Ok Ok, so i missed yesterday, big deal. It was a minor slip up and not the beginning of the end of this whole thing. Before you start saying, "Typical Aaron, I knew he wouldnt last till April," calm down and hear me out. Yesterday was my 2nd day in the school in Nenndorf (the home of mini-Ben Baenen). Waking up at 6:30 was a bit more difficult than anticipated considering i only got 3 hours of sleep. now you (cough-Dad-cough) are probably saying to yourself that he went out and got drunk wednesday night and stayed up all night. and you would be wrong. I found episodes of Chuck and thanks to Ultrasurf (shameless plug) I was able to watch the entire season and get myself up-to-date. so 7:15 rolls around and im wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as Mr, Biermann picks me up for school. If i didnt know any better, I would have swore A-Rod rather than A-Ron walked into the school building that day...maybe they got it wrong on the marquee outside...i dont know. But i was mobbed by 150 ankle-biters all screaming in foreign tongue. Searching for assistance, i scanned eyelevel and found all the teachers, Mr. Biermann included, standing back and laughing at my predicament. finally getting the courage to look down at my attackers, i noticed they all had pens and markers and sheets of paper. and not being one to disappoint a young fan, i started signing my Herby Hancock. muscle memory was something i thought was just a coach's way of getting players to do more reps and waste a little more time, but after the 10th "autogram" as they called it, my wrist knew the strokes while my eyes scanned the crowd for the next thing to sign. through it all i realized that my signature needs to be simplified if im going to be doing it 150 times in a row. I also came to understand that it wasnt about the autograph at all, and really it shouldnt be, its not like i'm George Ruth, rather it was about how many times and in the oddest place they could get me to sign. I signed the usual paper, hats, shirts (while still on the kids) but then it started to get crazy when i was signing forearms-both of them, bare shoulders, and empty plastic bottles. then the line was toed even more when one kid wanted me to sign his forehead and a 4th grade girl lifted up her shirt and wanted me to sign her hip ( i wish i was making this up) but i declined on both counts. there are some things a superstar like myself just wont do. and the last thing i need is to come back to America and register as a sex offender because some 4th grader in Germany thought it was real cool to have my name on her hip for a day and a half.

so after that all went down, it was time to bring in the 2nd graders and teach them baseball. We started out just throwing and catching...a simple enough concept that got out of hand in a hurry when they started fighting over whose ball was whose. fielding ground balls went about the same way and had to be cut short to keep fights from breaking out. We then played a game like ultimate frisbee, except there is a ball instead of a frisbee and you can only roll it-no throwing- down the field. the boys in the class took to this like ducks to water, the girls had a difficult time because whispering to eachother in a group in the back isnt part of the game. introducing the bat was the highlight of the class, everyone was good at hitting the ball off the tee, though they all held the bat at their hip like in cricket. after a few rounds of hitting, it came time to put it all together in a game of t-ball. the teacher in the gym with me, though quite attractive, didnt speak a bit of english, so explaining the game to the kids because more of monkey see-monkey do. I would demonstrate and they would mimick. the reporter, there to take pictures and ask me a few questions for the local newspaper-on news stands Saturday, got a kick out of me running around with the kids. I'll see if i can pick up a few copies and send back to the States.

the next two classes with the 4th graders went exactly the same, though more coordinated and less bickering. and they have been learning a bit of english, so they just kept asking me what my name was and how i was doing. it might have been a bit cruel to give them long, elaborate answers to their simple questions, but i personally found it amusing. but i have to hand it to them, they know more english then i know german.

School gets over at 1:30 in Germany so then it was back to Dohren and back on my lifeline-this computer. Since there are no english tv channels or anything, im forced to sit check my email every two minutes-even when i know it is 6 am in America and no one is sending me emails, look at facebook friend updates, and stream american sitcoms illegally overseas. So much for not letting the language thing hold me back, huh.

Here in the next couple of weeks, Hasi, the oldest Hassenpflug brother and a catcher on the team, said he would show me around Hamburg to the best bars and coolest places to go. then hoping on the train for the 30 minute ride will be a weekly routine.

"There was little bitty, stinging rain, big ol' fat rain, rain that comes in sideways, and rain that even seems to come up from underneath." I dont know why, maybe it was the "sideways rain" i was riding into going to girls softball practice, but this is the one line i kept repeating to myself. Despite the 5 layers of clothes i was wearing, this might have been the most miserable practice i've ever been apart of. there was some practices at DPU that were down right cold, and i can even remember practicing in the snow and sleet before, but last nights practice was dreadfull. I was soaked, freezing, and not moving much since i was just helping out. the best part about it, is that the wind was at my back riding home, so the rain wasnt pelting me in the face.

Well my friends, all this talk about Forrest Gump has inspired me to... watch the movie...you thought i was going to say run, but we all know running is not high on my list of things i want to do. plus we have practice later tonight and im going to the field early to throw...so theres no sense in using a bunch of energy now. Nope, a good classic movie is just what i need right now.

A-Ron