It's July, and...
Spain is going to the World Cup Finals!
It’s July, and it’s been one of the busiest summers ever, with camps and visitors and World Cup. Important Spain games fell on the first and last night of teen camp, but everyone came anyway, which was a big encouragement.
On Friday night (Chris and my 22nd wedding anniversary), when Spain beat Belgium to go to the semifinals, we drove home listening to classic sports radio, in Spanish, and discovered that they have what sounds like 12 jockeys announcing the game: one or two naming the players touching the ball and doing a play-by-play (“Cucurella a Olmo, Cucurella, Rodri, vuelve Olmo…”), one talking casually and inserting calm reactions (“que bueno. Lamine Yamal will turn 19 years old on the day of the semi-final game. Will they play?”), and one or two passionately reacting to literally everything very loudly (¡Ooh!“¡Cuidado! ¡Salvo Unai Simón! Goooooooooooooooollllllllllll). Just as we were unloading supplies from the night’s celebration (we brought a fire pit to do s’mores), Merino scored the last goal and we celebrated on the street in front of the church, two cars with the flashers on, kids screaming and jumping up and down. After we parked and watched the last few seconds of the game on TV, the kids and I decided we would wander down to the plaza to see the celebrations. Just as we arrived on the block, one of Austin’s fútbol teammates ran up behind him and threw his arms around Austin, shouting, Espaaaaaña! Austin smiled and gave him a typical man-slap on the back. I thought it was fun and cool but Austin is 12 and he thought it was the most awkward moment of his life. It’s July, he’s almost 13, and Austin is literally too cool for everything.
We took some photos and video of the plaza after the quarterfinals and headed home to bed. We had another busy weekend ahead, with visitors coming to stay in our house, a ladies event, church, and more World Cup games.
Saturday morning we slept in for the first time in weeks, and then we went out to eat for lunch because the last thing I wanted to do after two weeks of camps was cook a comida. Plus, we hadn’t done anything special for our anniversary yet, so burritos and frozen yogurt (for the kids) in Alcalá seemed like a good way to celebrate.
I wanted to pick up some Spanish olives for our dinner that night, so I went to the olive bar at Hipercor. I pointed to a reasonably-priced, yummy-looking olive and asked for a container. The gal scooped them into a plastic container, but it was broken, and she had to replace the container and fill another. Meanwhile, she heard us talking in English. Just after handing me the container, it was as though the Holy Spirit spoke to her! “Have you ever eaten these olives before?” she asked No, I said, I’m just looking for something good for guests. “They are super bitter,” she said. She grabbed a toothpick and stabbed one for me to try, and she was right. I tasted something unique and enjoyable (agradable is the Spanish word for it) flavor, but the overall profile was quite bitter. She offered to change, and recommended an olive that is marinated with eggplant. The next day at dinner, we ate every single one. So tasty! So thankful she spoke up!
That evening Carolyn and I ran a ladies craft and prayer night and although we were exhausted I think it was a success. There was a group of older ladies (I am an older lady now ha!) and a group of younger ones, so I had one woman pray for one young woman, a la Titus 2.
After church on Sunday we had Cincinnati chili and rested. Our former colleagues joined us in the evening and we ate the things they miss the most about Spain: tasty olives, bread, jamón, big fat cherries, and tinto de verano. They spent the next few days catching up with Spanish friends, and Tuesday night, Spain played France in the semi-final World Cup game, which we watched at the plaza in our town.
We were nervous about this game, as France came into the World Cup very much the favorite. After Spain scored the first goal, Austin said, “yeah, but I don’t see a game where France doesn’t score.”
Well. Austin has never been happier to be proven wrong! We are thinking that England might be easier, but we want Argentina to win tonight. Two years ago, Spain beat England in the Eurocup, and we had the strangest experience. Many of our neighbors and even people who have come to church events were saying, “so sorry you lost” and one even said, “I’m surprised you came today!” and we realized that everyone thinks we’re English! So it was fun to let people know that we are from the US, not England, and we are happy to root for our host country of Spain on the world stage.
Hoping we can add another star to the iconic red and yellow shirts. ¡Vamos España!