No house divided here

Last night I watched the Real Madrid-Barcelona game on T.V. with Mercedes. When she told me at dinner that "no cars will be out on the streets tonight" because everyone will be watching the game (similar to the Auburn vs. Alabama football games), I knew I was in for a vocabulary lesson in cheering on Madrid and bashing Barcelona. What I did not realize, however, is that I was in for a refresher on my family relationships vocabulary as well.

Ten minutes into the game, Mercedes's hija (daughter) called to tell her that her nieto (grandson) was crying and didn't want to go to bed. I don't blame him; I wouldn't want to miss out on the game either.

Later she called her hijo (son) to discuss how terribly Madrid was playing. When they hung up she explained that he was watching the game with her cuñado (brother-in-law) and some sons of her primos (cousins) because it is more fun to watch with other people, which prompted her to call her hermana (sister) who lives downstairs to see if she wanted to come up and watch with us.

After Barcelona scored its first goal, she explained to me that her padre (father) hated Barcelona with a passion because they are anti-Spain and dirty players ("creeps" as Uncle Charlie would call them).

This explains why she now must cheer for a foreign team, maybe German or English, in the European Cup now that Barcelona sadly eliminated Madrid. Turns out city pride outweighs country pride in this house, so good thing her whole family lives in the same city.