Crunch Time

Hello to all and everybody, grab a drink and prepare yourself for another installment of Live from Germany.

Two more games, two more in the L column. Jen and I both lost our games on Saturday, however, I got to play and Jen didn’t receive a red card, two positives. Jen’s squad was again the better team but did not play well. Jen received a 2-minute penalty 7 minutes into the game and didn’t see the court again until well into the second half. The limited playing time mixed with the loss and 10 hours on the road made for a tough day for Jen. My road trip was substantially shorter and more enjoyable (we all know how well women do when trapped together in close quarters). However, the outcome was the same. We played a team that I felt like we were better than. We got off to a slow start and could not make up the ground, it didn’t help that the opposition did not allow us to play with glue. I played a good amount of minutes and scored a couple of goals. My teammates assure me, it was the first by an American for ESV Weil, kind of exciting. Both of our teams got back to work this week and I think are anxiously waiting to get another chance to claim a win this weekend.

Sunday proved to be a good day. While Jen slept in and recovered from her journey, I joined our friend Peter and played doubles tennis in Weil. My squad lost but I always enjoy playing tennis and it was nice to stretch the muscles the day after a game. Also, my partner paid for the drinks afterwards so I didn’t have to spend any Euro’s (the losers have to buy after the match). When I arrived home from tennis Jen was stirring and so we enjoyed a nice lunch together, than traveled to our friend Dirk’s house to enjoy coffee and cake prepared by his beautiful wife. Always a pleasure. The evening, however, held even bigger things for us. A trip to Basel to enjoy, wait for it, AMERICAN FOOTBALL! Better known as the NFL to you across the pond. The bar we attended to watch the game had good, cold beer, nachos and big burgers. We enjoyed all of this while watching the J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! Play the Titans in throwback uniforms. A good game and fun to watch but we were both a little disappointed we weren’t able to watch the Pats or Donkeys. Speaking of the Broncos, they are 3-0!!! When they beat the Cowgirls this weekend they will prolly have enough wins to contend for the AFC West title. Ha.

Monday brought about another trip to Basel but for a completely different reason. We put on our Sunday best, I even shaved my face and we headed to the International Handball Federations (IHF) main office. We, yet again, pulled the ole walk in and say hello trick. Luckily, the second name we gave to the lady at the front desk happened to be available. He met with us over coffee and said he would keep an eye out and see if he could find anything for us. Unfortunately, the IHF doesn’t need any bright American workers at the moment. Not a wasted trip but nothing immediately helpful. Jobs are becoming crucial, it appears we have other options if we can’t find a job, but we also have this thing called a wedding to pay for and if we can’t find a source of income soon than this German experiment may have to come to an abrupt end. This next week is Crunch Time.

I had practice Monday night, it went well. I had fun. While I was at practice Jen joined a teammate of hers on an excursion to France. Jen’s teammate wanted to surprise an old teammate of hers in Strasbourg. Turns out they couldn’t get connected because nobody had money on their stupid pay as you go worthless cell phones, so Jen took a 3 hour trip to enjoy Thai food in a nice city in France. We find it humorous that these kind of trips are possible for us now, considering the closest country to us before was Canada and neither of us really enjoy fries and gravy so we had no reason to go. I’m joking Canadians, but seriously. The chance to hit 5 countries in under 2 hours is pretty neat.

In other news, we started our German class yesterday evening. We have classmates from all over, including a friend of Alex’s from Madagascar. We are both excited about the class and enjoyed our first day. Other than that, Tuesday was pretty uneventful, we went grocery shopping and did our apartment workout program. Jen had practice and I went running last night. I ran to Switzerland, which was pretty cool, but I almost died, I am convinced tall, heftier men are not meant to run long distances. I went back to the gym afterwards and laid around until Jen was done with practice.

Woke up early this morning and met up one of our friends who had a tough assignment in English due in class today. I read one of the dumbest, most confusing articles on a small island called Mayotte in the Indian Ocean twice and attempted to explain to her what it was about. I don’t miss menial, pointless, assignments from bored teachers and hope to not ever have to partake in those activities again. It really made me glad I have a degree. We than came to Basel to use fast Internet and we are still here as I write this. Exciting stuff, huh?

Glad to see the BoSox captured the wild card, I hope they bring it against the Yanks. I’m think I’m done here. Enjoy a double cheeseburger off the dollar menu, they don’t taste the same here and they aren’t on the dollar menu. I really gotta go. I think all the cigarette smoke is making me loony.

Happy Belated Birthday to Bridget Ferns and Carol Fithian, Hope you enjoyed your days!

Also a BIG CONGRATS to Elizabeth Haubrich for getting a big job in NYC baby! WOOHOO!