I Take That Back

Italy 1: USA 1. Bueno. I came back from a day of mountainee -ring in the Swiss Alps to watch the game and I was in good spirits after the final whistle. All we need to do is beat Ghana and have the Czechs lose to Italy and we will have ourselves a date with Brazil in the knockout rounds. Sounds good to me.

I climbed a mountain today. The trip i took was organized through the Hochschulsport program, a community-wide sports program that offers pretty much everything you could think of and so many people, old and young, get involved in. I signed up for this trip online and paid only sixteen euros for a guided hiking tour of the Swiss Alps for the day. There were seven of us in all. We met up early in the morning and drove South into Switzerland about an hour and a half. We parked the Volkswagen Westphalia after driving up a steep, skinny road that wound up the mountainside to an altitude of about 1,400 meters. From there we set out on foot. The Germans who were along for the trip were decked out in fancy hiking gear including walking poles, breathable outer and underwear, water sacks built into their backpacks and the like. As usual, they were prepared. Overly prepared. I borrowed some hiking boots and only halfway considered the stuff on the list of items to bring along. It took us about two and a half hours to reach the peak of the mountain we were aiming for, Speer, 1951 meters above sea level (6401 feet). It was a bit harder than I expected and I was surprised when I saw a group of Swiss ladies at least three times my age reach the top in such a jovial mood. Just after enjoying the amazing view, eating lunch at the peak and filling in our entries in the Gipfelbuch, we saw an Alpine Ibex, or Steinbock in German, with its huge horns walking with ease on an extremely steep section of the mountain. There were also a lot of cows lower on the mountain, all of which had bells around their necks which could be heard from miles away. It sounds like an experimental bell orchestra when the herd starts to move. We had to deal with mud, rain, wind, falling rocks and intense heat during the hike. We walked a lot of the way with water running down the mountain under our feet, either from the melting snow or the numerous springs coming out of the rocks. We did come across a good bit of snow, and I had to resort to skiing on my boots on the way down. After a brisk stretch downhill, we took a break at a cabin way up at near the peak where they serve hungry mountain climbers. I asked where the toilet was in Hochdeutsch, High (normal) German and I had no idea what the answer to my question was. Swiss German has a lot of similarities to German, but most Germans will tell you that it is either really hard to understand or a different language entirely. After some helpful hand gestures from the staff I finally found the WC and we were on our way back down the mountain. When I got home I discovered the first sunburn I have had since Ive been in Germany. It looks like I am wearing pink socks on my arms.

We aren't very good at soccer

I have watched at least part of every single game that has been played so far in the World Cup. My life has been about football, beer, and sausage for the past couple days. I watched the US get spanked yesterday by the Czechs. It was embarrassing. They were obviously the better team. By a mile. Their goals were amazing and they looked like the best team to play so far in the tournament. Myself and the rest of the Americans here watched the game, as usual, in the big beer garden under the sun that has come out at just the right time to provide spectacular weather for the Cup. I am using the word spectacular as a relative term here. Before Friday, I hadn’t seen a blue sky for at least a couple weeks, but now the weather is just nice enough to remind me of home. At the beer garden there were a few Czech fans as well as plenty of Germans who just love football. All the neutral fans, of course, cheered not so much for the Czechs but against the US. The rest of the world passionately wants us to lose and it has absolutely nothing to do with our team.

After the 3 nil blowout, Italy played Ghana and the Italian fans showed up in droves. When they scored, the fans got up and ran around blowing their air horns with Italian flags flying like capes behind them. It was great to watch. After the game, which Italy won 2:0, there was an unofficial parade in the city. They flew flags out of their car windows and drove in a circle around the city for an hour. It was almost enough to make me forget that I was in Germany. Im sure the celebration will be even bigger if they beat us on Saturday.

Die Weltmeisterschaft

The World Cup. Its here. Its huge. The kickoff was today, with Germany playing Costa Rica in Munich. I watched the game here in Konstanz. The city has set up a huge beer garden with a gigantic portable screen right by the lake so that everybody can watch the games together. There were hundreds of picnic tables in front of the screen and everyone was standing on top of them for the full ninety plus minutes of the game. Almost everyone was decked out in black, red and gold, waving flags and blowing air horns. Several thousand people showed up, pretty impressive for a city the size of Konstanz. The fans were ecstatic during the game, which ended up 4-2 for Deutschland. Two goals from star striker Miroslav Klose and two more amazing long range shots from Phillip Lahm and Torsten Frings. This is indeed the biggest sporting event in the world. The US plays the Czech Republic on Monday. I will pick up a jersey before then and come back to watch the game at football party central Konstanz.