Blythe Spirit

The REAL reason we moved to Germany

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon high in the rafters of a stadium, watching FC Nurnberg beat FC Koln, 2-1. That smile you see on Jeff’s face is no accident; he is a devout soccer fan. He does look a little chilly in this photo, due to the rain and wind. As any real football supporter knows, however, bad weather is just a filter that strains out the fair-weather fans. Be sure to take a close look at the other photo as well. Keep in mind that FC Nurnberg is one of the lowest-ranked teams in the Bundesliga, and yet their stadium looks like this on a rainy Saturday in October. Jeff has found his happy place.

Speaking of finding a happy place, we are thrilled to have found a place to live. I am countng down the days to when we can pick up the keys (next week) and to when our furniture is supposed to arrive (later next week) so that we can blow this pop stand and set up something like a home. We’ll live in Nurnberg, which means a 20-minute commute for Jeff. It also means access to the historic alstadt and castle, famous Christmas markets, public transportation for me (hooray!) and of course proximity to FC Nurnberg, their stadium, and eventually the World Cup matches scheduled there. All roads lead to football, don’t they?

In other news, I started an intensive German course yesterday and I’ve been reassured that I know even less than I thought I did. I’m ten years older than all the other students in my course and I imagine they all think of me as that clueless American lady. They are from Israel, Turkey, China…I’m hoping we’ll have some kind of pot luck at the end of the course. Isn’t meeting new people really just a means to get them to cook interesting food for me? Future acquaintances, be forewarned.