The First Day
Well everyone just giving you the first update.
The plane ride was extremely long....EXTREMELY long. Wearing long paints, shoes and two shirts was a horrible idea. I had some weird hope that I would be able to upgrade to first class but in retrospect I..m a dumbass. On the return trip you can bet that I will dress more comfortably.
I was stressing out about going through customs, I really didnt know what to expect but let me tell you it..s nothing like America. A guy that doesnt even speak english took one look at my bags from the outside and waved me on. Then the next thing I know I was spit outside the airport with my bags. Luckily Dennis pulled through and Carlos was at the airport waiting for me, although my name was spelled "Germie" which I found mildy amusing.
The trip to Barra was scary and exciting all at the same time. There are a LOT of poor areas in Rio and it reminded me of Iraq in a lot of ways. I was mildy concerned about the area that I was supposed to be staying in but was relieved that every I met said it was safe. Once I got here I met up with a couple of the guys that I~m training with. In the house with me there is a MMA fighter from Germany and a guy from NY that trains at Renzo..s academy. Thankfully they both speak english. After meeting them I was taken to the other house that holds fighters for the gym. We walk in the door and two of the guys are practicing takedowns on mats out in th emiddle of the house. Then we were introduced to a guy form CA and a pair of brothers from Ireland.
I have a new found respect for Ireland...those guys are so fucking funny I dont even know how to express how much I laughed. And with the added fact that english is most peoples second language here a lot of the expressions are overlooked...it just adds to the comical effect. It appears that I..m going to be here longer than anyone else so that..s a plus. I really hope I can get a grip on the language.
I went to my first class tonight and it was rougher than I expected. There are more advanced belts than there are beginners. Tonights class had 4 or 5 blackbelts a couple brown belts, two other purples belts, two blue belts and a white belt. The difference between the belts here is FUCKING INSANE. I beat the blue and white belts with little trouble but I couldnt tap anyone else. The purple belts were tough as hell and I didnt get any submissions although I didnt maintain any great positions either. My guard is good here but its nothing like it is at home. The brown and black belts beat me like a drum...deffinatly a new experience and I really hope that I can close the gap qickly because I dont like feeling like I got hit by a truck when I leave classes.
My back is still hurting,....like really hurting. we worked spider guard which is about the worst possible thing they could have picked for us to do but when I got back to the house the old owner of the house is a physical therapist and he put some tigerbalm on my back and used some Chinese medicines on me. I do have to say that I feel a little better but I think I~m going to lay low for the next couple of days and hit it hard on monday. I..ll probably go to the MMA class tomrrow and do some light no gi rolling but I..ll really have to think about it after I see how my back feels.
The food here is freaking awesome and it..s cheap as hell. The serving sizes are great and everything that I need is basically within walking distance. I have made a list of things that I..m going to pick up tomrrow and I hope that I can get it all done. If you notice that my grammar and punctuation is off it..s because I..m using a Brazilian computer right now and a lot of the keys are in different places, which I have to say is mildy annoying. I..m spending a lot more time back spacing that I typically have to. I literrally had to ask someone to show me where the quotation marks are. We should have the wireless up in the next day or two or so Dennis tells me.
Aci' is so amazing here. People told me tha it..s better here than in the states but I would never have thought the difference would be so big. I wish we could get it there the same way it is here.
Well it..s been a long night so I..m going to get off the computer. I..ll do my best to take some pictures of the area, it..s absolutely beautiful