Week three: games and great news

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  Munich, Germany
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

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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