WM Fever & Plauen: The Beginning of the End

When the other Fulbrighters came to visit me the other week I snapped a picture of part of the chocolate aisle while they were deciding what flavor to get. It's just so pretty...

I also forgot to include this photo of the inside of the ice cream cafe where we stopped for ice cream at the Kyffhaeuser.

Last Thursday was the first day that The Fault in Our Stars (Das Schicksal ist ein mieser Verraeter) was out in Germany, so I went to see it. It was a great movie! I was very glad I saw it, even if it was dubbed over into German. I wish my theater did a matinee price though - it cost 9.50 to see this movie at 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon!

Fate is a lousy traitor.

That day was an exciting one for me - after the movie, I went to my Bible study. Then once that was over, I saw part of the first World Cup game while waiting for my tram in Anger! All the restaurants in Germany pull out multiple big screen TVs so that their patrons can sit outside and watch while they eat. It's fantastic because then I could watch a bit of the game while I waited. I was one of several people lurking near the bushes surrounding the cafe tables trying to see the score.

World Cup fever has once again taken over in Germany. Sometimes I forget that WM is a confusing abbreviation (it stands for Weltmeisterschaft, which is the German name for the tournament) because I like it better than saying World Cup. There are German flags everywhere, which is very different than usual. There is also a ton of German paraphernalia available at almost every store - everything from leis and scarves to popcorn and bed sheets have the German colors on them right now.

Can you see the score??

On Friday I headed out to Plauen where my friend Cathy lives to spend one last weekend with all my fellow American ETAs. I had never been to Plauen before, so that was interesting. The city center is in a valley, so everything else is uphill. I'm very glad we took the tram to Cathy's place!

The first evening we spent a really long time deciding what to eat for dinner. By the time we had gotten groceries and cooked everything, it was almost 11 pm! We were also half-watching the World Cup the whole time.

Cathy's apartment was small, but we had a great sleeping situation. I ended up with this pillow that belongs to her roommate - I felt a bit odd sleeping on it!

I slept on these people's faces.

The next morning we headed out to Bad Elster. German people are really big into healing springs since Germans are big believers in homeopathic treatment. We forgot that only old people come to these places though - we were the only young people in this town!

The town is a few kilometers away from the train station, so we had a nice hike there and back.

Kitty, Melody, Cathy, and Doria try to
remember the words to "Colors of the Wind."

There wasn't really much to do in the town, so everyone else played on a playground for about half an hour before we got lunch at a cute cafe and then headed back to Plauen.

What kind of 6 year olds could play on this thing? It was a bit
too big for these adults to play on.

Cathy has a gorgeous view out of her window!

Saying good-bye to everyone at the end was a bit sad since we probably won't see each other in Germany again, and although Melody and Hannah will be relatively close, who knows when I'll see the others again?

Today was my last lesson with the 11th grade class that I've spent the most time with. They gave me a card and a cute little box of chocolates from the Kraemerbruecke.

Today I marked an item off of my Things to Do While 23 List: Buy something from Pimkie. Now if someone says something about my top, I can say "EYYYY! Das ist Pimkie!" (Chantal says this in Fack ju Goehte.)

I get 21 television channels. How many are showing the German National Team's press conference? (Additionally, channel one is showing a documentary about Germany's past WM wins.)

I watched the Germany-Portugal game while on the phone with Emily on Monday. I'm so glad they won! Mueller is my favorite soccer player, and I'm happy he did so well! I then tried to watch the America-Ghana game, and I did really well until the second half.

The game started at midnight here, and I'm sure my neighbors appreciated me singing along with the national anthem in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, I fell asleep before the last two goals were scored, but perhaps I'll have better luck staying awake during the next game. Go America!