Friday, June 13, 2008

Coming of Age

Last night was a bummer. With most Europeans being soccer crazy folks it comes as little surprise that the European Soccer Championships that are currently held in Austria and Switzerland are events shadowing pretty much everything else.

Since Germany hosted the World Championships in Soccer in 2006 it seems that Germans have gone soccer crazy. It manifests itself in wearing the national team's jersey, the national flag and a face painting that smudges within minutes and makes most people look like fighters with a fierce war paint.

Something that was introduced big in 2006 were the public viewing points. A brewery or radio station decided to put up a big screen and unite thousands of people in front of it to celebrate that event together. Well what looked so nice on television isn't so funny in real life and may well bear the headline "The moment we found out we're no longer young".

This is a photo of the public viewing point at Munich airport when it was still early days. During last night's game the plaza was so crowded you couldn't even set foot in it without stepping on anyone. It was crazy.




This is how it happened. Last night I was supposed to pick up the hubby from the airport. The airport and a major German airline/former employer had errected a public viewing point in the huge plaza between two terminals. The hubby had awesome seats and slowly people came in. The game started and so did the panic. It was just too crowded, too noisy, too stressful. We were surrounded by 12-16 year olds who, without any parental supervision were running wild. They started insulting the fans of our team's opponent and they were smoking and drinking heavily. I didn't enjoy myself for a minute there. Luckily the hubby felt the same and we decided to drive home at halftime.


In the car - silence. Then we both breathed a huge sigh of relief, looked at each other and started to laugh. The hubby asked "Is it just me or are you feeling like we've become really old as well?" I just nodded and was happy to see the rest of the game in the comfort and silence of our own home. Ahhhhhhhhhhh


It just goes to show that youth really is wasted on the young and to think that just the other day I was so proud to have been up until 5a.m. ROFL. I should have taken the hint. When you're young you don't brag about it. You just stay up until 5a.m. So it is official. We feel old :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is her hubby. I would comment this post, but i am to old and already forgot what i wanted to say....

Melisa Wells said...

Awww, you guys are so cute. I remember vividly the viewing points in Dresden when I was there in 2006. Of course, since it was the World Cup the people were also dressed in really crazy hats and the face painting was more than I had ever seen in my life. As a tourist, I thought it was totally fantastic, the spirit that everybody had while watching the game. Also as a tourist, it was totally frustrating for me to have to rearrange the way I was getting to where I needed to be, because the crowds couldn't be contained in the space that was meant for them and I had no way of getting around them!

The Munich airport looks beautiful though, I have to say!

And yes, it totally stinks, getting old! :)

AutoSysGene said...

It happens to the best of us. The other night I was out at a bar and I kept thinking, "what am I doing here? I'm to old for this stuff."

Sometimes we just grow out of one thing and into another.

Jen said...

Dude I totally feel ya on this. I am only 25 but I feel soo much older. I just called and cancelled a babysitter because I realized that the band I wanted to see tonight doesn't go on until 11 PM. Back in the day I wouldn't even LEAVE THE HOUSE until 11 PM to go out. Nowadays that is like 3 hours past my bedtime!