TravelStream™ news feed for member selenelove on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/selenelove en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:35:40 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1220267160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1220267160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1220267160/tpod.html Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:35:40 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Berlin, Germany

Here's a (not so) little story about my trip to Berlin. : )

As soon as Ingo told me he would let me stay in his flat in Berlin for free, I knew I'd have to go back. I was actually in Berlin about a year ago as one of my day trips from the Baltic Cruise I took with my family. Though I saw a lot, I knew that I could see much more if I spent more time there. As an added bonus, Ryan had never been to Berlin, so we knew we would have a good time.

We were supposed to leave on Monday. My teammate Sarah had told us about a carpooling service where you can go online and find people who are willing to carpool to certain places. Normally, a train ticket to Berlin is around 100 euro per person, round trip. This way was only around 30 euro per person. So, we went online, called a few numbers-- "sprechen sie English?"-- and finally found someone who spoke English and had room in their car. Sadly, it wasn't until Ryan and I got to Munich's main train station that the guy text messaged us saying his car broke down. So, we trekked back home, a little bummed that we had one less day in Berlin.

We found another ride for Tuesday, and this guy sounded a little more reliable. He told us to meet at a grocery story a few subway stops from our apartment, and we were met by our driver and four other people. We took a minivan to Berlin! It was actually not a bad ride either. We had plenty of room, the car was cool (Germans don't use the AC nearly as much as we Americans do) and we basically slept the whole time. I also met a really nice girl from Kenya who is here for a year as an au pair. She actually lives right by Gauting, which is a funny coincidence. After five pretty short hours, we were in Berlin! Our driver dropped everyone off at the Berlin main train station and Ryan and I set off for Ingo's apartment.

Ingo told us before that his apartment was in the shady part of Berlin, but it really was not what I was expecting (probably because I've seen the shady part of San Bernardino, hehe.) It's in the eastern part of Berlin, so what we gathered was that when it was occupied by Russia after WWII, it wasn't as prosperous as the west side and thus the area is less prosperous and nice. I like it because the food was really cheap and delicious. : )

We arrived in Berlin at about 4pm, and we were out and walking around by 5. We weren't planning on doing any sightseeing that night, but we just wanted to acquaint ourselves to the city. We ended up walking all the way to downtown, which didn't take very long at all. It was interesting how once we crossed that double line of cobblestones, which indicated where the wall had been, you could immediately see a difference in architecture and prosperity. The one thing we did see that night was the Brandenburg Gate. It's a victory gate that was first erected for Napoleon when he returned victorious from war. Most recently, it was known as a very important split between East and West Berlin.



On Wednesday, Ryan and I went to the Jewish Museum. I was very impressed by this museum. We were in the modern museum for three hours and almost saw and read everything. It covered all of Jewish history, from biblical times up until recent times. Here are a couple pictures of very interesting exhibits. The towers signify how confusing and off-setting life was for the Jews who escaped the holocaust to different counties. The ground and the pillars were all slanted, so when you walked amongst them, you felt like you were going to fall over. Though the Jews that emigrated escaped the worst horrors, being in a completely unfamiliar new place took its toll as well.



This one with the metal faces on the ground was dedicated to everyone who was lost to the tragedies of the WWII war crimes. It was eerie, because as you walked on the faces the clinking metal echoed loudly on the cement walls. Around the corner, outside of the room, it simply sounded like many people working. For me, the exhibit signified how many people actually knew about the horrors of what was happening to these prisoners (stepping on all the faces) and just kept walking. Those on the outside turned their heads and assumed it was for the good of their people.



After a long day learning about Jewish history, Ryan and I set out on another walk around the town. We passed Check Point Charlie, where actors posed in American Military uniforms to take pictures for a euro. We took our picture from far away and moved on. Then we went to the downtown area again and walked by some old, beautiful buildings. We walked by one church that looked like it could have been amazing. But one entire side was missing, and you could walk up and see where a bomb had severed one of its sides. One of the more fun things we discovered were these bear sculptures. They are all over the city, and different artists can paint whatever they want on them. These were the only ones we found.




On Thursday, we went to two more museums: the Pergamon Museum and the Altes (Old) Museum. The Pergamon was obviously the most famous museum, and we quickly understood why. They had four architectural exhibits of the most beautiful and amazing ancient structures. They were entry ways into old cities, temples and rich residences. They were beautiful.



They also had an exhibit called "Babylon: Truth and Myth." This was a pretty awesome exhibit. I didn't know much about the stories about Babylon, so it was really interesting to me to learn. Babylon was one of the most prosperous civilizations of ancient times. A Queen of Babylon was even instrumental in creating one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Hanging Gardens. Another amazing structure they built was a tower that spiraled up and supposedly "touched heaven." In the myth section, we learned that this angered God. So he truly confused the Babylonians by making each of them speak a different language. Whereas they could communicate perfectly before, now they could not understand each other. This was called the Confusion of Tongues, and there were a couple modern art exhibits about it as well. One German artist wrote something in German and had it sent to a professional company for translating. He then had that copy translated into a different language. He did this 24 times, and the resulting document, though it made sense, was completely different from the original. This was his way of saying that even perfect translations can be wrong. I thought it was interesting.

After about three hours in the Pergamon Museum, we headed across "Museum Island" to the Altes Museum, where they housed Egyptian artifacts. There we saw ancient Egyptian tools, jewelry, and even hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs were my favorite part. They were preserved meticulously on papyrus, and scholars from around the world go to this museum to study the ancient language. Another amazing artifact was the bust of Nefertiti, shown below. This is one of the most famous sculptures in Egyptian art, and it's no wonder why. It's absolutely beautiful. And though you can't see it in the picture, there is one marble eye that looks so lifelike it's amazing.



Another hour or so in the Altes Museum was about all our bodies could take in one day, so we got some more cheap food, walked around for a while more and then headed home. Friday was to be our last day in Berlin, so we needed some rest. When we woke up on Friday morning (which was admittedly, kind of late, oops) we headed to a suburb of Berlin: Potsdam.

Potsdam is a beautiful little city/town. It reminded us more of Munich with how green and nice it was. We started off our day at Schloss Sanssoucci: a palace created from the mind of Frederick the Great, which meant "Without Worry." I had visited the palace on my tour of Berlin the previous yeat, but this time I actually got to go in! It was small, but it was beautiful. We actually walked among the same rooms that Bach and Voltaire frequented. It was awesome. Then we went to Fred's own personal art gallery. This was the first building in Europe to be made specifically as a gallery. Unfortunately, most of the works from the original display were taken by Russian soldiers when they occupied the territory. Though some were given back, nearly 200 are still missing. Now, the holes have been replaced by other famous painters such as Rubens and Caravaggio.




After our tour of Sanssoucci Palace, we walked around Park Sanssoucci, where there were about 4 other palaces. We didn't go into any of them, but we still had a good time walking around the beautiful park. Here are some pictures of what we saw.







After our tour of the park, we headed into the city's main downtown area. It was beautiful, clean, and friendly. We bought sausages and ice cream from a couple of the various stands that were set up and walked along the cobblestone streets for a while. It was a nice place that reminded me a lot of Disneyland's Main Street. There was even a fairytale-like gate at the end of the street. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of this, because the batteries in my camera died. Oops. After walking around the small area once, we decided to head back into the city one last time.

There was one sight in Berlin that we actually hadn't seen yet. It was a monument to the famous Nazi book-burning act. In May of 1933, the Nazi propaganda machine organized the burning of some 25,000 books that were written by "enemies of the Third Reich." The monument is actually in the ground. When you look down through the plexiglass, you can see empty bookshelves covering four walls. A plaque nearby has the quote, "Where books are burned, in the end people will burn."



After this last stop, we walked along the city's famous street, Unter den Linden, one more time. We even stopped into a gift shop to get a little souvenir I had been wanting. You see, as we were walking the first night, I noticed that the "walk" and "don't walk" signs for the cross walks were pretty funny. Here's what they looked like. I liked them, so I got a postcard. : )



Overall, our trip to Berlin was awesome. I really had a good time there and I have to thank Ingo for making that possible. Having a nice place to ourselves, where we could leave our belongings safely while we were out for the day was priceless. I hope you enjoyed the little stories, and if I seem to have missed something, feel free to ask. In the meantime, check out these extra pictures of the Berliner Dom, the perliament building, and some more fun. Have a great week and I will talk to you all soon!




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1220265000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1220265000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1220265000/tpod.html Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:05:42 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hello again! I was delayed yet again in my blog, but this time it's for good reason. I've been in Berlin! I have a lot of good stories from this past week, but first I've got to get you caught up on the events of the week before.

On Monday, Ryan and I went over to Cary's once again and watched some of the Olympics. We never did catch Michael Phelps, but it's ok because the Germans loved him. Every time there was a break, there was something on about Michael Phelps. Honestly though, he's super human... so I'm sure every station that covered the Olympics talked about him. Maybe not China though... since they were too busy fighting off "rumors" of cheating in women's gymnastics.... Oops. In my opinion though, USA just blew it. They were barely in second after all and they screwed up big at least three times. Oh well!

We did catch some awesome track and field events: the men's steeple chase, the women's 10,000 meter race, men's shotput, women's discus, some short sprints, and women's pole vault. Each event was exciting. First, the steeple chase by nature is awesome. If anybody hasn't seen it before, they basically have to run a two mile obstacle course. They run two miles around the track, and from the second round on, they have to jump four hurdles also. Oh, and one hurdle also has a big pool of water after it. So basically they have to run two miles, wet, and with hurdles every turn. Then they sprint at the end.

The women's 10,000 meter race (of which I just watched the very beginning and the very end-- just like you, Dad!) had a great finish. Around the last turn, the girl that was holding a steady second just blew the leader away. After all that running, she didn't even look tired, it was amazing. Shotput was another story. These guys were huge, and they all had to get pumped up before each throw. The most dramatic guy was an American who couldn't even throw it in bounds... in three tries. Oops. Pole vault was awesome as well, because this woman from Russia was just so good at it. She was ecstatic when she broke the world record (which was hers also) and did a nice little front flip. Overall it was a very amusing day watching the Olympics.

Unfortunately, watching the Olympics was probably the most practice I got during the week (I guess that would be mental practice?) After two weeks off, we only had one week to practice before our second day of our playoff series. If you recall, we played in Wesseling-against the Vermins-- and split against them. You know, the one we were winning by 7 in the last inning and then lost... So, obviously we needed a little practice. Of course that wasn't going to happen. The people that are in charge of our field and the baseball field decided to use that week to reseed and fertilize the grass. So we weren't allowed to practice on the field. Basically all we could do was hit in the batting cage with a little fielding practice on Thursday. I wasn't sure we were going to be ready.

The rest of the week was pretty calm, with the exception of hanging out with Cary and his girlfriend Kat who just arrived to live here with him. We hung out at the same karaoke bar we've been to before, with Cary's friends Jean (if you say it in a strong French accent, it's exactly how he says it... hehe) and a guy from England named James. We headed home early though because I had big games the next day that I wasn't sure we were going to win. I was right in thinking so.

Saturday came along and everything felt the same as far as preparing for the game. Same warm up, same odd music (just not the warm up mix I'm used to), and Ingo's speeches. His key phrases for Saturday were "Bring It On" and "Rock and Roll"... said in a goofy German accent of course. I think I've alluded to it enough now... we lost the first game. Our pitcher struggled a little with confidence and finding her zone, there were a couple of big errors, and we just could not score the runs we should have. It didn't help that there was a rain delay and it sprinkled on and off the rest of the time. Since our field is all grass (except the cutouts for the bases) it made the ball really wet. It doesn't seem hard, but it's pretty difficult to throw a wet ball when you're in a rush. Anyway, we were pretty bummed after the first game, but we knew we still had a chance. While we had Missy to pitch our second game, they had the same pitchers as the last three games. Missy did her job and we scored the runs we needed to, so we won the game to still have a chance for playoffs.

The worst part about Saturday was that it was one of our best and most fun players' last games. Caren, our catcher/shortstop/utility player, left of Sunday to go to college at an NAIA school in Kentucky. So, that night we all went to dinner at the Italian restaurant by our field to say goodbye to her. We were very sad so say goodbye to her, but she's going to have an awesome time in college.

Sunday morning came quickly and now it was really time to pick it up and play like we know how. All the girls knew it was crunch time and we were ready to play. Then Ingo came in with his "inspiration." First, he made us stand in a circle and close our eyes. He told us to think about past games where we had won (then he mentioned the games when we lost, which I still don't get) and he went on about proving ourselves. Then he finished with "remember..." and we looked up to see him yanking off his sweatshirt to reveal a tiny shirt that said "attitude is a choice." I give him full credit for trying, but honestly, it looked like he was wearing a baby tee. I had to laugh out loud, and the rest of the team followed: including Ingo. It was hilarious.

In this game, Missy couldn't pitch, so it was the German girls' turn. Both of our losses so far were with German pitching, and Sarah (who lost the day before) was pitching again. I said earlier that she struggled finding her location and you could tell she was a bit rattled. On Sunday, she was a different girl (and I'd like to think I helped with that a little bit by giving her a little talk the night before... :-) ) She pitched an amazing game, we played good defense, we hit and scored runs.... and Sarah won the game with a strike out in the last inning. IT WAS AWESOME. For one, everyone knew Sarah did amazing and the whole team really played well. Also, Ingo just went crazy! He actually confused me in the 6th inning. He got up and yelled so loud at the last out of the 6th inning that I thought the game was over. That was nothing compared to his reaction after the game, and it was awesome.
I'll leave you now with pictures of some of us celebrating on Sunday night. We all hung out at Missy's apartment with some of the Haar and Gauting baseball guys. It was a fun night. But more fun was to come in Berlin, so check out that blog next!




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1219092000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1219092000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1219092000/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:21:52 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hello again for the report on week 11! This week was full of fun and good times. The beginning of the week started out as usual. Ryan and I just hung out on Monday. On Tuesday while Ryan was at practice, I uploaded a bunch of movies and tv shows for us to watch at night. Living without tv has been really easy when you can get almost any tv show or movie from the internet. The only thing we can't get here is coverage of the Olympics. For that, we have been going to Cary's.

Cary was nice enough this week to give us his extra key to his apartment (at least until his girlfriend gets here on Wednesday.) So, on Wednesday Ryan and I finally got to watch the Olympics! So, after Ryan and I helped with a small baseball camp in Gauting, we headed over to Cary's to watch some tv. We did the same thing all day Friday, and it's been awesome. We just hung out here all day with Cary and we'd bet on the scores of women's gymnastics. It was funny because none of us has any idea how they score the sport. But we guessed based on old scores and had to guess to the nearest hundredth. I was even right on once!

On Saturday, Ryan's team played Haar. It was fun watching a game where I knew people on both teams. Haar won the first game 6-4. Both teams had a couple really nice hits, but Haar had more hits at the right time. The second game went to Gauting, but it's how they won that's interesting.

It was the bottom of the 9th , the score was 1-1 and Gauting had their last ups before extra innings. The young German pitcher for Haar had been doing really well, but walked the first batter, so he was pulled. In his place was a guy from the Dominican who supposedly used to be really good, but all I had heard about him was he was really wild. And what do you know, the first pitch was wild and the runner got to 2nd. That batter was walked. Next batter, there was another wild pitch to have runners on 2nd and 3rd. Then the coach decided to intentionally walk the batter. The pitcher goes to throw it right to the catcher, and he sails it over his head. The run scored and that was the game. Yet another crazy loss for the Haar baseball/softball club.

Both teams were a bit baffled by the games, but everyone was still in a pretty good mood (except for that pitcher, especially because that was his last game.) So, we all decided to go out that night. From Haar there was me, Sarah, Caren, Nate (a catcher from NY), and Clemens (a pitcher from Austria.) From Gauting, it was Ryan, Seth (Sarah's boyfriend, who's also from CA,) Matt (a pitcher from NY,) Dave (a really good hitter from the states too), Dave's brother, and Cary. It was a big group, but we had a lot of fun. We started out at the Augustiner in Marienplatz, which was a traditional Bavarian place, then we all headed to an Australian pub. There was a lot of drinking and dancing, and we all had a good time ... and everyone forgot about the games.

Sunday was an awesome day, even though we got to a sleepy start. Earlier in the week, Seth had asked me and Ryan if we'd show him around Salzburg. Of course, we said yes. So we left around 11 and spent most of the day there. We showed them around Mirabell Gardens (from the Sound of Music), the old city, and even the Monchsberg and where we lived. We showed them our favorite parts of the city too: kasekrainers (cheese-filled sausages), the Aug (an amazing beer garden/hall run by monks), Il Sole (the Italian restaurant we frequented), and Murphy's (our favorite Irish pub.) We were full and very sleepy on the way home, but we had had a great day. Seth was even the first one to say we should come back. You know I'll be back!

That's all for this week! I hope everything is well for everyone and I'll write again soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1218461340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1218461340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1218461340/tpod.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:30:46 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hi again! So of course... Now that I'm finally on time with my blog, there's really not much to talk about. This week wasn't very full, but I did do some fun things. Maybe this blog will even be shorter than usual!

Let's start with Monday, as usual. Monday was another long day at the Onkel Tom camp. (By the way, it's named after someone named Tom. I had to ask) We started again at 830, but this day was competition day, so the kids were excited. They were also pretty tired, which worked out for those of us working the camp. I had the bunting station again, so we did pretty much the same thing as the day before. It was pretty boring, but the competition was fun.

After lunch, they played two games to decide winners and what not. This time I "umpired" on the tee ball field with the really tiny kids. They were adorable! Especially this little kid named Yoshi (I especially like his name, as those of you who know my love of Mario would understand.) He just wandered around the field with a little grin on his face, completely clueless to what was going on around him. Until, that is, he got his at bat... which was a grounder which he actually beat out once... But then he forgot to run to 2nd on the next hit and was forced out. The only problem we had was when a kid got hit in the face by the ball... twice. The poor thing didn't even know what was coming. Since the ball was so bouncy (which was supposed to be safer) it bounced right up and hit him in the forehead. Then he missed a pop fly right to the eye. He was ok though, after he was given an ice pack.

The camp ended at about 430, but I wasn't done yet. At about ten o'clock the night before, the coach from the 2nd team texted me and Melissa and asked us to run practice that day. We weren't very happy about being told so late yet again, but practice went well anyway. There were only a few girls there, so we actually got to work a lot with them individually. We even worked on diving, which is one of my favorite things to teach. Afterwards, Missy and I got to the train and it was a very quiet ride home because we were so tired.

On Tuesday, I got to the field at 430 for practice with the under 15 team. Unfortunately, nobody told me that they wouldn't have practice again for 6 weeks. So, I hit by myself for about an hour... then I hit right-handed. By the time Clemens and Missy got there, I was already tired of hitting for the day. As it turns out, the three of us were the only ones who showed up. So, Missy and I did a little bit of running, and then Clemens told me I could head home.

Wednesday was a great, relaxing day. Not that I have much to do usually, but the weekend was pretty busy. The day started with all you can eat sushi...

Yum. Then Ryan and I headed to the English Garden and layed by the stream for a while. There was one odd incident while we were there. A man with his two sons walked up to a guy and asked him in English if he could borrow his bike. This seemed really wierd to me, so of course I had to see what was going on. After the German guy finally figured out what the other guy was asking, he actually let him borrow the bike. And after all of that, the guy got on the bike and rode it down the path and back. I thought maybe he would let his kids ride, but no. He had a huge smile on his face when he put the bike back and just walked away. Odd, but funny. Maybe he was reliving a really good childhood memory. After a while, Ryan and I packed up and went home.

Thursday, I had a lot of time to myself, because Ryan had practice and I didn't. So of course I was on the internet for a good amount of that time. When I wasn't downloading movies, tv shows, and other good stuff, I was actually productive. Get this, Mom... I actually CLEANED! Yep, that's right, I did all the dishes and tidied up the apartment. Yes, it is kind of cheating because the entire apartment is smaller than my bedroom at home, but it's a start. : )

Friday night was a fun night. Another guy from Redlands turned up in Europe this summer: Ryan Hall. He played water polo for Redlands (I met him through lifeguarding) and was supposed to play for a team in Hungary. Unfortunately, when he got there, he found out within three days that he didn't like it. So, he came to Munich for now and has been staying with Cary. Ryan and I met up with them at an Irish pub and had a great time watching Cary (attempt) karaoke:

He wanted to sing a song by Journey, but ended up with "Hit Me Baby One More Time." Figures, right? Aside from the boys swapping stories and enjoying some good German beer, Cary was definitely the entertainment that night. When he was tired of singing, we headed home.

On saturday, Ryan's team had two games at home so I went and watched. Sadly, it wasn't their best performance. They lost the first game 5-4, but the saddest part was that they had the chance to win it. They had

runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, and there was a little bloop hit to shallow right-center. The right fielder made a good catch, then made a perfect throw home to get the third out. It was a heartbreaker. They did win the second game though, so everyone was a little happier on the way home. They still have 8 games left, so they are still good to go.


Sunday was just another lazy day hanging around and watching movies. Ryan and I didn't even leave to go watch some olympic events. I have to say, this is the first time I've really wished we had a tv. I haven't seen one event yet! : ( I hope you all are enjoying the olympics from home. Keep in touch and I will talk to you all in another week!



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1218040980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1218040980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1218040980/tpod.html Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:43:28 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hello all! Sorry I'm late writing yet again. This week was really full!

It all started on Monday when I ran practice for the second team all by myself. It was kind of fun, but it really doesn't feel like my team, so I felt a little out of place. I was by myself because the head coach had to study for school and Missy had already made plans with a friend who was visiting. Overall, it went well and the girls seemed to enjoy themselves.

Tuesday's practice with the under 15 team was fun because the other two coaches and I actually got to play with them. We did their warm up games with them and even played toss ball against them. We only won by one run, as it turns out. One of the girls was very proud of it and told us, "Hey. We almost beat you!" Of course, it was three against about 9, but they still hit it wherever we weren't. It was fun. My practice with the 1st team after wasn't as fun, but oh well!

On Wednesday, both Ryan and I had the day off. We spent a few hours that day in the English Garden, and enjoyed a beautiful day (with no rain finally!). That night we went out with our friend Cary (Ryan's friend from school and fireworks) for his birthday. We ate at a "Mexican" food place, and though they can't compete with southern California, it was still pretty good. We had fajitas, and they were delicioso. After that, we went to an Irish bar, because Cary wanted a Guinness to celebrate. It was just the three of us, but it was a fun night.

Thursday wasn't very eventful. All I did was go to practice, and that wasn't all that exciting either. Friday was a long day though. We had to leave Friday afternoon to drive up for our Saturday games. We played a team near Cologne, in Wesseling. Their team name was "Vermins," which really bothered me. First of all, who would want to name their team after something that's considered disgusting? And more importantly, vermins is not a word. vermin is already plural without the s. But that wasn't what annoyed me the most on Saturday...
After about 7.5 hours, we finally made it to our hotel at about midnight. Then of course we were all starving, so we ate at the only thing that was open... McDonald's. That was a bad start for my stomach. Let's just say that I did not eat well this weekend. The rooms were nice though, and we slept well in preparation for our first two games in the best of five series.

I won't talk about the games much. But the first one was definitely a story. We were up 12-5 going into the final inning-- that's one run away from the run rule. By the time we finally got two outs, it was 12-8. We ended up losing the game on a single. There were so many errors, the girl got all the way home and the bases were cleared. Then we won the next game 10-0 in 5 innings with Missy pitching. Soooo... we should have won two games and now we have to win two more at our field in two weeks. We should be able to do it, but with 10 errors in one game... we have to pick it up.
Needless to say, I was a little grumpy on the drive home Saturday night. Then I found out at about midnight that I was supposed to work the Haar baseball camp... the following day... at 8:30am. This made me very grumpy because it wasn't the first time that they have forgotten to tell us things in advance of more than a day. So, I got home at about 2am and had to leave my apartment 5 hours later.
Even though I was still grumpy about being informed so late again, my bad mood faded away when the camp started. There were about 150 kids at the camp, and they were divided into 12 teams. With two teams at each station, we rotated through everyone by lunch time. I worked the bunt station as usual, and it was actually pretty fun. The really tiny kids are the best. They had no idea what bunting was, since they have only played tee ball... but it was really cute to watch them try. Later in the afternoon, they all played three games against different teams. Some of the kids (and coaches) were a little too competitive I thought, but overall they seemed to really enjoy the camp.
The camp continued the following day, but I'll tell you about that in the next blog! I hope you enjoyed the random pictures too (Mom). There should be a couple more next week. Miss you all!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1217280660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1217280660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1217280660/tpod.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:12:05 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hello again! Sorry I haven't written in a while, but these past two weeks have been mostly softball and not many exciting stories. Or so I thought. I have a couple to relay to you now!

First off, softball has been going well. We played our last in-season game last Thursday and we won, so we secured 2nd place in the league. This is good for us, because now we play the 3rd place team from the north league. It's a best of five series to find out who goes to the championship. Another good thing is that we play the first two games away. That means that by the time we play the next game(s) at home, we'll finally have dugouts! I never quite realized until I came here how spoiled I was at the UofR. Here we have to set up dugouts (we put up tents and set up benches), set up the fence, do the field, set up concessions. It's not all that hard if everyone helps out, but MAN, did I have it easy before!

Anyhoo, that ended our regular season. Yesterday, Saturday, we played the best team from Austria. They placed 4th in the European cup last year (the number one teams from each country-- Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, etc-- from the previous year play in an international tournament.) So, they were good. And they had better be good, because they had about 5 Americans in their starting infield. We only had two and still held them to 2-1 our first game against them. Missy pitched, and the only hits they got were bunts. We had a rally one inning, but a couple of errors killed us, and they scored two. The second game was a run rule... I think our German pitchers might have been a little intimidated. And they had me for a catcher because all of our real catchers were either hurt, tired or hung over. Marin-- I could have used you.

On the other side of the city on Saturday, Ryan's team was playing their last regular-season games. They played a good team and struggled with pitching so they didn't win, but that's ok because they have more games. The good thing was, Ryan got to play! Their catcher was tired and a little beat up, so Ryan got to play (and show them his stuff.) From what he told me, he played well for not picking up a bat for a few months. Unfortunately, that was his last game of this season, but maybe now they'll REALLY want him to come back. : )

So baseball and softball are going relatively well for us Americans over here. Other than that, Ryan and I haven't had that many days where we both had off. I still have a couple of fun stories:

-One day last week, Ryan and I walked over to the lake by our place and sat on a park bench to read. When you picture it, you're probably thinking of an old couple... but really, we were playing with an I Spy book that Ryan brought from home.

-For dinner one night, Ryan made some delicious chicken with a really good sauce. I gobbled down my first wing, but it wasn't until I looked at the second that I noticed... It still had feathers! So, I plucked the two or three tiny feathers out and finished my meal.

-Ryan and I went to a fair that was held in Gauting, the town his team plays in. Besides the beer and donuts, the best part of the festival was definitely the school band that was playing the "Tequila" song when we walked up. That, or the booth that was surrounded by teenagers where you could send secret messages to people.

-On Friday, Ryan, some of his players and I went to a really nice lake near Gauting. It's called Lake Starnberger. This is actually a famous lake. If you read my stories from Salzburg, I talked about visiting Neuschwanstein Castle-- the castle that Disney designed his after. King Ludwig II, who commissioned the castle, mysteriously "drowned" in Lake Starnberger. The lake only went up to my shoulders. Questionable.

That's all of the stories I have for now! I'll keep you updated better now. This weekend my team plays the 3rd place team from the north, and I hope we win both! Hope all is well, and I will talk to you soon!

PS
Here's a website to see some pictures from our games against Dornbirn, the Austrian team: http://sports.webshots.com/album/564542776qBUTIm
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1216064640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1216064640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1216064640/tpod.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:03:38 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

So, I have definitely slacked these last two weeks and I've fallen behind on my blogs! It was for good reason though: Ryan's here! Now, let me catch you up. It shouldn't take long, but I'm not making any promises.

At the beginning of the week, two weeks ago, I did the same thing as usual: I hung out by myself watching episodes of House, M.D. Online and reading. After practice on Tuesday, I was paid for the month, and I was VERY happy. So Missy, her boyfriend Andi, Sonni, her boyfriend Eddie, Caren, Ingo and I went to a beer garden to hang out. We had a good time, enjoying a beer or two and eating the delicious Bavarian pretzels. Then at the end of the night I was invited by Sonni's boyfriend Eddie to go to the English Garden the next day to experience the Eisbach.

I've heard about the Eisbach and its shenanigans before. It's a very cold river (hence the name) that runs through the English Garden. At one point there are rapids that you can even surf on! I don't think I'll ever be able to do it, but it will be fun to watch. Just below that is where the ride begins. This is what I would be experiencing that warm, beautiful Wednesday afternoon.

Before we headed to the river, I met up with Eddie and his friend who he calls Beastie. I don't know why he's called that, but it makes me laugh. We met up at the Chinisischer Turm for a drink and some food. Here I learned that Eddie and Beastie played together in Haar the year before. Eddie, by the way, is American. He's come over to Germany to play for the past three years. He started with Gauting, the team Ryan's coaching. Then he went to Haar, and now he plays for Mannheim. In Haar, he met Sonni, which is why he came back for his third year in a row.

Anyhoo, after a beer, we headed towards the Eisbach. As it turns out, we parked out towels right across a small stream from the nudist colony. Interesting. But we weren't there for long. About two minutes after putting out towels down, we headed for the icy waters. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive because two Australians had died in the Eisbach the year before. But I was assured, they died because they were REALLY drunk and REALLY stupid. With coaching from Eddie, who'd been down the river many times, I would be fine.

Here's how it worked. First you jump into the water and immediately are shocked by how cold it is. The current is pretty strong, but nothing scary. In no time, you're at the first stop: a wall on the side of the river. I won't tell you what this wall is for... After that's done with, you jump back in again and head for the first bridge. Once you get there, you go feet first and right before you pass under it, you have to try to reach up and grab onto it. I missed the first two times. BUT, on the third try the boys bet me a liter beer that I wouldn't do it again, and I did.

After you hang on for a while, your bottoms feel like they're about to come off because of the current. So we let go and floated on our backs to bridge #2. This one was easier to catch. After that bridge, it's time to get out. But not for long. After making sure the river's clear, we jumped off the bridge into the river once again. This was fun except when I got water up my nose. Ouch. By the way, the bridges aren't very high... they're maybe five feet above the river.

The next part was the last and best part: the rapids. This is where the Aussie's died because they probably put their feet down and got pulled under by the current. Here, you're supposed to go head first and flatten out your body. This way, the water does all the work. It was really scary at first, but I went head-first like Super Man, ducked my head into the water and was zoomed through the rapids. It was awesome! Then we floated on our backs a little longer and got out. We did this three times before the end of the day. I'm definitely doing it again!

After the Eisbach, we went back to the Chinese Tower to eat and get my giant beer that the boys owed me. Soon after, Beastie had to go to practice, so Eddie and I went to an Irish pub near my place to meet up with Sonni. That's where I had my first Guinness since I'd been back. We hung out there for a little bit, then I headed home.

On Thursday, I was supposed to have practice, but it wasn't until I was all the way there that I saw the lightning and pouring rain. Nobody even bothered to call me to say practice was cancelled... thanks guys. So I went back home and just hung out again. Later that night, I was invited to go to a pool hall with Sonni, Eddie, Missy, Andi, Beastie and Keti (one of our older girls on the team... the Greek one). Unfortunately, I missed my train by 30 seconds, so by the time I got there I only had time to play two games. I am very sad to report to the potluck dads that I was terrible. I'll have to practice at the Thatcher's place the next time I'm there.

Friday and Saturday were more House days, because it rained. Then Sunday we played Mannheim. I don't want to talk about these games because we were terrible, but I'll give you one hint. We got mercied in FOUR innings the first game. So, we sucked and then had to drive home 3 hours. Not a fun day. Luckily, I wouldn't mope about it for long because Ryan would be here the next day!

Monday was a great day. I got up early Monday morning, got ready and headed out to the airport. Ryan's flight was supposed to arrive at 8:10am and for the first time in a LONG time, I was actually early! It was great. I found where I could wait for him, found out his flight was delayed, and spent a couple hours after that just walking around the Munich airport. When he finally arrived, I couldn't help myself... I ran straight past the line you're supposed to wait behind and jumped into his arms. It was so so good to see him again. The rest of that day, we unpacked, hung out, ate dinner, then walked around the English Garden. It was nice to actually have someone around during the day again.

The next couple of days were awesome just hanging out with Ryan again. The best part was his cooking. I haven't had good food since I left home. If you somehow don't know, I'm a terrible cook. So I've been living off pasta with olive oil and salt and pepper. The first meal I had with Ryan: fried rice with chicken, scrambled eggs, and fresh, grilled veggies. MMMMMM!!!

On Thursday, I had one of two make-up games against Freising. They're in 3rd place and we're in 2nd, so we needed to beat them. The game started out with them leading 4-0, so it wasn't looking good. Fortunately, we figured it out in the end and won 15-8. The scored here are always bizarre. I was just glad we won, because by the time we finished, it was dark out and nobody could see.

Friday was a nice day off for me, so I went with Ryan to his first practice with Gauting. The team seemed excited to finally have a coach that wasn't a player. They took some fielding practice and hit some BP, but were cut short by a storm. It rolled in so fast, it was amazing. Within five minutes of the guys in the outfield sprinting in saying the rain was coming, it was absolutely pouring. So Ryan's first practice went well, if not short.

After we left Gauting, pretty soaked, we headed into the city to hang out with Cary, Ryan's friend and my new friend. We met him at his place and enjoyed a beer while the boys caught up. Ryan told Cary all about the fireworks show, because that's where they met two years before. Then, of course, Melanie got hungry. So, we headed out to an "ex-pat" bar that Cary liked. (Ex-pat stands for ex-patriot, the name for anyone who leaves their country to live in Germany.) The pub was a lot of fun. We had a couple beers, I had some delicious bar food (chicken and fries,) and we enjoyed some interesting karaoke performances. That night was a lot of fun. I think both Ryan and Cary are happy that they're both here. When Cary's girlfriend gets here in mid-August to teach English, they might need their boys' nights. : )

Saturday was a long day, but it was pretty fun. We had games at home against the Augsburg Dirty Slugs. I'm not kidding, their mascot really is a dirty slug. Their colors are even brown and yellow. My old teammate from Redlands, Maritza Padilla, played for them a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, they weren't very good. Even though we beat them by quite a bit, the day took forever. That was because we had a rain delay of about an hour and a half. It was a downpour, and I was sure the games would be cancelled. Then the girls went out with small buckets and dixie cups to remove the water from around the bases. It was really a funny sight, and I was mad that I didn't have my camera with me. When the field was playable again, we played out the rest of our games and finally went home around 8pm.

Sunday was not much better for the rain. Ryan's team was supposed to play two games, but the rain never let up. Instead, they went to a restaurant and enjoyed a brunch of Bavarian sausages, pretzels and beer. Thus is the life of a German baseball/softball player. Tough life, huh?

That's about it for the past two weeks. This week might not be very interesting, except for games with the second team on Friday and our games on Saturday. Maybe something exciting will happen. : ) Talk at you soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1214835900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1214835900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1214835900/tpod.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:27:13 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hello again! You should be excited about today's blog, because I finally got some more pictures! I think you'll enjoy them. Wish you all could have been here to experience it with me! Anywho... the week started off pretty standard. I helped out at the second team's practice on Monday. I thought this was challenging, but fun. I really can't wait to coach. I even think I'll be pretty good. We'll see. : ) Tuesday was a little long, helping out with the under 15 team and then having our very slow, boring practice. Not much to report for that day. Wednesday had a little more to offer.

Wednesday was the semifinal game in Euro 2008-- the European soccer championship. The game was between Germany and Turkey. This was sure to be an exciting game in Munich, because there is a very large Turkish population here. Tensions were high, and a lot was at stake for the city... or at least the partying after the game.

I went to the same Australian pub that I went to with Sarah that night we stayed out till 5. I went with one of Ryan's friends (now my friend too). His name is Cary, he went to school with us, and he's living and working out here for at least a year. One of his family friends was there too-- she was on vacation. We sat in the tiny pub and watched one of the most exciting soccer games I've ever seen.

Turkey scored first and things were not looking good for Germany at that point. Even I could tell that Turkey had the advantage. But Germany came back and scored to tie it up. It went back and forth the entire time. Both teams were putting it all on the table. The whole pub was pumped up, cheering loudly at every goal... for Germany. There were some groans too, when turkey scored. Also when the cable went out a couple of times. The whole bar freaked out for a few minutes, but we ended up not missing anything.

The game was very exciting. The final score ended up being 3-2. Germany won! Everybody was jumping and cheering and the bar even played We Are the Champions. We celebrated there a little bit longer, then we decided to head over to Leopold St. I told you about this once before when I got stuck in a car on the street after a Turkish win. It was even crazier this night.

There were thousands of people on the streets, as you can see in the pictures. Everybody was drinking and cheering and just hanging out on the street. There were police there to make sure everything was ok, but as you can see, they were pretty friendly. We hung out there for about an hour, but eventually it just got REALLY crowded. We watched the fireworks behind the arch at the end of the street, which was pretty awesome, then we headed home. It was an awesome experience.

Thursday was another practice day. Again, nothing special. On Friday, I was invited to go to a multicultural festival by the Olympic Stadium. We walked in and saw the giant horns that originated in the alps lined up along a hillside. To the left were the 12 men in liederhosen that we'd hoped would play their instruments soon. We waited around to see them, which was unfortunately not until a half hour later. Some odd percussion band opened for them. It started out with a very loud noise that sounded like a space ship was landing. Then about 6 guys came on stage and played music that could best be described as a great candidate for a Cirque de Soleil soundtrack. They might have been better if I hadn't been anticipating the Alpine horns.

Finally, the crazy band was done. That's when the fireworks began. These were pretty good too. They were choreographed to music and everything. In between sections of fireworks, the liederhosen men played. It's really amazing what they can do with those giant things. I had seen this type of instrument played before, when I was in Salzburg. That was only one horn though. All 10 or so of them together was amazing. After about a 30 minute show, it ended with a great finale. Unfortunately, the fair was over too. We hadn't even walked around it to see all the different little shops and taste all the amazing food. I was bummed until I found out that the fair will be there for three more weeks. I will definitely return.

Saturday was the day we were supposed to have two big games that would decide if we would end up in 2nd or 3rd place. This is important, because the 3rd place team will most likely play a team from the North that has a very good American pitcher (apparently). The German girls have a lot of trouble with American pitchers because they don't see that level of pitching often enough. BUT, we didn't play. For some reason, they couldn't find umpires for our games. So, hopefully the game will be rescheduled sometime this week. I'm excited to play them.

Finally, Sunday. This day had a lot of promise. This was the day of the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain. I watched the game with Cary and some people he knew through his parents at a little Turkish cafe in a beautiful old place. I was a little nervous for Germany, because they really had only played one game well. Turns out I was right. Spain had the momentum for what seemed like the entire game. They only scored once, but that was enough. The streets were oddly quiet that night. I decided to save my money and just went home.

That's all I have for this week! Next week I should have a couple of games to share with you. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can even tell you how my parents' trip to England and Ireland is going. I hope you have a great week!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1214439060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1214439060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1214439060/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:13:26 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

Hello again! Hope everything is going well for whoever's reading this... because my week four was quite interesting!

My fourth week here started off with a bang when I got invited to all you can eat sushi! It cost 10euro, and you had your choice of everything and anything that rolled by on two conveyer belts. There were two levels that ran by numerous tables around the restaurant. When you sat down, all you had to do was open the little plastic sliding doors and have at it! The people who sat right by the food were busy the entire time with requests like, "orange plate on the bottom!" or "no not that one! That one!" We laughed our way through MANY tiny little plates. I left very full but very satisfied. I will definitely be back.

So, that was Monday. On Tuesday, I finally proved to my coaches and teammates just how dumb I can be. I am proud of myself that I made it so long, but on Tuesday I finally locked my keys in my room. I had been switching them between my purse and practice bag and forgot to switch them. It wasn't that bad though, because my coach had the other set. As soon as I got in my own apartment I was asked by my parents, "Does somebody have another key?" Thank goodness he did, right? So I simple got the next set of keys from my coach at practice, which was where I was heading anyway.

Of course, that was just the tip of the Melanie Can Be Really Dumb iceberg. Those who know me well, and especially those who have lived with me (Allyson) should understand. The next day, I was going to go to the park to read. I had just gone outside to use my computer and when I came back in I threw my keys on my chair. As soon as the door clicked shut, I knew. I had locked BOTH sets of keys in my apartment.

My first thought was to go to the backyard and climb up to my second story window, which I had left open. I walked out the front door and it shut behind me before I realized it locks too! Luckily the maintenance guy or the landowner was there and he let me in. He saw me go around back to look at my window and asked me what happened. I told him I locked my keys in my room-- I tried in German first, but I think I used the Spanish word for my and instead of the word for key I think I said door. He asked what room number and went straight to my door.

He tried everything to get that door open. He demolished my health insurance card, put dents in the frame and drilled something for about an hour. When I suggested a ladder to the window, he asked my weirdo neighbor to climb up... apparently because he was tall. He told me to stay by the room and came back saying it was impossible. He should have just let me try. I would have climbed up. I didn't really want that guy in my room anyway. Eventually, after a very noisy hour filled with this guy cussing at the door-in English-he finally got it open. He charged me 10euro and told me I was very lucky. Apparently it usually costs about 50euro to get doors open. Now I leave my keys on my door handle every time.

Thursday was much less embarrassing, except when I told the key story to my teammates. We had practice and then I headed over with Melissa to her boyfriend Andi's house. There we barbecued and drank and watched the Germany soccer game against Portugal. Everybody thought that Portugal would win. Germany hadn't been playing very well and Portugal had been on a roll. But Germany was on fire that night. It was one of the best soccer games I've ever seen. Afterward was even cooler.

I told you about what I saw on Leopold street when Turkey won. When Germany won, there was even more craziness! I got the the underground train just as one in my direction was leaving, and it was absolutely packed. There was red yellow and black everywhere. There were people cheering, singing and banging on the windows and sides of the train as it left. The next rain came up to the platform with horns honking and everyone around me cheered. The train filled again quickly. All at the same time, everyone on the train started jumping up and down yelling Deutchland! Deutchland! It was awesome, and I was really upset that I didn't have my camera with me. It ok though, because tonight, Wednesday night, Germany faces Turkey, and Munich should be out of control. There are a lot of Turks here (or Turkeys, as the coach of the second team called them.) Whoever wins, I will take my camera with me tonight and finally get some pictures!

Friday was a relaxing day, and I read one of the four books I had bought from an English-language secondhand bookstore. Saturday, I played with the second team and even with the coach playing we barely had 9 players. We lost both games and I was pathetic. I don't know what my problem was, but I did not help the team out that day. The second game was the worst. It went 10 innings, three and a half hours, and we ended up losing 25-24. I haven't seen scores in the 20's in a long time. And I was really tired because I caught the whole game and there were a LOT of passed balls. I was very grumpy afterward.


On Sunday, the first team had two games against a weak team. We got yelled at during the first game because we were all sluggish and we were barely beating a much weaker team. Then the coach let our head case pitcher go in to pitch (she's the one who lost a game the first weekend I was here and blamed the loss on the rest of the girls then left in between games.) She had told the team that she wasn't going to throw fastballs anymore, and that got her pulled pretty quickly. She couldn't throw a strike, so four batters and no outs later she was pulled. She was pissed about that... again. She blamed the infield for not supporting her. She was yelling at the coaches in the dugout throughout the entire inning. I was tempted to call time out and tell her to shut up. Of course, she ended up pouting the rest of the game and eventually left... again.

The second game went much better. We won 15-2 and even batted around the entire lineup once, which earned us free ice cream. We had a big talk over ice cream about Mazi, the pitcher. Only one girl was on her side. My coach, Ingo, asked me later what I thought and I said I would give her some much needed time off. We'll see how that goes.

Now, I'm just looking forward to this weekend's games. We play Freising and these games will determine if we are in 2nd or 3rd place. We split with Freising the last time we played them, but they had their American at that time and we didn't. I think we can win both. I can't wait to play. I love big games. I'll update you next week as to how the games went. Have a great week!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1213752720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1213752720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/selenelove/1/1213752720/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:38:18 -0400 A Second Shot at the German Language: Tales of Softball and Adventure

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Munich, Germany

I can't believe I'm already writing about week three! Time has flown by! This week had new adventures including softball games, baseball games, soccer games, and great news. We'll start with the games because they're always fun.

First: my games. On Saturday, the first team played the Karlsruhe Cougars. This was only my second weekend playing with the first team and it went a lot better. We won both, the second being by a run rule. The second game was a lot more fun and relaxed because we actually scored a lot of runs. The girls were cheering and having a good time with each other. It's fun to be really goofy sometimes, even though I'm usually very intense when it comes to softball. : ) Plus, it's much more acceptable to be silly when you're winning by 7 runs.

After our three hour drive home, I was exhausted. I felt really bad later that night... I actually fell asleep while I was talking to Ryan on Skype. He left the room to do something and I thought I only layed down for a minute. I felt terrible when I woke up 6 hours later and realized what had happened. The best part was what he wrote to me: "Hey I'm back"... "Are you dead?"... "Oh I think I saw you move"... then finally "Yeah, you're definitely asleep. Your mouth is wide open."


The next day, I thought I was going to help out with the second team. However, I was told by their coach that I was not needed so I called my friend Sarah instead. She had said during the week that she might go to watch one of the other baseball teams nearby play, so I thought it would be fun to join her. So I spent my Sunday cheering on our friends, the Gauting Indians. It was a lot of fun, and I'm very glad I went... I'll tell you the main reason later.

We arrived at the very end of the first game. One of the Americans we know had just hit a double with a runner on first, and Gauting was down 3-1. The next batter got out somehow, I can't remember, and that brought up Sarah's boy, Seth. (Seth is from California too, and actually lives right by Cal Lutheran-- a school that is in the same conference as Redlands.) Anyway, he was up with runners on 2nd and 3rd, two outs. The first pitch was MEAT, but he let it go for some reason. The next pitch was a little high, but I think he should have taken a hack in that situation. The next pitch, however was really high. And of course, he swung at that one and popped up to end the game. Sooo, the first game was bad.

The second game was a little better. Sarah and I had a couple of beers and a burger while we cheered for the boys. We even did a cheer for the pitcher. He was nicknamed "King Kong" by one of his teammates, so when the center fielder yelled "KING!" we'd respond with "KONG!!!" Nobody around us caught on or joined in, but the boys said they liked it. I think we helped, because they ended up winning. What's better: the team they beat is in 4th place out of 8 and Gauting is 7th. Needless to say, they were happy after the game.

Sarah and I stuck around after the game to talk to the boys, have another beer and play some pepper. When it started to rain again, we headed to the place that two of the Americans are staying so we could watch the soccer game. I don't know if I've explained this before, but right now Euro 2008 is going on for soccer. Basically, it's a huge soccer tournament between all of the European national teams. It happens every four years and alternates with the world cup.

The game that night was between the Czech Republic and Turkey. From the beginning, the game seemed to be dominated by the Czechs. They scored two goals in the first half and Turkey wasn't getting very close. With 5 minutes left, the score was still the same. This is when I think Turkey got some kind of amazing inspiration. They ended up scoring three goals within about three minutes to win the game 3-2. I've never seen that happen, and it was awesome.

Now I thought I was excited by such a good comeback... the Turks of Munich were ECSTATIC. One of the guys from the Gauting team offered to drive Sarah and myself home, and I'm sure he regrets it now. After we dropped Sarah off at her apartment, we turned down a main street called Ludwigstrasse to get to my place. It took us about a half hour to get three blocks. It seemed like every Turk that lives in Munich was out on the streets, or honking their horns in their cars, or even hanging out of them screaming. It was a pretty exciting sight. There were thousands of Turkish flags with the white moon and star on a red background. There was even one giant flag being carried by about 60 people. Even though it took forever to get home, it was a very cool experience. For a group of that many people to get that excited about a game is really cool.

Now, speaking of really cool... I have to go back to the main reason that I was REALLY glad that I went to that baseball game. First, I have to fill you in. we had been talking about it, but now Ryan has decided that he is definitely going to come over here to stay with me... and he's staying from July 7th until I leave on the 1st! This news is VERY exciting for me, because now I'll get to see my mom AND Ryan will be here. No loneliness for me!

The one thing both Ryan and I were wondering was what he was going to do while he was here. It's pretty hard to get a work visa, so finding a job seemed pretty difficult. I thought maybe he could play baseball here, but the teams already have their American players and they're not allowed to have too many. However, as luck would have it, I found out something quite perfect after the Gauting baseball game. They don't have a coach. So, of course, I mentioned that I knew someone who might be able to fill the position. The guys were very enthusiastic and very excited about the idea. So now, Ryan's in the process of talking with the team about becoming their new head coach. They might even pay for his flight here!

That news wrapped up my week perfectly. The best part was Ryan's reaction to the news: a giggle. The details still have to be worked out, but either way he'll get to coach in Europe just like me! What a great summer for both of us. I can't wait to write about the adventures we'll both have! For now, that's all I have. My team plays a very good team this week-- Freising-- who also has two American players. The team split against them the last time they played them. But they haven't seen me or Melissa, so they better watch out! So wish us luck and I will talk to you all soon!
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