An exciting evening!

It was muggy and rainy all day.  I spent most of the day in my room, trying to start getting myself organized for taking all my stuff home . . . I can't believe I've only got three more weeks here!  Where did the time go?

Anyway, Marni dropped by about 5:30 in the afternoon--she's leaving in only one week, so she had been running around all day getting her stuff organized and packed up--and we walked to Lidl and bought some veggies and goat cheese to make ourselves a yummy dinner.  I also got some chocolate for Indra, because this is her week to be cooped up doing finals homework.

Right when we got back home, the rain started coming down heavy and it got dark.  It was still muggy, though, so we opened the windows up to listen to the rain, put on some music, heated up the oven, and chopped our veggies: onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, eggplant, carrots, and kohlrabi (a German vegetable that looks like a giant turnip and has a slightly cabbage-y flavor).  Then we stuck them in the oven and sat down to draw while we waited for them to roast.  We heard some thunder rumbling and saw a couple lightning flashes, but they weren't very close by.  After a bit, Indra came in to join us.  The rain came down heavier, and Indra and I went into her room to look at the street out front.  The gutters were getting more and more flooded.  When we went back into the kitchen (which is on the back side of the building), there were more lightning flashes and the thunder got louder.  At one point there was suddenly a super bright flash, and I thought, "Oh man, this is probably going to be a loud thunder--" and then CRACK!  We all jumped, especially Marni, who had her back to the window.  It was even louder than the thunder had been that day in Kraków when we got caught in the storm in the town square!  After that, there were no thunderclaps quite as loud as that one had been, but some of them were still pretty loud and the lightning was super bright--sometimes the actual bolts were visible.  Indra didn't like it.  She said thunderstorms always scared her when she was a kid, and she still dreaded the loud noise.  I thought it was cool because we never have thunderstorms like that in California.  This storm was LONG!  It went on for at least an hour--just rain, flash after flash of lightning, and one rumble of thunder after another.  Crazy!  In California, if you're lucky enough to experience an occasional thunderstorm, you can be pretty sure it won't go on for more than half an hour at the very most.

The roasted veggies were delicious!  We cut up the goat cheese and sprinkled it over top when it came out of the oven.  Perfect food for a stormy evening!

At 10 Marni and Indra went back to their rooms, and I put away my art stuff and then went downstairs to the student housing bar room to watch the Brazil-Germany game.  The room was set up with chairs and couches and the big projector and screen at one end, and it was pretty full.  I found a seat along the wall.  When I got into the room the game had been going on for about 25 minutes already, and no sooner had I sat down than Germany scored and the room went crazy.

It was an exciting game!  Final score: 7-1, Deutschland.

These are from the UK Telegraph....classic!!

Man . . . Germany is THE team to watch this time around!  They made the goals look easy.  Brazil was trying, but Germany just seemed to have control of the game the whole time.  Miroslav Klose scored another goal, which makes him the all-time record holder for the most goals scored in a World Cup.  And seriously, Manuel Neuer is amazing.  The guy is like a brick wall in front of the goal.  Hardly any ball that comes his way can get past him.  Brazil's only goal was in the last two minutes--they squeaked it past Neuer when all the German defenders were downfield.  To be honest, I felt bad for Brazil.  They had a hard loss at home, and there was a lot of raw emotion . . . people in the crowd were literally sobbing after Germany scored four goals in a row.  The really cool thing to see, though, was the genuinely good sportsmanship on both sides--at the end both teams were hugging and congratulating each other, and there didn't seem to be animosity on either side.  Pro games in the U.S., like the Super Bowl and NBA finals, seem to have a bit more ego going on a lot of the time--some guys are good sports, but others always seem really cocky even if they do shake hands with the other team or whatever.  Kind of incredible how soccer is like a worldwide brotherhood of sorts, and in general the players seem to view themselves as all being on the same level.

I just can't believe I ended up being in Germany on a World Cup year while the World Cup was actually happening, and I REALLY can't believe I am here while Germany is in the final!  I am eagerly awaiting the final showdown on Sunday!  Now the only question is: Who will they be playing . . . the Netherlands or Argentina?