June 27, 2006
I didn’t take reports about excessive German flag-waving too seriously, until I landed at Berlin airport today. Flags on cars in the parking lot, flags on cars on the city-autobahn, and even a few hanging in apartment windows. Usually Germans are pretty restrained when it comes to outward patriotism. As a mama-mobile with two German flags was overtaking us, my father reminded me of the reason for that restraint.
“The last time I’ve seen so many flags was during Nazi time.”
And then he told the story of Frau Schmidt, the universally-hated Blockwart of the building he grew up in. Her job was to ensure that her building was in-line with Nazi doctrine, insisting that even windows facing the courtyard hang Hakenkreuz-flags on Nazi holidays. Then my father grinned sarcastically and said “and by the way, when the first Russian soldiers rounded the corner of our street, she was also the first to hang white linens outside her window.”
Don’t get me wrong, I do get the difference between now and then, but somehow I hope these little flags will remain seasonal World Cup items. Like the Christmas decoration that gets packed away after the holidays are over. And in the meantime, I will be the odd one out and put the flag below on my bicycle while I’m here.
PS: After 1945, many German girls put the discarded Hakenkreuz-flags to good use, and wore red skirts with white and black trimmings. These were tough times and fabric was hard to come by. With my fellow countrymen and -women being into recycling these days, I wonder what we could do with all these little German flags after the World Cup is over. One flag is enough for one thong, if you have two more you don’t need to go topless ;)
tags: world cup, flag-waving, berlin
June 24, 2006
June 20, 2006
Someone left a Chinese language newspaper behind on the bus I was riding today. While I was browsing through it, I regretted not being able to read it.
While I have buried all aspirations to learn how to speak Cantonese or Mandarin, I wish I could at least read the headlines of the local tabloids.
Hong Kong’s English language newspapers can be very dry, leaving me with cravings for juicier reads. My Chinese friends also confirm what I have always suspected, the stories in the Cantonese press are vastly different from those in the English newspapers. Hong Kong’s biggest English newspaper South China Morning Post caters to the well to do crowd, with mostly international stories and a large business section. But if you want to know what really causes a stir, you have to read the local tabloids.
The article above on tired Korean World Cup fans, was sort of self explanatory. Needless to say, the pixelized image of Koreans (doing it?) on the roof of a car was not in the South China Morning Post.
It’s 10.50 pm now. Germany leads 2 to 0 against Ecuador :), and I am just too damn tired to watch it to the end.
tags: world cup, Hong Kong, Korea
June 19, 2006
Italy in Dolce & Gabbana
Fabio Cannavaro – Italy (Gasp!)
Fredrik Ljungberg of Sweden – no wonder he just scored ;)
Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal
tags: world cup, girlie stuff, italian national team, Cannavaro, Ljungberg, Ronaldo
June 16, 2006
What are they waiting for?
A goal!
Hong Kong
World Cup
June 12, 2006
Infecting me with the World Cup bug isn’t easy. I understand Americans, who say that 90 minutes with just one break and a few goals is painfully boring. But it’s the World Cup, and the opening match was a good omen. Six goals (4 shot by Germany and 2 by Costa Rica), thanks to Klinsi’s (Germany’s trainer in case you don’t know) new strategy of concentrating on getting the ball into the other side’s goal, opposed to having an iron defense.
While growing up in Germany, my only knowledge about soccer was how to sneak away the remote control from my sleeping father during Saturday’s “Sportschau”. But now that the World Cup is played in my home country, I have been slowly getting into the mood to watch the “most beautiful game”.
Since I am in Hong Kong and this city’s greatest joy is betting, I will up-the-ante with making a prediction on who is going to become World Cup Champion, and placing my money where my mouth is. Oh my!
I am going to do my World Champion prediction the long scientific way. There are eight preliminary groups A-H with four teams in each. The two best of every group advance into the round of 16. From than on it’s a knock-out game to the final. Here we go.
GROUP A
1) Germany 1st
2) Ecuador 2nd
3) Costa Rica
4) Poland
GROUP B
1) England 1st
2) Paraguay
3) Trinidad/Tobago
4) Sweden 2nd
GROUP C
1) Argentina 1st
2) Ivory Coast
3) Serbia-Montenegro
4) Netherlands 2nd
GROUP D
1) Mexico 1st
2) Iran
3) Angola
4) Portugal 2nd
GROUP E
1) USA (Sorry guys, wish you luck anyway)
2) Czechia 2nd
3) Italy 1st
4) Ghana
GROUP F
1) Australia
2) Japan
3) Brazil 1st
4) Croatia 2nd
GROUP G
1) South Korea 2nd
2) Togo
3) France 1st
4) Switzerland
GROUP H
1) Spain 1st
2) Ukraine
3) Tunisia 2nd
4) Saudi-Arabia
ROUND OF 16
1) 1stA-Germany Win
vs 2ndB-Sweden
2) 1stC-Argentina Win
vs 2ndB-Portugal
3) 1stB-England Win
vs 2ndA-Ecuador
4) 1stD-Mexico Win (these guys are good)
vs 2ndC-Netherlands
5) 1stE-Italy
vs 2ndF-Croatia Win (but only on a good day)
6) 1stG-France Win
vs 2ndH-Tunisia
7) 1stF-Brazil Win
vs 2ndE-Czechia
8) 1stH-Spain
vs 2ndG-South Korea Win
(Just witnessed an almost physical argument between a Korean mother and a Spanish father over their kids…Korea won)
QUARTERFINALS
1) Germany Win (So beat me. I’m German)
vs Argentina
2) Croatia
vs France Win
3) England
vs Mexico Win
(Sorry England, not in Germany, and not with Beckham in the team. I’m tired of looking at his anemic Spice Girl wife, almost keeling over because of her big sunglasses)
4) Brazil Win
vs South Korea
SEMIFINAL
1) Germany Win
vs France
(What a surprise. According to my unbiased, scientific approach, my home country Germany will be in the final)
2) Mexico
vs Brazil Win
FINAL
Germany vs. Brazil
Uuh, that one requires a little bit of deep, objective analysis.
Germany’s Pros:
-they will play in their home country, and if they want to stay living there, they better win
-the team is young, they will probably be able to keep going the full 90 minutes
-Klose, Podolsky, and Ballack can score goals
-we are due this time
Cons:
-ok, so the defense is a little shaky, but we have Lehmann as our last man.
Brazil’s Pros:
-let’s face it, they have the best players in the world
Cons:
-they have so many stars, I’m hoping they will fall over each other in Germany’s penalty area
-I hear in Brazil it’s not good enough to just score a goal, it has to be done elegantly; so while Ronaldinho figures out how to score elegantly, Germany’s defense will catch up to him
-I am also hoping for a cold front on July 9th in Berlin
It’s a stretch, I know, but Germany will be World Champion :)
World Cup
Germany
June 9, 2006
The World Cup starts today. In Hong Kong, you can tell by the increased activity at betting offices.
While Hong Kong’s traditional game is horse racing, betting on football has rapidly increased in popularity. So much so, that the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the only legal betting franchise in Hong Kong, has diversified into football bets a couple of years ago.
According to the South China Morning Post, the local English newspaper, the World Cup craze is also sweeping mainland China, where bosses are increasingly nervous, fearing that an increased number of people will arrive late for work or take naps during working hours, since most matches will be shown late at night.
Their fear seems to be justified. A recent survey by Zhaopin.com showed that sixty percent of 3,000 respondents planned to watch life broadcasts of every match, and six percent even planned to arrive late, apply for leave, or quit their job.
I guess this means that Chinese GDP growth will nosedive this year, and Chinese bookies will be rolling in dough.
World Cup
China
Hong Kong
June 7, 2006
Yeah! It’s all over.
Last Sunday, I survived the CFA exam and now I am free as a bird. It’s hard to guess if I passed, but I won’t worry about that until I know the results, probably around August.
I am thinking about going to Berlin soon. Hong Kong feels like a steam sauna at the moment, and I am suffering from a chest infection, that just refuses to go away. My little son also has atopic dermatitis, which gets especially bad during this time of year.
The only problem is that soon the Football World Cup will start in Germany, and I am not sure if I want to be near it. I don’t have tickets and from what I see on the net, half the city center will be closed to cars. If you have ever shared a subway ride with drunken football fans, you know that public transport is not a good option. But perhaps, World Cup fans are more civilized than your average Hertha Berlin hooligan?
On top of that, the Iranian president wants to come to Germany to support his team. Please don’t! Security will be a nightmare anyway.
On the other hand, it’s going to be a great party and I am hoping that lots of people from around the world will come to celebrate. That’s something I don’t want to miss.
I think, I am going to book a flight …
World Cup
Hong Kong
Berlin
