For obvious reasons, it's a very exciting time to be in Spain. I'm just trying to ignore all the fair weather, bandwagon groupies on Facebook, pretending to have been cheering for Spain all along ;) This week, the Mestre Sanchez family (this means Suso too) and I went into Madrid to eat Brazilian BBQ, drink tinto del verano (red wine and chilled tonic water), and of course, watch Spain dominate the semi-final and championship games on big outdoor projector screens.
Sergio testing out some salchicha and breadcrumbs
Ale and me
The whole time, I was torn between focusing on the screen or the crowd, both being so entertaining. Any time the refs failed to make a call in Spain's favor, a sea of right hands flashed in the air, followed by the sputtering of Spanish curses. Both times, however, my favorite part was the end of the game, where we celebrated victory in typical Spanish fashion. Friends and strangers alike embraced in hugs and kisses...
...bodies were hoisted in the air, anyone who still had a voice belted out their nation's pride in song, and (my personal favorite) a spontaneous dance party commenced. A real cultural event.
In other news, the Mestre Sanchez family will be vacationing in Asturias, Spain (northern part near Galicia) for almost two weeks beginning tomorrow. While I had originally planned on joining them, a terrible day last week that ended with me bawling upon Alberto's arrival from work has since turned these 2 weeks into my own blissful nanny vacation in Germany. On Wednesday, I'll be flying into Hamburg and staying with some of my dad's relatives there. I also plan on making day trips to Bonn to visit my dear friend Mae and then to Berlin to see more friends of my dad's. While I truly love Spain, I am really looking forward to some time away and a change of scenery.
It is so strange to think that when I get back there will only be one week (5 work days) standing between me and my return trip to the States. Only one week left to chat it up with the soccorista (lifeguard) and the running moms at the pool, to purposely forget my keys so Antonio (gardener/doorman) can buzz me in, to walk down to the 7 del 7 to buy fresh bread with Alvaro, and to go days without speaking even a word of English.
No comments:
Post a Comment