Recent developments

It´s been hell of a week last week. First of all I was really stuck in work. Our bosses had this meeting for half of the week. Usually you should be able to enjoy the time while they´re out of office. But unfortunately for me was the opposite. I had to finish stuff for my boss´ presentation on friday - of course it was last minute work...

Secondly I participated with a team on our PT cup, a soccer tournament for our Power Tool Division. And guess what - as we were a truly international team with german, turkish, brazilian, english and swiss players we won the cup. Noo, time for loosers cause we are the champions....! ;-)

And third and most important: My near future is now set. I finally got the confirmation. I´ll change university for my master studies. On wednesday I got finally approved for the Master in Marketing, Services and Communication in St. Gallen. Which means I will head towards east for a really interesting master programm - but I already miss my bernese fellows!! And one thing to make clear: If my character will change, it´ll be to the good. I mean I think I did pretty well during the last half a year here in Germany. So it should be possible as well in St. Gallen!

General situation

In times like these
In times like those
What will be will be
And so it goes
And it always goes on and on...
On and on it goes

And there has always been laughing, crying, birth, and dying
Boys and girls with hearts that take and give and break
And heal and grow and recreate and raise and nurture
But then hurt from time to time like these
And times like those
And what will be will be
And so it goes

And there will always be stop and go and fast and slow
Action, Reaction, sticks and stones and broken bones
Those for peace and those for war
And god bless these ones, not those ones
But these ones made times like these
And times like those
What will be will be
And so it goes
And it always goes on and on...
On and on it goes

But somehow I know it won't be the same
Somehow I know it will never be the same.

times like these by jack johnson

Just floating

"I´m not dead just floating"! It´s been a really busy week. First at work, I felt like entering a "supermassive black hole" and my boss was throwing things at me which i tried to catch and do something nice out of it. Well, sofar I think I did pretty well and from wednesday on it shouldn´t be so tough anymore as the whole dept. is out for a meeting for the rest of the week (except the interns of course).

Then on friday, one of our AIESEC trainees had birthday and we partied first at their place and then went to coyote ugly bar. But as good as it was - it was a sad moment as well. It was Caro´s Bye Bye Party. After working and having fun together for 6 month it´s always hard to say goodbye. BUT - Caro, don´t keep your promise about not getting abroad anymore, because you hate this "saying goodbye stuff"!! And you won´t get rid of us so easily - we´ll visit you! ;-)

On Saturday we had to relax of course, that´s why we went to swimming pool for the whole afternoon. In the evening then we went to the Lichterfest on Killesberg Park. It was pretty nice, although 7.50€ entrance fee is still too much! Yesterday it was just a regular day to hang around and do nothing. Now, it´s again monday and we´re stuck in work again... But at least three of us who´re finishing end of august/beginning of september know our successors. And all of them will start on august 15th. It´s gonna be fun tough...

Last Worldcup Weekend - Photo Blog Part II - Finale

Last Worldcup Weekend - Photo Blog Part I

Stuttgart ist viel schöner als Berlin

Tonight, it´s gonna be the last world cup game here in Stuttgart. And we´re expecting a huge party. Germany is playing against Portugal; 70ooo ppl are expected on Fan Fest (the public viewing place) - but i think it will be a bit less because the weather is not so excellent anymore like the weeks before. Let´s see what the evening and the night will bring!

And good thing is: german fans got their humour back: they´re singing Stuttgart ist viel schöner als Berlin which is absolutely true of course ;-)

Grazie mille amici d´Italia

Finalmente! What I really hoped for a long time, happened yesterday! Germany lost and can´t be World champion 2006. Don´t get me wrong. I didn´t hope this for the german team, because they surprised me as well (eg. against Sweden) and I liked their offensive way of playing football. But I really hoped this for many germans and their behaviour of overestimating their team and a bit a losing sense of reality. The whole euphoria about german team seemed to be like a bubble from a chewing gum. From a point 0 the bubble was inflated with a lot of hot air and then - yesterday - it burst.

After winning the game against Poland - luckily they scored in 91st minute - one sentence stuck in my head with a bad impression: "So sehen Siege aus, shalalalala". Today I said this sentence as well. And their it was again - the urgent need for some germans to tear others in to pieces instead of just being proud of what they reached. "At least we were better than Switzerland". My answer was, that it doesn´t matter if you lose in Round of 16 or if you´re third - as long as your not in the final. They couldn´t agree with this. But I think you won´t be remembered easily if you didn´t reach the final (although your performance should be apperciated more).

A little test:

1990 - Andy Brehme scored with penalty, Germany won 1-0 against Argentina. Who was third and fourth?

1994 - Roberto Baggio sent the last penalty towards the clouds. Brazil won against Italy 3-2 after penalties. Who was third and fourth?

1998 - Zinedine Zidane scored twice during the final. France won 3-0 against Brazil. Who was third and fourth?

2002 - Ronaldo scored twice in the final. Brazil won 2-0 against Germany. Who was third and fourth?

I could just easily remember who was third and fourth in 2002. For the other mentioned world cups I really had to think hard or consult internet. For those who don´t know either:

1990 - 3rd Italy; 4th England (2-1)
1994 - 3rd Sweden; 4th Bulgaria (4-0)
1998 - 3rd Croatia; 4th Netherlands (2-1)
2002 - 3rd Turkey; 4th South Korea (3-2)

German behaviour - ok or wrong?

Time for a new (real) update. The last three weeks were really packed with work (especially last week) and watching football games. Now, there´s sort of emptiness as we don´t have a party tonight and no game. How´s it gonna feel after this whole thing is over? I think it will never be the same again (at least not for the next two years).

Last week when I was on Schlossplatz watching the games Switzerland - Ukraine and Italy - Ukraine there were some strange moments (no not because of Ukraine). I´m not sure if it´s just me with a dislike against some german behaviour? But I was really upset, when the majority of fans in the stadium during swiss game started to cheer for Lukas Podolski or sing "Ohne Holland fahren wir nach Berlin".

Same happened when Italy was playing and some Germans started to sing "Steht auf wenn ihr Deutsche seid" (on Schlossplatz). When I commented that those people didn´t realize that it´s Italy against Ukraine, a german friend snapped back that they can´t just forget that they won (against Argentina) and they have to celebrate. OK, that´s true, but then you don´t have to go to a place where they´re showing another game and people are there to watch THIS game. You can celebrate everywhere else. For me the behaviour in those two situation is just a lack of respect for the playing teams!