Return with the Boon

This will likely be my last post. I'm sad and excited to return to the states next week on August 25. Sad because leaving Germany means this great adventure for me is over. I will look back on this season and remember the best stories and the ways this experience has forever shaped me. And I do believe leaving the comfortable and taking risks are the times that change us most. There are also a number of relationships that I hate to leave behind including, most prominently, my host family. The Gade family members have become close friends and I fully expect and hope my relationship with them will continue. But their friendship as well as other friendships here in Germany will always be different. So there is some real sorrow as I leave this place.

On the other hand, I CAN'T WAIT to get home! There's an anticipation like nothing I've ever felt about putting all my belongings on a plane and flying back to my country. It's hard to explain. It must be a combination between American food, the English language, my closest friends, and my mom's cooking. In any case, I'm definitely celebrating the return as I mourn the departure.

Plus the return home is a necessary component of the hero's journey. As some of you know, I became very intrigued about the heroic quest--one of the oldest and most common themes in literature--shortly before I came to Germany. And I quickly tried to use the hero journey language to describe my experience. Far fetched I know, but it was fun for me to view this season as a kind of quest. Without boring you with many details about the journey (which I could easily do), I'll just say the last part of a hero's journey is the return to his homeland with the boon. The boon represents some heightened conscience or special knowledge that the hero then delivers to his society in order to enlighten or improve their culture in some way. All that to say, I have to come home if I want to be a hero!

The door is still open about coming back next year. The Diamonds have been gracious and dependable my whole time here and I would feel very comfortable coming back to work with their organization. Berlitz has also offered me a teaching position if I choose to return. But this decision will wait for a few months. I need to go home a get some removed perspective.

The football season is almost over and I think we'll finish the season above .500. We're 7-6 with one game left against a team we've already beat. It should put us in position to finish 3rd in the division--not a bad way to finish considering our difficult start.

Many thanks to those who have followed my journey through this blog. My apologies (again) for the inexcusable delay between posts. There's really no excuse--I was in the states for a week on family vacation and had my brother here for another week but mostly it's just been a lapse in discipline.

I hope you are well. God bless!
Ryan

Family Makes Everything Better

I write this a week after my parents visited for six days. It was so wonderful to have them here--to show them a bit of my world. It's moments like these that make me homesick though--not because I'm having a rotten time here. I'm still having a fabulous time. I'm beginning to realize though that I enjoy this beautiful place and interesting experience most when I share it with the people closest to me. So my parents' visit as well as my friends' visit earlier in the Spring are among my favorite moments in Germany. Here's a picture of my host family and with the parents.

We finished their week with a football win on Sunday and a trip to

Heidelberg on Monday. And then on Tuesday morning, I drove them to the airport and said goodbye. I've posted several pictures from various places The photo above is a castle from our trip down the Rhine River.

Another significant part of my life the last month or so has been my work at Berlitz Language School. It's been a wonderful job so far. Teaching here is rewarding for a few reasons. First, I love seeing the development of students--their comprehension of the English language and their growing confidence to speak. Also, you get to develop good relationships with these people. I teach almost exclusively adults and get to hear their life stories about family, career, etc. Last Friday I went to a Mongolian grill with ten students and a few teachers just to hang out.

Berlitz in Darmstadt is really booming right now with business. On my first day teaching (the day after my Visa arrived), I was scheduled for only an afternoon class. I received a call, however, that morning at 8 am asking if I could hustle into town to teach at 9:45. I was planning on spending the morning preparing for my afternoon lesson, but I hopped into the classroom barely knowing the material and pretending to be prepared. I don't think Berlitz was cruel enough to plan it this way, but I actually learned most quickly and probably most efficiently like this--out of necessity with no time for anxiety.

The other pictures come from the football game (Dad got a free sideline's pass), Heidelberg and the Martin Luther memorial in Worms. What a good looking couple, huh?

Miss all of you. God bless!

Ryan

Quick Post

My parents are currently visiting and I'll tell a fuller story of their visit after they leave and I have some longer moments to write. But in short, it's so refreshing to see them and very funny to see them asking the same questions I asked when first arriving. "Why is all the water carbonated?" "Where can you find ice?" "Do people always drive this crazy?" And to my surprise, I can answer most of their questions--having them around has made me realize how much I've actually learned about the language and culture.

So far we've been to the Gutenberg Museum and the absolutely stunning cathedral in Mainz, a few public parks and historic pedestrian area in Wiesbaden, the castles and vineyards along the Rhine River during our cruise, St. Peter's cathedral and the Martin Luther memorial in Worms, a preserved medeival area in Ladenburg, the Frankenstein castle, and some sights in downtown Darmstadt of course. It seems like a lot as I write it, but our time hasn't felt rushed at all--a relaxed and enjoyable pace. I'll attach some pictures soon.

In football, we dropped our game last weekend against Wiesbaden 20-24. We simply ran out of time. The offense scored everytime we had the ball in the second half, but we only had the ball three times. This also means we only started playing in the second half--down 14-0 at halftime. Hoping to put together a more complete game tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for love, prayers and support. God bless!
Ryan

Pictures from Berlin

Instead of a long post, I thought I would comment on a number of pictures--the most interesting or moving or eye-grabbing of my visit to Berlin. I traveled there to visit Zach, a teammate from Davidson.

Below is the first building that I saw when I stepped out of the train station. As you can see, the top still bears the effect of WWII bombing and one side also has noticeable damage. It was never repaired--to remind the city of the war's devastation. About 90% of the buildings in the city were destroyed!

Here is the main German capital building. It's an impressive structure, famous for its glass dome protruding from the center section. Tourists can walk to the top, but I was a bit to impatient to wait in line. There was more of the city I had to see!

Fortunately, not every building was destroyed during WWII. This beautiful cathedral suffered only minor damage. The affected areas were restored and the cathedral looks as it did before the war--magnificent.

This is one side of the Russian political headquarters used while they occupied East Berlin after the war. The Russians painted this pro-Communist mural when they took over the building. Notice the worker and the authority (politician or boss) are exactly the same height. Universal equality is definitely a Communist ideal. What makes this terribly ironic is that the style closely resembles American realism. So basically the Russians use an American art form to promote communism (I didn't think of all that myself--the tour guide filled us in).

This is the famous Checkpoint Charlie. It was a major American checkpoint on the border of East and West Berlin. I took this picture from right about where the Berlin wall once stood. It's an absolutely fascinating city history and hard to believe that the wall came down only 20 years ago!

Zach and I visited a rebuilt concentration camp and museum in Sachsenhausen, just north of Berlin. It really is a sobering moment to walk through the camp and see pictures of what happened there. It's horribly uncomfortable but necessary to remember this history. I think knowing it is one of the best defenses against Fascism in the future. Let's tell this story so it never happens again!

Here's what remains of the crematory ovens--used to burn thousands of bodies. This was the most moving thing to see for me.

Zach and I also went to the Jewish Museum at Berlin. It was not just about the Holocaust but about the full history of the Jewish people. I took many pictures but found this quote particularly moving. It comes from a leading doctor of Hitler's effort in eugenics--killing off or sterilyzing whoever doctors deemed unfit for reproduction.

This weekend we play Weisbaden, the only undefeated team left in our division. With a week's rest, we should be up for the challenge.

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God bless!

Ryan

Gaining some momentum

Since my last post, we've played two games--against probably the best and worst team in our division. Last weekend against the Franken Knights, we started the 4th quarter down 21-0 before our offense finally came alive. We scored two quick touchdowns and got the ball back with two minutes left down 13-21. A high snap and interception on the last play of the game made the final outcome 35-13 but it was much closer game than the score indicates.

And the offensive momentum from the fourth quarter of last week carried over into the game on Saturday. We won 63-0. Let me repeat that in case you missed it. 63-0!! I've never been involved in such a lopsided match. Simply put, everything worked--on offense and defense. And in the rare case when something broke down of offense, we improvised--almost always successfully. It must have been one of the hottest days of the year on Saturday. The burn marks on my arms start right where my jersey ends. It reminds me of my pre-season days in Davidson, baking in the Carolina sun.

One of the unexpected surprises of the season for me is running the football more often. I haven't since my high school days carried the ball myself like I am this year. It's been great. The picture I attached is me crossing the goaline for the first score of the game. Our record is now 3-3 and I continue to be optimistic about the direction of our team. We're healthy with a great defense, a powerful running attack, and an ever improving group of receivers. And we seem to having more fun--playing relaxed and growing more comfortable in our roles.

Some other great news to report: my Visa finally arrived!! So I start teaching English this week. While I've been waiting, I've been reading many books, writing, lifting weights, and trying to learn a bit of German. But I'm very exted to set down my books and start working.

I travel to Berlin next weekend to meet Zach, a teammate from Davidson. He'll show me around a bit of the city. It's been a few weeks without traveling so I'm excited to get out of Darmstadt for the weekend.

My German is picking up too. I probably understand 20-25% of what's said around me. In some contexts (like the football field) it's much higher. I still respond in English though so I speak much less than I understand. It's exciting to see this progress though.

Hope all is well! Please keep in touch--I'd love to hear from you too. God bless!

Ryan

Back to .500

Last weekend, our team got back to its winning ways with a 25-14 victory over Stutgart. Although we left some points on the field, the offense still put up over 20 points for the first time all season!! Yes, we must get better, but I'm still celebrating this improvement. Our record is now 2-2 heading into Saturday's matchup with the Franken Knights, one of the better teams in the division.

My time has slowed down lately. I'm getting more and more used to life here--the people, lifestyle, my own existence. I still feel very much like a foreigner but everything is not so unfamiliar and exciting like it was for the first month or so. My body has found a rhythm in the day to day which is a good thing.

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Last weekend was Darmstadt's annual Scholssgrabenfest. About five different stages were arranged around the downtown area. Live music blasted all night and about a million food tents served food from every nation you could imagine.

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Here are a few pictures from a motorcycle trip I took with Nico and Phillip. I sat behind Phillip on my first ride ever on a bike. We headed to a few places along the Rhine River. The river is only several miles from us but the closest bridge across it is probably around 25 miles away. Countless bridges including many along the Rhine were destroyed in WWII. Some that were close to us haven't been rebuilt and ferries have taken their place.

God Bless,

Ryan

Bavaria

Another bye week for the Diamonds so I travelled with Naso, a teammate, to his hometown of Burghausen in Bavaria. Naso is one of the most interesting guys on the team--a carpenter by trade and a member of the Diamonds for several years now. He lives fully in the present more than anyone I've ever met--the definition of spontaneity. I really like that he positions himself to enjoy life's moments as they come without worrying too much about an agenda. I mention this because it gives some insight into what my days in Bavaria looked like.

We originally intended to see Munich and a famous salt mine in Salzburg among other things, but we abandoned a plan altogether and visited whatever jumped in front of us. We didn't realize it until we arrived, but it turns out that Burghausen had their annual Folks Fest this weekend so we spent Thursday and Friday night with the locals. This was my first experience with these Fests that, from what I hear, make summers in Germany so much fun. Burghausen's Folks Fest was like a carnival and a theme-party rolled into one accompanied by live music and a huge beer tent. Almost everyone was wearing traditional German outfits--lederhosen for the men and dirndl for the women. I tried to sneak a few photos of these outfits. It was impossible for me to take these guys seriously.

On Friday, Naso and I visited the castle in Burghausen which is the largest castle complex in all of Europe. It overlooks the Salzach River which marks the border between Germany and Austria. The interesting thing about this castle is its usefulness today. Many of the castles I've visited in Germany serve no purpose beyond their historical significance and aesthetic qualities. But the castle in Burghausen has shops, restaurants, and even apartments for locals all built into the original structure. I can't think of a cooler place to live. Here is a picture of one end of the castle. It stretches over a kilometer long in the other direction.

Later on Friday, we saw the Chiemsee also known as the Bavarian Sea. The Alps standing at one end make it a beautiful sight but also cause unpredictable and often violent weather. We missed the worst part of it, but a huge hailstorm leveled the area minutes before we arrived. Here's a sample of the hail I'm talking about. It smashed a few car windows around us. But after such a storm, the skies left us with this picture.

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The weather eventually allowed for a great day at the lake. Naso's mother joined us and we took a ferry to a small island in the sea. We walked the island and had dinner before returning to Burghausen and the Folks Fest that night. Here's a shot from the island with the Alps in the background. There's still a bit of snow on the peaks.

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We play again this Saturday and should get a much needed win. I'm still waiting for my Visa to arrive so I can begin teaching. In the meantime, I'm reading, exercising, and still trying to explore different parts of the country.

God bless!

Football, Friends, Fellowship

We've played two more games since my last post. We split them so our record is now 1-2. The defense continues to play well but the offense has not been able to play consistently. It's always difficult to be the quarterback on a struggling offense. Eyes turn first to him for answers as they should. I'm used to the quarterback being accountable for much of the offense's production, but I think it's even more accentuated here. I'm the only American on the team and supposed to possess superior knowledge and skills of the game. So the expectations are quite high. I invite the challenge though and look forward to a winning streak that should start soon. I remember too that football is pure joy to play. I try to work hard and be prepared and after that, just have fun. Attached is a picture of the coin toss before the game. Notice the "A" that all Americans must have sewn on their jerseys.

The highlight of this last week was having Mandy, Phil, and Ashley, three good friends from Davidson, visit for four days (more about the visit later). I was especially blessed to have them here because my Grandma Jean passed away on Mother's Day. Just their presence here provided a connection with home that I desperately needed at that time.

Grandma Jean had been declining for the last two months. Although she's been on my mind quite a bit, I've felt so removed from her suffering and its effects on home. I didn't make it back for the funeral but I think I'm still learning how to healthily celebrate life and mourn death. I've spent much time reflecting on her life and what she meant to my family. She was a strong, independent, hard-working woman, and she carried an irrepressible pride for her children and grandchildren. I'll remember the big pots of chili she would make for our family and the US bonds that me and my brothers would receive every birthday and holiday. I don't consider my relationship with her especially close but I loved her dearly and always felt certain of hers in return. She will be missed.

I'll try to capture my visitors' experience in two paragraphs and a few pictures. We started Sunday morning when they arrived in Frankfurt. In what must have been the longest day of their lives, we visited castles and courtyards in a few towns in the south and then came back to Griesheim for a late BBQ with my host family. The first picture comes from Heidelburg, a simply beautiful city. Its cathedrals, downtown area, and of course the castle that you can see in the background make it a popular stop for tourists. The second picture comes from a castle/courtyard in Schwetzinger. We spent a few

hours walking just half of the courtyard. It was very beautiful with its statues, bird sanctuaries, fountains, streams, and the greenery all around. Here is a sample of what it looked like. Monday was in Darmstadt, Tuesday in Frankfurt, and Wednesday back on the road to see a remodeled Roman fort. In its original existence, it stood along the Northern border of the Roman Empire. This was as far north as the Romans came and the fort was clearly built for military purposes. Its positioning on high ground, the moat around it and its high walls made it a difficult place to attack I'm sure.

Highlights of the trip. First, while walking in Darmstadt, I suggested stopping to eat some döner, a Turkish sandwich that's very popular here. Phil, thinking I said "doughnuts," agreed and was very confused when he saw the Turkish menu with only Kebaps and Pizza on it. Second, on our first dinner out at a beer garden, we resolved to only speak to the waiter in German, trying to conceal that we were Americans. We were all very excited when he gave us our menus and we replied with "danke" (thank you) without him noticing. When we tried to pronounce our dinner choices, however, I didn't get out the first syllable of "putenschnitzel" before he smiled and asked, "English, Irish? Where are you from?" We laughed and enjoyed some great German cuisine. Third, while walking in Darmstadt, it dawned on us that we couldn't possibly look anymore like tourists. It was raining and a little cold. We were the only people on the streets with shorts (yes, all 4 of us), without umbrellas, and with a giant map of the city I had to pull out at every intersection. Fourth, hearing Phil and Mandy try to pronounce every German word written on signs and advertisements throughout the city. Hilarious.

I will be more regular with my posts. I've been very busy catching the train every morning to Frankfurt. I just finished training to become a Berlitz instructor. As soon as I get my working Visa, I'll be teaching in the classroom and hopefully taking a few German lessons.

Take care and God bless!

Season Opener!

First off, check out the uniforms! I think they look great! Only problem: our big sponsor is Entega, and their bright orange logo dead center on our helmets doesn't exactly match the blue and silver.

Ok, with less than two minutes remaining and down by eight, we received the ball around our own 20 yard line. This was a familiar situation for me, and one that most quarterbacks love--the chance to lead the team the length of the field to tie (and eventually win) the game.

We marched the ball down the field and inside the ten yard-line with nine seconds left. I called for double slants, our most effective play in the second half. Marc, our best receiver all game, got inside his man right as I released the ball. He trapped it against his chest and fell into the end zone with two seconds remaining--just a two-point conversion away from tying it up.

Here's where the story takes a detour. I found out at practice earlier in the week that our starting center, Sasha, would miss the game for a school project. It required him to spend the weekend in a city several hours away. Stephen moved from Guard and filled in nicely as a replacement. As anyone football fan knows though, every play begins with the Center to Quarterback exchange. So to switch up Centers two practices before the first game is not ideal.

We had our third fumbled snap of the game at the worst possible time. I tried to pick up the ball and run it in myself but was stopped short. The two-point conversion failed and the Diamonds lost, 15 to 17.

I could list probably 50 reasons why we lost, but my main reflection is not about technical or schematic failures. My concluding thought is this: given some time for young guys to develop and for the offense to start connecting and playing better together, we'll soon be a very hard team to beat. And we're gonna have a lot of fun no matter what.

In other news, I received a job at Berlitz language school and will begin training on Monday. So my car washing days are finished, praise the Lord. Teaching English really is a great opportunity here. It gives me a lot of flexibility in what days I work and we'll connect me with resources to continue learning German.

Rumor has it that some Davidson boys and girls will soon visit me.... Looking forward to some adventures with Mandy, Phil, and Ashley starting May 10.

God Bless!

To Milan and Back

One thing I'd like the US to adopt from Germany is the vacation time. As a German employee, you receive six weeks of vacation in addition to the national holidays already allocated. And the holidays are quite nice by themselves. For Easter weekend, everyone takes off Good Friday and the Monday following Easter Sunday. So with my unexpected four-day weekend, I hopped on a train and headed to Milan, Italy to meet up with a friend.

I know Jaime through Campus Outreach and met the family she nannies for when I arrived. Spending a weekend with some Americans was a real blessing. Jobey and Kristen and their daughters, Isabella and Elisabetta, have lived in Italy for seven years now I think, but they haven't forget their Southern roots. Kristen made chicken dumplings for dinner on Sunday, a wonderful reminder of Southern cuisine.

The highlight of my time was a day-trip with Jaime to Cinque Terre, an absolutely beautiful arrangement of five towns along the Mediterranean Sea (pictures at bottom). The small towns are positioned along the rocky coastline wherever the steep cliffs allow. Jaime and I walked on the sometimes wide and flat, sometimes narrow and steep paths that connected each town and witnessed some of the natural beauty of the area--the lemon trees, vineyards, steep cliffs, and wild flowers. Although too cold to swim, the beaches were also some of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

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Quick story: as Jaime and I walked nearly two miles from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza, we climbed from the water level to nearly the top of a mini-mountain, a brutal hike. The path winded through the terrain and at many times was simply too narrow for more than one person. So when two parties approached each other at a narrow point in the path, one party would retreat to a slightly wider area and hug the cliff as the other group passed.

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But when one pack of six or seven teenage girls approached Jaime and me, they showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down. I didn't have time to retreat so I tried to be a gentleman, and take the ledge side as they stormed through on the cliff side. There simply wasn't enough room and I took a 5 or 6 feet tumble off the ledge before a bush halted my fall. No worries though, besides some dirty shoes and itchy legs for the rest of the day, there was no damage. On other parts of the path though, I could have been in big trouble.

The other very cool part of the trip was seeing Milan. The massive cathedral in the center square was the most interesting/impressive site I visited. I could have taken and posted thousands of pictures of this magnificent structure, but I chose to include a picture of David slaying Goliath carved on the cathedral's exterior. Probably hundreds of Biblical stories are carved in marble all over the outside. From what I gathered from Jaime and my own limited knowledge of the Catholic church's history in Italy, these images served to tell the great stories of Scripture to the common people before mass literacy and access to the written text existed. So interesting to see not only the beauty but the utility of this art.

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First game is next Saturday--my next post I'm sure.

God Bless!

Working at the Car Wash...

Not exactly what I had in mind for my 9 to 5 job four months after graduating from Davidson, but any job is a good job in this economy, right? The Diamonds offered and I accepted an opportunity to wash cars for a big Opel dealership to make some extra money. I've been there for two weeks now and have acquired all the necessary skills to make cars shine like they should.

A few pluses about this job:

1. They're new! I only wash brand new cars (on rare occasion I wash a rental). They come straight from the factory and we rip off the plastic, wipe it down with Windex, and spray a light coat of wax on it. These are how cars are supposed to look--every angle shines, no scratches, a pristine interior with that new car smell.

2. Driving. I park the cars after we finish. Ok, it's probably less than 100 yards and I rarely get out of first gear, but it's still fun to drive the new cars and rev the engine every now and then. Sometimes I get to drive a car with some muscle (see picture).

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3. Co-workers. My partner in tackling the new cars is Ahmed, a Muslim in his early 60's originally from Pakistan and one of the most interesting men I've met in Germany. Besides being an absolute pro at shining cars, he also speaks several languages (including English), is devoutly faithful to his religion, and holds some interesting, sometimes crazy opinions about American politics. We have covered the spectrum of conversation. My favorites have been hearing his objections to the Christian faith and his trouble expressing his own in Germany.

You might think I would never want to leave this job, but you'd be wrong. I have an interview at the Berlitz language school this Wednesday for a teaching position so you can pray this goes well. The car wash is ok, but I'd love to interact more with people and use my English degree.

Yesterday I drove to Frankfurt to watch a Fußball-Spiel (soccer match) with another co-worker, Leelan. Frankfurt has a decent team in Germany's first division and 45,000 very serious fans that were ready to go. My favorite part of experience was seeing the cage they put the crazy fans into. Seriously, the loudest, wildest fans all go inside a fenced in area with probably a dozen security officers who separate them from the field. When a goal scores, the fans scale the fence, shaking it and yelling. I also realized that the stadium never stops singing the whole game. The crowd utters something that fluctuates between song and chant for all 90 minutes. I love it!

Today was our first live scrimmage and although our opponents backed out, we had a very productive innersquad practice. The offense ran over 90 plays and started showing signs of becoming a very capable unit. I'm feeling more comfortable with the starting eleven and the top several receivers. The best part about it for me though, was speaking the only language I know over here. For a few hours every week, I play football. This is a game I know well and I speak its language fluently. Those few hours of familiarity feel very much like home.

God bless!

Beautiful Country, Terrible Weather

The countryside in Germany has been breathtaking for me. The roads that run around it do not line up with precision and order like we're used to in the states. A developer didn't take a mass of land, divide it up neatly, and build the most efficient transportation system around and through it. There is definitely a feeling of an old country here. This land was worked long before the cars and autobahns existed. And the streets seem to submit to the land's precedence.

This weekend, I traveled with the Youth team (high-school aged kids) to the mountains outside the city of Fulda--basically the middle of nowhere. It was truly a beautiful place. I included a picture which cannot nearly capture the beauty of the village of only a few buildings surrounded by massive farms and seated on mountain side facing more and more mountains as far as the fog would let you see.

The team practiced twice on Saturday and once Sunday in what looked more like a cow pasture than a football field. We stayed in a hostel which housed a few other groups (none nearly as rowdy as the 25 teenage boys we brought). In addition to the limitations with the field, we also had to deal with the weather. It has rained just about everyday here (reminds me of my Western Pennsylvania roots a little...) Except in the mountains, we dealt not just with rain but with just about every kind of precipitation--steady rain, a few flurries, and a 15 minute shower of hail--the kind that badly stings any flesh exposed. I wondered how much good work the team could get done in these circumstances.

Football plays weren't the most important part of the trip though. I learned we brought these boys here to become a team more than learn to play football. We opened up practice with full-contact soccer. Interesting sidenote, these German kids are crazy. They don't mind getting absolutely blasted by other players. The mud was soft enough to lighten their falls but the hits still hurt me sometimes to watch. These soccer games usually had a handful of devastating hits usually followed by laughter and helping the recipient off the ground.

In the hostel, the kids are like the American high school football players I know. They shave each other's for no good reason, they peacock for any female in sight, trying to flash their brightest feathers, and they are loud and generally obnoxious except for the few hours on the football field. During practice, I work with Conrad, the youth team's quarterback. He's a great kid--very coachable, a natural leader, and, thankfully, an English speaker. He's a pretty good player too, although most of his skills were dampened this weekend by the mud-caked balls and swampy field.

After the last practice, the kids played in the mudpit that developed throughout the weekend in an especially soft spot. Here's the boys posing afterwards. And here's another reason why these German kids are crazy. You can't see me, but rest assured I have my hood over my head, jacked zipped, gloves on, etc. It was freezing. And these boys took off their shirts so they could slide better in the mud. It made me wish I was 15 again.

God bless.

A Shared Journey

When I decided to come to Germany for six months, I knew I would have a life altering experience. I would leave with a bigger understanding of the world and a better perspective of my own culture. I didn't (and still don't) know exactly the ways I would grow, but was certain that profound personal growth would occur. What I didn't know was who I would share this experience with. Who would accompany me on my journey, my heroic quest? No other Americans are on the team. In fact, I've yet to meet anyone from the states.

In these first 10 days, I've started to answer this question. You see football teams have a funny way of welcoming and embracing their members. It uses practice stations, conditioning sessions, team showers, and the McDonalds dollar menu after practice to build connections that pour quickly and set firmly (thankfully, these connections go deeper than something a language barrier might tear apart).

The roster of the Darmstadt Diamonds contains 19 year-old kids fresh from the youth program and high school studies and also men in the 30's with families and established careers. Despite coming from a wide variety of life stages, the team seems close--close enough that the middle-aged guys won't leave the game when their bodies are begging them to and the young guys find their best friends among the short roster. These men will share in my journey. Actually, it's more like I'm joining their story for a season rather than them contributing to mine.

Last weekend, I had my first traditional German meal in my town's small Bier Garten (no translation necessary I hope) with three of my 30+ teammates. We talked football, American politics, and German history over generous portions of schnitzel and potatoes. A group of 12 or so met up later that week at the apartment of one of the college students on the team. We had a 3 hour barbeque where I consumed more meat than I had ever dreamed I would. We sat outside and told stories for hours. Even though they spoke almost exclusively in German, story-telling can sometimes transcend the language in which it's told. At least, I think I know what most of them were about...

This weekend, a pair of defensive backs, the Kozak brothers (picture above), took me to a youth/young adult service at a church in Darmstadt on Friday night--a very interesting experience seeing the an evangelical service in this country. It was a welcoming, warm environment. The next morning, Nico and Phillip (other picture), another set of brothers on the team, took me to an old castle only a few miles from my home. Its name is Frankenstein but I haven't found out if it's connected with Mary Shelley's famous work. I've also included a picture of me with a catapult at the castle--very cool.

I'm blessed to have teammates so willing to walk me through life here. They are eager to share their worlds with me, and I thank God for them.

God bless!

First practice

This is my third day in Griesheim, Germany, a small town a few miles west of Darmstadt. My host family, the Gade's, live in a tidy four-story home connected to a string of homes on either side. My teammate, Nico, lives on the same floor as me. Andrea and Matthius live above us in the master bedroom. Thankfully, the family speaks wonderful English and go out of their way to include me in conversation.

I arrived here around noon on Tuesday and found out immediately, that we had practice that evening. After unpacking and taking a quick nap, I drove to the practice field with three other teammates.

We arrived at the field around 7:40 for an 8:00 practice. It was already dark and the Junior team was finishing up. One of the guys pointed to an abandoned set of shoulder pads and helmet for me sitting in the middle of the small locker room. The helmet doesn't really fit, but the shoulder pads and red jersey feel familiar.

When I got to the field, the head coach handed me the install sheet for that day. It diagramed the four passing plays that we were putting in that night. I thanked him and without instruction, he took off towards the defense. The receivers, running backs and a handful of lineman loosely gathered around me and looked to me like they expected me to start practice. "Ummm, alright" I said, "I guess let's run through them?" So I pretended like I knew what I was doing and started calling plays, lining people up, and barking signals at the line. Before long, we had a nice rhythm working through the four plays with the first and second offenses.

As you can see, the program is a bit unorganized, but the team seems full of great guys. I have no doubt that great friendships will result because of this trip. Besides the jetlag I was fighting all evening, the rest of practice went well.

After practice, the team manager gave me a cell phone, television, and keys to the car I'll use while I'm here. It's the smallest car I've ever seen in my life. I love it. I've posted a picture of it.

Days will be slow before I start my job next week. I'll wash cars for a local dealership. If they're all as small as mine, it should be easy work.

Take care and God bless!

Ryan

A week to go...

On Monday, I will board a flight from Charlotte, NC to Frankfurt, Germany. For six months, I will live play football for team in Darmstadt, a small city south of Frankfurt. This blog is my attempt to chronicle my journey for my friends and family. Besides playing football, my hope is to learn a new language and culture, travel throughout Europe, and most importantly, grow deeply in my personal and spiritual life.

Thank you for being a part of my adventure. I hope to see you on the other end of the trip to tell you this story.