culture shock and ice hockey

On the surface the two may not appear to be related but I will enlighten you!

After a couple of lengthy emails with Lorene, I felt some clarification was in order. Yes, all three of us have been experiencing the dreaded Culture Shock in different ways. I've probably had it the easiest as I'm working and meeting people at the school. However, some of these people are 'interesting' characters and my ability to get along with just about everyone is being challenged! That is normal in ANY workplace though and the issues are pretty tame compared to what is going on in 509J these days (from the sound of things).

Jess was thrown into the middle of an intense academic program that, in some ways, she was not prepared for. This had made adjusting to Germany difficult - she's making new friends and getting used to a new place and routine and language PLUS trying to stay focused on school (even she will admit is not something she likes to do).

Murilo has it the toughest - he comes home and sleeps a couple of days to get acclimated to a new time zone (same as in Madras) BUT then he doesn't have anything to occupy his time - no yard, no house, no garage, no fire department, no Priday Ranch, no friends, nada.

For all three of us, little things creep up and WHAM we hate it here. Then, the next day (or two or three) everything is OK again. It is all about learning to recognize the symptoms and staying active - walking, joining a class, going to an ice hockey game (see I made the connection).

We attended two games yesterday - the manager of the local Frankfurt team gave our school 200 free tickets (his kids attend). We had a good time (ran into several people from work, of course) - it was fun to get out and do something different. We hitched a ride with our neighbors, the Szebestas (the Czechs who babysit Zizou). They are avid ice hockey fans and have season tickets.

We watched Canada beat Switzerland 2-0 and Germany whomp Slovakia 5-2. Here are some of the crazed fans - they bring their own noisemakers :).
Here are a couple more crazed fans! We decided to cheer for the home team AND Canada. All the Germans were supporting Canada too (as Switzerland are their dreaded rivals - much like Brazil and Argentina in soccer).

This is Yolana (Jo) and her husband, Peter. She is The Szebestas daughter and met Peter at an ice hockey game through friends!! How romantic.



Jessica, Mrs. and Mr. Szebesta, and Jo - they come pretty decked out to support their team!





Here is a clip of the crowd after Germany scored a point (goal? net? touchdown?)