He is very upset and in pain. Normally I wouldn’t be able to tell because he has the same way of communicating for everything at the moment. I am looking forward to when we can make deals with him the way we can with M.
Bible question:
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?*
*Stolen from those internets
Second place means promotion to Bundesliga 2 for the next season. Apparently the extra money from the move wipes out the club’s debt and leaves some left over. Anyway, they have looked like they would go up for the last three seasons that I have followed them and now that I am on the verge of leaving Germany they bloody make it. Typical.
Go Fortuna.
Fortuna is in second place coming into the last game of the season on Saturday. If they finish there then they are going up to the second league. If they finish third then they are in the play off for a spot in the second league. So with a win this weekend they definitely go up. Any other result will then depend on what happens with the challengers below them.
Apparently the stadium has sold out, so I am glad I went and got my tickets on Monday. The radio said sold almost 51000 tickets have been sold. I have never seen the stadium that full and it is going to be an awesome Saturday.
Holy crap it is nerve wracking now and there are still a couple of days to get through.
…is the way Germans cannot cope when they are in a less structured environment. If there is a rule or a law, the Germans will follow it to the letter. People here don’t jay walk and while there is litter (a little bit) like any city, you won’t see a German (alcohol is not factored into this) throw his rubbish on the ground. However, put a group of Germans into a situation where there are no laws and no established rules of behaviour and they will often behave like selfish animals. my latest two examples:
I was waiting for the train the other morning and as I do most mornings I stood where I knew the train doors were going to open. Other people clustered around me, including an older lady (50s, not properly old) with an umbrella. No problem I thought. I am in the best position and will get on and claim a seat for the 20 minute ride to work. The older lady however had other ideas. As the train pulled in and it became obvious that she was not likely to be the first person on the train, she squeezed in as far as she could and then put her umbrella in front of me so that she could lever herself through before me. At the same time the doors were opening and the horde around and behind me reacted like sharks scenting blood. As they surged, I managed to push her umbrella down, step around it and then back in front of her in one deft move.
I squeezed her out so effectively that she was not amoung the lead group and I could see her from my seat as she negotiated the torrent of humanity still attempting to pour onto the train. The stupid part was that she would have been dragged along in my wake onto the train if she hadn’t fought me. The animalistic side of the German psyche is so often displayed when there is a need to form a queue and it bugs me. Line up everyone and take your damn turn. So often I have to say to someone “Die Schlange is da,” as I point to where they should go.
The second incident was yesterday and also involves public transport. I was backing off a tram with the Kinderwagon, when a fat man tried to squeeze past my oncoming back and the partition protecting those waiting for the tram from the rest of the traffic on the road. As stated, I was in reverse and trying to control a pram containing my progeny and so had no idea that some fat idiot was attempting the impossible. I stepped off the train, the downward movement giving me a bit of momentum and I smashed right into him. The back pack I was wearing shoved him hard into the glass partition and I loudly inquired what the fuck was going on as he said something that sounded like vwoomph. He said nothing further and probably felt he had gotten away with just a bruised arm as he shambled painfully off along the platform, but I wasn’t leaving it at that.
“Dickhead!” I called after him. I think most Germans understand that expression, because all those waiting to get on the tram looked at him, making him hang his head and dart across the road.
When there are no rules most of the people here just become monsters. It usually bugs me, but it can be amusing to watch a guy in the bakery who has some understanding of turn taking, abuse (at length) the guy who pushes in and gets served straight away.
It’s almost the end of the year and things are very busy. Reports are due next week and while I have made good progress I still have lots more work to do on them. We also have the Faculty vs. Fifth grade football game tomorrow, which I have organised; it will be a relief when it is done and I can focus (my meager spare time) on report writing again.
In class we (4.3) are also busy as we are presenting the news every morning over the P.A. system. Our afternoons are spent researching stories and our mornings are for refining and updating stories so that the news goes out on time and isn’t stale. The mornings are a hectic rush; so much so that some of the kids said it reminds them of the real news rooms we looked at on a video.
On top of all the this there is a fair bit of internal upheaval happening at school. One element of the school seems to be acting not in the interests of the school and is stressing everyone out. I am fairly disconnected from it because I am leaving in a few weeks, but I still feel for my colleagues who will be there next year and possibly still have to deal with all the uncertainty.
I will also miss my class. This always happens. I work with them for 10 months and then that’s it. So long and thanks for all the homework.
So this guy with a clip board and a badge turned up this afternoon and told me that every day someone in the house has to go hug a rainbow. he also said that there now has to be at least 3 items of hemp clothing in the house and at least a third of the members of the house have to grow beards. After telling me all this he went away. I closed the door and went back down the hall, still a bit perplexed and noticed my wife with a new computer…it was a Mac. Now the wierd conversation at the door made sense.
It seems quite fashionable to have a go at Chelsea and talk about the money their Russian owner has pumped into the club. It is also quite fashionable to forget that other clubs have lots of money too. I want to remind people that in England, before the big money transfer of Schevchenko to Chelsea, the three highest transfers ever were Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rio Ferdinand, who were all playing on the same team at Manchester United. No one ever had a go at them over it though.
I was reading the article by Craig foster in the Sydney Morning Herald and couldn’t leave it at that. Trying to make Chelsea out to be unpopular for anything other than money and success (like a few other clubs) seems to be off right target and to use a Milwall quote and claim that it is a favourite chant* of Chelsea is just manipulation, as is implying that Barcelona is David to the Chelsea Goliath.
I couldn’t argue that the post match aggression of the players was fine, but I would say that the refereeing was worse and that the two spot kicks that should have been awarded to Chelsea would have massively changed the game; then the media hacks would have been having to bite their ‘literary’ tongues and write something positive about Chelsea.
*I’m sure the fans have sung it (but I have never in 13 years as a Chelsea fan heard it associated with the blues), but I wonder how many other clubs have sung it as well.
Having said all that, I am not the Chelsea fan I used to be. I have hardly watched them play all season and was only slightly miffed that they were knocked out of the Champions League. Why did I get so uptight about the article? I don’t know
Trish (Alex’s mum) came over a few days before Lukas was born and has been an enormous help. Since Lukas has come and I have been back at work it has been great for Alex to have someone around the house to help her while our routines get established. Emily loves her Nonna whom she refers to as ‘No no’ and has been fed breakfast and dinner by her just about everyday for two weeks. Unfortunately she leaves on Sunday. Luckily though my mum arrives soon too and they can tag hands and swap places. What we do once my mum leaves…
I am now at 120.3 kg which is 7.7 kg lost over the last three weeks. In addition I have also lost 3.5cm off my waist. The diet was not as tough this week, but it is still difficult to deal with other people eating awesome, bad food around me. I did indulge a little and eat 2 choc-chip cookies this week as well as having a large glass of wine and a large whiskey. I didn’t eat any chips though and that was an achievement all by itself.