Amazing adventures in Alemania

Report #2 from Jill in Germany...

My internet access has been a bit sketchy this week. There is only one internet connection and a number of people who are trying to use it. (A number of the leaders are not necessarily full-time soccer organizers like me or they are full-time soccer organizers and are trying to organize other stuff off site this week.) Needless to say, the kids’ access to Facebook has been very restricted!

The last couple of days have been interesting. The tournament that started on Monday was finished up on Tuesday morning and then one of the teams needed an extra game (they had played all of their round robin games on the previous day), so as not to have them just sitting, they played against a “teamers” team. I got to play in that game with the teamers. Then teams were reformed for the next tournament, sans a few of the girls, so there was a need for a few more bodies, so I get to be on a team. Woo hoo! By the way, the teamers won their game and my team, “Final Footballers” won their first game and tied the second game 0-0. I honestly believe that we’re the team to beat. Sammy and Kaylo are on the team.

There have been numerous comments on how good our players are, especially the girls. During the tournament, any team needing a goalie would ask Alyse to play with them. Although Andrea’s ankle is still rehabbing, she is clearly a competitive and skilled player. Kaylo is a lefty, very quiet and very strong. He lives up to the day-glo green shoes he wears. Sammy is a field general. In addition to skills, he is also an organizer on the field and vocal. Amiri is very skillful and versatile, however a bit impetuous. The maturity will come with time. However, he can never be faulted for lack of work ethic… no one tries harder or plays harder than Amiri. Eddie is the “Dennis the Menace” both on and off the field. Very mischievous and scrappy. He players older than his young years (he’s the baby of our group at 13) and you never know what kind of trick he’s going to pull out – again, both on and off the field.

After playing, we ate some delicious pasta and then had some prep time to discuss the trip to Buchenwald. I have to admit, as goofy as these guys can be at times, I was a little concerned that they might take the occasion lightly, yet still felt that they would also get a lot out of it. Afterwards, it was cleaning time. Staying at a hostel in little “houses” means that we don’t have maid service. Of course, in the girls’ house, there has been the usual cattiness and sniping about “I told her not to wear her shoes into the bathroom,” “I’ve already cleaned in there, those others should do it now,” “I think that someone stole my thingy,” and so on. Nothing major… it never is.

Dinner was the repeat from the night before – salad, bread, cold cuts, with some new items – pineapple bits and kippered snacks in tomato sauce. Then it was time to get ready for the disco. There’s another group staying at the camp who are a bunch of seniors on their “senior trip.” It’s very interesting that they are here without any chaperones and that they mostly sit around drinking and smoking. And to think, I had to go to Disneyland for my senior trip. But they had a couple of DJ’s that mixed some music (???) and the kids did the usual kid thing … boys clustered together in one part of the room and girls clustered together in another part. This was a bit different because the two separate groups were further divided … so it was their girls, our girls, their boys our boys and ne’er the twain shall meet. After a while, some of the boys started dancing around in a circle, then some girls joined in – particularly our bold American girls.

Today’s trip to Weimar and Buchenwald was good. We had fun shopping, getting lost and goofing off in Weimar. Of course, Buchenwald was much more somber. After we returned to our camp, we had some reflection time. I asked the kids what they learned… they all thought that it was a good experience and that they learned a lot. They were astonished at the ingenuity demonstrated for the purpose of killing and disposing of people, as well as some of the details of the camp (that it was a “work” camp, not a “death” camp – although many people died there, that it was all male, that people were separated into groups – such as Jews, homosexuals, political prisoners, social misfits, and so on.) There were two insights expressed by the kids that impressed me… “if we could use all of that smart stuff for good, we would be a lot better off” and “if all of those people hadn’t died, what would they have actually done in life?” It was also notable that some of the kids in the group who were from Germany and other countries in Europe (i.e. Poland – which is where Auschwitz is located) have been personally affected by this horrible chapter in history. I think that most of us were deeply affected by our trip today. (Sidebar: as we were on our guided tour, I was taking some pictures and shooting some video. Once we entered the crematorium, which is in essence a graveyard, I found it impossible to record anything. It was pretty gut-wrenching. It’s very hard to explain my feelings.)

We finished our day with a barbecue and now the kids are in the common room playing a variety of games, including a foosball tournament. Happy ending.

All the best from Germany. Type to you later.

Check out the video of the winning team from the German Street Soccer Cup in Atlanta this summer...