Ihr kannt nach Schweden fahren!!!

Aufwiedersehen Scheweden! Deutschland hat gerade 2:0 gegen Schweden gewonnen. Das heißt, alles ist vorbei für Schweden. Heute Abend gibt es Mexiko gegen Argentinien. Der Winner spielt Deutschland in die Vierteilrund. Argentinien ist ein sehr stark Mannschaft deswegen werde ich für Mexiko jubeln.

1 und 2 und 3 und 54, 74, 90, 2006
ja so stimmen wir alle ein.
Mit dem Herz in der Hand und der Leidenschaft im Bein
werden wir Weltmeister sein!

WM Videos

Heir bin ich bei das letztes Deutsch Spiel gegen Ecuador. Ich tragge mein neues Deutschen Trikot (I'm sporting my new official German World Cup Jersey). Es war siemlich teuer aber ein gute Erinnerung (it was a little expensive but worth it). Die Bar war übervoll meit Leute (the bar was totally packed). Dieses Spiel war nicht so spannend wie das letztes und so die Fans haben nicht so laut and verrückt gejubelt (this game wasn't quite as exciting as the last one so the fans weren't as crazy). Sie sind ein bisschen dunkel aber hier sind ein paar Videos (they're a little dark but here's a few videos).




Und heir ist ein Video von dem Platz neben dem Mainzer Dome... mit einer bisschen Deutsche Musik.


Leider ist alles vorbei für die USA. Sie haben 2 zu 1 gegen Ghana verloren (It's all over for the US since they lost today against Ghana). Aber am Samstag ist Deutschland gegen Schweden (But saturday is Germany vs Sweden). Ich verspreche mehr Videos!

Mainzer Dome

Last thursday the weather was perfect and I spent it walking around downtown Mainz. They have flags for every country in the World Cup lining the main street. Here’s a couple pictures.




I also toured the Dome and took a few pictures. It’s quite amazing and is one of the few buildings that dates back to the time of Gutenburg. Here’s some pictures of it.






And here’s the courtyard in the center of the Dome.



In FI FA WM news, the US tied Italy 1 to 1 on saturday. They played much better this time. It was a brutal game full of bizarre plays. There were three red cards given out (one against Italy and two against the US) and despite having to play almost the whole second half with only 9 players against 10 as a result, the US was able to keep the game tied. Since the Czech Republic lost to Ghana, if the US beats Ghana on thursday they will advance to the next round. Nevertheless I have to admit that the US doesn’t have much of a chance to advance very far in the World Cup. But in the true spirit of capitalism if you can’t win at the game why not just buy it? Apparently McDonalds and Budweiser bought all the food and beverage rights for the entire World Cup. That means that at every stadium (and the area next to the stadiums) and every game there’s only McDonalds food and Budweiser for sale. Despite the fact that Germany is hosting the World Cup there’s no brats or Wurst, or good german beer to be found anywhere at the World Cup. Needless to say, most of the fans are pissed about it and feel pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. I have to admit I find it pretty embarrassing too.

More FIFA WM excitement

Last night was Germany's second game -- this time against Poland. I watched it in a bar on campus and it was completely packed. There were also a fair number of Polish students there too which made the atmosphere even more tense and exciting. It was zero to zero until the very end of the game but Germany was in control of the ball almost the entire second half. They must have made 20 attempts or so at the goal and half of them either hit the bar or were within a foot or so of the goal. Everyone in the bar was screaming and jumping up and down the last 10 minutes of the game. I haven't seen anything like it since KU was in the final four... but this was just the second game of the WM. Anyway with 90 seconds to go Germany finally got a goal and the place went completely nuts. Guys started jumping on each other's backs knocking beer bottles, a few chairs and at least one table over in the process. I can't imagine what it will be like if Germany wins it all. Next time I'll be sure to bring my camera and take some video. One thing I've learned is that if you're watching it with the right people, Soccer is far from boring. By the way, Poland is elimated and Germany will advance for sure.

Wir haben nicht die höchste Spielkultur.
Sind nicht gerade filigran.
Doch wir haben Träume und Visionen
und in der Hinterhand nen Masterplan.
Für unseren langen Wege aus der Krise
und aus der Depression,
lautet die Devise nichts wie rauf auf den Fußballthron.

1 und 2 und 3 und 54, 74, 90, 2006
ja so stimmen wir alle ein.
Mit dem Herz in der Hand und der Leidenschaft im Bein
werden wir Weltmeister sein!

Bingen

Das Wetter ist endlich wunderschön und mein Erkältung ist endlich vorbei (the weather’s better and so am I). So bin ich am Sonntag nach Bingen gegangen (I visited Bingen). Es war nicht so besonders wie ich erwarten hat (it wasn’t as pretty as I had thought it would be) aber trotzdem ist Bingen ein sehenswert Stadt (it was still worth a look). Hier sind ein paar Fotos:





Ich habe gerade USA gegen Tschechien (Czech Republic) in der FI FA WM gesehen. Natürlich war ich entauscht (I was disappointed). Das Endstand war 3, 0 (the score was 3 to 0). Aber Tschechien ist einen sehr stark und gut Mannschaft (but the Czech team is really good). Sie haben ein überzeugtig Leistung gegeben. Meiner Meinung nach, haben sie eine gute Chance Weltmeister zu werden (I think they have a good chance to win it all). Ich zweifele dass, USA weiter als die Vorrunde gehen wird (I doubt the US will go much further). Aber mindestens kann ich für Deutschland zujubeln (at least I can root for Germany).

Tschüs!

Schlechtes Wetter

So May started out beautiful (sunny, mid 70’s) but the last two weeks have been terrible. It’s rained almost every day and has been unusually cold. It seems like whenever the weather fluctuates like that I get sick and indeed I’ve been fighting a nasty cold for the last few weeks. At the same time I’ve had a strange pain in my side for a few weeks. Normally it’s been pretty mild but one day a couple of weeks ago it was unbearable. It felt like every step I took someone was punching me in the side as hard as they could. I was a little freaked out, especially after I checked online and the only thing that matched my symptoms was a kidney stone. Luckily the guy that lives next door to me studies medicine and is almost a Dr. At first he said it did sound like a stone but after he did a few tests trying to locate exactly where the pain was he said it was definitely something else -- especially since the pain wasn’t moving but staying in the exact same place. He said it could be any number of things -- most likely a muscle or vein got pinched or caught on a rib somehow. Apparently it’s nothing serious just annoying because he said it could last four or five weeks. So needless to say, between the weather, my cold, and my side pain, I haven’t done much in the last couple of weeks -- and certainly no traveling. Although I guess I did pick a good time to get sick. I’m hoping the weather will be nicer and I’ll be feeling better next week so that I can do some more traveling.

In other news, the World Cup (Fi Fa WM) starts in a week and a half and I’m curious to see what it will be like here during it. It has been hyped up like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s all people talk about and they keep telling me that it’s crazy here whenever there’s a world cup, but when the world cup is actually in germany it’s going to be completely insane. I have no idea what I’m in for but I’ll be sure to report. Fyi, the US is in group F with Italy, Ghana, and the Czech Republic, and Germany is in group A with Poland, Equador, Costa Rica. Should be exciting. By the way I am actually starting to enjoy Soccer a little bit. It’s more fun when you watch it with fans who live and die by it. But I do miss American sports... no ESPN here just CNN international sports. All they cover is Soccer, Golf, Cricket, and Tennis. Over here nobody cares at all about American sports. By the way, the other night I was talking about The Barry Bonds scandal and Babe Ruth and nobody knew who either one was. I asked about 10 people that night and no one had ever heard of Babe Ruth. But, to be fair, I could only name maybe 4 or 5 Soccer players.