The World Cup

I would be remiss if I didn't take the time to blog about the world cup in Germany.  Its amazing and like nothing I have ever experienced in all my Michigan fan fare. 

If I could schedule my stateside visit again, I would schedule AROUND the world cup games.  For those of you who know me well, know that I love SPIRIT.  Spirit of the game, spirit around the game.  Who cares what we are watching, but hey, we LOVE every second of what we are watching right?!?!

Living in Germany for 18 months now, its rare to see a German flag.  Heck, in the US, 50% of the houses seem to have them.  Car dealerships in the US show their pride.  However in germany,  its not the case. 

We left Germany June 12 when they beat England to begin their world cup journey.

Tonight they beat Uruguay.  They won 3rd place.

When I returned back to Germany on 8 July after their loss to Spain (thus commiting themselves to a 3rd or 4th place finish) there were flags hanging from windows,  cars sporting the national flag from their windshield as well as cool covers over their rear view window mirrows (who would' ve thought right?), and folks talking about the games in every language.

Tonight we watched the final Germay game in our down home bar.  The idea of exposing our friends to this bar gets me giddy.  Monica, Steve, Chelcy and Deakon - we hope it lives up to our hype....  Every seat was taken.  Cheers were heard throughout the game.  Equal misery & excitement as the score was final after a stressful penalty kick that Uruguay missed.   Germany won!

The bar was thrilled.  We got free beers and a shot of Ouzo!  Many folks left to hop in their cars and drive around flying the German flag.  Fireworks exploded randomly!  But the greatest complement was the owner sat down with us at the end of the night.  It was his birthday.  (perviously, the entire bar sang happy birthday to him - in english!)  He had recently moved his restaraunt (which we were also regulars of) to this new location (closer to our home!).  He asked us where Nicholas was (sleeping of course) and he engaged us in conversation that with our few english words and his german words would allow.

I love spirit!!