Historic win

It was the night when Carmen waved the Spanish flag for the first time in her life. Before the match she had even asked me to tuck the tiny ‘bandera’ away because she admitted that it still felt a bit like betraying her principles. She blatantly felt uncomfortable of me – and my parents for whom I had bought España Toro attributes for the occasion – sporting Spanish symbols. It was just something she had never done before.

But after Torres’ great goal she – we – jumped crazily as she grabbed for the yellow and read, waving it high up in the air. By the end of the match she did not want to let go of it and carried it all through the night, up and down Gran Vía where many Spaniards were experiencing the same: for the first time openly being proud of your nation. Much has been said about ‘the two Spains’, and one football match won’t change this a big deal, but it was refreshing for once to see Spaniards rejoice instead of arguing about nationalists, Madrid’s central power or ETA.

Carmen celebrating famous win

Of course, we were in Madrid, the capital, so these scenes could be expected. But news came in from Sanxenxo – a lively summer tourist destination in Galicia where Carmen’s sister was watching the match – that people where also celebrating on the streets. Later, on the news I saw scenes in Barcelona and even Basque country of people jumping up and down in delight.

Yesterday really was something incredible. We decided to watch the match in Fuencarral to be more with the Spanish although our neighbourhood Lavapies – with all its immigrants – was also supporting Spain. In fact, Carmen and I were interviewed by national TV La Sexta, as they did a reportage on foreigners supporting Spain. Unfortunately – although I did my best to act as foreign as possible – we did not make the cut as you can see from the following link: http://www.misexta.tv/home/1_0/0/151901

I guess we were not immigrant enough.

¡Viva España!