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.

YEAAAAAH!!!!!!!!

We still have a chance!!

You've got to be kidding me.

Good thing that guy moved away from Germany, because doing what he's doing in America would be considered a punishible offense on German soil.

What have I been doing lately, you ask? After finishing all my schoolwork, going to all but one of my classes, and a fun but short surprise visit from Rick, I've been chilling today and watching soccer. There was the added bonus of the annual Tuebingen Punting Races, which had a huge turnout and ended up being really fun to watch, even if they didn't last very long. And as for soccer - the World Cup madness continues to hold all of Europe in its iron grip, and Germany, being the host country for the event, is hit especially hard. The fall of Poland to Germany triggered a night-long celebration that pulsed through the streets of Tuebingen (and most every other German city, I must imagine), with lots of broken class and people cheering at each other. A popular chant was "Ihr koennt nach Hause geh'n", meaning "Might as well go home!", directed at the Polish team right after Germany scored the only goal of the game in overtime. Despite all of this (or perhaps because of it, because of all the drunk people in the streets), there were no night busses, so Ronda, Jeff and I walked from the French Quarter up the hill to WHO, which took about 80 minutes. No harm done, though - it was a good night.

Today is a holiday, so theoretically I'd have time to fill you on our Penecost Break trip to Prague. But, I think I'll turn on the England vs. Trinidad/Tobago game and maybe take a nap.

Egads!

A week off in Prague and Berlin made for a great, fun trip, but OH MY GOODNESS the stress! I have a 3-page paper to write and two presentations to give in the next two days, all the while trying to cram in a choir rehearsal, the US vs. the Czech Republic World Cup soccer game, Spanish class, and two other classes! This is probably the most work I've had to do all semester, and thanks to my big week-long break, I'm cramming it into 48 hours. Wonderful.

So if you don't hear from me until Thursday, you'll know why. It'll be non-stop until Wednesday night, when the German team plays Poland and hopefully kicks their butt. Hopefully after that, I'll have time to sit down and tell you all about my weeklong trip over Pentecost Break.

(Pentecost Break? for a whole week? What kind of school do I go to???)

also, this:

American Cities That Best Fit You::

70% San Francisco

65% Los Angeles

60% Honolulu

60% Washington, DC

55% Portland

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Pretty sure that's not true at all. Where is my beloved Seattle on this list? And I think we all know that I wouldn't be able to handle LA.

I find this article very amusing, because two of the three determining words in the spelling bee are German words. If I had never taken German, I would be right there along with the other 98% of America who have no idea what the words Ursprache and Weltschmerz mean, much less know how to spell them. A closer inspection of a clip of the spelling bee shows that the moderator did, in fact, pronounce Weltschmerz correctly.

Since we're leaving for Prague tomorrow, Jeff, Ronda and I went down to the train station early today and bought our tickets. I'm so excited! Now Jeff and I just have to figure out if we want to go to Berlin afterwards, or come straight back to Tuebingen, or what. By the time we were done with this small task, it was 10:30, meaning it was time for Ronda to go to Stuttgart, time for Jeff to go back to bed, and time for me to work on writing a presentation I have to give the week after Prague. So that's what I've been doing for a solid 4 hours now (which feels like a heck of a lot of work to me, sadly), and as a result, on the bus going back up to my dorm, I came up with an extremely deep thought, which is as follows:

If you have two M&Ms in your hand, and one is red and one is brown, which do you eat first? Because the one you leave behind will inevitably melt a little in your hand (if you eat M&Ms as slow as I do), so which color stain would look worse? Red, which could be construed as blood, or brown, which could be construed as dirt or silver nitrate or poop?

So that's something for you to ponder while I'm away in Prague. You can leave a comment and share your own Deep Thought!

Have a great week.

There's only one statement that has any truth to it in this video. Can you find it?



And in regards to the very last line of the video: If it's true that none of you really matter to us (a false statement, I feel), things would be way different if we weren't the most powerful country in the world. I have a feeling you guys wouldn't give a crap about us, if you could help it.

I think the British guys who made this video are harboring a bit of resentment stemming back from 1776...