El Futbol

On Sunday, I woke up at 6, much to the shock of my host family, to get on a bus with the entire Navega Femenino B equipo del futbol. All of the girls are high school age, and love to play. We waited outside the entrance to our home field, Navega, for the bus to arrive. We were going to Burgos, a city known to tourists for it's fantastic cathedral, and to Spaniards for it's frigid temperatures. Unbeknownst to most foreigners, many of Spain's provinces experience winters comparable to those of the US Mid Atlantic region - cold, but not quite as dramatic as it gets in New England. All of the girls wore their red parkas, paid for by one of the team's multiple sponsors. Each girl also had in tow a red sports bag, sweatshirt, and jersey. Theirs is one of the best teams around, and only last week they beat the second best team in the league.

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to play yet because FIFA recently changed their rules, mandating that minors who aren't citizens of the EU are not allowed to compete in league games. However, watching from the stands was still a blast. Everyone's parents and friends were there, and one guy brought a megaphone through which he sang patriotically every time we scored a goal, or did anything laudable. On the field and in the stands, everyone participated zealously.

Aside from the energy and the fanfare, I noticed during that game how differently they play here. While at home, we always hear coaches saying "keep in on the ground" and "possession, possession, possession," here they have a different take. Of course, solid passes and strategy are key, but everything is bigger. Rather than weaving a ball up the field with ten quick, consecutive passes, they might just send it and have their striker take a whack at it. And when I say whack I mean something of a missile. They also have fantastic footwork in general, which makes their less conservative style effective. The most remarkable thing about how they play, however, is how much fun they have - all the time. In practice, in the locker rooms, and on the field, everyone is always joking, laughing, and loving what they're doing.

And the game in Burgos was pretty much the same. Only this time they lost. For a couple minutes following the game, everyone was pretty quiet. But after we ate a quick lunch and got back on the bus, it was as if nothing had happened. We spent the rest of the ride taking photos and listening to music, until the girls started telling jokes. When they ran out, they demanded that I tell one. This, as you can imagine, was quite the challenge. I tried translating, "How do you make a tissue dance? - Put a little boogie in it!", but realized that it only works in English. After that massive fail, they insisted that I try another, sure that I must know something funny. I thought for a while, and finally came up with a translation for a few dumb blonde jokes - and these went over much better. The parents at the front of the bus heard us laughing and told us to tell them too - and that's how we spent the rest of the ride, telling jokes and playing games with everyone (PS to you O'landers... we played Kyle's number game - I had everyone stumped forever).

The next day Elena, one of the girls from the team, struck up a conversation with me on Tuenti (Spanish facebook!) and invited me to meet up with her and some other girls from the team in the Plaza Mayor. Pumped to get to know the team a bit better, I showed up at 5 under the big clock at the front of the plaza. We walked around for a while, they taught me bad words or palabrotas, and did some shopping. We went to Zara (pronounced Thara) one of the most popular stores in Spain. We went to Estradivarius, a shop with loads of clothes for clubbing - sequined pants and what have you.

After going to a few more stores, Elena asked if I wanted to see the university. I agreed, excited to see the second oldest university in Europe. On the way we passed by the cathedral. It's carvings and gargoyles reminded me of Emma.

A carving of an astronaut reflected the light hearted spirit of the people here. Next we passed la Casa de las Conchas, one of the city's oldest buildings. On the outside, its covered in stone shells, hence it's name - the House of Shells. Legend has it that there's money inside of each shell.

Finally we arrived at the university. The facade was also covered in carvings, and Soraya told me to find the frog. A little confused, I looked and looked, and finally on top of a skull I spotted a little stone frog. "Now you have good luck!" she told me. In the meantime, night had fallen and the wind had picked up. That was our cue to go home. So I met Carlos at the end of the pedestrian zone and at 8:30 turned in for the night.