Soccer Fan for a Day

USA was slaughtered by Deutschland yesterday in Dortmund. 4:1. Ouch. And my host dad, Peter, says the German team was playing the worst he's seen in the last 30 years or so. We don't stand a chance in the Welt Meisterschaft this year.

Yesterday I transformed into a soccer fan for a day and wore all of my US gear to show my patriotism. My gear consists of a T-shirt and some red white and blue socks, along with a poorly-painted American flag from Karnival and some blue and red ribbons. After I finished my English test early, I drew some better flags and "GO USA" and "Olé Olé Olé Olé We are the Champions" on the back of my hands.

I was easily the most hyped-up person around. The German students here just don't get excited about events like these, besides talking about the outcome the next day. So it brought about some interesting discussion.

Peter and I watched the game together after I got back from chess (where I predicted 1:0 USA. Boy was I wrong). It was funny, because every time Germany made a Tor (ie, Goal) or the ball would change teams, Peter would cheer and I would groan or vice versa. But it's just a game, and I'm no big soccer fan, so let's move on to other things...

My new host family is great. They are totally relaxed and nice. They are big on conserving energy and recycling. They don't have set meal times or anything. The only times which are set are when you can use the bathroom in the morning, because there's only one shower in the house.

My host sister, Judith, is also in the 11th but goes to school in Bocholt. She was in Australia last year with AFS. We spent some 2 hours on Tuesday looking at her pictures. Her best friend is a friend of mine from KDG, and we've already been to her house together for a movie night.

Regina, my host mom, works 3 days a week as a dental hygenist of some sort. The name is so long and complicated in German, I'm not exactly sure what it is in English. She loves to talk and make conversation. The first night we were talking for 3 hours straight, and at least 2 every day since then (except for last night when she was out playing cards with friends while we watched Fußball at home).

Peter takes the train to work in Düsseldorf every day at 5 or 6 in the morning. He's interesting to talk with too. He's short and balding. They're all short. I look so silly riding on their bicycles.

We haven't done too much together yet. The first weekend was mostly spent at home putting together my room, talking, and lounging around. We went on a couple walks through Hamminkeln. The weather has suddenly become warmer and fresher. You can literally feel Spring. After a long, hard winter (we had snow in March, which is highly unusually for these parts. On the other hand, Regina says we had too little rain for Winter), Spring is more than welcome.

Life is skittles...