good friday

just a quick blurb about life around spain today:

today is the first day of what is arguably the world's biggest sporting event, the fifa world cup. emotions are running pretty high around here, as spain, or la furia roja (the red fury) as they're known, is currently the world no. 2 and many are predicting them to bring home the glory for the first time ever. back in may i purchased a spanish national jersey for such an event and i cannot wait to wear it and watch spain's first match (which actually isn't until next wednesday). it's pretty exciting to be in a country where the level of excitement and passion is this high in regards to a sporting event. imagine, if you will, the super bowl, except that instead of maybe 100 million people are excited, it's 1 billion. that's the feeling here. i went out earlier today to buy a few things before my friends shannon and aneliza visit for the weekend from barcelona and you could feel the energy on the street.

i'm sure that over the next month, i'll be giving updates to life as a result of the world cup. for all of you out there who couldn't tell the difference between xavi and maradona, the world cup is a month long tournament (11 june - 11 july) between 32 of the world's best football teams. for the past three years, nations have been playing in world cup qualifying matches to get to this point (how each region sends teams, depends on the region. for example, south america sends the top four teams and the fifth team plays in a playoff with the fourth place team from the north/central america region. in this case, my beloved pais del siete letras, ecuador, didn't make the cut.)

everyone have a great weekend and be sure to watch the u.s./england match tomorrow!