This blog is to share with you some of my enjoyable times of my life. I talk about things I love to do and adventures I have gone through. I take the liberty to recommend places, activities and food that in my opinion are worth to try.
This is just a tool to help you to make your own decisions when you are ready to go to those places (obviously from my own point of view).
Spanish version: http://igotita-disfrutandodelavida.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label Scrabble in Spanish World Championship 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scrabble in Spanish World Championship 2008. Show all posts
On September 23rd. 2008 Claudia Amaral offered a reception to the Spanish Scrabble team at her home.
Claudia Amaral is a great Scrabble Player that was the Scrabble World Champion in 2004, something that just few females have done.
The reception was so nice. She offered us with delicious canapes. Some people were playing Scrabble (of course!!), some talking and even some singing and playing guitar. Remarkable: Carlos Puente playing guitar and Antonio Alvarez singing.
Argentina is a big country with an incredible mix of contrasts. I had the very good luck to visit it twice.
The first time was due work in 2004. I traveled with Aerolineas Argentinas,from Madrid, and I should say I don´t recommend this airline. I´d traveled alone. The sits in tourist class are bigger but their status is a pity.
Also that travel was terrible due something that wasn´t the airline fault at all: when we were close to the landing time, the captain advices us that due a storm in Buenos Aires, we should land first in Córdoba, but, as far as that wasn´t an international airport, it won´t be possible for us to go out of the plane, he couldn´t know for how long we should stay there, but will keep us informed. Well, you see, you can´t blame anybody for that, at least we had a place to stay. They played again the movies we had seen already, but at least you have the feeling there´s something to do while waiting.
Every 20 minutes, more or less, the captain tried to give us news and more planes in the same circumstances were arriving as well. The real problem was that the time was running and we had no food, no drinks, the smokers can´t go outside to smoke and they weren´t allowed to smoke inside neither.
Some kids and babies were at the flight as well. A couple with a 2 y/o baby was at the row behind the mine. During the whole flight I had seen her taking care of the baby and him enjoying the entertainment of the plane. After more than 12 hours flying and several more at the airport, inside the plane, of course the poor baby was bored! And the mummy as well! But the daddy instead of helping a bit started to complain about the baby and at that time the mummy was tired enough to just accept what he was claiming and then they started to fight. :( People that know me closer, already know I´m not exactly the kind of person that would even to play with kids that I don´t know. And I´m afraid I have some kind of allergy to the babies crying. Of course with the fight the baby started to cry more… so, again one of those situations that I really can´t explain even to me why, but I told the mummy to give me the baby and I started to play with him, you know that kind of games like “hey! Look at this! This is a light! Now it´s here… now it isn´t… where´s the light?” Yeap! For sure I was desperate! ;)
Other dramas were worst. People losing flights. People that their final destination was Cordoba and they weren´t allowed to go out of the plane as well (but well, that´s normal, as I said, they didn´t have a way to receive people coming from out of Argentina), people starting to complain to the crew as if it would be their fault… A smoker didn´t want to wait more and had smoke at the toilette and then the alarm started to ring and the captain told us to please give information, in case we can, about the person that have done that due it was against the law no matter if we weren´t flying; someone said the fine will be expensive but the real problem was that they also forbid to use any other airline for 3 years…
In my case, I would be just for the weekend in Buenos Aires and had reserved a city tour that was already lost, of course. :(
After six hours…. Yes! SIX HOURS! Finally the captain told us the storm was over. We arrived at Buenos Aires at 13.00 more or less, without having eat since the diner (we supposed to arrive at 6.00 in the morning, no breakfast then) and no way to claim anything, as far as it wasn´t the airline fault… BUT! I was finally in Buenos Aires!! :D
Yes, I know… this is not exactly the happiest or nicest story about going to Buenos Aires! But I thought it should be told!
The second time I went to Argentina was in September 2008, due the Scrabble in Spanish World Championship. (This time I really deserved to be selected!) ;)
The journal started a bit before, because Madonna was giving a concert the night before my departure (and the departure of a lot of us, actually). I asked Topo if he would like to go to the concert, as far as he lives in a location of Valencia, one of the places Madonna selected for her concerts in Spain (she didn´t done one in Madrid, somehow Valencia was the best option for me).
Then, as I said, my journal started on Thursday Sept. 18th. at midday, going to Valencia by train! Of course, previously leaving the bags ready! :D
If we take into account that Colombians are known as the “party kings” and combine that with a young team of Argentineans lovers of new technologies, we could start to get the picture about how good organized was the whole Championship.
People of redeletras.com, the official web for playing Spanish Scrabble online, had been responsible of the technical organization, including, of course, retransmissions. FISE´s staff made the organization of the Championship and the different tourneys, meaning while the tourneys where played, but the Colombian Scrabble organization made, as good hosts, a great job during the time we weren´t playing.
The Scrabble Colombia team had take care of every single detail, from sending us mails the days before asking us if we prefer them to arrange taxis to wait us at the airport, made a welcome letter including prevention indications and how to behave at the city in case we go around alone, prepared a quite complete activities program for the different days the tourney lasted, most of the activities ended with party! (When they weren´t the organizators of the party, Rede´s people did!) :D and even they had done a very happy song talking about a couple that found love playing Scrabble! :D
So, every night some of us were at the different parties, some others playing Scrabble at the lobby. Yes, we just can´t get enough! And it´s not usual to have the bests of the world at the same place! So! We finished the championship inebriated of Scrabble and party! :D
With no doubts, the best party was the Chiva Rumbera one. First of all, I should explain what is a “chiva rumbera”. The chiva is a kind of bus, but with some differences from the normal ones we all know. First of all, instead of having 2 lines of sits per row, it´s just 1 line, going from one wall to the other, so, every line has it´s own door. There are no windows at the sides. Some of them have no some of the sits in order to give space to a musicians group. This all make them perfect for having party inside! And that´s exactly the goal! :D When you go into a Chiva Rumbera, it means you´ll have a party at the bus (could be with a real life musicians group, could be with cd´s) while you are giving a ride. The ride includes drinks that usually are rum. Depending on the place, you´ll go to some places or others, but the point is to have a city seeing night tour that includes a visit to a viewpoint where the Chiva stops, usually several at the same time, to make a big party, but this is just one of the stops, not the end… the end usually is at the most fashion discos street. Wherever you go with the Chiva, everybody will now a Chiva is coming due the big noise of the music inside of it… so, usually people will stop a bit for greeting the Chivas. Usually different Chivas met at the streets and it becomes into a fight for being the faster and the one with people having more fun.
In our case, we had 2 Chivas that took us from the hotel and made a tour going first to the party zone of the city, then to the La Calera overview, where we stopped for a while and then we went back to the hotel.
You see, in situations like this one is quite interesting to watch out how the different cultures behave. Since the beginning, all the people from Latin America were laughing, dancing, singing and drinking. The Spanish ones were a bit serious at the beginning, like watching what was going on… even some kept on sited big part of the way to the overview point. .. one liter of Rum latter… hehehehe! Spanish team was unrecognizable! Even Juan Carlos Ayala, that usually is so quiet and serious, was dancing! I was at his side and once he told me “Ho! In this country everybody dance! Even me, that haven´t dance in my whole life… and look at me! Now even I am dancing!”
When we were going back to the hotel, most of the people started to relax a bit, knowing the party will be over soon… but the Spanish team at this point was at the middle of the fun and went out of the Chiva, in front of the hotel, cheering: “we all want more, we all want more… we all want more, much more and much more!” :P But I´m afraid it was so late and all the people were concerned about the matches to play the day after.
The party, in all the versions (dancing or playing Scrabble) ;) had been all the nights of the championship. Topo and I had the flight for coming back home the morning after the last day of the tourney. Again the way back meant to go first from Bogota to Miami, where we stayed some hours (not enough for going out to watch a bit, but enough for doing some shopping at the airport stores and for eat something while playing a Scrabble). Then, from Miami to Madrid… and for Topo some more hours till finally arrive in Barcelona. Before leaving Bogota, Topo had been playing Scrabble… in my case, I had been dancing and dancing and dancing! We were 8 the ones that had been dancing till 5.00 in the morning, I´m afraid I had to leff then, the taxi for going to the airport would be waiting us at the door of the hotel at 5.30 and I haven´t finished to put all inside my bag already! But I even took a shower before leaving the hotel! Yeap, I had been dancing the whole night without sleeping after finishing the championship and went to the airport quite tired… but… we´ll have a lot of hours at the plane to sleep!
In September 2007 took place the XI Scrabble in Spanish World Championship in Bogotá, Colombia.
For representing a country at the World Championship, you should be classified, due there´s a specific number of participants from each country. That year the representatives of Spain should be 8. On a first sight, I shouldn´t have a chance to go as representative, but a lot of people with a better position at the table than me can´t go… so! There I was! :D In the list of representatives of Spain!
By coincidence I was in the same flight than Topo, just that he was coming from Barcelona, I arrived in Madrid, but we were lucky and had the chance to get sited together. It was the first time going to a Scrabble World Championship for both of us, and we were so excited about that.
I think every “professional” Scrabble player that prides oneself on being it, wouldn´t ever miss the chance of playing if is travelling with another one. And that´s exactly what we did as much as we can! We had a scale in Miami and Topo was quite wondered about the arrogance of the authorities at the airport with foreigners. (So sweet!) ;)
We arrived in Bogotá with 1 hour of delay, so, the taxi we had arranged to pick up us at the airport wasn´t anymore there. We had been prevented about not taking taxis out there (that´s a normal prevention in any Latin American country). At the other side of the outside door, a lot of people in a noisy and semi chaotic way were waiting for passengers some, others trying to buy/sell dollars… I mean, a normal Latin American country airport activity… but that could seem frighten for Europeans if it´s the first time. It wasn´t possible to stay inside the airport at that stage and anyway, there wasn´t anything that could help us, so, I told Topo to wait me outside till I try to find a way to take a secure taxi. He should wait me taking care of the bags (1 big bag and 1 trolley each one), but in the moment we went out, a lot of people at the same time came to us offering us whatever. Topo´s face was saying he was scared, Im afraid! :) But he defended the bags quite good! Hehehe ;P
I went to search the taxi again, but no one with our names waiting us, so, there were some people from hotels waiting passengers and I thought they could understand my position as tourist and give me the best recommendation of what to do… and it was so simple! There was an specific taxis office with a fixed price for taking you to the different hotels! :)
So, after several flight hours, finally we were arriving at the hotel… and immediately we felt at home! A lot of Scrabble players from all over the world were already at the lobby with their boards, playing! :D
Since I remember, I love board games, especially the ones that mean a mental challenge. Board games are part of me at that point that even we usually play something at my birthday celebration… otherwise it´s not my birthday celebration! ;) Since some years ago, the favorites to play at my birthdays are Taboo and Scene it?.
My very favorite board game is Scrabble. I don´t remember how it came to me, but I know for sure I was already playing it when I was 14. Maybe one of the things that make this game my favorite, is that not ever you can imagine the result of the game. Also that it´s not just a matter of being lucky or to be the one that knows more strange words… it´s a conjunction of both mixed with the ability to resolve anagrams with the letters you have.
In Guatemala I have friends that like to play it, but once in Spain, it was hard to find people to play, especially after I made my husband to get bored of it! (I was asking him to play Scrabble with me every time we had a space to. Our first year together, you know, when husbands still want to impress their wife, he left me to do so… but after that year he just learned to say NO!) ; ) So years later I started to search info about Scrabble at internet and I discovered 2 things that wondered me a lot! 1. People all over the world play Scrabble in championships that are as important and serious as Chess ones. 2. There is a Scrabble Association in Spain!!! :D
Till then, I was playing Scrabble as any other game, just for fun, allowing some times words in English just to take out a Q and other kind of words that usually shouldn´t be allowed in Scrabble, but when I saw that there were people taking it more seriously and playing even with more rules than the ones described at the instructions of the game, a new world had been opened for me!
I started to go to tourneys in 2006. Of course in my first one my results were pathetic, but the experience was incredible! You see, it´s nice to meet people that take a game as serious as you do! :)
It´s hard to explain why I love Scrabble. I can tell different things Scrabble is about for me, like emotion, excitement, challenge, adrenaline, learning, sharing, passion, competitiveness… but I´m afraid this is the kind of things that are so personal, so, or you feel that “click” with something or you don´t.
Sharing with people with my same Scrabble passion was like opening a new world for me. Especially due most of Scrabble people are amazing. Everyone in a different way, but you can find something that makes them extraordinaries. In other posts I´ll talk more about them, so you will understand better what I´m talking about, but just for give you an example, several of them had participated in T.V. game shows like “Saber y Ganar” (we even have one of the “Magníficos”, Josep Abril ), “Cifras y Letras” or “Pasapalabra”. It´s obvious, without Scrabble, no chance at all to meet each other, we have quite different backgrounds, ages and professions.
At the beginning I started to play Scrabble due to my Scrabble fever, but after sharing with AJS people, it became in a great friendship with amazing people from all over Spanish talking countries. Today for me Scrabble is more about sharing the game´s passion with friends that have the same and even more fever than me.
My progression in Scrabble was very good till last year. I´m proud about my development that includes being part of the top ten of important tourneys and even a first place in 2007; and my classification to participate as part of the Spanish delegation at the World Championship in 2007 and 2008 (Yeap, I´ll talk about them in other posts).
Being in Spain it´s special due some of the best world players are here. We have 2 twice World Champions, Joan Ramón Manchado 1997 and 2003
And the current “Duplicadas” mode World Champion, Eufrasio Millán.
So, taking in consideration that there are just limited participants per country to the World Championship and the great level of Spanish players... Yeap! I´m quite proud about had been part of it! :)
In May 2008 I became part of Scrabble Girona, yes, I know, a bit far away from Madrid! But I definitely love that group! They play all Saturday´s morning, of course for me is not possible to go every Saturday, but I try to go as often as I can and every time it´s a Scrabble weekend party, due plus the games we play at the club, with Patxi (the current Spanish Champion) and Montse (his wife and also the best Spanish female player) we just keep on playing till the body allows us, at their home… that usually means other friends to come as well!
Here a video of one SG friendly tourney that by coincidence was the day of my birthday:
I´ll talk more about the great experiences I have with my Scrabble friends in other posts! :)
After the last World Championship in Buenos Aires, my fever decrease a bit. Of course I still love the game and I´ll try to go to all the tourneys I can, just that to try to be part of the best players means a lot of hours studding and I prefer to use it in other kind of activities. I still play a lot, I still try to give my best in each game, I still enjoy so much playing! :)
My last tourney was in Guatemala, on last February. Was a great experience to share that day with my compatriots! :) Special thanks to Emmanuel, Mauricio and Chofo for all their attentions!
Some interesting links (all in Spanish, I´m afraid):
The one that is named “Spanish Scrabble Heart Point” gathers most of the info that is relevant to the Spanish Scrabble world: http://scrabble-santandreu.com/
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