World Cup

Last Night Germany beat Uruguay to claim third place.  Tonight, the Netherlands takes on Spain.  Despite the fact that even at the tournament's outset many predicted it was Spain's year, despite a local Octopus with a flawless record picking Spain to win (yes, you read that right, an honest-to-goodness Octopus--only in Germany), we will be rooting for the Netherlands. 

We love the Netherlands.  We love the Dutch people - they're generous and crazy and zany and traditional all rolled up in one.  Most of our favorite local hangouts are on the Dutch side, some of our favorite day trips are further into the Netherlands.  We want this one for them.

Yet, we also wanted it for Germany.  For the quarterfinal game last week, we dressed up in yellow, red, and black, grabbed our German flags and headed to the Heinsberg main square to watch the game on the jumbotron.   We stood in the back to keep the kids out of the craziest of the mayhem.  By and large the crowd was well-behaved and when they noticed we had little ones did their best not to dance over them or spill beer on them. EXCEPT..... by the time the game ended, Germany was up 4-0.  With each goal the crowd got larger. With each goal the crowd got rowdier.  Everytime Germany scored a goal, the crowd celebrated by instantly tossing whatever beer/beverage they had in their hands into the air.  In the beginning of the game, no problem, but remember how I said with each goal the crowd got larger, the crowd got rowdier ....yeah.   We had to put C in the stroller under the canopy to keep him from freaking out from the spontaneous and seemingly random "rain."

After the game we stopped at the closest ice cream shop and watched the celebrating as an impromptu parade of decked-out fans and decorated cars erupted down main street.   I just can NOT imagine what viewing parties in Aachen or Koln  or larger cities must've been like, and I think, even though we love the Dutch, that we'll make it a point to stay home today.