This past Saturday I played in an Indoor Ultimate Frisbee Hat Tournament in Erlangen, which is two hours away from Munich. Three facts should have prevented me from giving it my “all”:

I’ve never played in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, I’ve never played any competitive sports on an indoor court, and I haven’t been exercising this winter like I should have. But when I play with a team, I somehow forget my limitations. We were slated to play 6 games for the entire day with 30 minute breaks between games. However between Game 5 and 6 there was no break. I wanted to sub out in the middle of Game 5 but the other team had three girls and one player short, we had to make it fair. We won Game 5 then immediately started on to Game 6. Maybe five minutes into the game, I ran across the court but this one seemingly normal step caused me to fall and clinch both sides of my left knee in agony. Nobody saw anything unusual, I just fell. I really expected the pain to go away after a few seconds and I’d allow someone to give me a hand up. But it hurt so bad I didn’t want anyone to move me. I didn’t cry. Really I kept thinking what an idiot I am for making such a dramatic scene. Finally as Alex was by my side, I cried a little. I hate to cry especially when I’m playing sports because it just affirms the stereotype.

I wish I had better news. I wish I could happily report about my first Ultimate tourney but this is how it ended up. The orthopedic surgeon says it looks like I may have torn my ACL [Kreuzband]. But luckily from the X-ray I didn’t splinter the bone in the process. We’ll know for sure next Monday with an MRI scan. Apparently an ACL tear can only be repaired (replaced) surgically, but most people get by with muscle strengthening around the knee and always wearing a brace while playing sports. It’s a strange realization that I can break a body part of mine and the original can’t be healed again. This bums me out.

The temperature cooled down to about 22-24°C yesterday after a radical thunderstorm blew through Munich the previous evening. I feel most at-home when that happens; it rains so hard and slanted the windows wash themselves. Alex and others complain that it has been lately so humid, but to me it’s refreshing. It’s just like the one week in Florida we natives fondly call “Spring”, only it lasts here throughout the summer.

It was evident last night that the Ultimate Frisbee players with ToytownMunich are definitely improving, perhaps due to the renewed coolness. Jay returned after a 20+ day World Cup benge and had a hard time keeping up. We played from about 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm with very few substitutes. We’ve started calling fouls, obeying the sidelines, accidently making body contact in what some would say, bordered in an ‘inferior manner’. I think it has something to do with the World Cup we’ve all been consuming. Alex has come out twice now, as only a good boyfriend should. Although now I must return the favor and attend Karate practice, yikes.

After the game, we headed to the Chinese Tower for a tasty carb-heavy beverage. The band played from the second level of the tower, ending the evening with Greensleeves. Before I knew it, it was dark and 10:30 pm. I saw my first Munich firefly and learned that they are called (das) Glühwürmchen [roughly Glue-vuerm-hen] in German, or translated, little glow worm. Probably, something you tell your children, but the biological name is, der Leuchtkäfer, or lightbug.

On another note, Alex is in route to Paris as I write this. His work assignment: Fly to Paris, listen to a presentation, answer four questions from a journalist in front of 1000 people and French TV about the presentation, then fly back home the following day. happy and shiny on the U3 subway trainThis is apparently a pat on the back for his hard work from the previous years. He’s officially promoted to Senior Consultant and enjoying the added challenge of more responsibility. I’m very proud of him and will miss his company this evening.

I probably won’t write too much in the upcoming days. I want to update some of the other pages on this site, particularly the german pages. (i.e. German Music lyrics and german grammar) I’ll report the changes as they develop. Tschau!

Check out last wednesdays Frisbee Pics that Ben took with his super duper camera…There are a few heroic-looking but failed attempts at defense on my part.
http://www.benpanter.co.uk/photos/ultimate2

So I’ve started playing Ultimate Frisbee on a regular basis: Sundays at 2 pm and Wednesdays at 6pm in the Englischer Garten, near the Gieselestr. U-bahnstelle. The group is fairly large, a minimum of 16 people are there at a time. Some are beginners and others are a little seasoned. I heard that there are some people who attend are hard-core, but mostly there are goofy people who just want to have fun and get-in-shape. Jay says one can tell that I’ve played before, so I guess I’m somewhere in between, hardcore and goofy. Although I must say these young’ns are not as good as the ol’ Venice Krew (Steve, Helen, & Fam; Ross, Louise; Scott, Angie; Hughbee; Stacy, Quentin; Carlos, Jan)…it’s true!

Alex is fighting a combination of a cold and alergies for more than 2 weeks now. It’s hard to stand by feeling helpless. The pollen here is the most aggressive it’s been in a while, according to the horiculturist. My immune system or histamines don’t appear to be as effected to the alergines in Munich as in Sarasota. Yeah! I should take some pictures soon…the colors are beautiful.

Okay Time to study…