World Cup Finals

In 2002, Germany played Brazil in the World Cup final. How amusing that I can relate a lot of the past week to this very match!

Last week I made reservations for my trip to the World Cup in Germany, 2006. I've been thinking about the trip a lot, trying to figure out how to make the logistics work out for me and the rest of my friends around the world who are planning on meeting up there. I mean, there's going to be millions of people going to visit the country, how are we supposed to find a place to stay and when are we going, etc. Especially since I only have a week off of work at that time! Well, technically I will have zero days off of work at that time, but hopefully that can be negotiated with el hefe. Or I guess I could just quit ;-) . In any case, the flight is reserved and I haven't heard back from any of my friends on what they think about my master plan - ten days in a rented apartment in Bamberg, Germany (a small college town where Alex studies) that has awesome pubs and is near Nuernburg and Frankfurt and being in town for the Quarter-, Semi-, and Grand Finals. So I might just book it and worry about the logistics later....

While we're on that subject, my Brazilian friend Daniel has put together the master plan for International Club Reunion Part Deux in Brazil this November. There will be seven (hopefully!) of us in Brazil for his wedding and following that we will be travelling to Fortaleza, Brazil. Some of us have heard about this place and it has been described as being the most beautiful spot on earth by some of them - paradise. Daniel did an awesome job the first time we travelled to Brazil and I for one can't wait for November to get here. And another wedding? A Brazilian Catholic wedding? With 300 guests (most are his brothers and sisters ;o)? Kick-ass! Their wedding planners have some big shoes to fill from Poland, but I'm optimistic that they can handle the challenge!

This past weekend was the Deutsche Steuben Parade here in NYC, celebrating American-German friendship and, more importantly, the beginning of Oktoberfest. There's a club that meets monthly to get together, drink beer, and talk German (practice!) that I've been wanting to attend, but they meet on Thursday nights and I just can't miss my cardio class or I'll...well, I won't gain weight or get fat, but something bad would happen. My zen would be messed up or something like that :). Anyways, they were marching in the parade this year and since it was on a Saturday, I figured I'd show up and meet some of the folks and maybe become more committed to practicing my German. So we hit up 5th Avenue and headed up from 62nd Street all the way to 86th St, a stretch of just over a mile. And it was HOT out, especially with black t-shirts on :o| . I met an opera singer on the walk who has travelled all over the world to sing opera (including Germany) in addition to several ex-pats who were in America for school or whatever. In general, it was a good crowd and I had a good time on the walk. I never woulda thought there were so many Germans in NYC, but they were all there, lined up along 5th Ave showing their colors....

Naturally, at the end of every event that is German related, there is beer. At Summer Stage in Central Park they had a gigantic beer tent set up and were serving quality German brews by the half-liter (or two-liter pitcher) along with lots of wurst (sausage), sauerkraut, and spaetzle (a potatoe-pasta made in the region near Stuttgart). I met up with Niko and Soenke, who are friends of Alex's who are in NYC working at an internship for the summer, and their friend Jonas. They were very outgoing and enjoyed the beer and German party - even if it was traditional Bavarian music. I guess going to this event is like going to a county-fair in the countryside in the US with live country music and cowboys everywhere :).

We spent several hours there consuming beer by the liter until they kicked us out at around 6:00pm. We met some dirndl girls (well, not really, just normal girls) at the party and were planning on meeting up with them at Libation in the Lower East Side later that night to continue the party.

A few hours and a few minutes of sleep later, I found out that the Germans had changed plans and were going to a mega-club called Underground down on 21st St. I don't frequent mega-clubs, mostly because me and my friends prefer more loungy atmospheres but also because I don't really know where they are. They tend to be dark doors on dark streets with lines outside at midnight waiting to get in. They also draw a beautiful crowd and I've always found them intriguing. I had a great time with them earlier in the night so I figured I'd finish the night off in style downtown. Indeed!

After getting home at the wee hours of the morning with my ears still ringing and sleeping until around 9:30, I had some cleaning to do. My apartment has been trashed since.....well, pretty much all summer. It needed a thorough cleaning, especially since a friend of a friend (yes, another German) was coming to town and needed a place to crash for the night and was looking for someone to hang out with in the city. Guests (and phone calls??) always provide good motivation for some superb house cleaning, vacuuming and all! This was a friend of my half-German friends Daniel and Sandy who had travelled for four months through Asia and onto California for a few weeks. Those crazy German travellers! She was great, though, and had hundreds of stories from her trip. We clicked quite well and ended up staying up until almost 2:00am Sunday night talking about the differences between Germans and Americans and everyone in between. My kind of conversation partner! She left the next day for a youth hostel but we met up on Tuesday night at DTUT to have coffee and listen to some awesome live acoustic music at the most bohemian place in the neighborhood. Most of the people look like their fresh off the boat Brooklanders or from the East Village. Awesome place!

Finally, my eyes. I hate my eyes. I hate my eyelids. I hate my doctors who can't figure out what the hell is wrong with them. I've been to five or six specialists now and everyone has diagnosed me with something different, but none of them have been correct. Or at least none of them have provided me with a viable solution. So, again, I have inflamed upper eyelids on both sides. Guess it's time for my monthly steroid shot :o| . What does this have to do with Brazil or Germany? Ummm....because I don't want to have problems when I'm there, I guess?


J. Riley, Geburtstag Wochenende!!