In honor of the FIFA World Championship game tonight, I just wanted to tell you about our football (soccer for Americans) fixation of the past month. Now, I have NEVER in my ENTIRE life watched a game from beginning to end. Erik enjoys it, but he certainly doesn't HAVE to watch it. Perhaps it has been a much needed way to ignore our complicated lives for a few hours at a time, but I would have to estimate that we have watched at least 40-50% of the 63 games played thus far. I must say, now that I understand it a bit better, I get more out of it.
Now, in the beginning we were popping back and forth between Vienna and Munich. Erik was getting treatment from his own well-trusted doctors for his knee problem and working off the part that the insurance doesn't cover by playing with MCO in Vienna. That was fine. In Vienna we could go to the cafe below our apartment hotel if we wanted to see a game on a big screen. Then there was the quieter option of the TV in our room. We saw Germany totally cream Australia in an enormous hall in Munich. We had to stand the whole time, but it was worth it. Otherwise we watched huddled up in Erik's aunt's guest room while it poured down rain outside. The last night in Munich happened to be the year-end party of the Munich Philharmonic. At the end of the dinner, we watched with a bunch of Erik's colleagues who are all thrilled that he is coming back (even at 50%) next season.
Then it was off to Doha. Now, annoyingly enough, in a ploy to get people to buy cable or satellite dishes, Qatar blocked one or two of the few TV stations worth watching that we actually get in Doha. Of course, they were the ones broadcasting the games. We had three methods of seeing games there. One was the expensive method - the Spanish restaurant at the Hilton Hotel - one of the few places in Doha where one can actually get a glass of wine to drink to go along with some tapas. The second was a little corner bar at the Sheraton hotel. Erik had to "join" up to see that one and I managed to talk my way in part-way through the game because I had just been playing a wedding there. That was pretty weird. It was full of single men, I assume mostly hotel guests, and what we finally figured out must have been prostitutes looking for work. Talk about double standards... ANYWAY, the free option was an enormous air-conditioned tent in the souk (the market center/"old town" of Doha). That was a very interesting experience. We went there to see Germany absolutely clobber England. We were with a German colleague. In the front of the hall were low beach chairs. That turned out to be the family area. Even without kids, we profit from the system. Just looking around for seats attracted the attention of the guys working there and they made a couple single men move for us. Our single friend (a.k.a. "brother") was able to sit with us, albeit on the astro-turf-covered floor. It was a bit embarrassing the trouble they went to, but we weren't the only ones treated that way. It was a very comfortable way to watch. The only people in front of us were single guys laying on gigantic pillows and a few Qatari kids on the floor. If you look carefully, you can see them in their white thawbs in this picture:
The place was packed and, for me, it was somehow the most exciting game of the whole tournament.
This past week, we have been together in Cologne. We attempted to watch a game down at the cafe on the corner, but they had organized it badly and only the people right in front could see. We were even there 45 minutes early, but those tables had been reserved, so being early didn't help. We got frustrated and left right at the beginning. The consequence? We missed the German goal that happened within the first three minutes. Bummer! Of course they played it back again and again, but that's still not the same thing as real time. The rest of the games we also watched at home.
Now Erik is back in Doha doing his last "youth orchestra" concerts and running around organizing paperwork for us to leave and let me tell you, it's VERY complicated to leave that country. Thankfully, I think it will all work out. It's just a matter of exactly which day they'll have it done. We hope to drive out of there at 4am on the 23rd of July. We shall see...
In the meantime, I'll be blogging for the next few days. I promise.
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