I haven't written on here in a few weeks, so that probably means I haven't been doing anything. That is fairly accurate, but there are still some news items to share. Let's see...
I made some local German friends during the past few weeks. Some guy named Michael I met a bar was friendly enough to invite me to watch some soccer games with his buddies, which is nice because they don't speak English very much so I'm forced to practice my German when I'm around them. Which is a good thing because I didn't get into the 3 week intensive course I wanted to take (too many applicants, not enough teachers/space). There were of course a few confusing moments, like after some of the soccer games were over, he told me he and his friend were going to "wetten", and asked if I would come with them, then later come back to watch the Bayern Munich game. I heard the wetten as "betten" because the v and b sounds are pretty similar sometimes, thinking that was some way of saying they were going to go home and take nap. Betten, go to the Bett. Made sense to me. But it was a bit strange that they would ask me to join them to take a nap... it seemed like a good idea cuz I was really tired so I was planning on making my leave to go home to my own bed. As we walked out I asked them again where they lived blah blah and walked with them a bit further, and soon we walked into a building and I realized that wetten is not betten, but pretty obviously, "betting". They were going to put some money down on the Bayern Munich game. "Ohhhhh...Alles klar". I don't bet on sports, so I didn't even think about it. I didn't even know that were were sports betting buildings, I thought everything was online. That was an interesting place to visit even though I had no idea how it worked. There were lots of TVs with numbers scrolling down them with scores and odds and turnouts kind of Matrixy. We were the only ones there except for some Turkish looking men standing around in silence and black jackets smoking cigarettes, and a tiny little woman with red lipstick and red hair behind a desk taking the betting cards. It was a good day and I learned some new words.
Later Michael invited me to go "Kegeln spielen". I didn't really know what that was even after he explained it to me. After telling Mom and Dad about it, I found out it was called 9 Pin bowling in the US. But I've only heard the name 9 Pin before, never seen anyone play it. Apparently it was really popular in the GDR (German Democratic Republic/East/Commie Germany), second only to soccer for many years. It's a really fun game actually, more so than bowling because instead of bowling in 10 frames, you get 100. The pins are much smaller and more spread apart, and the bowling ball is also about half the size of a standard bowling ball, but still pretty heavy. There are also no finger holes in the bowling ball so you just kinda heave it down the lane. The place that we play at is pretty cool too, it's a sport club in a neighboring town that exists entirely for Kegeln. It has 2 lanes, a little kitchen, and a sort of anteroom with tables and chairs that you can watch the players through a big glass window while you sit and drink your beer. Also in that room there are posters and news clippings from past players, and bunch of trophies on shelves. The other guys I met there were all very nice and gave me some tips for playing. I've gone twice now and improved immensely. Hopefully I can go again tomorrow. I'll also take some pictures of the club, cuz it's pretty cool.
UPDATE: I went Kegeln spielen again yesterday and took some pictures of the club!
Yeah 322 points on my 3rd game, apparently that's pretty good for a beginner!
