Archived Quote of the Day

Change your location and you just may change yourself. By relocating ourselves, reorienting ourselves, we shake loose the shackles of expectation. Adrift in different places we give ourselves permission to be different people.

– Eric Weiner, Geography of Bliss

Bayreuth ('by-royt')

I have been staying in Bayreuth for the past 3 nights at Ronni's place (described earlier as my guide) as we plan our next move. There is a classical music festival (Festspielhaus) going on here to honor the late composer Richard Wagner and the city was dressed up with lights and banners for the occasion. Apparently, it is very difficult to get tickets for the festival with a 10 year waiting list or tickets that sell for 4000 euros (~6000 US) on the black market (I guess even classical music has a black market).


Anyhow, news of trials comes in waves. After learning that Quelle could not take me on, I soon had a potential trial lined up with Wolfsbad Mannheim (4th and 2nd division) who were in need of an innen verteidiger ('innen fer-tie-diga'), or center back. I found out two days later that the trial fell through. Ronni explained to me that teams are hesitant to go through the trouble of getting working visa for a foreigner with the transfer window closing soon (4 days).

Nürnberg

We planned to stay in the backpacker's hostel in Nuremberg for 1 night. And then one night turned into 3. It was a great experience and I met a few cool people all at different points in their lives. Anyhow, it got me thinking about what I enjoy about traveling. It's not the sights, or the scenery, or the historical significance of a place that interests me. It is interacting with people from different backgrounds and sharing insights and experiences (below is a view from the room).



But enough touchy-feely talk, I ended up going out in the city one of the nights with some of my fellow backpackers. This is from a blog of an Aussie we met at the backpackers hostel. Pretty much sums the night:

There I met two American guys a couple of years older than I, a 30 year old Brazilian guy and a few German girls. Ended up being a real cool night, we visited a dodgey Turkish shisha bar and ended up at a karaoke bar where I had my first banana beer...

I'd never heard of such a thing but essentially it is beer and banana. Amazing. The Brazilian guy is hilarious, the spitting image of Ray Ramano from Everybody Loves Ray and the Americans are Americans, pretty funny talking to them.

I am still not sure what it means to be a quintessential American (from the perspective of International), but I am slowly learning. And the banana beer was amazing.

Hip Polar Bears and Backpackers

I stayed in a hostel in Nuremburg for backpackers last night. In talking with a traveler from Toronto, he said something that struck a chord. I asked about his travels and he said he had just been here and there but that he just arrived in town and that he planned to 'do Nuremburg in a day.'

Can anyone truly appreciate a city, any city, in a day? Is a place's worth based on the sights to be seen or is it based on the people who inhabit the area? I would like to believe the latter, that it is the people and what the people create - the food, culture, architecture, atmosphere - that give a town value. Now, can one come to understand a group of people in only a day?

Maybe I am reading too far into this, but I think this is why some inhabitants are resistant to tourists. Either way, I would rather live in a place for a few months instead of 'doing it in a day.'

Geldautomaten sind nicht billig

(ATMs are not cheap)


After racking up $50 in ATM fees for international withdrawals, I called B of A to find a bank that doesn't charge a fee. B of A has a partnership with Deutsche ('doy-tch') Bank, but the B of A agent I was talking to refused to pronounce Deutsche, "The bank is called... ehmm... let me just spell it for you. D... E ... U..." The agent didn't want to say Deutsche because it looks so close to douche ('doo-sch'). And then he only removed half of my fees.

Disillusioned = no more illusions

When I finally woke up, ready to make my decision, I realized the safe best was not exactly as safe as it seemed and the risky choice was not as risky as I was led to believe. Ultimately, I learned that the decision was not necessarily up to me, and there were many things beyond my control -- a recurring theme.

Anyhow, Quelle ran into difficultly in getting a working permit. This is often the biggest difficulty clubs run into when signing foreigners. Unfortunately, they sat on this information for several days before saying anything. With a rapidly approaching transfer window (31st) , this does some damage.

All is not lost. 10 days still remain to make some magic happen.

Fürth

I am still training at SG Quelle Fürth instead of moving on to a club in the higher division as planned. After a few good practices, I have been offered a contract with the club. It wouldn't be much - a flat in Nürnberg and some spending cash - but at the very least this would be a way in the door of the German playing system. Also, Quelle has good connections with Greuther Fürth (who has teams in the 2nd and 4th divisions). Quelle seems to be pressuring those managing me to make a decision (I am told this is a good thing) but we have until the 25th to give an answer.

I have been told by my agent (whom I will refer to as Ari) that I really have two options at this point. Either sign with Quelle (a safe bet) or trial at another club in a higher division (and Quelle would likely take back their offer). Another red flag is that the transfer window (time in which a club can sign me) closes in two weeks (31st of August) and does not open again until December. Trials can last anywhere from a day (if it was a bad day) to a month.

Decision time. Go with the safe bet or take the a risk? The same situation happened in Croatia. However, back then I trusted my old managers to make the decision they felt was the best. The riskier option was pursued and when it fell through the bridge back to the safer situation had been burned.

With wounds still fresh from the Balkans, my first instinct is to go with the safe bet and be done with it. On the other hand, one can't live life playing it safe. I don't want to sit back and wonder what could have been. I would rather go for it and let the chips fall where they may. A tough decision, so I will sleep on it.

I love Blanka Vlasic

The World Athletic Games in Berlin have been on tv for the past week. One channel (besides Das A-Team) I can watch without having to decipher the german commentary. And I found my future wife.

5v2, One Touch

This is a very common way to start training and serves as a pre-warmup ritual to get the mind ready. 5 players attempt to keep the ball against 2 defenders using only one touch. Anyhow, Germans play this at full intensity and hold nothing back - two foot tackles, fish hooking, eye gouging, etc. The other day a player got kicked in the face by one of the defenders and ended up with a broken nose. To reiterate, this was before warm-up had even started.

Just another 5v2 casualty.

I am in Bavaria, not the Balkans

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want"

After a few days in Tuzi, Dečić was all set to sign. Unfortunately, no one had told the coach. He refused to add a player that had only been there a few days to a team who had already been working out for 40 days together. The coach said things would be different if I would have come at a better time and invited me to return at a later date.

I spent the next day traveling back to Pula via bus and plane (Dubrovnik, shown below, is gorgeous btw). I arrived only to find out that any opportunities I had in Croatia before I left disappeared when I went to Montenegro.


Anyhow, I took the first flight to Frankfurt and 3rd train to Nuremburg (it took me a bit to figure out the system) and now I am under new management. I am currently training with a feeder club in Germany named SG Quelle. They play in the Landesliga (6th division), but the plan is to be tested here and then move to a higher division - Regionalliga (4th division) or higher. Things are looking good after the first training day. There is a guy working with me who helps with transportation, finds my accommodations, and is my link to clubs - similar to the job of a sherpa who takes climbers up a mountain (and just as indispensable). At the moment my sherpa is happy, so I am happy. He says the coach has given me the thumbs up (this is German for a sign of approval).

I am very impressed with the structure of the fußball ('foosball') system over here. There are 11 divisions here each with a relegation/promotion rule. This means an 11th division team can be promoted to the 1st division (however, it would take 10 seasons, proper funding, and a few miracles). Also, every team, regardless of the division, seems to have a sponsor and amazing facilities.

Tuzi, Montenegro - Poor and Beautiful

About 5 times a day I could hear Muslim prayer calls from the flat where I was staying. I don't think I could do justice to the prayer calls by describing them, but they were strangely calming and beautiful. There were two mosques which were places of worship for the Muslims living in the town (below is a view of the towers from the room).


On the other hand, our training field (slash game field) was surrounded by chain link fencing and a small concrete bleachers for the fans. The field was decent and the stadium in need of renovation, but I couldn't complain - it was a place to play and a 1st division club.


Before the start of one of the training sessions I was fortunate enough to watch a guy walk about 10 paces from his house, take a dump, and then wipe with a piece of trash he just found. Pretty awesome.

Croatia

I spent my first two weeks in Croatia (July 24 to Aug 4) touring with a team of Americans and playing against various teams from the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st divisions in Croatia. The trip was organized through oneshotonedream.com and the purpose of the trip was to get American players exposure and hopefully signed to a professional team. (The photo is from a newspaper article talking about our game against a local team, Hrvatsku = 'Croatians')

The problem was we lost ever game we played. Nonetheless, I feel that I gave my best in every game and showed well. I was reassured that the opportunity was not lost by those managing the stay, "it doesn't matter if you are playing with 10 women, if you can play you will be noticed." So I was noticed. Offers for me were presented to my managers. Things were looking promising.

My managers felt the best option was pursue a career with a FK Dečić ('Deck-itch'), a 1st division team in Montenegro. Phrases such as "guaranteed contract" and "starting spot" were spoken after "you have a..." And so, I was off to Montenegro to make the best out of the opportunity.