Day 6

Woke up in the morning and went running with Alisha while Thor and Andy went to buy tickets for the soccer game. We found a spiffy little exercise park that even had a metal elliptical. some of the machines were less than intuitive and there was a guy who tried futilely to show me how to use them with Alisha translating. Ran up and down the sculpture thingies and then back to the apt. Went to the science center/mall to see and IMAX movie but it was sold out. The science center, amphitheatre and IMAX were designed by Calatrava, the same guy who designed the twisting tower in Malmo that I saw out the window during my last Eurotrip with Nora and Thor.

At the mall, Thor ordered an OJ at the cafe and it was quite tart and tasty and, of the course of all the drinks in spain, came with a large packet of sugar. And being my usual sweet-toothed self, i had a waffle with chocolate. Bought a Valencian goalie figurine for my boss Kai and a spanish book of jungle animals for Z, his awesome fat screaming baby. Shopped for awhile but surprisingly didn't buy anything else. Back to apt.

Off to soccer game, unfortunately feeling abit sick. Quite cold at the soccer game but everybody was excited and shivering more in anticipation than for the cold. Our seats were behind the southern goal in the third and fourth row and a little bit scattered. Very cool. The lady next to me was a chatter box, big Valencia fan, didn't speak any english but chatted with me throughout the game. When the game was starting, the balconies threw confetti down on us. there was a drum pit near us and they were playing the whole game. Opposite us, the balcony threw down a huge flag that covered the entire lower deck. Valencia scored the first goal and also the second. Valencia won 3-2 and Mata was the big hero. We gathered outside the stadium. The team came out on the balcony and threw jerseys into the crowd. Andy caught one and managed to also keep his glasses in the fight. Lots of cheers. Mata was interviewed and the crowd went nuts. Then someone set off fireworks in the middle of the crowd and everybody surged away rather happily (woulda freaked people out in the US). Went home and Andy was really happy about the shirt and Thor was quite jealous. Tried to get pizza but once again my pescatarianism defeated me in this meatcentric country. Passed out right away - maybe the excitement was a little much for me.

Day 5

got up at 5:25. Thor snoozed every two minutes on different devices but after 5 times i got upset because two minutes is just an unreasonable amount of time to snooze. We picked up Alisha and called her "a-lih-sha" when it should have been "a-lee-sha." Particularly awesome because she let it go for 3 hours even though Thor obviously knew better but was participating in the joke. Drove to Valencia , saw lots of pretty hills along the way. As we approached, we stopped for a break and we could already hear the bottle rockets even though we were well beyond the city limits and it was 9 am. We drove into the city and past the stadium and found the apt we would be renting.Got coffee and walked into the city. Saw lots of Fallas (here's a few: http://www.holavalencia.net/2008/03/16/map-of-fallas-2008-part-i/) along the way - mermaids, fish, big masks, one with lots of puns of city names, (gatova as gato-va: meaning cat go - a dude kicking a cat away). We found a tent near a fallas where an oompah band would follow people that were walking down the street. Arnab and Andy danced with them. then we walked to the city center and saw that a bullfight was going on at the stadium. We were hungry and tried to get food but gave up as it was almost time for the main event.

Went over to the main square to see the main event. As during the entire morning - lots of fireworks were set off at random while we played ghost and waited for about an hour. Then the show began. We all had earplugs but it was still amazingly loud. The fireworks show was about noise not lights - not anything like the american vision of a fourth of july show. Sooo cool. The finale was crazy. There were two tennis courts with fireworks strung across them a couple feet apart. They lit those off and they fired super-rapidly and then finished with a deep boom. Throughout the whole show, the ground was vibrating and tremoring. Sooo cool.

After the show, we spent a long time walking over to see the big Falla that looked like the genie in aladdin. Walked back to the apt, stopped for Tapas. Waited forever for the waiter. He took a picture of himself and we headed back to the apt - pretty tired. Stopped at Open- Cor for a pittance of food. I fell asleep while the others went scrounging for food. I think that the spanish strategy for preventing the residents from becoming obese is that the store owners have banded together and agreed that groceries will not in general be available for purchase except for very short periods at random times which change daily. Coming from my residence in SD where i can walk across the street to my grocery store anytime between 6 am and midnight, this food purchasing limitation was difficult for me to get used to.

Later, made pasta and pizza which were totally gross and played caps. Thor was on fire. The whole time we were playing and eating, fireworks were going off in every direction all around the apt. We got pretty drunk and excited and ended up hitting each other in the stomach. The boys were being total wusses about it so Alisha manned up and hit me really hard (comparatively). It was hilarious. After quite a few blows, poor Andy's stomach turned bright pink with fist prints.

Finally headed back out on the town. Walked towards the city center. crazy kids were shooting rockets at each other. Crossed into town and gathered around a Falla with grecian pillars and a jamaicanish dude. Stood at the edge for a long time. Little fireworks show and then they set off the fireworks strand that was wrapped around the Falla. After the Falla really caught fire - the heat was super-intense. I had to back up almost 6 yards. Not perhaps as impressive as the Texas bonfire but this was in the middle of a pretty small intersection and buildings were less than 10 yards from the fire and this was a smaller Falla than a few of the others we saw. Very impressive overall. Alisha, Arnab and Thor headed back to the apt. Andy and I went into town to see the Genie set on fire. Pretty crowded - small fireworks show again and then the Genie went up in flames. Huge fire.

back to apt and to bed.