Matt's blog had this video on it, and I thought I'd add another one that popped up on YouTube. They're about Tuebingen and they both capture it pretty well. The first one captures more of the everyday sights and sounds, while the second is just pictures to music.





My choir sang at a Catholic mass this evening. I'd say we did a fine job, and it was a nice mass to boot. Tomorrow I need to go out and buy a black folder (thanks to Matt for lending me his for tonight) so that I can have something to hold my sheet music in. Also, I need to hang up some posters advertising our concert next Sunday! If you would like to come, it's on Sunday evening at 8 in the Stiftskirche. Admission is 5 Euros for students/children, 8 for adults. You know you want to!

Wow, today was a long day! Kara, Jeff and I went to Freiburg today for a day trip. We left at 8.30 from Tuebingen Main Station and didn't get back again until 9.30 at night. Not to let this post get boring, but Freiburg was very nice. The old city was pretty, they had these cute little streams running through the city, and the Munster was an elaborate church much like every church in Europe.

I also went to a goodbye party in the French Quarter that was sweet. Met a lot of people, had some fun conversations, and got back late. So now I'm watching an episode of Scrubs before I go to bed. Tomorrow includes a trip to the gym and singing at a church service at St. Johannes with my choir. Yay!

Weird. Today I talked to Addy on Instant Messenger. She just left Germany yesterday and is now back in Denver. It's like talking to someone a whole world away, when they should be three dorms away from you. Crazy.

Addy's departure marks the beginning of the end. She's the first of all the Americans to go back. Her leaving makes me dread my own imminent departure. And it's sad.

Well, better go back to enjoying the last weeks of Tuebingen life. Today there's a few festivals in town, and tonight there's a concert put on by the international choir. Time to go have fun!

I somehow love this Podcast: Ask a Ninja.



That's the simplest way to explain it. We are a factory that produces apple pies for whales. I look forward to feeding you apple pies soon!

I believe that you are Ninja, too.

Once again, the Italians have won and have crushed my hopes and dreams.

And now they're celebrating by taking off their pants. On live television. Still on the playing field. What the heck?

Isn't it funny how 3rd place is a happier place to be than 2nd place? I'm pretty sure there will be no reveling in the streets tonight in France like there was last night in Germany.

At least Zidane went out like a true bad-ass. Last game of his career, and he goes out by head-butting Matarazzi, or however you spell his name. He head-butted him. In the chest. And he was stealthy enough that the ref didn't see it. But the Italians complained, and he got the red card.

The French were supposed to be the victors in this final World Cup game. Not the Italians. Not the Italians.

Not the Italians.

Things I like today:

This picture

This show:


This composer (and his work, Ave Maris Stella)

And finally, this quote:
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum. -Thomas Szasz(1920- )

WE WON!

So, Germany found their feet after the devastating loss to Italy and beat the Portugese, 3-1. Two amazing long-shot goals from Schweinsteiger really helped to seal the deal.

Since this game was only for 3rd place, I expected it to kind of be a bust, a game with no excitement. I thought all the anticipation surrounding the World Cup here in Germany would be gone, and the game would feel empty, like a party balloon that had lost its air.

But the magic was back for this Kampf um den dritten Platz, somehow. The Germans had seemingly recovered most of the good spirits they had before losing to Italy. Bringing back Olli Kahn to play keeper certainly didn't damper the mood. And above all, I think the team wanted to give its fans another chance to celebrate the German nation. They wanted to show the people that they really did have something to be proud of.

After watching the game in my room with some friends, we headed down into the city to watch the celebrating. It was pretty decent - the Neckar bridge was completely blocked off by revelers, and cars were zooming around everywhere with flags and people hanging out of them, honking and yelling. It was like any other regular World Cup victory, and I regretted not going to Stuttgart to watch the game. Of course, I couldn't help but think how much bigger the festivities would be if we had really become the Weltmeister 2006. But why wish for something that's already been decided?

At least we can root for France to win tomorrow's final.

Well, that's that. I'm tired, and I have choir tomorrow starting at 10 AM. Aaaaaand out.

Germany and Portugal are going up against each other for 3rd place in the World Cup, and the game starts in about a minute.

More exciting: Oliver Kahn is playing keeper tonight instead of Jens Lehmann. AND he's the captain!!! You really don't know how much joy this brings me, because for some inexplicable reason, I LOVE Olli Kahn. LOVE him. Go Olli!!!!!!!

Alright, game's on, gotta go. I'll get back to y'all later with results.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 31 degrees celcius with 83% humidity. You'd think after the thunderstorm we had today, the weather would back off for a bit. Actually, it's quite cool outside right now after having rained so hard, and I'm hoping the weather forecast is completely wrong and we'll have a nice, cool day tomorrow.

France beat Portugal tonight, 1-0. I hope they also beat Italy, those flopping, whining Pizzalieferants. Boo.

I finally ordered my Eurrail pass. Apparently Andrea has checked by the STA travel office a few times looking for it, hoping that I'd ordered it already. The lady working there recognizes her now. So when she goes tomorrow morning, it should be ready for her to pick up.

I'm actually quite tired and the only reason I didn't shut down my computer as soon as I got in tonight was the whole Eurrail pass. So now that that's done, I should probably high-tail it into bed. I don't think my sentences are even making sense at this point. Bleh.

Have a good night. And I'd never thought I'd say this, but: Go France!

Today's been a good day so far. Bio class presented a hard text that I didn't read all the way through, but luckily it was so hard that even the Germans didn't understand it and thus also did not completely read it. So we had something to bond over after class. That, and talking about the upcoming game tonight. I was glad to have these topics on hand, because I really felt like talking to these people. There's only 9 of us in the class, and for that reason I thought I'd get to know them fairly well, but turns out they all kinda knew each other already, and stayed in about 3 little cliques. I've slowly lowered my way into the nicest of the 3, and today talked to them about the stupid text and the Germany-Italy game after the seminar sitting. So that was good!

But bad is 1. I have a paper to write, even though I want to go to the BBQs surrounding the game and our Independence Day celebrations, and 2. my sweetheart is sick. He's been lying in bed since yesterday morning and feels just awful. So that's putting a damper on things lately (the second point, that is. Not so much the first).

Of course, I'm wearing red, white and blue to celebrate our nation's independence. I have yet to decide if I'll add the German colors to that mix for the game, but of course I probably will. (Minus the flag and the scarf I lent to Niko.)

Alright, less writing on my blog and more writing on my paper that's due tomorrow. Crap.

Sometimes I complain about German music not being very good. Well, I have to say, I like this song and the video that goes with it:



That's all I got for tonight. Germany plays Italy tomorrow and I have it from a good source (i.e. my boyfriend) who says that Germany has never beat Italy in World Cup play. Hopefully tomorrow will be the exception to the rule...

Happy 4th of July, you Amis out there!

And that's really all I got.

Back from the Abschiedsseminar in Weimar. It was a long weekend of hanging out, traveling a lot and getting little sleep, so instead of updating about how it all went, I'm going to steal something I saw on Matt's blog (which Ronda also stole) and fill it out for fun. Then I'm going to eat and relax for a while:

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (The countdown)

9 lasts.
-last place you were: Jeff's to say hi after being gone all weekend
-last cigarette: don't smoke cigs, they're gross
-last beverage: a whole 0.7 liter bottle of carbonated water
-last kiss: Jeff, of course
-last movie seen: Funny Games
-last person talked to on the phone: Jeff
-last cd played: the whole CD? Pinkerton by Weezer
-last bubble bath: not recently enough. dorm life doesn't allow for such luxuries
-last time you cried?: haha, Friday. I was stressed after the trip to Weimar and I got there and got all teary for some reason. I'm weird.

8 have you evers.
-have you ever dated someone twice: yah. bad idea...
-have you ever been cheated on: ...and that's why dating twice is a bad idea
-have you ever kissed somebody and regretted it: probably, but not in the last year
-have you ever fallen in love: love is a tricky thing... I don't know if I know what it is yet.
-have you ever made out in the woods: haha, of course. I love nature
-have you ever been depressed: very mildly, mostly weather-related
-have you ever been drunk and threw up? can we say Oktoberfest?
-have you ever gone to the bathroom with the door open: haha of course! it's a fun risk to take

7 states you've been to:
-Washington
-California
-Missouri
-Oregon
-Florida
-Kansas
-Hawaii

6 things you've done today.
-woke up at 11, when we were supposed to check out of the hostel
-stole someones computer to check emails
-ate breakfast
-said goodbye to the people I met through the Federation this year
-spent 6 hours in a car from Weimar to Stuttgart, then another 80 minutes getting from the Stuttgart airport to Tuebingen, all in the name of saving as much money as possible
-took a break for some gelato and McDonald's. We're healthy people

5 favorite things.
-guacamole
-awesome theme parties
-good late-night discussions in either English or German
-ultimate frisbee
-grill parties (aka BBQs)

4 people you miss.
yeah I miss more than 4 people. but i'm not abandoning the list form so I'll kinda cheat:
-my entire family. (told you I'd cheat)
-Andrea
-Ashley
-Sara

3 favorite colors.
-blue
-jungle green
-polka dots

2 things you want to do before you die.
-live in former East Berlin
-work in or run a hostel

1 thing you regret.
-not finding a job or a volunteer position in Germany

We read the following poem in my German Literature and Conversation class last week. It was so touching that I almost started crying in class, and it's become one of my favorite poems ever:

Ich fürchte mich so vor der Menschen Wort
von Rainer Maria Rilke (1898)

Ich fürchte mich so vor der Menschen Wort.
Sie sprechen alles so deutlich aus:
Und dieses heißt Hund und jenes heißt Haus,
und hier ist Beginn, und das Ende ist dort.

Mich bangt auch ihr Sinn, ihr Spiel mit dem Spott,
sie wissen alles, was wird und war;
kein Berg ist ihnen mehr wunderbar;
ihr Garten und Gut grenzt grade an Gott.

Ich will immer warnen und wehren: Bleibt fern.
Die Dinge singen hör ich so gern.
Ihr rührt sie an: sie sind starr und stumm.
Ihr bringt mir alle die Dinge um.


I was so enthused by this poem that I sat in class and tried to come up with a good translation of the last stanza, which happens to be my favorite. So here it is, for those of you who don't speak German:

I always want to warn you: Stay away.
I like to hear the things sing and play.
You touch them all: they are stiff and dumb.
You're taking the things and killing them.

In a game that didn't matter as far as advancement out of the round robin went, Germany gave Ecuador a nice solid whupping today. Three minutes into the game, and Klose had already made the first goal. He did it again right before halftime, and Podolski kicked one in in the 56th minute to solidify the victory. Every successful goal meant a round of wild cheering and applause, people hugging and kissing and high-fiving, and a flurry of flags, being waved furiously above the crowd, back and forth. Black, red, gold. Big flags, little flags, people wearing flags as capes, people holding up flags that spanned three or four people. Tons of flags everywhere.

Around the 85th minute of the game, I was on a bus, heading to class. The bus, which I take every Tuesday to get to Spanish class, had about 10 people in it. Normally, this bus runs late and once it finally gets there, I have to cram myself in, nestle myself in among the sweaty bodies and baby buggies, and wait impatiently as the bus lumbers along its route. Today, without the usual mass of rush-hour humanity, the bus jetted through the near-empty streets on its way to the French Quarter.

Getting out of the bus, I saw people pouring out of the many bars of the French Quarter. Many were talking excitedly, their hands wiping their faces and accidently removing sections of facepaint along with beads of sweat, smearing black and red and yellow over their cheeks and chins. I could tell my own facepaint was beginning to fade from almost two hours of perspiration, brought on by sitting for two hours in the hot sun wearing two tank tops, a Germany jersey, a flag as a cape, and a red scarf.

Walking down the street away from the crowds and towards my classroom, I hear a child's voice call out "Deutschland! Wir fahren nach Berlin!" I turn and see above me two young German children clothed in white jerseys, helping each other wave their country's flag atop their balcony. I smile and wave at the two, who in turn squeal in delight and wave back.

Spanish lasted an hour and a half. I was the only one on time. Half the class didn't show up, and half of those who did were mildly to full-on drunk. Our opening exercise was answering the question, "Where did you watch the game?" The lesson was continuously interrupted by passing cars who had no problem with serving up the neighborhood a peppering of car horn blasts.

Getting back up to the student village proved difficult, as the amount of people celebrating Germany's victory was enough to block up the main street to the point where the busses could not run anymore. Even then, two hours after the final whistle, we still had to take a long detour.

On the bus ride back up, my dormmate Clara and I were talking to pass the time. Clara is taking Spanish with me to round off her 5-language repertoire, which, amazingly, does not include English. I mentioned that I had never seen so much German pride in my life.

Clara nodded, and said, "Of course not. This is the only time we're really allowed to show any pride in our nation, when it's for soccer."

And it's true. Germans could of course fly a flag outside their house if they wanted to, or celebrate their national day, the 3rd of October, with giant city festivals and fireworks. They have, after all, much of which to be proud. A functioning socialistic slash capitalistic society and a major player in the EU, Germany takes good care of its people, and the people in turn take good care of the land and of the environment. They are world leaders in technology, science, and industry.

But show one ounce of nationalistic pride, and immediately it is construed not as nationalistic, but as national socialistic. No way would any self-respecting citizen speak too highly of the merits of the German people or, God forbid, start flying a German flag outside of their home. To do so would be to open oneself up to the criticism of being a potential Neo-Nazi.

This is the kind of abashed self-loathing that the German people have lived under for 60 years. I don't think anybody, including themselves, believes that they deserve it. Not now. Not today. They don't deserve to see documentaries about the Third Reich daily on TV, they shouldn't have to keep paying reparations to Israel, and they certainly shouldn't feel the deep shame for their nation that is still prevalent in the country today.

A recent set of advertisements popped up last year across Germany. The tagline was "Du bist Deutschland" - "You are Germany". The advertisements, designed to raise German self-esteem and with it the rate of employment, were so cheesy that they were met with instantenous and unending ridicule. Germans still don't believe they can show any pride in their country, the only exception being during the World Cup.

"Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden" is the slogan of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. "The world as a guest here with friends." If only Germany started believing that the world is its friend, and not its enemy as it was 60-plus years ago. Then perhaps more German houses would, like the two children in the French Quarter, wave the flag from their balconies, full of pride for what their post-war nation has accomplished, and what is yet to come.

Black, red, and gold.