WE WON THE GOLDEN PINEAPPLE!!! BUT NOW I NEED SLEEP
Last weekend was a blast!!! I got to play with Frühsport 0,2 at the Deutsche Meisterschaft im Ultimate, aka German Ultimate Frisbee National Championships.
Just Like Riding a Bike, Except There's No Riding, and It's Not a Bike
The first awesome thing, my legs didn't keep me from playing!!! Warming up and getting ready for games was a struggle because we always had at least an hour or longer break in between games. But once the game started, I was full speed ahead.
Camping out at the fields.
My first Schnitzel of the year. It was good.
Germans REALLY know how to party hard. Even with bench seats.
Finals Field: Aachen Frizzly Bears vs. Bad Skid (tiny town near Heidelberg)
Oh Yeah.
The second awesome thing was that this was a) my first tournament in over a year and a half, and b) my first real 3-day tournament, which just happened to be Nationals in Deutschland. Pretty sweet.
It was great to get back in the frisbee swing, goddamn I've missed this sport. And playing with Frühsport only made me miss my time with Leadbelly that much more. It was a very different feel from playing with Lead. Playing with the same guys for 2-4 times a week for a few years gets you pretty comfortable with your teammates, how they play, how you play, how the system works, and how to get pumped and get ready to dominate. But here with Frühsport was way different (and not necessarily in a bad way): playing with them for only 3 weeks, little understanding of what people are saying, elementary understanding of their playing style and their system, and all that. But nonetheless, it was a blast. If for no other reason than I could claim ignorance and just go out and have fun.
Well, we didn't exactly play sooper hot. We were playing in the first league with the best teams in Deutschland. We lost all of our pool games, then lost our only bracket game on Saturday. But Sunday, oh baby on Sunday, we played the other team in the first league that lost all of their games for the Deutsche Meisterschaft Gelden Ananas. And we won!!! We won the Golden Pineapple!!! That was a fun game. It made me really remember how much I get pumped up for frisbee games. I got pretty into it and had a blast.
Overall, I think I had three assists, one score, and one pretty sick sky over a guy on one of the better teams in our pool, and there's a good chance he played for the German National Team. So I've got that going for me...
Sleeping on the Wrong Side of the World
For some reason, I think it might have been the long and tiring weekend and a combination of so much Deutsch listening and failed speaking, I was absolutely beat and in a bit of a funk the last couple of days. I was dead tired after class on Monday, and ended up going to bed at 9pm and got my homework done in the morning. On Tuesday night I had the same lack of desire to do homework at night (I had other stuff to do during the day, I wasn't being lazy) so I decided to try and take a nap, and that nap transformed into bedtime at 10pm, but I had to get up early again to get my homework done.
Having a totally fucked up sleep schedule really messed with me yesterday and this morning. I don't like being in funks like this. I feel like the world is kinda flipped upside down and things just get kinda weird. I don't like that. But thankfully tonight (Wednesday at time of transcribing) I think I'll be able to get a bit closer to being back on track. I got my homework done earlier, I will be staying up to a more normal time, and I don't have to get up early for anything. We'll see how this goes.
And with that weird sleeping funk came other downers. Got kinda upset I haven't talked with my buddies back home in a while. I feel out of the loop (that is guaranteed to be a consistent feeling being on the other side of the world) and really feel like I'm not there for them as I have been in the past. I hate that feeling.
Moving Soon
This past week I've been a) working on my Lebenslauf (German Resume, still need to put it into another format) and b) getting in contact with the coordinators in Magdeburg and my new Gastvater. I move to Magdeburg next weekend. Weird. Really weird. And then I'll be there for 10 months.
I still have yet to book my train ticket, and still need to do that, after I (still need to) email my new Gastvater and see when I should arrive and on which day. So there's still some ground work to be done.
It's weird to think that I'm already leaving Köln. It feels like I just got here. But yet off I go. I'm kinda nervous about going to Magdeburg. After talking with a handful of Germans and them questioning what I am doing in their beautiful country and telling them my future, they always say that Magdeburg is 'hässlich', which is pretty much ugly. This is not a good sign to hear from the German people themselves.
Despite all of the negative vibes I'm feeling, I'm going to go into this with a good attitude, tons of optimism, and be excited for the many opportunities that will hopefully open up for me! I've already made two connections that will help me get on that road to fantasyland.
This past weekend, one of the guys on my team told me he knew someone who lives in Magdeburg, and took me over to meet her. She is the coach (I think) of the Magdeburg club team, so I got a place to play and I'm guessing some cool people to meet once I get to Magdeburg. I also met a couple of Americans living in Berlin that play for Berlin's club team, and they invited me to play tournaments with them. So regardless of what else happens, it looks like I will have frisbee to fuel me on. That is something I can get pumped for.
Day After
So the stuff before this I wrote yesterday. I feel a lot better. I got a good night's sleep after a little time at the bar watching some Champions League soccer.
Sidenote: Champions League gives off a crazy similar feeling to March Madness. Last night there were 8 matches going on, all at the same time. There was one channel on that would jump between all of the games and show the highlights and the goals. It was pretty cool.
But yeah, doing much better today. Got to chat with ZZTobs after class, had a yummy sandwich, and been chilling out after class.
Next week I move to Magdeburg, so I'll shoot one more post off before then. Tschüss!!!
Original Publish Date: September 19th, 2013