caught the bug

I'm getting into German football (soccer). European soccer, like the airline industry, has a high entry price and requires a good amount of capital to gain any traction. But now that I'm in I've gotten swept up by both the quality and quantity of play. Here's a summary of my (elementary) understanding so far:
The most confusing part is the heinous amount of leagues. Here's a simple breakdown:
On one level you have the Nationalmannschaft: they national team. They play in the World Cup and the UEFA Eurocup, and are collected as the cream of the German Fußball citizenry. During off years (odd numbered years) without the WM or EM they play qualifying matches sporadically. While playing for this team is a high honor, it is is not a directly lucrative honor: every player on the national team is a member of another team, a team that's based in a city and part of the worldwide open market for football players.
These teams make up the thousands of teams in Europe and play in the handful of leagues. In Germany, teams compete in the Bundesliga (1, 2, and 3), the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and the DFB-Pokal. Most important for most of the teams is the 1. Bundesliga- the top 18 teams in Germany play to be German Champs. The 2nd and 3rd leagues are proving grounds for younger, less experienced clubs: but if a team wins the 2nd league, they're invited to play in the 1st, and if you're terrible (schrott) in the 1st league you can drop down. Kind of like the Washingtion Nationals getting demoted to AA where they belong. This system allows for some amazing Cinderella stories, like that of Heidelbergs local team 1899 Hoffenheim- two years ago they were buried in the 2nd league and have risen to lead the standings in the first league.
The Champions League is an international tournament of the best clubs from UEFA countries (basically Europe). Bayern München represents Germany almost perennially. The UEFA trophy is the highest honor a team can recieve.
Just below Champions League is the UEFA Cup, where slightly poorer teams compete to get into the Champs League.
The DFB-Pokal is the second most important German competition, and it's also interesting because it allows all 32 1st and 2nd league teams to compete, as well as the best 3rd leaguers and some top regional teams. This as well allows for upsets and surprises.
So most important, beyond who's playing and when, is to see under the auspices of what tournament or league the game is taking place. In context it all makes sense.
People take this stuff seriously here- it is without question the national sport. And now that I understand what it all means, I'm excited to enjoy the next few months of it.
Now to figure out which team I support...



Listening to Oh Lonesome Me by M. Ward

Fotos von Karneval

Some highlights...
From our perch above the parade.

Plus a stop in Bonn on my way home yesterday- this is the room Ludwig Van was born in!

listening to: Canopy Glow from Anathallo

kölle alaaf!

sorry it´s been a while- i've been celebrating Karneval in Köln! I don't have time to write up a complete review, but ganz kurz: it was a blast. a very very overwhelming cultural shock, thousands of scary clowns and all other sorts of creatures, candy being thrown from tractors and poor old ladies in wheel chairs and everyone loving every minute. i'll put up pictures when im back in romantic heidelberg.

Best, Alex

new music!

I've written less music then I'd have liked to have in the last couple years. But I've been making more attempts recently and I came up with one today. I literally wrote it in the last 20 minutes, it's very very incomplete and rough, but I recorded it so I don't forget it. That's my biggest issue most often- that I come up with a cool jam or words or something, but don't write it down or record it and the idea is lost. I am going to make more of an effort to sit and write songs, as well as to record some version of them for future work.
I was kind of inspired to write today by a band I stumbled across: I saw them twice in Chicago in 2007, once at an acoustic open mic (which I played as well) and again at a coffee-shop/restaurant setting with a full band. I'm happy for their success- but at the same time it makes me think I really ought to write more songs and crash the Chicago open mic circuit next year. Who knows what could happen?
Here's the song I recorded today: again, rough, but enjoy anyway-



Also, high speed rail in the United States? 8 billion is headed toward building its infrastructure in the stimulus plan.

take it to the man, man

As a requirement to study in Germany as an international student, you need to pass some sort of German language test, to prove aptitude. I did this last summer during my frantic attempt to apply and get accepted at a University here. My grades on the TestDaF (Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache) were not quite sufficient, but I asked for special permission and they let me in, on grounds that I retake the test in March of this year.
Well at the beginning of the year I recieved a letter, letting me know I had been enrolled in the DSH (another form of the German test) and that, unless I took and passed the test, I would not be allowed to study here the next semester.
I had absolutely no interest in taking that test.
So, after a bit of persuasion from my roommate and landlords, I wrote a letter to the office for international students (in proofread and perfect German) asking to be freed from the required test.
I waited a couple weeks and had received no answer. I counted my losses and accepted that I'd have to stick around in little Heidelberg during my semester break to take the dumb test. But then on a whim I sifted through my junk email folder and came across the answer- I needed only to provide a letter from an advisor or professor confirming my proficiency and I'd be free!
So I asked a professor to write a letter for me, he returned it to me in two days, and I went this morning to have it looked over. The administrator lady read the letter once through and told me I was free to go, no requirement to take the test anymore. She said it makes them happy to run into international students who can actually speak German well. Ahh.
So it goes to show- show some initiative and ask for what you want, and you may get it sometimes.
I'm flying to Rome, then Athens, and back instead of taking a dumb test. Life is good.

m. ward

M. Ward may be the best present-day songwriter I've come across. I like this article.

I'm listening to his album Transistor Radio on repeat these days.

Last night was good-bye party to a good friend from Australia- his time in romantic Heidelberg has sadly come to an end. I wish him the best.

Tomorrow I am going hiking! It will be an adventure. Exciting!

Paper is still stalled, but I feel better about it. Not sure how that works, but the logic calms me down at least.

Take care out there!

'everything that ends once began... what comes down once went up.'

handball

Yesterday I went to a handball game in Mannheim.

It was pretty boring. Like Mannheim itself.

But handball advocates told me there's more to it than meets the eye, and I believe that. I've acquired that ability after many attempts at explaining the beauty of baseball to Germans.

But the Rhein-Neckar Löwen beat the Füchse aus Berlin 30-27. Yay!

I also filled my bike tires with air for the first time all year. Mmm.

Oh and I take back my "spring is coming" crap. More snow today.

februar, 2. woche

Hello!

Spring is on its way. Thanks to my dad for his countdown- but I noticed it most the other day when I woke to rain and opened the window, felt warm, warm air rush in and heard birds. Birds! Welcome back!

I am experiencing a period of extreme, nauseating and aggravating idleness. I have 16 more pages to write (6 for one paper 10 for the other) and cannot move further. I sit down at my desk and the stupid, stupid internet somehow distracts me from my work for hours and hours until it's 8:30 and I decide I'm better off calling it a night, eating dinner and going to bed early. I would turn off the internet completely or go somewhere without wireless but I need the dictionary online to type. So... Catch 22. I'm bound to wallow in idleness until 3 days before all the 3 papers are due. Wonderful.

But the cause for the sitting around on my ass is reasonable, I think- I am on vacation (sort of)! School is out in Germany for the next two months, but not really. Teachers assign papers at the end of the semester to be handed in at the beginning of the next one, so there really is no break. Students get around this bastardization of vacation by taking courses with exams at the end, but my beloved future alma mater wants to see my thoughts on paper before it awards me credit. So I get to type my vacation away in romantic Heidelberg.

The other reason I feel as if I am doing breastroke through a pool of milchreis is because for all of last week I had visitors, and did nothing remotely related to school and academic thinking. Liz came for my concert last week, and Kathryn came from paris to visit last weekend. Highlight of Liz's visit was a hike we did with no goal in mind but just to get fresh air. The air was wet, thick, heavy, and we simply headed up into the hills. We somehow found our way towards the castle and made it back in about 2 hours, and I just felt so relaxed and calmed and in touch with my surroundings. Liz and I celebrated 5 years of caring for each other with spaghetti and tomato sauce. I love her.

And Kathryn came, met all my friends and we partied quite well. Saturday night I hosted Schnitzel night, and it was a rousing success. I cooked for 6, and even threw in some pan-fried eggplant for Hanna the veggie! My schnitzel came out well, thanks to my sous-chef Kath. My mom would be proud. And I'm even more happy that Kathryn got to meet Hanna's friend who was visiting, a sort of unbelievable mashup of German stereotypes- "Moritz", the German brewer-in-training and heavy-metal (Rammstein) fan. Perfect. Thank God for realized stereotypes.

If all goes as planned I will be done with paper #2 and well into research for #3 by the time I leave for Köln next Saturday for Karnival. Karnival is the German Mardi Gras and Köln is the epicenter of the party. I also can't wait to see my relatives again.

But I'll be back from Karnival around the 25. Februar, then be here in Heidelberg finishing up my papers for 1.5 weeks. I've been invited to a brewery tour (Moritz's) in Uelzen with Hanna around the 11. März, so I'll hop up to Norddeutschland for that. But after that, I have three weeks of freedom until the man forces me to take class again. I need/want to do something great then.

I threw around the idea of doing an Athens-Istanbul trip for about 2 weeks. But I've gone cold on the idea. I really really don't like the idea of traveling to a country where I am completely clueless of the language. I know, I speak the lingua franca of the 21st century quite proficiently, but every experience I've had in foreign countries where I don't know the language has been very unenjoyable. I feel like an intruder, a nuisance, and plus I am clueless as to the interesting bits and nice places to go. I would just follow the tourist crowds and, I'm afraid, be dissapointed. I want to make a rule for myself- Unless visiting a friend or acquaintance, do not travel to countries where you don't speak the language at least 50% proficiency, unless traveling with someone who meets said requirements.

And so that leaves me with these ideas so far. If anyone has suggestions or advice, please comment!

- a walking tour in Scotland. Scotland is full of beautiful hills and landscapes- I'd call it a cold, rainy, less amazing New Zealand. But it's close and I speak the language.
-London/Dublin/Edinburg trip. Hit up the UK's big cities and drink some bitters/guiness/whisky.
-bike tour of the Bodensee. A HUGE lake (150 miles circ) in the south of germany, also borders Austria and Switzerland. I can take my bike down there with the train and ride short distances each day, staying in pretty B&Bs along the way.
-bike tour HD- Tübingen. A friend is studying in Tübingen and I could make it in 2 days, stopping in Stuttgart. Then come back.
-Leipzig/Dresden/e. Germany trip- visit the former e. Germany and see its purported hidden beauty.

Maybe I could do two of these... But let me know. (meyera@uchicago.edu)

German national soccer starts back up tonight. Friendly against Norway. I've got the over on 5-0.

Love,
Al