Today, I went to my first Spanish basketball game (el baloncesto) between two teams of 11-year old girls from my Spanish siblings' school, and let me tell you (pardon my french) those chicas are bad-ass. First of all, they play outside, in the wind, on CONCRETE, and on these tiny courts with no benches or walls, nothing but them and the court. INTENSE. Then, they do drills before, after, and during the game! They use halftime to practice foul shots, run plays, do layups, etc. I was pretty impressed, and I have to say, no offense to my little bro (sorry Teej) but they took more shots and made more of an effort than any little grade school team I've ever seen! They're scrappy, have great defense skills, can actually dribble when they get the ball and not freak out and freeze up (my childhood), it was a great game! I knew basketball was a pretty popular sport here, but considering it's not the number one sport yet these girls play it so well, I can't wait to see people playing futbol and just schooling everyone. Oh those athletic Spaniards.
After the game, Marta took me to the supermarket to stock up on some foods for the week and staples for me. It was pretty cool, it was underneath the big plaza next to our casa and had a little pharmacy, wine/liquor/beer section, and the best (or possibly worst) part was the fresh fish section. I'm not sure if you all know about Spanish and Basque cuisine, but they love their seafood here. While standing in line to get some fresh salmon and I guess cod (not sure what anything really is, as long as it's not shrimp I'll eat it!), I saw them violently cut off heads, rip out bones, use a knife the size of my cat, and then literally wipe fresh fish blood off their aprons. Wow. And of course everyone around me is chatting calmly about the weather and such, not really noticing that there was not only brutal mutilation of fish compadres going on behind the counter, but also almost 150 fish eyes just watching us. It was kind of creepy but it appeared to be a societal norm so I'm going to try and go with it. Although I can't promise I won't turn away when they are using the big knife to chop off fish parts, sorry Spain.
Tonight I'm going to el Casco Viejo, the oldest part of Bilbao. It's pretty close to the University, about a 10 minute walk, and has a bunch of bars, restaurants, shops, etc., so it should be fun to see how the modern day Spanish youth parties and se disfrutan (enjoys themselves) in such a historical town.
I also went to the infamous Museo Guggenheim yesterday, which (not surprisingly) no one here can pronounce properly so I can never tell what they are asking me about. It ends up sounding more like Museo Oo-hen-heim, so we're all working on saying it right haha. But, here are a few more pictures of the Museo for your enjoyment, hopefully you all are starting to get a feel for the city and to begin loving it as much as I am!
This is "El Puppy", the curious not-so-little puppy who sits in front of the Guggenheim as a permanent exhibit/guard dog. It's pretty funny because the Bilbaons (is that right?) loves to decorate him for upcoming holidays and seasons, so now he has flowers all over his "fur". Presh.
Here's the Museo as seen from the University, which is across the street (in case anyone ever visits and gets lost, just ask for the Guggenheim and I'll be across the street!)
Speaking of the University, I'll leave you all with a photo of the main building. I must apologize to FU because it pretty much crushes Keating in a best college facade contest. :)
Cait - I totally empathize with those young spanish hoopsters. When we lived in Belgium I played basketball for a team called Dynamo Bertem. Although most games were indoors, a couple of teams still had outdoor courts. For one game in March we had to wait for the other team to finish shoveling the court. Speaking of sports, when are you going to see Athletico Bilbao? Too bad you couldn't go today, as they have Real Madrid at home...
ResponderEliminarI want to go soon but I guess tickets are only open to the public on Fridays, and then the entire public goes and tries to get some. The game is at 8 and Marta told me that the best part is actually when throughout the whole game in the streets because the bars are all full and the streets are pretty lively. So we'll see how that goes tonight!
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