Thursday, August 31, 2006




We've just now crossed September and are flying back to the MA in the afternoon. Aside from the Schwarzwald venture, August was a cloudy month and we need a few days to sleep it off. The apartment's clean and we're all packed.

We're leaving Germany and we'll miss it. D's been to a few of these so-called European countries, and I made it to 5 while I was here, but I have to say I was most impressed by this place. Of course, I had the chance to live here and get to know the people. Nonetheless, here's a 11 point list of what we already long for without one step back Stateside yet:

11: Hauptbahnhof as the central operating structure of us-without-cars

10: Apfelsaftschorle, as in the drink we'll experiment with and start selling to the Davis Co-Op.

09: Proper beer with the proper drinking techniques. These Germans can use almost anything to open a bottle (I swear I saw one harness and use a sparrow's beak), but when it comes to
consuming you gotta run the etiquette right.

08: Pedestrian Friendly gegen Street vs. Sidewalk. All these pedestrian only zones around the Old City and shopping districts are great, and the old excite-o-meter jumps a notch when an occasional car comes meandering down a cobblestoned lane.

07: Feldrenner, DM. Here's to great athletes, fun people and reinforced arms!

06: Lebanese Food, its singing chef and Moussaka.

05: Students letting me know how they'll "become a car next week." Diesel or unleaded?

04: You have to realize that the best ice cream place in Mainz has this super grumpy woman working the scoop and you'd think that if you were in such a position as to give out so much joy (and joy is what I feel each time I walk away with a cone), you'd be really happy and proud but this woman really scowls so much that you think she hates Christmas, the cold, and just wishes that everyone were a bit more lactose intolerant so that they would just stop but woman, I will miss you!

03: Alles muss Raus! That one bookstore in Mainz that was always having a going-out-of-business sale just, it seems, to prove the point that man is always "going-out-of-business." How mortal.

02: The Mainzer Dom, especially in the early summer when the sunset lights him into a bright brick hue at 10:00pm. This central figure was the pivot point of our directionless darts around town.

01: Our friends here, from co-workers to teammates to singing Lebanese chefs and grumpy ice cream ladies (I miss you!). Everyone was and still is great, and we can't wait to come back and meet again.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006


And then:


And then:

As of Friday, it's been a little easier to type with two hands now that the doctors have given me a half-cast from the elbow down. And for those who aren't aware, I'll refer you to here in order to spare myself the little discomfort I still have. Basically, I laid out for a huck, kept my arms out in front while landing on my chest and then hit a rough spot in the grass with my left arm, causing it to be caught under my sliding body, dislocating my wrist and audibly and undoubtedly breaking a bone in my arm. 5 hours after the crack, I was on the operating table under the care of some great doctors and nurses who made my adventure as pleasant as possible.

Then came the most boring few days of my time here in Germany, the monotony broken only by some teammates who broke me out to watch us win the Finals. Other than that, I read about 5 books during my stay and will never go to another tournament without a deck of cards just in case. D was great, by the way, taking care of the insurance and making sure work knew I needed time off. If you know my parents, you should ask them about the ordeal, as they had an entirely different perspective on the timeline of events. The rest goes like this: 4 weeks from now and back in Northern California, I'll get this cast off, start physical therapy, take up Disc Golf, and plan a return to a Sacramento Ultimate field in late winter.

The last few weeks here have been filled with medical treatment (had to stay in Cologne for a week after the surgery) and work, with a short foray to the Black Forest which we'll up date you on in a coming-soon post. Otherwise, that's as much of a Nationals report as I'm able to share, and I can't wait to play with Mainz in the future--maybe again at Rimini, and we'll see about German Nationals another year.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

All of Europe, nevermind the US, has been sloshed with heat of late. Are we in Death Valley or is this the Amazon? Is it my trendy Euro super-diesel engine, or should I sweat through that protest of those polluting, American capitalist dogs across the Atlantic?

Ah, but no. We're in Deutschland, and there are more important problems brewing in this weather.