The Rheingau

It’s been too long since we last got together, I’ll take the blame for that. Been busy looking for jobs, playing some handball and enjoying Germany and all it has to offer. It’s a balmy Thursday afternoon here in Petterweil, cold, unseasonably so as I’ve been told but it has been cold for a few weeks now so I’m led to believe Germany is like New England, too cold too soon for too long. Whatever, let’s move on. Hans and I are currently watching a DVR’d 1st Bundesliga game between Flensburg and Berlin. Ken tapes all the games for us and it is not only an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon but also helps the continuation of the learning game. There was almost a fight at the beginning of the game so the rest of the game has been full of hard fouls and aggressive play, pretty entertaining.

In other handball news, SG Bruchkobel suffered their first loss of the season last Sunday. We played a young team that played a very aggressive defense and ran well on the offensive. SGB did not play at a very high level, especially in the last 5-6 minutes, and ended up losing 40-36. A very frustrating loss and but a match up in the second half of the season I have already circled in anticipation. I played relatively good minutes again, scored one goal, but was disappointed in my defense. Still lots to learn on both ends which I am aware of but even so, Sunday was disappointing. The only bright spot for the boys of SGB was Hans’ play. He netted five goals and played well on both ends of the court. We are both looking forward to getting back on the court on Sunday against TV Hersfeld. We will also be able to watch Mark Ortega play with his new team on Saturday. He will play his first game (if his player card is in order and it should be) at 730 Saturday night.

The most exciting news since the last update is twofold: first and foremost, Jen got paid!!!!!!! It is a nice feeling to have a little cash in the bank again. Things were so tight before the payment that Jen actually ran out of gas on the way to work because she had no money to fill the tank. Thank the Lord for the nice man who stopped and let Jen use his cell phone and for Ken Self, aka Ken Ranger, for coming to Jen’s rescue with some gas. The worst part was that she was on a two lane road in rush hour with no where to go, so she held up traffic for a bit; tough way to start a day. Second biggest news is that with money and old phones from teammates we have been able to buy SIM cards and activate phones. We can now communicate with people. If Jen gets lost anywhere she can now call somebody instead of driving in circles, hooray! However, I must say, that after not having a cell phone for the better part of two years I feel like 80 year old man trying to figure the stupid thing out. It’s as if I forgot everything I knew about cell phones and it is rather frustrating; I now know where old people are coming from when they talk about technology in such a disdainful manner. Regardless, having phones and money almost makes us feel like normal people again. We are now searching for an apartment so we can get out of the Self’s hair and let them return to a normal way of life (and a cheaper one: not having to feed me).

Last weekend turned out to be rather eventful. Jen had her first free weekend from work and from handball. My game was on Sunday and so that left Saturday free for us to do some exploring. We decided to take a nice day trip to the Rheingau region in Germany. It is an old wine making region along the banks of the Rhein, just west of the city of Frankfurt. We took our time and drove through 5 towns, stopping at the church’s and castles and vinotek’s (wine shops). We were able to see 6 castle’s and one old monk monastery, which has been making it’s own wine for over 1000 years. We were able to taste some excellent wines made in the region and even purchased a few bottles for consumption at a later date. Our last stop was in Rudesheim, a beautiful, touristy town on the banks of the Rhein. There we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and walked around the town admiring the old buildings and the atmosphere of Old Town on a Saturday night. It was the first day Jen and I had been able to get out and spend together as tourists and it was awesome. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday morning brought the usual, an All-American breakfast put together by your’s truly. It has become tradition for me to put together a spread of Mid-Western Country boy (I grew up in a town, not in the country, but who cares) proportions on Sat or Sun. This weekend Jen helped out and put together some of her super tasty pancakes (thanks Aunt Jemima) and I did eggs and bacon to go along with it. I really enjoy being able to cook and give a little back to the Self’s and I think they enjoy the grub. Considering Bettina (Momma Self) cooks every night, I figure it’s the least I can do.

Ken Self may be the worst UNO player ever. Unfortunately, the men (Ken, Hans, and myself) challenged the women (Bettina, Jen and Linda (Hans’ GF) to a game for a evening of dinner and cocktails before we knew. Needless to say, the men got crunched and so we were forced to make dinner and cocktails on Monday. Since Ken’s cooking is as bad as his UNO playing, we agreed that he would buy the food and Hans and I would cook it. So the ladies were treated to Rawberry (youtube it)
Daiquiris’ and a dinner complete with apps and dessert. We cooked Salmon and noodles and Hans put together a sauce with Oranges (sounds crazy but was delicious) and we stuffed our faces. I must say the dinner was excellent, as were the Mac Nut cookies we had for dessert. I may have burned the chocolate chip cookies so those weren’t as tasty but hey, everybody makes mistakes. Anyways, I believe the ladies were impressed and enjoyed being pampered for once.

Handball is gearing up. We are now getting into the heart of the German season and the US guys over here are working on putting some games and training sessions together. We have tentatively set up a showdown between the US conglomerate and SG Bruchkobel on October 13th. We may also be traveling to London at the end of the month to train and practice alongside the Brits National in their Olympic facilities, which would not only be fun but chance for the US guys to get a lot of training done together. Chris Korner was able to get us all tickets on Wednesday to the Rhein Neckar Lowen game. Seven of us enjoyed the game, as RNL smashed Hannover. It was a fun game to watch and as always, was good to get together with the other Americans. Thanks to Chris for getting us the tickets.

I am supposed to be looking for jobs and apartments and I have to switch the laundry around so I gotta finish up. Hope all is well back home. I’m out.