Big Noah and the Big Game

Big Noah at a Big Game

Greeting earthlings,

I am sorry for not maintaining contact yesterday because I was on a flight. 

Anyway, yesterday was the day my mom would have had an aneurism. We woke up ready for our last day in Recife to go watch USA play Germany. The moment I looked outside, I knew that I was in deep doodoo. It wasn't just raining cats and dogs, it was raining lions and foxes. I mean it was torrential rain. After only 2 hours of raining, the streets were flooded to people's knees! I right then right there got done on my knees and prayed to god that the game wouldn't get cancelled, or even delayed (reasons to come later). We packed our ponchos, and went outside to hail a cab. Now, it is hard to hail a taxi in the rain in Chicago, where there are millions of taxis, but in Recife..... Not so much. My dad, the hero in a blue, poofy poncho, stood outside in the pouring rain for no shorter than 45 minutes to hail us a taxi. Once we got in the cab, we would only had 4 hours left until kickoff, and it took about an hour and a half to from the metro all the way to Arena Pernambuco. By now I was hyperventilating not in a paper bag. At this point, my mom would start to have a seizure. Our metro stop was at the airport, which was only a seven minute drive in regular weather. In REGULAR weather. I took us about an hour of driving through puddles that would be up to my shins. Once we got to the airport with about 3 hours left, and the taxi dropped us at the ticket line for the metro. The line went the length of the entire domestic terminal, plus more. I was flipping out. My dad, the gutsy South African who would NOT stand in line, decided to go to the front of line and act like he belonged there. The line that would have taken an hour to stand in ended up being five minutes long. Everything was smooth sailing until I heard there might be a delay. That's not good seeing the we have a 5 pm flight and the game on ends around 3. Plus, it's a long haul back. This is the point where my mom might pass out. But it turns out that it wasn't a delay, so we were all happy, and poor Rachie was revived. Once we looked at our  seats, we noticed that the were in a corner, right on the field. They were amazing. Anyway.. USA lost but they're still moving on. Thank you Ghana and Portugal! We sadly had to leave 4 minutes early to get to our flight, which was so hard for me. The person who owns the apartment we were staying at said that she would bring the luggage to the airport. We show up there , and there is no luggage. Grace (the owner) said she wad trying to get a taxi for 40 minutes. This is the point where my mom would have a heart attack. Rami quickly jumped in a cab to go pick it up. It turns out she was sitting in the parking garage waiting for a friend to pick her up. As Rami is backing out of the apartment, the cab brakes. Rami begs him to keep going, and gives him all his money to the driver to pay for the cab. Once we got the luggage, we checked in and got on the flight. once at our gate, none other than Joakim Noah shows up. yes Joakim Noah from the Bulls. David Rami and Alan follow him and found John Wall. Yes, John Wall from the Wizards. It turns out that they were all traveling in a pack to all of the USA games. We then flew to São Paulo, then São Paulo to Rio, and go to our hotel safely. This morning we woke up, ate breakfast in the hotel, and went just across the street to the Fifa Fan Store, where I bought s hat. Now, I am sitting on my bed, my dad is packing, and blogging to you from half way around the world.

With Great Love,

Ben