Before there was me in Barcelona...

Before there was me in Barcelona, a little bit of Barcelona was brought to me.

Here in Japan, the annual Toyota Cup brings in the best club teams from around the world to compete in Yokohama. This year, Barça, having won the Champions League, was able to come and play. Not only did I attend the semi-final, at the game I met 3 men working for the club team who needed a translator to help with their 40 Japanese volunteers setting up the half-time show. I got a free ticket to the final match, got a super-duper reversible puff jacket, and a full day speaking Catalan and Japanese- my two heritages somehow colliding at a soccer game. Despite the unfortunate loss of my hometown team, it was a day I will not soon forget. Check out the pics.



The beautiful field in Yokohama before the game starts.



Some Barça fans with a lovely home-made sign that says, "I Love You Pibito" in Catalan. (Pibito is a player- duh)



The Three Amigos. Ernest. Jordi. Miquel. After the half-time show was over we had plenty of time to have a celebration beer and then lots of cheering. Just hearing Catalan in Japan was like being in a dream. A great, great dream.

By the way, a BIG shout out to my girl Cassie, who let me re-schedule our Christmas dinner plans so that I could go to the final match. Thanks!! We set up Christmas dinner for our Japanese tutors and re-scheduled for the next week. Cassie made delicious chicken anpotatoesos. I brought a salad and sparkling cider and for the first time ever, I tried Christmas pudding. It's really a cake. I don't get why the British insist on calling it a pudding, but that's besides the point. Here are the pics of the fun.



Here are Cass and her tutor, Hiromi.



Our beautiful Christmas pudding. Did you know it's like 80% raisins? No, I didn't either! :)



The four of us, Cass and Hiromi, Yukie (my tutor) and me. Junichi, Yukie's brother and my other tutor, isn't anywhere to be found, though. I think he's taking the pic, but if you want to get a look at him, check out my fishing blog when he took me out on the lake for the day.

Anyway, that was our lil Xmas dinner in Tokorozawa. After dinner we swapped stories about Christmas, Santa, the Easter Bunny and then the Tooth Fairy. It was pretty hilarious explaining the concept of these fictitious characters to Japanese people. Along the way, though, I found out that in Japan, teeth that have fallen out don't warrant cash, but they do have their own traditions. Upper teeth are buried in the ground to ensure that the next tooth comes down firmly, while lower teeth are thrown over the roof of the house so that the next one will grow up strongly. All this in the country that has the worst teeth I have ever seen. No joke.

After Christmas dinner I finished my last day at school, my last-minute shopping and headed to the airport to fly off to Barcelona. Lots more to come about Barcelona, Madrid, family and friends.