As I was sitting in the small, smokey pub of SC Greven 09 (Soccer Club) listening to men of all ages drunkenly singing and swaying to victory chants and drinking songs, I turned to Matthi and said, "This is an experience that all the other Americans in my program will never get to have!" So let me back up a little in my story...Matthi plays for the highest division of his soccer club (gets paid to do so...how nice!), and this Sunday was a huge rival match between his team SC Greven 09 and the other Greven club. We drove to the club around 11:00am so we could watch some of the lower divisions and younger teams play, and then Matthi's game commenced at 2:30pm. It was a pretty heated game and yellow cards were being pulled by the referees left and right. In fact, the goal keeper of Matthi's team received two yellow cards and was therefore removed from the game. The coach (scrambling for a back-up plan) had the keeper of the younger division step up and play for the second half of the match. The kid (who still had braces...if you wanted an age estimation) did an amazing job! No one scored on him and the game ended a 2-1 win for SC Greven 09!
After the game, I went up to Matthi and his teammates to congratulate them, and the first thing out of Matthi's mouth was, "Thanks! Woah, you're lips are blue!" Yeah, did I mention that I stood outside for over six hours in 32 degree weather? It was freezing, windy, and if it wasn't for the dimly beaming sun then my whole body probably would have been blue! I was definitely excited when I was informed that we could go into the pub to celebrate the win.
Only in Germany does a team get rewarded 30 free beers for winning a match! Once again, I was basically the only girl in the pub with Matthi's entire team, fans, and SC Greven 09 "alums." But as we have already been over in the previous post, I had no problem with this at all! We celebrated the win, the coach said a few words, and the Bundesliga (Major League) game came on the television. Fußball was EVERYWHERE! One of the club's retired prodigies was in the pub riling up all the players with cheers and chants and telling stories of "the good ole days." He was a hoot; he would yell over everyone in the pub and cheer anyone near him. He also kept on coming up to me and speaking in German...I just smiled and nodded (hope that was an appropriate response..hmm). A few minutes later the singing began at the bar and that is when I turned to Matthi and explained how lucky I am to have a friend in small town Germany. But really, how many times in your life will you be the ONLY American in a private soccer pub in Germany, listening to drunken old men and happy, victorious young men singing together and making victory chants? It was surreal to say the least!
At one point, I got up to use the restroom and I heard, "Hey, American Beauty!" I turned to see Jonas' and Tessa's (two of Matthi's closest friends) father sitting at a table with friends. I made my way over to his table and said, "Hello, Alois!" and gave him a hug. (Mind you I have not seen this man in two years, but I am probably one of the few American girls he has met...twice). He told me that his English is only good after he has had a few drinks, to which I said, "Like father, like son. Jonas tells me the same thing about himself." That gave Alois a good chuckle! The next thing he said was probably the funniest. As he held my hand he told me in broken English, "You look much better than the last time I see you!" Well, I got a good chuckle out of this.
If all of that was not enough, the Greulich family treated me to a traditional German meal at a restaurant in Münster. I had a Jäger Schnitzel with Pommes (fries) and Rotkohl (red cabbage). It was absolutely delicious! All in all it was a fantastic last day of a wonderful weekend in my favorite small town in Germany!
(Pictures: The top is from the night before at Öppe with Jonas and Stephan and the bottom photo is of me with the crazy, old German man at the soccer pub)
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