The Kelefors

Guest blog from Adela Kelemen

I can see the island. I’m in the air, looking over the greenery and rock. We start to go down. Once we land, we get off using stairs, which I’m not used to. We get into the airport and paid our taxes and all that boring stuff. Then we got out of the airport and some people picked us up. They were named Lili and Neta. There wasn’t enough room in the taxi we were going in, so my dad rode in Lili’s buggy. Once we got to our pousada (which is Portuguese for guest house), we unpacked and we met Maria, one of the owners of the pousada.

After we got settled in, we went to go explore. My Dad and my brother Dylan went to watch the Mexico – Brazil game in TAMAR, the turtle research center. I didn’t want to want to watch the game, so me and my mom went back to our pousada and got changed into our bathing suits and went to the beach. We went down a muddy road to get to the beach and I was thinking that it was bad and mucky and I was feeling uncomfortable. But it turned out to be worth it. The beach was very beautiful with really clear water and very calm waves. It was just perfect. After about an hour or so, we went back to our pousada, got changed into clothes and went to go meet up with Daddy and Dylan at TAMAR to catch the end of the game. After the game, we went to dinner and had an amazing dessert with brownie and ice cream. We went back to our pousada and got a good night of rest.

The next day, we woke up to find breakfast waiting on the table for us. It had all sorts of foods. We gobbled up our breakfast fast and headed toward the harbor. We were going on a boat tour, which had snorkeling. We rented our snorkel gear and headed off toward the boat. The boat was called Trovao dos Mares, which means Thunder of the Seas. We got onto the boat and we toured around. At one point we even saw spinner dolphins swimming in front of our boat. After the touring, we went to a calm beach called Praia do Sancho and anchored the boat. We got our gear and got ready to get in the water. At first I thought there was going to be a ladder going down to the water, but then I heard my dad say, “Come on, jump in!” And he jumped 10 feet down into the water feet first. I was freaked out after he did that. I asked Dylan to go before me and then mommy to go before me. My dad said, “Come on, you have to do it if you want to snorkel.” So, I got ready, I took my snorkel out of my mouth, and I jumped in. I felt myself falling, I knew there was no turning back and that I was going to get wet. Ka-sploosh! I landed in the water. It wasn’t too bad, to be truthful, probably because I had a life vest on. So, my dad taught me to blow out the water from my snorkel and go under if I wanted. It was so fun. There were so many fish. I even saw this one fish that was completely, brilliantly blue. After all that fun snorkeling, we got back into the boat, where they served us an amazing lunch with sushi, grilled fish, and more. Oh, did I mention the watermelon?

Once we finished, we returned to port to do plana-sub, which is holding onto a small platform roped onto a boat and snorkeling behind it. But, it started to pour, so we got a rain check on the plana-sub and went back to our pousada. By then, the weather had cleared up, and I was really upset because I wanted to do the plana-sub really bad. But it turned out that we got to go to the same beach where I had gone with my mom (Praia do Boldro) and we had a lot of fun. After that, we went to a restaurant, ate dinner, and had another great dessert, not as good as the last one, but still pretty good.

We woke up in the morning the next day and had breakfast just like the one before. We gathered our snorkeling gear and took a taxi to the harbor. We waited a little, put sunscreen on, and finally got onto the boat for plana-sub. Plana-sub was incredible. I saw two sea turtles (one olive and one green). I also saw a lemon shark, a reef shark and a ray, as well as a bunch of cool fish. After we returned from plana-sub, we went with two new friends named Sarah and Julia from Berlin to eat acai, which is a purple berry mushed up into an icy sorbet with granola, banana and honey. It was SO DELICIOUS!

That afternoon, we went to Praia Sureste on the outer sea. We had a lot of fun and I saw a massive olive turtle, almost as big as my dad. We were following it for a while, but then some people came up and tried to touch it, which made the turtle swim off. At first, when I was underwater, it was hard to hear, so I thought that my dad was swearing at them, but when I got out of the water to hear him more clearly, I heard him say, “You’re not supposed to touch the turtles!” I was relieved. We swam back and I got some cuts on my knee from the coral, but otherwise it was really, really fun. We went back, ate dinner, and went to sleep. Oh, did I mention there were a few lizards in our pousada?

On the last full day on Noronha, I slept in because my dad said I could, and I woke up to a wonderful breakfast. We went out to Sancho Beach with our snorkel gear. To get to the beach, we went down this ladder between these narrow rocks. It was pretty cool, except for the fact that I’m claustrophobic. Once we got down, we did some snorkeling – no turtles, but some really cool fish and a cool ray. After that, we got out of the water and, while wandering, we noticed this stream coming out of this viney stream. So I suggested that we get our shoes on and follow it. We followed it up through an archway of branches and we came out into a clearing with a beautiful waterfall. There were millions of lizards, so my mom named it Lizard Falls. We went under the waterfall a little bit and it felt really nice, because it was fresh water rather than salt water. It also felt like a massage. After a little bit, we went back down the trail and onto the beach again.

We went back to our pousada and had some more acai. Then we went to Praia dos Porcos (which means the Beach of Pigs). We were swimming and it was really cool. We saw a ray and my dad and brother saw a turtle, but I didn’t. We snorkeled for a little bit and then went back to our pousada for our last night.

Finally, today, we went to one more beach (Praia do Conceciao), where I just swam in the water. It was really fun. My mom and I built a sandcastle that was knocked down by the waves. We played tag in the water and my dad saw two rays next to each other in the waves. It was a great way to finish our trip to Noronha.

I’ll never forget this place.

Yesterday was a big game for the USA. They were playing against Ghana, a team that had beaten them and knocked them out of the last two World Cups. It was a chance for the USA to get their revenge.

At game time, we were driving back to our beach house, desperate to get there in time to see the kickoff. On the bus ride, we peeked in on bars and saw the national anthems being played. We had to hurry. As we pulled in, we rushed inside, turned on the tv, and we couldn’t believe what the score was. One minute in and Dempsey had already scored. We saw the replay and it was definitely one of the top ten of the World Cup. We cheered as the game went on, but watched Ghana have chance after chance. I felt terrible when Jozy Altidore, the USA’s best striker, pulled a hamstring early in the game and had to go off on a stretcher. Luckily, the US got to half-time with the same score line. 1-0.

The game was nerve-wracking. The US couldn’t keep possession and Ghana kept attacking. As the US started to possess the ball a little bit, gaining confidence that they could win, they started getting chances and stretching the Ghanaian back line. But then the tables turned and Ghana scored a goal to tie it. It was a late goal and we all went quiet. I thought: The US has to score a winner or we won’t get out of the group.

Then, four minutes later, John Brooks, a substitute center back for injured Matt Besler, scored a beautiful header on a corner kick from Graham Zusi. We exploded, jumping into the pool, yelling and screaming as the US celebrated on the pitch. All that was left was what we thought would be four minutes. But no, the officials added on five minutes of injury time. The longest five minutes of our lives. We were biting our nails as we hoped the US wouldn’t give up another goal. At final whistle, WE WENT WILD!

Two moments of brilliance in a 95 minute game against Ghana to win and get our revenge.

A couple of World Cups ago, Zinedine Zidane, one of the legends of the game, had a moment of madness. In the face of taunting from Marco Materazzi, an Italian defender, Zidane head-butted Materazzi and was promptly sent off from the final match. It has always been inexplicable to me that a seasoned athlete who must endure verbal abuse on a regular basis would, at such an important moment, undertake an act that could only end in one calamitous way. Adrenaline, sure. Terrible words, almost definitely. But you have to think that such a player as Zidane could temper his reaction and keep on playing. I don’t think I’ll ever understand it and, for that reason alone, I’ll never forget it. So, color me astounded, astonished, dumbfounded as I watched the ghost of Zidane inhabit Portgual’s Pepe for one more moment of madness before my very eyes.

We were sitting behind the Portugal goal, watching a match billed as one of the best in the group stage. The stadium was packed, the day muggy and hot. The Germans were in full throat from the opening whistle, jeering Cristiano Ronaldo’s every touch and savoring an early two-goal lead thanks to a Thomas Muller penalty and a thumping header from Mats Hummels. It looked a difficult task for Portuguese, but still not impossible. And then it all came unraveling. Pepe’s arm hit Muller as the two tangled. Muller went to ground, feigning injury from the lightest of touches. The referee was uninterested, letting play continue, but instead of jogging forward with his team in possession, Pepe turned back to Muller, leaned down, and put his forehead against Muller’s. Not really a head butt, but FIFA instituted a rule some years ago that made Pepe’s action an automatic red card. So, how do you explain it? Pepe clearly knows the rule and he clearly understands the implications for himself and his team. Yet he proceeded to turn away from live play and undertake an act that could only end in one calamitous way. Just, wow.

Through the eyes of this American fan, that moment and pretty much everything that followed was bliss. Portugal ended the day with one center-back suspended for the game against the US, two important players injured and unlikely to be fit against the US, a goal differential of minus four, and their superstar reduced to his whining and moaning. Indeed, as much as I wanted to see Ronaldo put on a show in this marquee match-up, it was almost more fun to see him mope around the field (I’ve never been a fan of his). And then, to watch John Brooks seal an incredible, heart-stopping win for the US on the grainy television in our rented beach house a few hours later, I went to sleep knowing that I could spend the next four days taunting fans Portugal, Spain, and all the other countries who are three points behind us in the standings. But, no head-butting. I promise.