A Haubrich Invasion

I do believe I have set a new record for the longest span without a blog during out time in Germany. 2011 has been a wonderful year so far for us, we have been kept very busy and have done many things on and off the handball court that we are not only proud of but excited about. However, in the first five months of this year, I just haven’t had the time to write as much as I would like. This blog will be long and will cover a lot of ground. It has been over a month and a half, almost two, since the last blog and I will do my best to share our experiences over this time in the next few pages. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the next installment of Jen and Jordan: Live from Germany.

Let’s start back where we left off. Jen and Mainz 05 had only two games left in their season the last time I wrote. In a surprise upset, they did manage to beat the 1st place team in the league and double their win total for the year. Sadly, they ended the year with another losing effort, but Jen saw an increase in playing time on offense in every game and managed to net a season high four goals in one of her last outings. By the end of the year, her teammates, and more importantly her coach, were very pleased with her defensive efforts and continually impressed with her abilities on offense when given the chance to play on that end. She is currently in discussions with management to resign for next year. She likes the coach and feels like she can learn a lot from her while staying in top condition and seeing plenty of real time in games. After the season ended, Jen and the team enjoyed a few weeks off the court but have since returned to a regular practice schedule.

TV Gelnhausen’s season ended two weekends ago with yet another defeat in a close game. Up a goal with three minutes to play, the opposing club scored the last four goals of the match while Gelnhausen squandered away a 7 meter opportunity and a few other good scoring chances. Alas, have no fear; this did not hamper the end of season party that occurred on the five hour bus ride home after the game (more about this later). However, we did manage to nab a win the weekend before at home and therefore not play the last three months of the season without earning two positive points. As of right now my contract with Gelnhausen runs another year and I plan on staying with them even though we are moving down a league next year. We will be joining the same league that I played in earlier in the year with Bruchkobel, which means that I will again be playing without stick’um. I am not looking forward to that. But we have the core of our team returning and with the addition of a skilled left-hander we should have a very good chance at winning the league next year and returning to the 3rd league.

Back to the road trip home from our last game of the year. As I mentioned before we played near Hamburg, which by bus is nearly a five trip from Gelnhausen, which left us plenty of time to celebrate the conclusion of the season. I am not a good enough writer to give justice to what goes on in this situation but I will do my best. One thing I can guarantee is there is nothing like this in any sport or level, be it pro or college, basketball or football, in America. Don’t get me wrong, I know kids starting too young sneak alcohol onto buses and continue to do so through college but never is it encouraged, much less tolerated by coaches/bus drivers/people of responsibility. It is in Germany. My teammates came prepared, demolishing three cases and three bottles on the trip home but the drinking is not the impressive part. No, the most incredible thing on these bus rides is the singing, joking and general merriment of EVERYONE. Not one teammate sits by himself, everybody is involved and by choice, not force. My teammates, without CD or radio help, sang German folk songs they know by heart at the top of their lungs for the better part of three hours. It was unbelievable! I’m not even sure I know any American folk songs, much less ever get the feeling to sing them with my buddies for hours at a time. When they tired of singing these songs, somebody played a CD that included Dr. Dre and Chronic 2001, Ghostbusters and MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.” Needless to say, I became the star of the show because I knew all the words to these songs. I have always been a big fan of road trips, but bus trips with my teammates in Germany are something I will never forget, it is an experience that every athlete should at some time have and partake in and enjoy.

Work/school has been going well. The kids really are a wonder to teach. It occasionally tests our patience and sometimes, quite honestly, I want to strike a kid but 99% of the time watching and helping and being a part of these kids’ lives is something that I will forever cherish. I always scoffed at teachers who made crap for a living but were okay with it because the job is so “rewarding.” I now know what they were talking about and feel bad for every teacher that had to deal with my B.S. for the crummy salary they received and will forever be indebted to those who took the time to look past me being a smartass and gave me the time to help me grow as a person. Teaching is a profession that demands so much and on paper returns so little, but the impact that one can have on kids, and therefore the future is profound.

On a lighter note, work really is enjoyable. Three weeks into being a new aide, my head teacher had to take a week off for personal reasons and thought I was capable of handling the class by myself for a week. I am proud to say, that as head teacher, nobody on my watch was seriously injured and we had lots of fun, not too sure much work got done, but we made it through the week unscathed. One perk of the week presented itself when our Jen was forced to be my assistant for a day. She had to do everything I said, run errands at my beck and call and be happy about it in front of the kids. Talk about a day in paradise. That was/is probably the only day I will ever be in charge in our relationship and I must say, the petty man that I am, I took advantage. I’m pretty sure she was ready to kill me by the end of the day but she was a sport, a champ and took it in stride. I apparently made a pretty good choice when I proposed. Anyways, it was quite an experience for me, being in charge of 17 three to five year olds is a lot of responsibility for somebody like me. Regardless, we all survived and I’m a better man and I hope my kids will grow up to be good people.

I do abuse the power. I must admit, depending on my mood, I am the kids’ worst nightmare on the playground. Everybody remembers the grumpy teacher/lunch lady who wouldn’t let you get away with anything, who was always on your case and would never let a rule breaking slide or a rule be bent. Well, that’s me, I terrorize the kids on the playground simply because I can and I must say I enjoy it. I try to tell myself the rules are in place for their safety and that I’m just looking out for the kids’ health and well being, but that’s a lie. I enjoy the power. RAH!

The kids are funny though and they do say the damnedest things. Just today I said “Thanks, Dear” to a little girl in my class and she looked at me angrily and exclaimed loudly, “I am not a beer!” I couldn’t help laughing. And I also couldn’t help wanting a nice cold one, because it was late in the school day and I feel like I deserved one.

We had two weeks vacation at the end of April which was much needed and thoroughly enjoyed.

Jen and I wasted no time getting away from work. We picked up a rent-a-car directly after school let out on that Friday and headed out to Belgium. We spent a wonderful weekend discovering all that Belgium has to offer, from Bruges, to Gent and finally Brussels. Bruges was by far our favorite town and the place we spent the most time in. We spent two nights in a hostel very near to downtown and had a full day of sightseeing that included a viewing of the original Madonna and Child by Michelangelo, a nice boat trip through the canals of the city, numerous waffles (best waffles are found in Belgium, hands down), 1000 year old churches, a bell tower and a couple of sleazy but somewhat exciting flea markets. We spent the next entire day in Gent, another lovely city. More old churches, another awesome bell tower with an incredible view, our biggest flea market of the weekend and a couple more waffles were enjoyed. We did have the pleasure of staying at a Marriott (thanks Tom!) at the end of the day, a Marriott situated directly on a lit canal that held a breathtaking view of two of the churches with the bell tower sandwiched between. We spent our last half day in Brussels and although we had heard mostly negative things about the city, we found it delightful as well, not as historically beautiful as the first two, but a more modern and contemporary city that still boasts an interesting history that co-mingles with the necessities of a growing 21st century metropolis. Given the chance, we would like to visit Belgium again and spend more time exploring the beautiful cities and expansive history on display. The likelihood of us ever having the time or money to get back is slim, so Belgium, check!

During our second week of vacation we had the distinct pleasure of playing host to some guests here in Germany. Jen’s parents took the time and money to come see us for 10 days and Jen played the best tour guide and organizer ever. We did more in those 10 days than Jen and I have done in our entire time in Germany and we couldn’t have done it with better people. Tom and Katherine were great sports and awesome tourist companions. Jen and I had off from work as well, so we were able to explore Germany starting daily when the sun came up. We would set off with a back pack full of food and beers and our camera and by the end of the day, we had conquered what we set out to do. In 10 days, we took over 1000 pictures, saw 10+ castles, awed at the damage done by Allied planes in WWII and enjoyed our fair share of schnitzel, schwein hoxen (pig knuckle), ice cream, wine, scotch and beer.

Best memories from their time with us include: time spent with family, nothing like showing your ole in-laws that you are providing for their oldest daughter and that life is okay. Drinking those huge 1 Liter beers with my father-in-law while sitting outside staring at an ancient castle which once contained such a large grand garden it was named the 8th wonder of the world, two old churches in a town visited by Mark Twain with a river running through it while laughing about our wives and how much they are alike. Spending an afternoon on a boat on the Rhine River, floating past castles and enjoying the fine weather and the incredible history. Visiting the Haubrich guesthouse/bar near Trier and buying bottles of wine from perhaps distant cousin Matthias Haubrich’s winery and vineyard. Being upgraded from a crappy four door box to a BMW 3-series for two days because the rental agency didn’t have our car ready to go and than driving 110+ MPH on the autobahn with my mother-in-law and wife both yelling at me to slow down and my father-in-law smiling at me in the front seat with a knowing look on his face. Watching Rhein-Neckar-Lowen battle Montpellier in a Champions League quarterfinal match up in a packed stadium in Mannheim (thanks Red aka Chris Korner for the tickets, we greatly appreciate it). Tom and Katherine witnessing one of the rare TV Gelnhausen wins of the year and hearing Tom yell at the German refs in a German gym in a German league in English. ACHH! It was an honor to have them at one of my games and exciting for them to see what it’s like over here, compared to the game played in the States.

In the middle of the Haubrich’s visit I had to take leave for a few days to venture to Spain for a camp with the Men’s National Team. In a very productive three days, we spent more than 10 hours together on the court, practicing and improving as a team. We only played one game, but we won this convincingly against an overmatched opponent. The camp was very successful in my eyes and introduced into the pool a few new players who will be very helpful in Guatemala at the second chance tournament. I would like to thank Mark Ortega for organizing and putting this camp together on our behalf and all the guys for having such a positive attitude at the camp and the MNT going forward, starting with the 2nd Chance Tournament.

While I was in Spain, they decided to visit the best castle in all of Germany and ventured down to Munich to visit the world-famous beer hall and tour the grand old town. From pictures and stories, I gathered they had a wonderful time and the castle, called Neuschwanstein (the castle that Disneyland’s Castle is based off of) is all it is cracked up to be. Munich has so much history, including the concentration camp Dachau, (Tom described the visit to the camp as breathtaking, that the history and what happened in those walls is unfathomable), the Olympic Stadium/Compound from 72’ and is bidding for Winter 18’ and the famous square where Hitler made some of his first and most important speeches, that they were short on time to conquer everything but they did their best and apparently, even without me, rather enjoyed their three days in Bavaria.

Ryan McDonald, aka Chainsaw Bonesaw (CsBs), he of the Ryan Goes Global blog also took the time to come and visit us for a few days. He was only in Germany for a short time, using us a free place to crash during his own personal Euro tour. In the three days he was with us, we managed to enjoy ourselves immensely. Highlights of his visit include an incredible string of luck with scratch off cards in which we continued winning and eventually won enough money to cover our Cuban cigars and keep ourselves entertained for at least a half an hour. All this in the midst of another incredible boat tour on the Rhine, however this one saw only me and Bonesaw take part and was an all day event, instead of just an afternoon. We viewed over 15 Castles and spent some quality time baking in the sun with our good friend Jim. Bones also bought the coolest hat ever in a town on the Rhine post boat trip. We dined on traditional German food at Jen and my’s favorite local spot (been their twice, both times treated by the Haubrich’s, thanks!). The capper of his visit came on another evening out on the town in Friedberg, which included a very nice traditional dinner at an Italian place (paid for by Ma and Pa McDonald, much thanks!) and concluded with CsBs being bucked off a stationary statue of a bison like animal that resides in the middle of town.

The last two weeks have seen all excitement exit our lives. Quite a let down between our handball season’s ending, family and friends visiting and leaving, vacation from work and a little bit of traveling. We are back into the grind and in a good routine, if not a boring one. We are currently in out of season training with our teams, which basically includes running, running, some core training and more running. We have had three straight weeks of school without a break and have two more until we have a few days off. Between team training and Jen working my ass off in the gym, we are both getting into even better shape than we were in during the season, if that is possible. Jen recently found a track and has been putting me through sprint workouts, with pauses to throw the ball and work on our footwork. She is helping me build up to the 2nd Chance Tournament and I will be in incredible shape ready to put in some serious work in Guatemala. I am unbelievably excited for another chance to play with the MNT and prove to everybody that we deserve to be at PAG’s and that we are better than what we showed in our second outing against Canada.

So in all this, I have forgotten to mention that my beautiful wife had a birthday and turned 27 on April 24th. Her parents were here to help us celebrate which made it special and we dedicated the week of German touring and the weekend in Belgium to her. It was actually good timing, because any time we needed an excuse to crack a beer or treat ourselves, we simply chalked it up to celebrating her birthday. I love birthdays.

We also want to send big congratulations to DJ Poitras, Brendan Kimball and Gooch, aka the Birdman, for all graduating from college. Jen and I haven’t managed to put our degrees to any use but maybe you guys will find it useful. I sure hope so.

It’s been over two months now and even though this blog is long, I know I’ve missed all kinds of exciting happenings and occurrences, however I am tired of typing and I’m positive your all a bit bored. I shortened some of our experiences and travels with Jen’s parents and Ryan, if you would like to hear more, or even experience some of this for yourselves, please feel free to contact us and come visit!