Cologne Hotels
|
  | |  |
Hennes
Entry 12 of 61 | show all | print this entry |
Since Steve and I can no longer watch the Detroit Lions play football every Sunday anymore, we have adopted the 1. FC Cologne soccer team as our new "home team". Soccer is so big here that it is on EVERY TV in EVERY bar ALL the time. We love it! It is all broadcast in German but it's so loud in the bars that you don't need to hear to it to thoroughly enjoy it. Since I played soccer as a kid and all through high school, it feels like I'm reliving childhood memories every single time we watch. And I've never seen Steve so mesmerized by a sport as he is by soccer now. And I thought trying to talk to him during a football was tough...this is even worse!
When Steve first arrived in Cologne (before I got here), he attended one of Cologne's home soccer games and described it as "The Sports Experience of a Lifetime". He said, "Imagine 40,000 drunk Germans singing, swaying back and forth, and hugging each other for three hours...that's what it was like." He said everyone celebrates and toasts each other when they score and no one EVER boos (like they do at Lion's games). I wasn't sure I believed him until we were watching soccer in one of the bars the other night and this song came on. The entire bar started singing in German and raising their beers and I thought, "What in the world is going on?" I looked at Steve and he smiled and said, "That's our song!"
I think that's probably one of the neatest things I've seen since we've been here...the fact Germans in Cologne are so loyal to their team that they sing in honor of them. Even more interesting is the fact that they play the song even when the team isn't playing. We've heard it in bars and clubs and when the song is played, everyone stops to sing along. It's great to be a part of something that big...it makes us feel like we belong in a way. Especially when you consider the Lions and how no one in their right mind would be caught dead singing for them in a bar in Detroit!
OK, onto the main part of the story..."Hennes". When Steve first picked me up from the airport, I noticed that he had quite a few whiskers on his chin. Knowing how much I hate it when he grows facial hair, I asked him what was up. With a huge smirk he says, "My razor blades are packed in the boxes and so I can't shave my chin until we get into the apartment". Yeah right! So we're sitting in a pub a few days later (and a several whiskers longer) and I tell him he REALLY needs to shave because he's starting to look like a billygoat. Nearly jumping off of his seat he says, "That's it...that's it...this is my hennes!" At first I thought he lost his mind. Then he tells me that Hennes is the name of the billygoat who is the mascot for Cologne's soccer team.
So let it now be known that Steve's new nickname is Hennes (pronounced Hennis in German). At least that is what I'm calling him now because whenever he looks in the mirror or touches his chin, he smiles and says, "Hennes...MINT!" He's even gone so far as to put a picture of a billygoat on his screensaver at work. He says he's not going to shave his chin until we move home from Germany! Clearly I am not happy with this decision but I have to admit, it is quite endearing to see him so proud of his new facial hair. Only Steve!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Germany or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
4 votes 
This is a top pick!
