Nearing the end

It's as I near the end that I am beginning to find it very difficult to keep up with my blog posts. I guess I am saving all my energy for this weekend. Thursday night, I spent with Marc, Didier, Oriol, and Damian. We had a wonderful dinner. I am going to miss these guys. They are so much fun, so kind and extremely generous.

Friday, was another day of walking (everywhere). I took the funicular up to the castle in Montjuic. The ride up was nice. I guess it doesn't make much sense, but I assumed that it was be done without a top, but as I thought about it, that would be pretty dangerous. So, I took some pictures from the car through dirty windows :) The castle was really neat. It made me excited to want to travel more, on my next trip, throughout Europe to castles. I did quite a few churches and a catherdral here, but I think I want to add to my list visiting different types of castles. UH! I can't wait to get back to Europe- and now I have a home (or centering point), Barcelona.

After visiting the castle, I decided to walk to try and find the Annex of Palau Sant Jordi- where the volleyball portion of the Eurogames (the US version of the Gay Games) were being held. I found it! I was so proud of myself. I had a few stops along the way to enjoy the Olympic village and such, but it wasn't that hard to navigate my way around (at least not as hard as I thought it was going to be). The games were so fun to watch. All I could think about was putting together a team for the next Eurogames which are in 2010. How fun would that be? There weren't any U.S. competitors in any of the 26 disciplines. Can you believe they have - Rollerblading as one of the sports? Ha ha ha! I know some of you think you are all smart and saying, "but Jeff, it's the EUROgames!" I know I know- but there were people from Cuba, Chile, Venzuela, Phillipines, Brazil, etc. It wasn't just Europe- plus we are gay, we love everyone! Apparently, I am not the only gay in the village.

This was apparent at the opening ceremonies later in the day. I would have to add this as one of my top 2 or 3 favorite things that I have done or experienced in Barcelona. I will save you all the 100 or so pictures I have taken, but I was smiling the whole time. The ceremonies were incredibly classy and fun. You can check out SOME of the pictures below.

Ivan is arriving today- I am very excited! I apologize in advance- there are A LOT of picture. I will try to keep my descriptions to a minimum, otherwise I won't get the airport to pick up Ivan.


Me scared to try Melo'n soup for the first time. I passed on the slices of ham.












Despite my face- I was laughing because they wanted to take a picture of me trying this stuff- it was pretty good. It was just a very weird taste to experience given the texture of soup. It was a cold soup.









View from the funicular on the way up to the Castle in Montjuic












One side of the castle.












The front of the castle (I told you I was going to be brief)










View from the bridge walking into the castle.

















A view from the top of the castle.

















Still in Montjuic, this is part of the Olympic Park. This is one of the flames that is on the side of the Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic.
















This is where the opening ceremonies were held and track and field. SO COOL! This was taken through the fence.








And about 10 meters later, I found out that they actually had the stadium open- ha ha ha! Inside the stadium.










The front side of Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic. Oh- for those of you who don't know- the 1992 Olympic games were held in Barcelona. I have a fondness for the Olympics, because I love sports and competition- but also because it was something my family all loved to do together during the summers. Though we all had our own favorite sports- I think Track and Field was one that we all enjoyed watching.



This is inside the Annex of Palau Sant Jordi (I think I got that right). Team yellow- They were speaking Spanish- so let's say Spain. The Team in Black- Italy.



This team is from Cuba- one of my favorite players was on this team : ) Don't worry, you get to see a blury picture of him later.













This guy had HOPS! He was no more than 5'5 and could just fly! He was on the team from Thailand.
















I am going to call him Ned. Ned is from CUBA! Yum yum!

















These handsome fellows are from Italy. The one that is not too tan, his name is Ralph and the one closest to me in the picture is Joe.















I never found out where this guy was from. I am going to say Spain. I have named him Chris.
















Chris with his shirt off... poor guy has a hurt shoulder. I need to brush up on my Spanish and ask if he needs a mensaje.















These guys are also from Italy, but a different team. The one with his shorts hiked up is very N-I-C-E!
















Okay, seriously- these guys were HILARIOUS! I know a lot of us (gay guys) have a problem with really effeminent gay guys- I am proud to say that I am slowly getting over this uncomfortability. This guy is from Team Thailand. He and his teammates were screaming, dancing, and fluttering all over the court during warm-ups. It was HILARIOUS! Then you see them play (yes, some of them even in skirts) and they were kicking everyone's a**es. Seriously, they were so good. These little boys can HIT! It was fun to see and watch.








I am pathetic, I don't remember the name of this building- even though I have about 5 pictures of it. I will call it, "Building I do not know the name of".







View from right outside the Placa de Espanya Metro station. The building in the background is called, "The building I don't know the name of".











Up closer to the building I don't remember the name of. There were boys who were sitting directly to the left of this picture. Learning Spanish has helped- becuase I was able to hear them say, "Smile if you'r gay? Insert name, you should smile- you know you are gay".






This picture is for my friend, Lindsay Broekstra. If you can't read it- it say's, "As a finishing touch, God created the Dutch".
















These guys are from Norway! They seemed like a very nice group.







Part of Team Italia and their camera crew.











The sky just before we walked into Palau Sant Jordi for the opening ceremonies.










I really like this picture. You can't forget to look at the guys on the bottom right hand side.
















Inside the stadium. I was really thirsty and saw some lesbians with really big beers- I had to join in on the festivities. Poor Oriol- he and his little cup of beer.









The gay host- I am guessing he is someone famous here.











Team Austria






Team Belgium





Team Denmark








Team Denmark filling the stands. For a little country, they had a lot of people.
















Not sure which country- but I think the Czech Republic or Croatia.
















I think this is Croatia.







Damian being very excited- but I was actually trying to get a picture of the handsome guy in the green shirt : )















What the stadium looked like as it was filling up.













YEA GAYS!

















One of the performances- a tango!

















A story depicting the how the Eurogames started.








TV reporter














Another show using lights and dramatic music.









The national aerobics champion, who is from Catalan. The announcer was joking that the guy was proposing to him (when in fact that's the pose he ended his routine in). The guy answered- "Sorry (showed him his ring), I'm married!"
It is REMARKABLE how accepting people are here to the unions of gay men and women. It's not a freak show, it has not put the country in chaos, and being gay is not this thing that MAKES UP who you are. It just seems to be another part of your life. You fall in love with a woman and have kids, and I fall in love with a man- and people treat it just like that. It is one of the most beautiful experiences I have had here. Seeing how being a homosexual can be seen as just another part of you, rather than being this HUGE part of who you are- constantly struggling to prove your worth in society. Fighting for the same rights as everyone else, worried about possibly losing a job, your life, the ability to have a family, etc. I am blessed that God has granted me the opportunity to see how wonderful a world can be if we just accept and love another for who GOD CREATED us to be!
We have American Idol- they have Spanish Idol. These are three of the contestants. Two of them were in the final three (The winner was announced Tuesday). The guy on the far left, Chipper, the guy in the middle Pablo, and Ivan.











Damian and Oriol enjoying the show.

















Boogie oogie oogie 'til you just can't boogie no more!

















Mimi- apparently a fag hag was also a finalist.

















Chipper (who is American) but married to a Spaniard and Ivan (Cristina dice- Ivan tiene pluma).











CHIPPER! One of the final three.
















Pablo the other of the top three finalists. Apparently, the girl who won, Virginia, was too cool to showcase her talents for the gays.