Hola amigas y familia!
We started out our morning at 7:30 with an interesting breakfast: lots of bread, pastries, lunchmeat, cheese, potato eggs and cereal that tasted like Tostitos according to Melissa: “They look like corn flakes but they literally taste like corn chips”
Sleepy eyed and weary we loaded the bus for practice, passing by Jan who would soon make his presence well known. His name is pronounced, “yawn”, and he is our tour guide, however Stephanie has decided to address him with an accent (we’ll try our best to upload a sound bite to give you the full experience) which is a take off of the female pronunciation-
Must know facts about Jan…
- he was born in Sweeden
- has resided in Spain for 20 years
- does horse impressions as subway entertainment
- employs embarrassing techniques to catch the team’s attention in public
What is most important to know about Jan is that he has an impressive talent for speed-walking. He may even surpass Dr. Casey, who Mae claims is the fastest walker that ever tread the streets of New Orleans, especially on game days. He loves to leave us in the dust while navigating the streets and subways of Barcelona. He often comes to an abrupt stop after passing through dense crowds or subway trains to confirm, once again, that we have not been mugged. Our team has become pro at clutching our bags, purchases, and satchels for dear life... especially since Allison caught a man reaching for her iPhone peeking out of her front pocket while entering the subway station. No worries parents, no incidents have occurred and hopefully will not with the constant encouragements from Jan to “keep it that way”.
After two long days of traveling we finally got the chance to practice! Jan led us to a turf field right in the middle of the city. 80% of the fields here are turf and are always kept locked up because swarms of people would always be dying to play.
After a quick practice we left for Sitges with Jan.
After returning to the hotel to change, we set out for the beautiful town of Sitges, right outside of Barcelona. Right off the bus we headed straight towards a beautiful church overlooking the sea and its many sail boats. This provided us a beautiful background for a photo shoot, and we took advantage. After a long time on the church steps we ventured down the streets of Sitges. The town was built by the Mediterranean Sea, complete with beaches and shopping. Most of the team spent the early part of the day enjoying the many shops and the Spanish cuisine, it was delicious. It seemed as if every other store was a pastry shop, they all smelled so good!
Melissa was looking for an energy boost, so we went inside a pastry shop and asked for coffee. They guy working asked if she would like café con leche and when she responded “Just café” he pulled out a “Dixie-cup-kind-of-small” glass instead of a regular cup, and when Melissa tried to correct him and pointed to the bigger cup, he only filled up the cup halfway and asked if it was enough. It was a struggle trying to get him to fill it up all the way. We learned later that apparently coffee without milk in that store was espresso.
Driving down the main road into town we saw mansions to our left and the beach to our right. The beach was definitely a new experience for us all. While the water and sun felt great, it was hard to ignore all the topless women scattered along the beach and the men in speedos. They definitely have a unique style in Sitges.
After some time in the sun we headed back to Barcelona. We had the opportunity to share the bus ride home with a volleyball team from Pennsylvania. For entertainment one of their girls decided to tell all about her 13 tatoos… including the three flowers on her shoulder to her remember this trip forever. So don’t be surprised if we follow suit and how up in the states with inked versions of our travels.
-You can read about Mae’s rap battle during this bus ride on the list of the team’s favorite memories from the trip-
After refreshing at the hotel, we set out for the middle of Barcelona by walking and making use of the subway. We stepped out of the subway station onto a street that was built to connect the city of Barcelona with another city 2 miles away. It is named Paseos de Gracias and is now the most exclusive street in the city.
We toured around and finally ate dinner at a restaurant down on of the skinny streets of Barcelona that had a delicious buffet.
Fun facts from our tour… (take it with a grain of salt because Jan is… Jan)
-Messi has been voted best player in Europe for two years running and has also visited Jan ‘s ex-wife’s apartment on the most exclusive street in Barcelona.. their activities remain unknown. He also makes the most money earning about 60 million dollars a year.
-Our tour guide is from Sweeden, so he gave us some inside information on an unlikely recruitment from his country… Marta apparently refused to play for the US Western New York Flash unless her partner could be paid to play as well. We caved, but Marta could only do so much seeing as her girlfriend mostly helps warm the bench.
-the houses in the city of Barcelona start at 5 millions dollars
-Jan speaks 9 languages and loves to point out why American soccer players develop too late
After yet another really long day, we had lots of fun and memorable experiences. If only we had a pedometer to know how far we walked.
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