Bremen Against the Odds

Separated the posts into 2 to demarcate the days. Had to do this cos we are sharing Internet access so as to remain economical. Haha as for the title, well I do know that it is only the round of 32 but it does go a long way for I was so disappointed that I wouldn't be able to watch more of Bremen even though I m here in Germany itself.

Despite being jet-lagged, i had left the TV on lest they decide to show the match on TV. There was only a 50-50 chance of it being available even though I was in the area because I was acutally between Hamburg and Bremen and ^&)*)*_)%^%^ both teams are playing on the same night so they may decide to show Hamburg instead. And to complicate things, there were 4 German sides playing that night. Anyway I had not kept my hopes too high and they were indeed proven right as only the Hamburg and Stuttgart matches were telecasted live. I was cursing and swearing and when I woke up in the morning, full of jitters because I saw 2-2 on my TV screen. My limited knowlege of German meant that i had absolutely no idea what had transpired and my pessisimism veered me towards the alternative thinking that this was the final aggregate score and that something might have happened during the penalty shootout or something like that. This was not helped by the fact that the team manager had a grim face when being interviewed. Thank goodness my host was a Bremen supporter and he managed to convey the good news to me. We had a good chat on the car as we recalled the dark days of Bremen flirting with relegation and our angst at how the way the current season is developing. Haha now just to see if I can somehow convince me to bring me to the Bremen-Bayern match this Sunday at the Weser =p (Anyway, just for the record, he told me that the reason for them not showing the match despite it being so high-profile was that the Italian side had demanded a fee of 1 million Euros for the broadcasting rights. Talk about daylight robbery :(

Spent the remaining time shopping for groceries and taking a little walk around the neighbourhood. Munster has a small local population and it does seem that everybody knows each other with all the hellos being exchanged between drivers and cyclists. Food selection is fair but also quite limited. Its quite unlike all the big cities that i had explored so far. Life virtually stopped after eight, with the public lights being switched off in certain areas to save electricity. Even the traffic lights were removed after 10 and no trains run through the area after 8 pm. It is also unlike the rest of Europe where PDA (Public Displays of Affections) are few and far between. This is of course not helped by the near zero temperature with chills winds and light drizzles that had been plaguing the area.

Can't do much in the area so I m logging off now. Will be heading back to Hamburg city tomorrow again so guess its more nostalgia. Will be updating again soon.

Aufwiedersehn =)