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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Guarding the Maibaum

So last night after practice our coach came to us Ami's with a proposition. How would we like to make some money? Of course our first reaction and immediate answer was duuuhhh! "So what's the gig?". "How would you like to guard the May Tree?" We had heard about this tradition before but were curious to learn more about it. Basically, for those who do not know, the Maibaum, or May Tree, is a tree that is put up for the celebration of May Day in cities around Germany. It is decorated with ribbons by the townsfolk and is a symbol of pride for the city. It is also somewhat of a tradition to steal other town's May Trees, not unlike stealing a rival's mascot or trophy for a Homecoming Week in the U.S. Check out the wikipedia page on the topic here if you are interested!
The tree we had to guard!
So to do this service for the town of Schwäbisch Hall, the three amigos would have to stay near this tree in the middle of the city from around Midnight, until the sun rose. Sounds like an adventure to me! So we agreed, of course. 80 euro to split for a night to hang out, sleep in a car, anndd fight off any ninjas that come sneaking in the night? haha. Done deal.
Our enemies
We decided to bring as much entertainment as we could so that we didn't get bored. We brought our guitars, the cribbage board and cards, blankets and pillows, some snacks, computer for some music, and a little bit of alcohol to keep us warm! We started our shift by makings some drinks and playing some cribbage, of course yours truly beat Nish by one point on a peg. (Learn about cribbage here). Then we took some time to swap some stories and eventually we were playing some "Welcome to the Hotel Schwäbisch Hall", making up new lyrics for the old classic Eagles song. At one point an older lady who was very intoxicated came and chatted up Justice for a while. She apparently wanted a ride home in our car haha but we couldn't do that! Luckily there wasn't any group of people carrying chain saws looking to chop down our tree! So our mission was a success!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

First Home Game! vs Wiesbaden Phantoms

Yesterday we finally had our first home game! It lived up to the hype! There was a record setting crowd there to see the Unicorns take a 33-7 victory over the Wiesbaden Phantoms, a team that is a newcomer to the first league of the GFL. It seemed like the game took forever to get here since we played Berlin last Saturday and didn't play again until the following Monday! This was of course do to the Easter holiday weekend, which they take very seriously here in Germany. That was also to our advantage as Monday was part of everyone's holiday break. No work!? Might as well come out at see the Unicorns dominate!

2300 people! Pretty sweet!

Even people up on the hill

The day was meant for the Unicorns right from the get go as we took the opening drive down for a score. After that it was all Schwäbisch Hall! They defense played well and the offense moved the ball with relative ease for the majority of the game. For STATS go here. For the game recap here.
There were also some highlights taken of the game! The video is here!

Chattin

Notice the big blow up jumping thingy in the back ground




Some crowd!




Nice shirt

Ice

Ninja

Take Pickcha!


Little interview thingy

Debi rockin the linfield polo!!!


Yeah lets run 22 dive

Post game beers haha

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Catdome

So today was my day of feeling a little home sick for this month, (I've decided that one or two days a month of feeling not too hot about germany is allowable haha) and of course that gets me thinking about home and friends and family. Don't worry I'll survive, I won't be running back to the U.S. as much as I miss those people in my life! I started writing a song about home. I've been trying to play/write once or twice a week over here, since thats a great way to get some feelings out and is always pretty fun!



After skyping with my parents and Hilary I've felt much better and am back to my normal self (however normal you want to believe that is haha). So still thinking about home and looking for something to do I figure I should give a shout out to my Cat family, doing work back home in Mac town.


Right now there are some of my favorite people doing work on the playing field of Linfield College. The baseball team is having another great season and is ranked again in the top 10 in the nation. I'm pumped for the boys to get another shot at the world series, as I know they feel that they are capable, as in years past. I was pumped to see my main man Gunnar Cederberg going 4-7 with 2 runs yesterday for the cats. Also my dude Cole Bixenman did work going 4-9 with 3 RBIs and 4 runs, as the Cats came one step closer to another league championship. For the full coverage of the games check out Linfield's site HERE.

Not only can Linfield play a little pigskin they can also hit some roundball. And if you think I'm repeating myself I'm not talking about the boys. The softball team has been doing work for what seems like forever now. They are demolishing everyone in their path this year and are ready for another deep run in the playoffs! Right now the girls are right where they want to be, in the NWC Championship Game, and in the friendly confines of the Catdome. I've got a strange feeling that they are going to get it done! Check out the tourney info HERE.



Lastly, and of course not the least, a shout out to all the Cats getting up at the butt crack of dawn for spring football! I've been out of the loop a bit but I hear things are going well! The coaches decided this year to have the practices in the morning, nice and early. Thank goodness I got out of their just in time haha. I would love to be out there sweatin' with the boys! I hope all is going well in the Catdome and they are gearing up for another playoff run in the fall!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The City

So I know that this is long overdo, but it was an absolutely gorgeous day on Monday. This gave me the idea to take some pictures in the city of some of the beautiful buildings and such. So here they are! This is where I live!

From the bridge

Bridge with a little Nish in there haha



The main walking path through the city

The theatre and bear garden


Most all of the roads and sidewalks in the city are made like this

Our sponsor and main bank in town

The local discotech, Barfüsser

The church in the middle of town

A memorial for the Jewish people who's book were burned at this spot



View from the church, left

View from the church, right



Biggest set of stairs in the city, there are a lot of little tiny passageways like this one












A large toothbrush we found haha


A sweet Tesla smart car we came upon



View from the other side of town

Another view!