Due to the amount of commotion which has been caused by the
Football World Cup and seeing as we are right in the middle of it all made us feel obliged to attemt describing just how crazy everyone here is and how
EVERYTHING is about football. Not sure how much coverage this event is getting down under but in Berlin it's in every single newspaper, in every shop, on everyone's lips... football, football, football...
TV companies have set up large viewing screens all over the city where people can watch the games live. In front of the Brandenburg Gate a 60 square meter screen has been put up and along the Street of '17 Juni' (which is the street directly in front of the gate) has been blocked off to form a two kilometer
Fan Mile. In front of the gate so far there's been a number of concerts, one for the opening which included performances by PINK and the guys of 'Right Said Fred' (we were in Venice and missed it).
In Tiergarten (central park) a giant ferris wheel has been set up to entertain the guests. On Alexanderplatz the new big department store has finished renovations right before the cup, and the Hauptbahnhof (main trainstation) has been opened a couple of weeks ago to accommodate the floood of fans.
BVG (local equivalent of Connex) is running funny ads in both german and english about how people should try to let others out of the carriages before trying to get into the train to avoid trampling. They've also released their monthly edition of 'BVG News' in german, english, french and spanish describing routes to the Opympiastadium and various things-to-do in Berlin during the cup, some of which includes having to taste the infamous Currywurst which is a Berlin speciality - normal sausage with heaps of sause and curry powder on top.
Every second person has their face painted in the gold, red and black (german national colours). People are chanting various
things in their own languages in trains, on the street, in cafes - EVERYWHERE. To further increase the "global" team spirit a large version of a table-football game has been set up at one of the trainstations with plastic bears wearing clothes from the 32 teams... the figures are allmost life-size (humans that is, not bears), so it's pretty cumbersome to play but people manage. Along with these giant ones, many bars and pubs are running their own table-footy championships...
In our class every morning people discuss passionately (more through lots and LOTS of bodylanguage, for lack of german) the latest results and happenings.
In the shops every single possible item under the sun has something to do with the football ball or the cup... and here are some examples:
Bottleshops are specialising in bottles which are shaped as a ball.
New cocktails are being invented.
In case you are not one of those Bavarian women who can carry six 2 litre steins in each hand, this device is for you!
Girls - ever wanted a make-up set in a shape of a football?
Dohnuts on top of a trophy...
Sage club (previously mentioned in another post) has a flyer for it's weekly 'Rock at Sage' night with what looks like a wrestling dude holding an electric saw... and a ... yep you guessed it - a foodball.
Just some other things that we come accross in our everyday shopping are football shaped/patterned: ashtrays, toilet seats, underwear, umbrellas, beanbags, various cutlery and crockery, of course various t-shirts and scarves, pretty much anything you can think of - just stick a football onto it.
A friend of ours received at work a parcel from a client's company. It contained (and we translate roughly):
* One team spirit inspiring cloth with moving it around stick (ie a little German flag)
* One universal remote control (in the shape of a soccer pitch with player layout). It was also encased in a big (easy to find when pissed) bouncy (see the bit about being pissed) beer bottle opener (there is a real lack of twist tops in this country). Not bad as far as marketing goes - deserves a P rating (P!ss Funny)
And now some of you might ask what part do we (an Australianised German and an Australianised Russian living in Berlin) take in all of this? And the answer is
nix ... we do have the Spielplan (play schedule) hanging on the pantry door, but really since neither Germany or Australia have much of a chance and Russia having not qualified... our interest is purely voyeristic, leaving us interested in the phenomena per se - from the people-watching and culture-observing perspective. Thus being 30 degrees outside we'll probably venture out to Potsdamer Platz and absorb the football vibe...
Contrary to previous ramblings after the game I felt it was necessary for me to buy an Australian flag which I proudly wore for the remainder of the evening (in Berlin the game finished at 8PM not the 2AM in Melbski) and into the Fan Mile where we went for a ride on the new ferris wheel. Thus now our balcony is adorned with two flags - A BIG Aussie one and a small german one ;P
In other amusing things that we come accross dealing with foreigners attending the event are people like these... At around 30 degrees each day since the beginning of the event the weather is condusive to sleeping on the street just wrapped in a sleeping bag. And the fact that you can legally drink beer anywhere and the huge outdoor screens with the game you can have your own loungeroom pretty much on any corner!
things in their own languages in trains, on the street, in cafes - EVERYWHERE. To further increase the "global" team spirit a large version of a table-football game has been set up at one of the trainstations with plastic bears wearing clothes from the 32 teams... the figures are allmost life-size (humans that is, not bears), so it's pretty cumbersome to play but people manage. Along with these giant ones, many bars and pubs are running their own table-footy championships...
A friend of ours received at work a parcel from a client's company. It contained (and we translate roughly):
Headbanging, electronic flashing lights and very cool projections, eights rows of VERY loud speakers, decent crowd, no support act - it was a TOOL of a concert! 'nuf said.
We brought our tent and camped. Yes, we camped in Amsterdam :) Our campsite Zeeburg was only 7 mins ride on the tram from central station and for 15 EURS a night it was pretty damn cheap as far as accommodation in this part of the world goes. We also hired two bikes for a day and felt the dutch spirit. Here you can see one of the inhabitants of the campsite who also played the role of a rooster in the morning :)
We also took a 'Candelight Cruise' on the canals and it was great. We were provided with three bottles of wine, cheese and crackers (which filled up magically). The tour guide was very good - he was very funny and knew heaps... but there was one small problem - he could _only_ speak seven languages and russian wasn't one of them :)
Holland being a pretty advanced country decided to install open-on-the-street type of toilets, which sadly only cater for the male audience. Thus if you come accross one of these establishments you can witness wonders happen in broad daylight. Oh, and in case you didn't know (and we didn't either prior to the trip) all those houseboats that people live in on the canals - they don't have any plumbing... so don't go swimming in those canals :)
As it became customary throughout our travels we met a friendly cat and fed him one days worth of old ham leftovers... he seemed very pleased.
In Leipzig wanting to leave our bag in the lockers and having discovered that the locker broke and ate our bag Jack had to go and talk to the Service Desk people so that they could retrieve it. I stood by the locker just in case it opened. In some minutes he returns fuming - and at my question of what was wrong (thinking that the Service Desk people weren't helpful) he says "F*&^ing old people! I stand in line and suddenly they come and stand right in front of me, as if there's noone there!" So I ask "So what did you do?", "Well I asked them what was it that they were doing and they got a bit taken aback and were saying that they didn't realise that there was a line..." Yeah right!