Vamos Gringo!

The Nippon Blue Jays beat the Sao Paulo team 11-10 and won a big baseball tournament yesterday. I give Jackson a lot of credit. He has spent most every Saturday and Sunday that he has been here working out with the team. With the exception of one kid and one Dad who know a little English, Jackson has had to muddle through in Portuguese.

The first game was on Friday but Jackson screwed up his back on Thursday playing basketball at school so he sat out. But the team won the first round. Jackson took his SAT tests on Saturday morning so he met up with the team after their Saturday victories at the camp. They spent the night there on Saturday and played in the championship yesterday. It was a long game and there was a lot of back and forth in the score.

This park at Ibiuna is like a professional baseball park set in the mountains. It took us about an hour to get there but it was worth the drive.

The best part was when Jackson got up to bat. He was playing DH (designated hitter) because his back was still a little tender. The crowd screamed "Vamos Gringo" which translates to "Let's Go Gringo." They then thought it was hilarious to yell at him in English, "Let's Go Jackson." Such an enthusiastic crowd.

Jackson's team went out to a churrascaria to celebrate the victory so he went with a teammate to the restaurant and then took a cab home. It is tough to be the Mom when you send your baby off with people you hardly know to a place you've never been in a foreign country and then tell him to get in a cab home. But of course, he did fine.

We couldn't go to the celebration because we met up with Pete, Shannon, Rick and Judy and went to my favorite place so far in Sao Paulo, the Bananeria. Their web site is here if you want to take a look. The food was great, friends were fun and it was just a cool venue. I had this shrimp stew dish that was just delicious!