Told You!

Yeah, baby!

Final Observations

While we enjoy this tremendously lame opening ceremony before the final match of Eurocopa 2008, I thought I might make a few observations:

1. For all you students of Spanish out there, we have been hearing some great examples of the present subjunctive today: "Pase lo que pase, podemos estar orgullosos de la selección."

2. I didn't know Enrique Iglesias was still alive.

3. The queen of Spain has a really strange sunburn on her forehead.

4. Angela Merkel lookin' good.

...Only a Mother Could Love

Someone else is pretty excited about tonight's game. Watching fútbol is right up there with taking all our shoes and underwear out of the closet, moving furniture around (brute) and "typing" on the computer. 

Sam is Loco fo Socco!

     Though I look steely and cool, inside I am thinking,

            " OMG, I HOPE WE WIN TONIGHT! "

Okay

I knew we'd win. 3-0.

After that second goal you could hear the shouts echoing across the Tagus River. Pretty cool.

Now it's the finals against Germany. That's going to be tough, even if the Cid recuperates from his injury.

What is this sensation I'm feeling? I am... pleased.

Pau

This doesn't bode well: the second advertisement at half-time features Pau Gasol at his first Lakers practice. 

Halftime

Still 0-0. It's not quite time to despair, but it's not the glorious 2-0 outcome that the announcers were calling for at the beginning of the game. They started the telecast by taking turns offering predictions of the final score. No one said that Spain might lose. 

The German

These are the same guys that referred to yesterday's referee, throughout the game, as "The German".

Channel Four

I only believe in karma when it comes to the health of my child, but seriously, the channel four commentators are asking for it. The hubris is incredible: they are already assuming that Spain will beat Russia and are already talking about the final. And get this: they actually just compared David Villa to El Cid Campeador. 

Go Spain

If anyone were silly enough to go outside right now, they would see that the streets of Spain are completely empty. The only people we can see out the window are tourists. 

The television is on. The dinner has been eaten. The beer has been poured. Time for the soccer.

Go Spain

So there we are, walking down the cobblestone streets of Toledo after lunch, some of us napping on the road, when we hear the entire city erupt in cheering and loud shouts of "Gol!" David Villa had just scored the winning goal in the last minutes of the game against Sweden to put Spain up 2-0 in the first round of the 2008 Eurocopa. There is something beautiful about the communitarian feeling that you detect on the streets of Spain during an international soccer event. Everyone is happy now. (Happy until the team blows it again in the quarterfinals.)

Towards the end of our walk we sat down on a bench next to the cathedral to watch the people walk by. Benny sat in his father's lap and worked on the end of a very crusty baguette. We saw at least three wedding parties, one of which emerged from the cathedral. Spaniards really dress up for weddings.

It's slightly overcast, so it's not as hot as we expected. Now we are back in our little apartment, all sitting around in our underwear enjoying the light breeze coming through the window and thinking about what to make for dinner.

Ms. A just brought me a beer and a little bowl of Spanish olives. Life is good.

Tomorrow is father's day!


Benny and the crusty baguette, after dinner.

Vamos a Toledo

Punk baby's off to Spain.

Groovy Chocolate Neighbors

We celebrated Papamago's 34th with our beloved neighbors who will head back to Michigan's UP tomorrow. Despite the slight bittersweet tone to the evening, much singing, helium-speak, eating and guffawing was to be had. S had his fill of Groovy Chocolate Cake and we all ate our weight in Bruno's yummy pizza. Today was so great, how could we possibly top it tomorrow? (Stay tuned to find out.)


That's a lot of candles, old man.

Happy Birthday, Dad!