The Championships and my last days in Barcelona

I'm not sure if I will be able to cover everything, I have been MIA for quite some time!

So I see I left you with the end my trips to Germany and France.. well Carcasonne.  I am a bit upset with myself now and probably feel your frustation, its been nearly a month since Spain has won the World Cup and I haven't commented at all!  Who am I?

This weekend was by far one of the best I ever had in Barcelona.. Most of the students from my program were out of town so I had great sleep! Spent my days on the beach and the following events occurred :) 

July 11th

Well as you know my fellow Spaniards are the CAMPEONES DEL MUNDIAL!!!  absolute best feeling ever to be among 75,000 Spanish fanatics. To describe the atmosphere, imagine yourself in a humid 90 degree heat with 75,000 chanting (and sweating) men surrounding you.  Put your closest friends right next to you with some Sangria and beer, add two flat screens that match the size of the audience, and then be in the center of Plaza Espanya, right next to the Olympic stadium with fountains lining the walkway up to a huge castle in the background.  Pretty much perfect for a win.  I can't describe much else to you but the electric, anxious, and exciting tension that dragged till overtime made the winning goal that much better.
Trying to leave was a mad house.  We were all soaked to the bone, but smiling because there was way more alcohol ON our clothes than ... (you can finish the rest of that sentence :] hey Dad! )
As for the celebrations, the whole country could only make noise for hours and hours.  The bars and clubs were practically empty because the streets were filled and the cars were storming around honking in celebration.  As you walked past all the apartments and flats, those who stayed in had buckets of water that they poured on anyone who walked by.  I guess we cleaned up easily?
All in all, there is not much I can say except I felt like I was at home again... similar to a great win against the dirty mustard and maroon, chanting and gloating with pride for a sweet victory only your fellow college mates could understand.. Looks like I bleed some royal Red in Spain too :)

Now back track a little bit...

Between the last entry and this date, I could probably sum up my life as an average of 12 hours a weekday at work, with some extra activities on the weekend.  Ya, all you boys pretending to write hours of codes at your desk right now (Paul knows your reading this, get to work!)

July 9th

Much of my work was to prepare for the International Miting that was to take place at the Olympic Stadium... know when you say Miting in spanish it means both information meeting as well as a Meet for sports.  So the Friday night, we did a run through with our volunteers and our own positions on a smaller scale.  I was even able to enjoy watching some of the track events that would take place in just a few short weeks!  Quite amazing to watch these athletes from all over the world, even the US, host a mock-competition open to the public.

July 10th
 The best part of about the previous Miting was that every event was left up for the next morning.
Between sponsors like Estrella Damm (local brewery to Spain) and Joma (like a Nike and very popular for futbol),10 people from my work competed against 9 other teams of 10 participants.  Joma actually had real athletes who if they won earned cash.  There were various events with a male and female competing at each one. This was one of the best experiences because I was able to compete in an Olympic Stadium on real event equipment.  Unfortunately, I who has never even attempted this before, was signed up for the long jump! Ha, what a joke.  At least it wasn't high jump... I had three practice runs and two real sets. Lets just say the gymnastics got me through the sprint and my legs got my the meters.. I only jumped a little over 3 meters!  whatever, I'm proud of myself even if my little sister and brother could probably kick my a**.
My fellow coworker however did amazing, Guiseppe (italian) placed first with jsut over 5 meters! i think. 
My coworkers were in events like high jump - we placed 2nd for men at 145 (idk the measurement)
1st in the 100m sprint for men and third for women.
1st in the 4 x 100 (2 guys and 2 girls)!  the anchor even fell, got back up and finished first!

Our team finished 2nd overall!! Losing to the Joma athletes, no surprise.

I was just like to add that because of my lack of time, my body felt quite sore the next day... almost like the Tin Man if you had to put a name on it. I almost regret doing those backhandsprings in the stadium grass, and definitely regret running that 400 right before I left just so I could say I ran a 400 in the Olympic Stadium.. my legs hurt remembering it. Sadly I must tell you I felt this pain for 5 days! the worst day was the next (July 11th) where I stood for hours on end waiting for that oh so sweet victory.. I'll take the pain for the win anyday.