Barcelona Game

Barcelona is my adopted sports team here in Spain. I try to watch them play as much as I can. Why? Because I know every time I watch I'm witnessing something great and historically significant in the world of sports. Years from now, I'll think about how cool it was that I happened to be in Spain while Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi were in their prime. It's a bit sports nerdy, but I think about it every time I watch a game.

The three players above will go down as some of the all time greats in the sport. Messi, perhaps, will be seen as the greatest ever. People watch Messi for the same reason they watched Jordan, Barry Sanders, or Tiger Woods: the possibility of seeing something amazing, something never seen before, and also to say they were there to see it.

La Liga, the Spanish League, is top heavy to say the least. When it comes down to it, there's  Barcelona, Real Madrid, and the rest. Of course there are die hard fans for other teams that might be offended by a statement like that, but these two teams dominate the sports landscape here more than I'm used to with American sports. It seems everyone has to choose a side. When I've introduced myself to classes over the last couple years, inevitably a boy will raise his hand and ask me if I'm for Barca or Madrid. When I say Barca, half the class responds with cheers and the other half with disgust.

Much of the polarization has to do with not having a salary cap in the league. As I watch Barca rip through the competition, in the back of my head I'm thinking that there is something unfair about this. That even though I love watching Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi play on the same team, I know this is only possible because there is no salary cap. And as my generation of Americans have been trained to think, leagues with no salary caps are not fair. A couple thoughts here: One, I'm clearly a product of watching American sports in the salary cap era. Two, it's kind of bizarre that American have developed such a distaste for the free market model while Europeans reject the socialist model.

Last Sunday, I finally made it to a game. It was a noon start time, the first since 1965 (they typically play around 7 pm or later). The early schedule time brought out lots of kids and casual fans making it the third largest crowd at Camp Nou (Barca's stadium) this season. Total attendance was around 85,000.

It was a very different experience than American sporting events whether at the professional or collegiate level. It seemed every one there was there to see a sporting event, not an entertainment event. There was no pregame "we're getting ready to go into battle" music. No flashy jumbotron introductions. No crazy halftime show production. NO INSTANT REPLAYS...Not having these things made me think about how the spectacle aspect of American sports has so come to legitimize the "big game" experience. I felt dissonance between what I expected out of a pro sports event and knowing that I was watching one of the best teams in the world play their respective sport. Without the "show" part of the game, it felt too real to be as big as it was.

So yeah, it was something I had to wrap my head around a bit, but cutting out those elements made for a really cool experience. It felt like the game was good enough to enjoy on it's own, a throwback to times before the spectacle took off in American sport.

It was a typical Barca league game. They were playing a far inferior opponent. They controlled probably three-quarters of total possession. They won 6-1.

Holiday Pictures Part One: Berlin

One of the perks of living in Spain is getting to travel around Europe easily and affordably. Growing up, the idea of visiting one country in Europe seemed far fetched. Now when someone asks me, "Hey, do you want to go to Belgium in a few weeks?",  I can take the offer seriously. Europe's budget airlines (along with relaxed travel rules within the European Union) make it all possible. Let's not forget I'm living on 700 euros a month here . It's not uncommon to find flights between cities in Spain for 20 or 30 euros if you book at the right time. Flying to other countries is not usually much more (around 70 euros each way on average is what I've paid). I've never paid more than 150 euros for a flight. I see a flight that costs more than that on Ryan Air and I immediately think, "This is an outrage!".

In Spain, the schools have two whole weeks off for Winter Break. I think it has to do with filling in  the time between Christmas and the more important Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day or something like that in English) which takes place on the 6th of January. I mean you can't make the kids go back to school in between the two. But anyway, the important thing about that as it pertains to this blog is that it means two weeks for traveling.

My buddy Dave and I hammered out a 10 day, 3 country trip over a two hour Skypeathon (no money was raised unfortunately). Our final list was Berlin, Prague, and Budapest in that order.

Part 1 - Berlin  

As much as I like the place, sometimes I don't quite fit in here in Spain. It seems like in groups, Spaniards are all talking at the same time. This makes it difficult to get a word in for someone like me. And although it seems this unfortunately transfers to the classroom, it's not "rude" necessarily. It's just Spanish culture. That and outings that start late at night and end early in the morning are just some of the examples that come to mind as far as things that I don't exactly mesh with. But then again, you're not supposed to fit into another culture seamlessly. That's part of the experience.

I bring this up to say that both times I've been to Germany, I've felt like it was more my kind of place. Let's start with the people. In one episode of South Park* Jimmy awarded the Germans "Least Funny People in the World". They responded by engineering a comedic robot capable of making people laugh. Ok, well that's the stereotype. They are known for being punctual, precise, and serious. Kinda sounds like someone else I know.

*Ask my friends. 83% of my sentences begin like this. 

In Germany, there's a whole scene I just don't see that often in Spain: dimly lit bars usually full of comfortable old chairs and couches set up in small circles around a candle lit table. Some sort of cool but not poppy house music in the background. I walk into a place like this and I immediately think, "Now this seems like a place where I don't have to pretend to be having a good time." One place Dave and I went to had a back section blasting 90s hip hop with a big screen set up for Mario Kart on Super Nintendo. Just gonna let the awesomeness of that set in a sec...................ok. Now I'm sure Germany also has crappy clubs that play the same crappy music most mainstream clubs play...I'm also sure Madrid and Barcelona have their fair sure of cool spots. All I can speak to is that for the short time I've been in Germany, I've felt like there more often than not that I can go to places at night and not be wishing I wasn't there...and that has to mean something.

So even though Berlin wasn't at full strength (two of four days there were Christmas and Christmas Eve) it was still a good time. Now on to the touristy stuff.

Dave and I's hostel just happened to be located next to a part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. Today it's covered in art with social and political messages. Here are some of my favorites.

Leaders of Communist countries greeted each other with a kiss on the lips to show their alliance cut deeper than those of Western Capitalist countries whose true allegiances were only to money and power. Right...

Love this one.

Stay Free! Great reminder.

Einstein and I.

The Eastern German government tried to say the wall was to keep others out, not keep it's own citizens in. Right....

America!

Not bad....

Here's a few more social/historical pics.

Socialist era boulevard

Reminds me of any Cold War era Bond film

Reconstruction of a typical East German apartment. It was cozy by design in order to help avoid the harsh realities of daily life.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

 

 

Same memorial by night with the U.S. Embassy flag an European Union Flag in the distance. 

So yeah, between life under the often brutal political repression of Eastern Germany and the Holocaust there was quite a lot of heavy stuff along the way. Some of it's hard to take in but it makes some of the terrible things that happened there feel a bit more real...which is a good thing.

Now you can see why I needed three parts for this vacation. Parts two and three soon.