Slimy strangers, soccer, sponges, speedos and shaved necks

Ok so what’s new that I’ve done in the last few days? Last week, I met up with René, a guy living in New Zealand, who grew up in the city across the river from my town here in Germany and he’d come back home for the summer, to see the family and show his Kiwi girlfriend around. I was invited to Torben’s (one of René’s friends) birthday party out in a small village in the country, and even though I didn’t know any of the other guests, I dragged myself along and had a fantastic time meeting a whole lot of new people, using my random German knowledge and being able to discuss New Zealand things with Amelia, René’s girlfriend. Only downer was one particular guest, who became a little obsessed with yours truly and would follow me from room to room, and was incapable of reading body language - I'm sure you've met the type before.

Rene, Amelia and Torben

I stayed the night, so I didn’t have to drive all the way back, and in the morning while everyone was still sleeping I got up and walked all around the small village. Every single person that passed me, most likely on their way to church, stopped and said hello. Even the two cars that drove past stopped to talk, ok one was to ask directions to the church, and the other was someone who’d been at the party the night before, but it was like entering a weird little happy bubble, and makes a nice change from the city life.

A couple of days later I joined up with René and his group of friends, and went to a soccer game. Now those of you out there who actually know me, will know I detest sport, and would rather pluck every single hair out of my body with pliers, than watch sport, but as I promised my self not to turn down new opportunities, I accepted René’s invite and watched my first ever European Soccer match, in a stadium with 50,500 others. It was an end of the season match between Frankfurt and Berlin, the atmosphere was pretty impressive, and it was worth going just to be able to watch people’s theatrics! Some random stuff I was surprised by was that the big screens didn’t show any of the game being played, like they do back in NZ at the Rugby.

When the goalie got kicked in the face after two minutes, they didn’t replay it on the screen to show what happened in close up, and when I asked why not, they said that the crowd would get too violent. This is when I noticed that all the Berlin supporters were kept in a separate caged off area, with loads of security around to apparently protect them, from the crazy Frankfurter supporters. The only thing they did show on the big screen was when a goal was scored in other games that were happening at the same time in other parts of the country. I have to admit I spent most of the time talking to Torben, who is training to be a Priest, and I’m not one to miss a chance for some religious debate, thankfully he was as interested in the game as I was. Any who, Berlin won 2 to 1 and the supporters had to be escorted out by police to protect them from any troublemakers in the Frankfurt squad, all a bit over the top if you ask me, still a good day out.

The Birthday Boy

Today Mike had his Sponge Bob themed birthday party, which didn’t go to badly really. As it was fantastic weather wise, we just loaded the kids up with sunscreen, sponges and water guns and let them go crazy for four hours. No major dramas, apart from trying to keep all the kiddies out of the house, and yours truly got absolutely drenched in a sponge war. One thing I’ve learnt from all this birthday nonsense is that kids are happy with the basics; it’s the parents that are fueling the booming birthday party supplies machine. Kids don’t need licensed napkins, cups and plates – they barely notice and it’s not worth the money. Give the kids a few balloons, a few games and give them time to play together and they’ll be fine.

Kenji and Laurenz

All this talk of fun in the sun, reminds me I haven’t really said anything about going swimming in Germany yet have I? Ok well for one thing, swimming pools are few and far between, there is really not the space or the climate to justify the expense of a pool in most areas, so the public pools are bursting at the seams. The pool that I go to is always busy and instead of separating the pool into lanes, it’s a free for all and people go all over the place. This means you swim at your own peril and a foot can come at you from any direction. I have not seen one person swim free style here, they all do breaststroke, and the men are obsessed with Speedos! You definitely don’t see anyone covering up in board shorts here.

Oh and something else random that happened this week, I went to get my haircut, which always seems to be an experience in another language, and the hairdresser somehow shaved my neck and gave me a rash, I kid you not! They all seemed to be obsessed with reinventing the 80's. Ahh well, at least it will grow back.