Good day to everyone,
I am writing you from a very windy Valencia, Spain. The weather up until now has been very good, with lots of sun. We have been here for a week now and have played three games. Our first game was against a youth Valencia team. Los Rapids were victorious by a score of 1-0. Christopher Wingert bagged the game winner with a header off a corner kick. We controlled most of the game and could have won by 3 or 4.
Our next match was against Valencia's first team. The game kicked off at 9:30pm which is standard around here. The Spanish stay up much later than us Americans. A usual Spanish dinner will be eaten around 10 pm or even 11 pm. For those who enjoy partying, they don't go out to the discos tell 2 or 3am and will come home, well, whenever they feel like it. But back to the lecture at hand, our game against Valencia. The game was played in the stadium in the middle of downtown. I am told it holds around 56,000 or so and the seats go straight up, so it feels like the fans are right on you. It was a good match and a fun one to play in. In Europe they wet the field a few minutes before kickoff to make the game that much faster. The score ended with 4-3 in favor of Valencia. We put out a good effort and deserved at least a tie. Jovan scored two and Kyle had the third goal for the Rapids. All in all it was a great game to be a part of.
We ended the trip with a game against Valencia's reserve team on Wednesday morning. We won 2-1, thanks to a bomb from Nick Labrocca and a penalty from Danny Wasson. Both sides brought intensity and some solid tackles to the game. It was very windy and wet (from the watering before the game) so there were times the ball was all over the place. But fear not that we would find a way to win and end the trip on a very positive note.
In between the games we spent some time in the city of Valencia. We were lucky enough to be here for "Las Fallas." Now I am not exactly sure what this festival is but when I asked a local he just told me in broken English, "It's a fiesta, where we party for 4 days." To which I thought to myself, "What a brilliant idea. We need to have a 4 day fiesta back in the states where we just party." Now wouldn't that be fun? What I have gathered from my own two eyes is there are a bunch of little parades, with people playing music, who walk all through the streets. In addition, there are fireworks. Now let me take a minute to let you know something about Spanish fireworks because they are not like anything in the U.S.A. There are no fireworks that shoot way up in the air and make cool colors. These fireworks are about making loud noises. They are essentially the loudest "bombs" I have ever heard. Honestly, they are louder than that dang cannon that they shoot off at Invesco Field after a Rapids goal. Imagine that thing going off 10 feet by your head every 3 minutes.
Another cool activity we did while here was attending the Valencia vs. Racing match. Racing won the game 2-0. It was amazing to see over 50,000 people watch a soccer game. The fans in Spain are different than the ones in other parts of the world. There is not really any chanting or singing during the game. Most of the fans sit and watch the game and smoke cigarettes (like in Mexico non-smoking does not exist). When their team does well, they applaud. When their team starts to struggle, as Valencia was in the game we watched, they start to whistle. The fans are very knowledgeable about the game and will notice little things that go on, such as a good switch of attack or a good ball to break the other team's pressure. It was very cool to see the game and the atmosphere.
While we have been in Spain for a week now I have learned a few things. Let me pause now to cultureise (is that a word? Well it is now!) some of you who might not have been over to this part of the world. First, fireworks that might be mistaken for sticks of dynamite are definitely legal to set off in the middle of the city. In fact, there is no age limit to who can set off the fireworks as I witnessed kids around 6 years old assisting in making me go deaf. Second, the Spanish don't mind being close to one another. Not only were there many couples getting "very close" to each other in public, but also while walking in tight groups people get right up on you. I was walking through a tight street that was very congested and I felt a hand in my lower back pushing me along and heavy breathing right behind my head. So as I turn around it is a 75 year old man who didn't seem to care that my personal space was being invaded. Third, do not plan on doing anything or shopping during the hours of 2pm and 5pm. This is siesta time. The city almost shuts down as people go home to take a little cat nap. We were trying to order some food around 4:45pm and the guy looked at us like we were crazy asking for food at that time. Lesson of the day: if you have to buy you're mom or girlfriend a gift, do it before or after the siesta time frame.
Aside from soccer and being in the city, much of our time is taken up by fighting over the two computers in the lobby for the internet. Let me be the first to tell you Jovan is the king of the computers, that guy is always on! There is of course the cards being played and PSP.
Well that is about all I have from Spain. We are all excited to get back to the U.S. Using a cell phone, without paying $3 a minute, eating at Wendy's, sleeping in a bed where you can roll over and not fall off the bed, and to watch English TV other than CNN and some sports show that only shows ice skating and curling never sounded so good. Again I know that is a run-on sentence, but you get the point.
Look forward to seeing everyone there on April 7
th!
Stephen