Plural or Singular?

Hello, 

I write on a website about football and we were discussing about the name of the teams are singular or plural.

For example, when I say The Broncos are or The Broncos is?

The Seahawks are or The Seahawks is?

A day to remember The past year was a weird year. The economic crisis has reached levels that couldn't be ignored. Dilma, our first female president, has been used as a puppet. The shadow of the ex president Lula has always surrounded her and her government. Her image was always connected to his image. People has lost their jobs, dollar rate has reached values only seen back in 1998. Brazil has faced a head-first fall. Recently, Lulas has been interviewed by the Federal Police. He needed to clarify some situations and values and was released on the same day. A few days later it was announced that there will be a preventive arrest warrant. It was the first time ever a former president of the country would have to face jail. It didn't take long for the government to act and today was this day. To understand the complexity of this situation you would have to understand the basics of Brazilian law system and that would take a few years (it took me 5 years to graduate in Law) but you need to understand that if you have a public job (as a Minister, President, Deputy, Senator) you will face a specific court. Lula was facing the "common" court and knew that he didn't have much chances of being free if continued the process in that court. The President Dilma then, to save her shadow, announced today that Lula would become a Chief of Staff of Brazil, a Minister. That happened after a couple of days of the BIGGEST manifestation that happened around the whole country AGAINST him, his fellow President and all those politicians that are now under investigation of corruption. It was a stab on our backs. You don't put a man under corruption investigation as a Chief of Staff. As I type this entry people honk their horns and bump pans out in the window. It sounds like my team has won a very important football competition and people are out celebrating. Unfortunately there is nothing to celebrate. We are watching our country go downhill and the only thing we can do is noise. Not in a far past we removed from the Presidency Collor, a man who stole peoples money off their bank saving accounts and now it feels there is nothing we can do. Something tells me it will go through the night, and tomorrow. A general strike is being scheduled, people are asked to wear black tomorrow. Today is a day to remember and I really hope history will show this day as the day Brazilians got together to fight corruption that destroys our beloved country.

What happened here? Woke up on Friday morning knowing the former president of Brazil, Lula, was taken to the federal police office for an interview. I am not on labor party side so I took it as a victory! Since this whole crisis hit my country people has lost their jobs, economy's a completely disaster and corruption is every day in the news. Some people say it all started back when Lula was the president and all the Petrobras scandal happened so it would be fair that he would be taken to the police and interviewed. It was the first time I would watch something like that, someone like him to be taken and it was good right!? The police would interview him, he would answer questions, explain things and for that moment we would be back to our lives. I couldn't be more wrong. The whole country became a good vs bad battle. But who is good and who is bad? It all became like a football (as soccer for american readers ;) ) derby. Two teams, two rivals. It was all pro Lula vs against Lula. Why does it have to be that difficult all the time? Why can't we just be against any corrupt guy, even if he is "your candidate"? No one is going to benefit if a corrupt man is not arrested! You shouldn't brag about how your man escaped of being interviewed by the police! Simple as that. I am still trying to understand the consequences this event will have on our futures that are now so uncertain, so obscure.

Oh Summer You would probably think I am insane for what I am about to state: I HATE SUMMER. You don't how annoying summer can actually be if you don't live in a place where the temperatures are always above 28 degrees, all year long. I knit, and as a knitter I deal with wool. How am I supposed knit when it is 32 degrees outside and it is not even september, three months before summer! I I am also a lawyer and I wear tailleur. And it has a coat that I have to wear when I am in court. There is one thing about the court rooms i go to you have to know: there is no air conditioning there. Just old fans that you can almost see each blade as they spin. The sun is always too bright and a spot under the tree when you are outside is rare and most of the times doesn't do much. The air is so hot that even when the wind is blowing doesn't bring you much relief. The bars are always crowded with people queing, waiting their time to sit and order a few beers. You could queue for an hour until your place is available. Wine is not acceptable. It is considered winter drink. Winter? What winter? The beach is far, 5 hours drive, but it is not like I care. It's always full, and everything is too expensive due to tourists that always convert the price of the beer to their currency and believe everything is absolutely cheap. Well, today I am hot. I wish I could get home and turn the air conditioning on, wrap myself around some nice comfy blanket and watch some netflix drinking wine and eating pasta, but due to the temperature outside and the lack of air conditioning at home, I will be forced to go outside and queue at some street bar.

The stereotype If you do a mental exercise and discribe a brazilian woman, how would she be? Tanned from the sun. Brown wavy hair. Good samba dancer. Carnaval party animal. Big and nice smile all day long. I can see people's disappointment when they face the reality. I am a good example of what not to expect. Too tall. Lighter skin. Long straight hair. Hopeless at dancing samba. Can't stand the "ziriguidum" from the carnaval percussion and drums (but don't miss a single carnaval party with my dear friends). When England was my home, I had the chills whenever some drums were playing on the street. You should see my face when, one day, with the drums was this amazingly pretty English girls dressed with Brazilian Carnaval bikinis! Wow. That made me so proud! From my italian grandparents i have inheritted the light skin, straight hair and maybe, my height. From my brazilian grandparents I have inheritted the pacient, the "everything is going to be ok" brazilian life style. What about you all? Are you the stereotype that people expect when they know where you come from?

Being a foreigner in a restaurant I have english as my second language. Almost or very close to fluent I would say. But if you want to see me go back to the very beginning where I had to memorise all the regular and irregular verbs is when I go to restaurants and read the menu. It is a nightmare. 1 - NAME OF THE DISHES: Like everywhere in the world the dishes have names that doesn't necessarily gives you clues about the ingredients on it. As an example you can't tell what's in Yorkshire pudding. And then you decide to ask the waiter what's that dish. 2- INGREDIENTS: even if you live abroad it is not rare to find some food you don't know. Even if you know it in your homecountry doesn't mean you know the name in English. That's when the waiter comes and tells you everything that's in the dish. By the end of the name you choose some pasta instead of the delicious Toad-in-the-Hole because who knows what is that kind of food.