World Cup Madness!

First of all, I still sometimes find it hard to believe I'm actually living my life in Germany right now. And then on top of things I'm lucky enough to be in the country hosting the 2006 Fifa World Cup, which is pretty much considered the largest international event.

I think I can speak for all of Germany but Stuttgart at least is absolutely ridiculous right now. There are people everywhere, the atmosphere is electric. You have no idea what it means to be a soccer fan until you experience the people here.

Last night was an experience I don't think I will ever ever forget.

They've set up three enormous screens in schlossplatz downtown (the main square, outside of a castle). It's all fenced in and is supposed to hold 40 000 people, but I'd put money on it that there were waaayyy more people than that inside last night. For the opening Germany game there were 80 000 people downtown, and I KNOW last night was WAY more crowded. You can also see the screens from outside the Fan Fest area so there are people everywhere. Making your way from one end of the street to the other is nearly impossible, people are all decked out with flags, face paint, jerseys of the teams they're supporting...there's more spirit here than I've ever seen in my life.

Last night was the Germany vs. Poland game, and it was TIGHT. It was tied 0:0 all the way to the very end and when Germany scored a goal during stop time....you have NO IDEA what it was like downtown.

I have to admit I'd been a little apprehensive of what it would be like. There's always a risk of rioting and violence right.. Well, last night was indeed chaotic. BUT, it was German Chaos. And German chaos, just like everything else German, is very orderly.

I was in shock and awe. I literally could not close my mouth and if my eyes were any wider I'm sure they would have fallen right out of my head. Thousands and thousands of people yelling and screaming in the streets, black, red and yellow colours everywhere...flags, face paint, jerseys... aannndd much rocking of the unfortunate cars that were driving through the streets nearby the big screens. Some of them had little kids in them, but most of them were smiling and honking and just reveling in the insanity, only a few people were royally pissed.

But there's what I mean about 'German Chaos'. There really was no violence or destruction that I witnessed or heard about. We saw a big group of police just sort of watching, they didn't do a thing. Which I think was probably smart... With all the energy it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to step in and try to stop it, especially since nothing really bad was happening.

I'm in Germany and the World Cup is in Germany and everything is crazy and amazing and I love it and I'm pretty much just really really lucky and really really happy to be here and experiencing this.