I then drove to Amsterdam Tavern (http://amsterdamtavern.com/) in south St. Louis, where I joined others in watching the Olympic men's soccer (football) gold medal match between Brazil and Germany. I and others were happy when Brazil won the match on penalty kicks (5-4 in the shootout, after 1-1 draw after extra time). Very happy for Brazil, after a very entertaining match at the Maracana.
After the match, I drove to Stone Spiral Coffee and Curios (http://www.stonespiralcoffee.com/) in Maplewood for the StL Tea Club Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/StL-Tea-Club-Meetup/events/233317713/). I joined four others there to sample some fine teas from East Asia and to have some fine conversation.
Late Sunday morning, I drove to Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill in Fenton (http://www.hotshotsnet.com/locations/stlouisarea/fenton.aspx) for lunch before boarding the chartered bus with others from the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/). After stopping in St. Peters to pick up a few others, we headed for Kansas City, Kansas to cheer on Saint Louis FC (http://saintlouisfc.com/landing/index) in its match against Swope Park Rangers. After our bus arrived at Children's Mercy Park, the St. Louligans marched into the stadium, where we had a section to ourselves. The match in the stadium--which holds 20,000--was sparsely attended. Saint Louis FC took a 1-nil lead in the 80th minute, but Swope Park leveled it two minutes from time. It was a fine match, but we would prefer a win at this point. We then got on the bus for home, arriving back at Hotshots abound 1:20 am. It was my first such road trip, and I hope it was not my last.
I took Monday (22 August) off from work, to get some nice down time. Back to work Tuesday, things went well. We also said goodbye to Hannah, who is now assistant manager of our Brentwood branch. I promised her I would bring her and her colleagues doughnuts soon after Hannah settles in at her new post. After work, I came home to host the IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. Besides discussing club business (including our contest next month), we talked of the shocking news that CRM Hobbies in south St. Louis closed for good last Saturday. Owner Chris Merseal sold his inventory and will just order items for us and sell through his ebay site.
After work yesterday, I drove to St. Louis Community College at Meramec (http://www.stlcc.edu/MC/) for my first session of Portuguese Language: Beginning I. It is an eight-week course, for two hours on Wednesday nights. There are about 12 of us in the course, with Priscila--a native of Brazil--as our instructor. She comes courtesy of Viva Brasil St. Louis (http://www.e.vivabrasilstl.org/home). We spent the first session getting acquainted, starting to learn the pronunciation of the Portuguese, and starting to learn a few words. It should be great, and I'm looking forward to it.
Speaking of Viva Brasil St. Louis, I have volunteered to staff their information booth this Saturday from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at the International Institute's Festival of Nations (http://www.festivalofnationsstl.org/) an annual multicultural festival in St. Louis' Tower Grove Park. I hope to see you there!
Later.
