Bryan's Three Week Time-Out

Week 2 and 3 of Dana and Dylan being gone were lonely and quiet weeks for me in Germany.  I have had some fun, but have done most things alone (or with Oscar).    My office in Münster was getting a fresh coat of paint and new furniture this past week, so I have been working from home.   The upside with working from home is that I get a lot of work done, and extra sleep.  The downside is the lack of human contact. 

Adding to this lack of human contact is my awkward phase of German speaking.  I can now speak enough German to get by, but not enough to be interesting enough for anyone to really want to engage me in a deep conversation.  The people I have actually talked to are 50-something year businessmen and nice old lady telling me about her sick brother in law.  Other than that, nobody else wants to speak to me.  

 

Two Saturday's ago, I traveled to Dortmund to watch the final soccer game of the regular season and experience the German Bundesliga Championship celebration for my favorite team, BVB Dortmund.   Before you jump to any bandwagon conclusions, you must know that I have been a Dortmund fan for the last 7 years.  I would even try to watch on the Internet as many Dortmund games as possible on Saturday morning’s while living in the US.   Actually living in Germany during a Championship run has been really special to watch.  I was not going to miss the celebration. 

I was not alone.  The entire city was packed with Dortmund supporters, young and old.  It was a phenomenal sight.  I ended up watching the game from the sidewalk of a bar in a residential neighborhood between the Stadium and City Center near Kruetzstrasse. 

As soon as the game ended, the party around the entire city instantaneously went into overdrive.  The parties spilled into the streets and the orderly mayhem ensued.  The riot police did a good job keeping things in order.  The mass of people filtered from the stadium to the city center in an impromptu parade through the streets. 

City Center in Dortmund 3 hours before game time. 

Watching the game.

Everyone heading back to the city center from the stadium.  

Impromptu parade heading back into the city center.

By the time I ate dinner and reached the city center, the party was humming along.  I took it in for a while and ended up leaving Dortmund around 8pm, before the real party started.  I was back in Borken in time to watch the Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest (More to come on that.)