Hawaii in Mainz?

Mainz built a beach along the Rhine. Complete with the yellowest sand I've ever seen and palm trees which are trying their very best to fit in. I kiiiiiiiind of love it. Now all we need is hot weather and a full day of sunshine. Mainz Strand... check it out!

All over the place

where was i?

8 years ago: in wyoming, making the grade
7 years ago: in a lifeguard chair, making sure kids didn't drown
6 years ago: in hawaii, making my dream come true
5 years ago: in a bank, making my résumé look better
4 years ago: in yellowstone, making memories during a family reunion
3 years ago: in starbucks, making a special order latté
2 years ago: in washington DC, making my dress sweaty at taste of the south
one year ago: in wyoming, making sure my brother knows i'm proud of him

today: in germany, making a euro, making plans, making guesses at what i'll be up to next year

The Rhinelands are busy making future wine

Soccer lesson: UEFA Euro 2012

Oh, is Germany ever soccer crazy right now! They (not me, I'm a clueless American) are anxiously awaiting the start of the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament. What's that, you say? You're an American who doesn't understand anything having to do with soccer either? Unless I hear the specific words "World Cup", I haven't a clue. And even then, my knowledge extends more to how to throw a successful World Cup backyard barbeque and, thanks to 2010, how to properly annoy everyone with the use of a Vuvuzela than it does to the actual sporting event.

For the last, ohhh I don't know, every day of my working life here I hear talk of soccer, er sorry 'football', over the lunch table. And between desks. And in the elevators. And on newspapers. Really, one cannot escape it. I'm used to being well informed about sports. Over the last year while I've been living abroad not only have I fallen completely out of touch with American sports, but the two sports that seem to be popular here - football and handball? - are two over which I know nearly nothing. So I've done a little research for my own sake and possibly to help keep you from looking like an idiot if you happen to bump into a really enthused European.

Basics: UEFA stands for Union des Associations Européennes de Football. The name comes from Switzerland. The UEFA's 'About Me' page says, "The organization is one of 6 continental confederations of world football's governing body FIFA*." There are 53 total associations in UEFA.
*FIFA! As in World Cup! I know this one!

Ok, so what is exactly going on in June that has everyone so pumped? That, my friends, is the UEFA Euro 2012. From June 8 until the finals on July 1, sixteen teams will be competing in this final tournament hosted this year at 8 different locations throughout Poland and Ukraine.

That's right, this is the final tournament. The tournament really started in 2010 when 51 entrants were drawn into 9 groups. Matches were played on a home/away basis (I think this has something to do with the points system?) between 3 September 2010 and 11 October 2011. From that play, 9 winners and the runner up with the best record against top 5 sides (I don't know what that means) in their pool qualified directly for this finals. The rest just... I don't know, snuck their way in, maybe.

Germany is in Group B for the tournament. There are Groups A-D. They are grouped with the Netherlands, Denmark, and Portugal. Their first game is June 9 at 8:45pm. I'm really looking forward to it because that's right about the time I go swimming, so the pool will probably be pretty empty. Lane to myself! What's up!

I'll be pulling for Germany, not because I live here, but because I hear that the Portugese language is even more grammatically confusing than German, and I refuse to support such a thing.

As your treat for reading, or perhaps skimming through, that whole thing, here is a picture of the Rhine River as seen from the Seilbahn in Assmannshausen, Germany!

Ten Months Down

Today is the first day of June, and that means that it is the beginning of a bittersweet month. June is the last full month I will spend in Germany since I leave part way through July. I read through a few of my posts from earlier in this journey of mine, and it is so funny to read posts from November in which I declare that I can't believe I've lived in Germany for 4 months. Time flies. Fast forward, and now it's been exactly 10 months and roughly 3 hours since I stepped off the plane to begin my year here.

I got exactly what I came here for, although for most of the time I've been here it hasn't felt that way. I sought something new, unfamiliar, challenging, and exciting. My evolution as a foreigner has been quite the adventure. I'm incredibly excited to go home-- I'll be honest about that; however, I can already start to feel the nostalgia. I can already sense what I'm going to miss once I step foot back in the States. I'm starting to understand how this journey has changed me, how it has become part of me.

And I have the sneaking suspicion that my return will not be as easy as I imagine it will be. All of these small things that I have encountered in Germany, all of the differences that I have not only experienced but also learned how to be part of or at least live with, will no longer be part of my daily life. There will be the small aspects of American culture that I have forgotten, and I will have to remember how to readjust and reimmerse.

This year has been so sweet and so difficult. The lows were real low. But the highs have been tip top. The next month will be also sweet and difficult, not difficult in terms of cultural assimilation, but difficult because the time is finite. The end of the tunnel is within sight. How could it be that my year in Germany is nearly over? Wow.