the states for a month including a visit out to California to see Josh, and I returned to Brazil again in September which also included an apartment move. I have been working like crazy since the return but [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend I once again boarded a small bus for a day trip outside of Porto Alegre. The excursion was organized by the same group I went repelling with but because winter has arrived, this trip wasn't physically demanding like the last and definitely did not involve me having to face any fears.... our destination was the countryside and vineyards of Bento Goncalves. For those of you questioning the title to this blog, tours of the wine country instantly remind me of one of my favorite movies and a must see if you haven't: Sideways [View Full Entry]

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Unlike most Gremio fans who returned to Porto Alegre as quick as possible after Wednesday night’s game, I decided to take a long weekend in the city and enjoy my first visit to Buenos Aires. The trip didn’t get off to the best start but I guess after 20 some odd different countries in the last two years that it was bound to happen sometime: 10 minutes after I got off the bus from the airport some young thug tried to rob me but I politely told him in broken Portuguese/Spanish that the limit wasn’t scared of thieves without weapons [View Full Entry]

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[url='/Videos/3808.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3808.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] Boca Juniors Introductions I was going to do just one blog entry about my sudden trip to Buenos Aires but decided that the experience at La Bombonera deserved one of its own so here we go… The planning for my trip began less than one week in advance when Boca Juniors beat Cucuta from Columbia to advance to the Copa Libertadores finals (this tournament is basically the Champions League of South America and [View Full Entry]

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Spent last weekend in São Paulo with my buddy Marcos and his family. I met Marcos last year in Italy on the train from Pisa to Rome. We were the only two people on the train and both only had backpacks with us. We started chatting and ended up hanging out in Rome and have stayed in touch ever since. He is a great friend and his family’s hospitality was more than I could of asked for. The weekend was exactly what I needed, not much touristy stuff just chilling with Marcos, his family and friends. On Friday we went [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I boarded a small bus heading for Farroupilha with 13 brazilians and 3 other foreigners from the gym I joined on Saturday. It might come to a surprise to some of you who know me well when I say the purpose of the day trip 2 hours from Porto Alegre was repelling. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a fear but standing near the edge of extremely high places has never been one of my favorites. So I decided to as some people would say to face it or as I prefer to say just take [View Full Entry]

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Finally made it to the beach for a weekend. Picture pretty much sums it up. [View Full Entry]

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[url='/Videos/2836.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2836.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] Gremio vs Caxias What a busy week! I think my new found addiction to Brazilian coffee didn't make me realize how tired I was thus I slept about 15 hours on Saturday. Anyways to begin with I have moved apartments. I am now living with two sisters, Aline (23) and Fabiana (27). My room is pretty much a small box with a mattress, which I guess is a good thing because it means I never want to be there except for sleeping. On the up side, it is a perfect location with only a 10 minute walk [View Full Entry]

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Well here goes nothing, the first blog entry...... After a very nice couple of days in Florida saying goodbye to the Grandparents, I took off from Miami towards Brazil. As most of you know, I took a job with ROGON, the soccer agency I worked with in Germany last year. We recently opened a new office in Porto Alegre and one of my main roles will be trying to setup transfers for our clients to the MLS. Anyways, the flights went very smoothly despite the hectic state of the Brazilian airports right now. I only had an 1 and a [View Full Entry]

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