home stretch

things are pretty busy this week. we play our last 2nd man's game this weekend in Keil, and i guess i need to start packing up my stuff at some point. But im really in no mood to pack, i've packed up all my stuff a total of 7 times already since ive graduated and each time i seem to accumulate more shit. and this 8th time will be no different. i've gotten new stuff since ive been here so im going to have to leave some things here to make room. that should be fun. I really just do not like packing, especially when i have to worry about weight restrictions and extra baggage fees and everything. but its got to be done at some point so, all this complaining isnt helping me at all.

last weekend was one of the biggest parties of the year...i feel like i say that about every party we have, but this time i really mean it. the Erntefest (pronounced antefest meaning harvest party) is the last party of the year here in Dohren. it is in celebration of the harvest being over and celebrating a good crop. it started as just as a ritual for the farmers to get together and talk about their season and share tips and whatever, but the Dohren Youth Group quickly turned that into a party and a way to make some money for the club. so friday night, everyone that worked on setting everything up comes to the tent and has a little get together...you know, to make sure the keg taps are working and that everyone knows how to pour a proper cocktail... and since most of the guys on the baseball team are in the youth group, i was invited to join in the festivities and who would i be to turn down the invitation.

Saturday is the real party though. the crew gets there at 11 to get the food out, set up the booths for the pies and cakes and the DJ and warms up the dance floor. a little before 2 the lawn outside the tent is filled with tractors and trailers that have been decorated but different groups and families. there was a pirate float, a "man powered float" (that one had penises drawn all over it) all the floats are blaring different music from expensive sound systems, offering different drinks than the next, and battling for the title of best float. the best float wins a big prize with drinks and other things. at 2 there is a police led parade around dohren to show off the hard work put into the floats and to let the rest of the town know that the party is about to start. people lined the streets, kids especially, awaiting candy to be thrown from the floats. our float was too busy worrying about drinking to be bothered by throwing candy, but we were the lead float so we saw our function as the signal flare, introducing the other floats.

we got back to the tent around 4 and continued the festivities until the party officially began at 8. Toby, Brocky, and I wet to burgerking around 7:30 and grabbed a couple of burgers before heading back to the party. if we had gotten there 5 minutes earlier we wouldnt have had to pay cover, but since they had set up a booth at the gate, i got roped into paying 5 bucks to get in the door and they made me finish my coke and burger before i could come in....that really sucked because i wanted to save that burger for later. we partied and danced late into the night, until the DJ shut down the music and the lights came on. then we went to Tina's and had another beer.

Sunday we, me and jan, woke up on Tina's couches at 1 so we decided to take off and get back to the house. plus Jan had a soccer game he had to get to. as we were walking down the street toward home, comeone pulled out of the driveway headed in our direction. it wasnt a hassenpflug car, it was one i didnt recogize, but i recognized the guy sitting in the passenger seat. it was Thies and one of thier soccer teammates coming to pick up Jan for the game. better him than me, because that is the last thing i would have wanted to do, run around for 90 minutes slamming my head into a ball. no thank you.

with only 6 days left before i come back to the good ol US of A, the reality of this dream being over is starting to set in. as i'm coming up on my last of everything, my last weekend, my last pizza day, my last practice, i'm starting to come out of REM sleep, back through the cycles to consciousness. today was supposed to be my last day at school, but it was cancelled because the class was "out on a walk." wish i would have known about that so i could have slept in, but i had to get to school, sit and wait for them, knock on a window and ask another teacher where the class was before finally being told they were on a walk. and since David took me to school on his way to Tostedt, i was going to have to walk home. Luckily David saw me walking and picked me up, otherwise that would have sucked.

That is one thing i will not miss about being here. the Diekhof School was awful. the kids were little heathens. and the teachers would just stand there and watch it all happening. they watched as the kids would take balls and just throw them all over the field, watched as this one little girl, the devil reencarnated, took my jacket and ran off with it. she had been jumping all over me and tony all day and then after class when we were picking everything up, she swooped in and snagged my jacket. she tried shaking up a drink and having Tony open it. she was just horrible and the teacher never said anything, never did anything, just stood there watching it all.

in another class, there was a kid running over other kids, hogging the ball, yelling at his teammates. so then when the other kids on his team stopped giving him the ball, he started running them over too. this led to some shoving and teacher just calmly tried to talk to the kid. he was yelling back at her, at the top of his lungs. im sure it wasnt anything nice, but she just stood there like she had taken care of it. finally i just jumped in and said that we needed to take a break, let everyone cool down and she just looked at me like i was stupid. like there was no need to seperate these kids before something happened. so we sat in silence for 10 minutes or so, and that same kid was still yaping, chirping at the teacher. and whenever i would try to say something about the game we were playing, they would never translate and make things easier. they would let me struggle to show them how the game should go, struggle when the kids asked me questions. going to that school was never a good experience.

I am excited to get home though, see the family and friends, listen to some good country music. i havent heard county music in 6 months and its starting to get to me. and i know that there have been a bunch of new songs come out since i left, so its going to be like christmas when i get home and turn on the radio. and the first weeeknd i am home, it is the country music festival in chicago.

A-Ron