More About Our City

We had a little time off over Christmas so Teri and I were able to see more of the city. I thought I would post a few pictures so you all could see a little bit of what the daily life looks like around here.

This first picture below is taken from the edge of the mountains which surround Belo Horizonte. It is overlooking the part of the city where we live, but it doesn't even come close to showing how large our city actually is. This is just a small part of it. To put it into perspective, the metro area here has more people than the entire state of MN.

These next few photos are just simple shots taken around our home. It gives you a feel of what the climate is like in December here. The photo of Teri in a park is taken a block from our apartment. We enjoy going here often since it is so close and it is a nice place for a casual walk. One of my favorite pictures is the one of Teri looking very nervous standing next to a few wild monkeys. These small primates are not shy...Teri had a sandwich, and it is hard to tell in the picture, but a couple of them were definitely eyeing it and were getting ready to pounce. The last picture is a scenic view of our city at night, but I can't take credit for that photo...I found it in a Google Images search. I just thought it was too nice of a pic to pass up.

I hope you liked the pics. I will likely add more in the future when we have them.

We wish you all a safe New Years! Look back on 2010 and appreciate the people and experiences you had!! God Bless!

My New Home for the New Season

I decided to play the 2010-2011 season down in Brazil.

I know I haven't done a great job updating my blog...well, let's face it...I haven't updated my blog at all since the conclusion of last season. I am sorry about that. It has just been a busy summer and I wasn't even sure if I was going to be blogging this year. But a lot of friends and family have been on me to write on here so that they can see a little bit about what my life is like abroad. So, here we are at last: an update...

I really enjoyed playing last season in Italy and Poland, so I thought I was going to be heading back across the pond to play in Europe. I was in negotiations with some teams but didn't exactly find a great fit. That is when a team from Brazil asked me if I would be interested in traveling South rather than East to play this season. Ironically, just a week prior to that, my wife and I (most of you know this but I married my beautiful wife, Teri, this past summer) were talking about where we would like to travel and live this year. We both had not been to South America at all, and we had talked about how Brazil would be a place we really wanted to visit sometime. Everything seemed to fall into place for us. So we agreed to play for the Minas Tenis Clube in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The Club is actually in the middle of the city and has a few different professional teams that compete in the Brazilian top leagues. We have the men's basketball team, obviously, and we compete in the top league known as the National Brazilian Basketball league (or NBB). We also have a men's and women's volleyball team, swimming, tenis, gymnastics, indoor soccer, and maybe even a couple more that I can't think of right now. The Club has been around for over 80 years and has had a lot of success. We have very nice facilities and a professional administrative staff which makes playing here a lot of fun. I am thoroughly enjoying it so far and am happy with my decision to play in Brazil this season.

Our team is made up of mostly Brazilian players, our coach and team captain are from Argentina, and we have two Americans (including myself). We have a solid team and have started the season well so far. Our record is 5-2 and we most recently beat the team that was at the top of the NBB standings. It was a great win right before the Christmas break.

We are now on our Christmas break which has allowed my wife and I time to see the city more. We are really enjoying the city, climate, and culture. Belo Horizonte has the 3rd largest metro population in Brazil...quite a change coming from small town Minnesota, but we are adapting well to it. The weather is amazing; 80's everyday. Kind of interesting to go swimming in an outdoor pool in the middle of December, but we are enjoying it. This will be the first non-white Christmas for Teri and I.

I will be posting some pictures later and talking more about our daily lives here in Brazil, but I just wanted to share with you guys about where we are and that we are doing well. God bless you all. Enjoy your Christmas!!!!