A Weekend of Soccer, Shopping, and Skype

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Friday was my first in-office birthday celebration experience. We celebrated Berit’s birthday with handshakes and treats that she brought from the bakery. It was a tough choice but I went with the blueberry muffin. And apparently this muffin was so good (and so big!) that it wasn’t until 3:30 that I noticed I had missed the lunch hour. I was very hungry for dinner but wanted to drop off my computer back at the hotel so as to not lug it around with me. Back at the hotel, I noticed another big bus that appeared to belong to a soccer team as it had “Bundesliga” stamped on the side. I made a mental note to google VfL Wolfsburg later.

At dinner, I received more confused looks as I dined alone. But I did get a nice little heart made of spices with my olive oil and bread. After my ham and mushroom pizza, I made my back to the hotel in hopes of catching my sister on Skype. I grabbed my computer and waited for the elevator to head back to lobby. As the elevator was approaching I could hear a lot of voices and when it opened, it was full of soccer players wearing bright green. They smiled at me. I smiled at them. They said Hallo. I said Hallo.

And then I googled them. Plus, there were more green-geared players roaming around the lobby trying to find the team dinner. After a while, a couple of elevators appeared back in the lobby with the full team. Boy I wished I were on Skype with Karen and Jonathan at that moment. That would have been awesome to see them walk past. One of the players even waved at me. It turns out that they were in town to play HSV – one of the two soccer teams in Hamburg, but the only one playing in the premier league at the moment. St. Pauli is the other team.

After my lovely chat with Karen and Jon, I called my mom to check in on her recovery from oral surgery. Between my coughing and her swollen mouth, we probably shouldn’t have been talking, but I think it was good for both of us. Once my voice was pretty much gone, and it didn’t seem like the soccer players were close to coming back, I called it a night.

Saturday was the start of another gorgeous weekend. The weather was in the low-mid 50s but sunny and dry. My day, like most of my days, was like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story. I started out with a couple ideas of what I might like to accomplish, and I did, but in a very random and round-about fashion. It’s an unusual feeling when you really have nothing to do. Nowhere to be. No one to meet. So there’s no wrong answer. Anytime something caught my eye, I could go in that store or cross the street. Or turn around. It seemed to be a big shopping day with a lot of mid-season sales. I started looking at winter coats and, per usual, had a hard time trying to decide which kind of coat I might like to have this year. The big debate was between pea coat/wool and puffy with (fake) fur. At home, I have the luxury of owning and storing many coats, but here I’m just going to be a one-coat girl.

In an unforeseen twist, I ended up with the same coat I already own in a different color. If you are familiar with my pink coat—turquoise is the new pink. That pink coat (which has lived a full life) was a great find in Vienna. It is literally the perfect coat for me. And for some reason I could never seem to find it at a Benetton in America. The best news was that at the register I found out it was 20% off. Even better.

I had fish and chips for lunch before heading to Saturn, not the planet, to buy a hair dryer. Again, a very difficult decision. I’ll never understand why I can instantaneously say yes to moving to another country without thinking it over yet take 15 minutes to decide on my drink order. Alas, I found a hair dryer in preparation of my non-hotel-living life. This is actually the third hair dryer I’ve purchased in Europe. If only I had known I’d keep coming back, I could have kept the first one!

Ice cream was also on sale, so I snagged a Kugel for 50 cents. Another tough decision, yet I surprised myself when I ordered walnut. And I did not regret it. All of that walking and shopping really wiped me out, so I made my back to the hotel. After another dose of cough syrup, I made my way down to the lobby, which was rather packed…with men…awaiting soccer players. So, I snagged a seat myself. It was rather entertaining to watch them check out as they made fun of their roommates for their mini bar choices.

My afternoon adventure brought me to Planten un Blomen—a park and botanical garden. I’ll have to go back in the spring and summer when more is in bloom. Perhaps I was inspired by those Japanese gardens because I went in search of sushi for dinner. Even though the happy hour had ended seven minutes before I sat down, the waiter still brought me the happy hour menu. Maybe he also felt bad that I was eating alone. Oh well, it was great food. Plus, they had a sweet fish tank, which gave me something to look at so as to make me seem less awkward.

On my way back to the hotel, I passed a “sports bar” that had the HSV v. Wolfsburg soccer game on. I had planned on watching it, but didn’t realize it had already started. Since the place looked packed, I decided to head back to the hotel to watch it. However, I couldn’t find it on the TV. Thinking back, I’m pretty sure I found the correct channel but it was halftime. In any case, I didn’t want to miss it, so I bundled back up and walked back to the bar. I sidled in with the old men and smokers who were watching on an outside TV. I ordered a Glühwein and watched the second half of the 1-1 game. I definitely recognized some of the players, which made me more inclined to root for them, but I had to keep that to a minimum because Hamburg fans surrounded me, naturally. My Saturday night conclusion involved unpacking and taking inventory on socks and undergarments. Now that I know I’m not moving rooms or having access to a washing machine until Nov 1 it is important to know how things stand. I think I’ll make it, but it will be close.

Sunday morning’s plan was for a bike tour. From the website, I couldn’t tell if they were still running tours this late in the season, but I didn’t have anything to lose. I very nearly chickened out at the last moment when I didn’t see anyone else lining up for a tour, but I went in, paid, and chose a nice city-bike. I was pretty sure I was going to be the only one on the tour, but a family of four from Dortmund showed up at the last minute. They were very friendly and kind of adopted me for the duration of the tour. Lars the bike dude kept asking me if I wanted the tour in English, but I said German was fine. He seemed relieved. I think it also helped that there were two young boys on the tour, so he kept the explanations nice and simple and to the point. I would say I understood 95% of the tour, but I probably retained just as much as an English tour, which is not much.

It felt good to get on a bike and experience the city in a new way. And it was nice to finally know the names of buildings I had been seeing around as well as see new places that I had completely overlooked. I saw the jail housing Somalian pirates, the Hafen City which is all newly constructed and still under construction (oldest building is from 2003), and a hotel where a James Bond movie was filmed. We made a stop at a little Portuguese café to round out our 3-hour tour. This stop included me seeing the longest bike lock I’ve ever seen. Post tour, the German family invited me to join them in their afternoon adventures but I politely declined as I was exhausted. Lars also gave me a map and labeled some places where I might be able to meet people my age.

After walking back to the hotel, I had a Skype date with Mom and Dad. Despite some technical difficulties at the beginning, it was very nice to catch up. As usual, the dog and cat made appearances yet still don’t appreciate me in 2D. Lastly, I was not able to find the Bears game on TV. I thought I might have a chance with it being televised from London, but other sports like billiards and handball are much more important.