Back in the USA

Flew back from Germany on Saturday without too much jetlag and it's now back to the old grind. The trip and the festivities were amazing. Everyone was out waving their flags and chanting football songs (which suprisingly borrow a lot of melodies from children songs, e.g. one I heard from the Swedes was to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.")

The game at Kaiserslautern was great although quite meaningless after the English and Swedes drew in their match. Everyone was out for the Trinis (the Germans had adopted them) although there was a smattering of Paraguayan fans. We got our face painted and bought some T&T shirts on the street to join in on the fun. Our seats were 4th row behind the goal, not great because of the net but we were right there in the action, especially since most of the action seemed to happen on our half of the field.

Then it was off to Berlin on the overnight train. Probably not the best way to go, but Kaiserslautern is relatively small and without vacant hotel rooms when we were booking rooms. Still, it was quite the experience since we shared our compartment with Trinis until they got off at Frankfurt. Berlin was cool. At least, I thought so. Husni didn't think much of it, but I maintain that it was because he wasn't drinking nearly as much as when we were in Munich. The one thing Berlin can do better at though is definitely Mexican food. But I guess no one goes to Berlin for the burritos. I'll post again on the culinary experience in Germany and pics later as this post seems to be getting long.

Anyway, our last night in Germany we were back in Munich and back to the Marienplatz, the city center. And the place was packed. Swedes in town for their 2nd round game against Germany. Swiss and Ukrainian fans celebrating their advancements. Random Englishman and Americans. We taunted French fans and messed with a Norwegian reporter trying to do a story on the Swedes. I tried to learn a Swedish football song but I only heard the Swedish Chef. I also pretended to be Korean as I finally gave up trying to tell everyone I was American. Husni, being one of the brown folk, was alternatively mistaken for whichever jersey he was wearing that day: Spain, Brazil,etc. Except when he was wearing the German jersey, despite a large Turkish German population, go figure. Also, we were both stopped and made to take a picture with this lady because she wanted a picture with Trinidadians despite our repeated claims to be Americans.