boo, sniffle, sniffle

So, as I'm sure you've all heard by now, poor Germany lost the Euromeisterschaft (not the Weltmeisterschaft or, as I like to call it, the Waldmeisterschaft where you cut down trees and ride on squirrels) last night. They did not play so well, I have to admit. The game was kind of....ummmm...boooooring. I kept wanting to read my New Yorker, and it made me feel like I was 12 years old again waiting in the sun for my brother to come up at bat, reading a book and getting a sunburn.

The soccer craziness is over, and on the radio this morning I kept hearing about how proud Germany should be to be in 2nd place. That's right! Good job guys! Keep that stiff upper lip and remember that not everyone can win all the time.

By the way, didn't you see Jeremy's LOL bug a few posts down? Isn't it the most hilarious thing ever? Give him some love!

Finale! Oh! Oh!

The words to a very popular song circulating around Deutschland because... we are in the Finale! With all their poetry by Goethe, Richard Wagner operas, etc, this is the best they can come up with? The other popular tune goes something like "Oh how beautiful" ("Oh wie schön") over and over. I guess after 2 liters of beer one needs something simple.

Jer and I went out to watch the second half of the Germany vs. Turkey game. When we walked out of the apartment building onto the street, it was like stepping into some Wild West ghost town. There were practically tumbleweeds-- a train with 1 rider flew by on the tracks. We could hear rumbling in the distance-- all of the people were GLUED to the giant TV screens set up in every bar and restaurant, and even in some kiosks.

The bars seemed to be divided into ones for fans of Germany and ones for fans of Turkey. We made our way to the beergarden in the park, but it was much more crowded, and we stood up to watch the game. It was exciting! They kept tying the game and it was all decided in the last minutes. But they sure do trip each other a lot in soccer, no?

Here in the West people were very chill about the Germany/Turkey thing, but I guess in the Eastern cities there was a bit of racial nastiness. Oy.

This is the best thing about it I found on you tube:

Fußball Verrücktheit!!!

Ja, es ist total wahnsinnig. So, as the majority of our blog readers are probably unaware, the European soccer championship is taking place these days. Last week we ventured out to try to watch the quarter final game in which Germany played. The weather was a bit rainy, so we tried to go to a pub to watch the game, but every place was completely packed. Did I mention that they really, really like soccer over here? We ended up finding a slightly hidden beer garden with TV's outside, and watched as Germany took it to Portugal, and the town went crazy. Here are a couple videos we took on our way home:




On Friday night Turkey played Croatia. I should mention here that Cologne has a sizable Turkish population, and the reaction to wins by the Turkish team rival or exceed to what we hear after the Germany results. We hadn't planned on watching the game, but instead went to see some kind of performance art deal, the less about which is said, the better (Sarah: it was so awful! Performance art is DEAD). After sneaking out midway through, we were a bit bummed, and went to one of favorite places in Cologne, the Aachener Weier to drown our sorrows in Weizen and pommes frittes. Of course, the game was playing there, and I watched about 70 minutes of really boring football, while Sarah slowly drifted off to dreamland. We decided to go home, with a few minutes left in the second over time half remaining and still no score. After we had walked a bit, a loud but short lived roar echoed across the darkened vale we were crossing on our way home, which I now realize was a cry of despair as Croatia scored the go-ahead goal, with time almost expiring. We walked a bit further, and suddenly bedlam erupted in every direction, corresponding to an amazing goal by Turkey to tie it as time ran out. The rest of our walk home was punctuated by cheers each time Turkey made a penalty shot. As we entered our apartment, we could start to hear the passing cars laying on their horns, so we knew that Turkey had won, and were constantly reminded of this until at least 2am.

Tomorrow night Germany plays Turkey in the semi-finals. This is possibly the worst possible outcome for people who like to sleep, because no matter the result, half the city will be going nuts. Go Team (whichever)!

Home and Garden Blogging

Some of you have perhaps heard me complaining about the aphids plaguing our garden. I like to think of myself as a friend to all of god's creatures, but I really hate those buggers. Recently I tried to take matters into my own hands. The trees near my lab were also infested with aphids, but there nature was taking its course by attracting lady bugs, whose larvae were crawling all over the place, devouring the aphid menace. I decided to try an organic solution to my problem, and transported a couple dozen to our humble balcony. Here are the results, modified internet style:














lolcats style:


















I have to admit that this was not a long term solution, as most of the lady bug larvae were pretty old, and pupated soon after I transported them to their new home. However, I am encouraged by finding a few of these guys, pictured below. This is a parasitic wasp, which I would imagine would be even more of a horror for an aphid, since the wasp lays its eggs inside the aphid, which is devoured from the inside by the wasp spawn.







This video is a little cheesy, but it gives you an idea of what I am hoping for in our particular circumstance. Go ahead and watch it if you can stand another slightly disturbing insect movie.

Rothenfels Pictures

The Rothenfels Baroque Dance Conference happened almost a month ago, but I feel compelled to expose the silly sort-of hijinks that the crazy Americans perpetuated.

The whole conference was quite fun, even if I did eat way too much pork. Every morning we listened to lectures (one of which had me rushing to the New York Public Library to get my hands on a hot little uncatalogued Italian notation). In the afternoons we danced about 20 different kinds of contredanses. In the evenings, after the daily pork ration, there were more contredanses.

Contredanses are kind of like square dances, except in lines or groups of 8.

The conference took place in a charming German fort (medieval? I lazily didn't find out) on the top of a small mountain (putting the Berg into Burg Rothenfels!) that has very recently been converted to a center for music and dance. Caroline and I stayed in the nicest hostel-dorms in history.




On the last night, there was a ball where we danced all of the contredanses we learned in the week. People were dressed in costumes from about 1650-1810. It was wild! Caroline made a fabulous costume out of her underwear and scraps of fabric and flowers scavenged around Köln, while I elected to just go in my underwear. Super scandal! People were comparing the two of us to Mlle. Guimard, that famous Enlightenment ballerina who had several lovers and her own private, naughty theater (there had just been a lecture on this infamous character in the morning session).











This girl's hair was a marvel-- a mix of her own hair, a sponge, and wig parts.








When the band stopped playing at midnight, a large group of people kept dancing, singing the tunes, and then one dancer whipped out his accordion! You can keep your mash pits and raves, I would rather cut some capers with these disheveled hedonists.













We stumbled into bed around 3am.

John Adams

I realize that I am about half a year behind the major pop-culture happenings in the United States, but I have to say how much I love the HBO miniseries "John Adams". It is brilliant! Yesterday, I watched the episode where John Adams gave his inaugural speech to the Congress, and my eyes filled with tears.

How exciting that his speech, even in an abridged form, was presented in such a way that someone today can feel the oratory power, acknowledge the meticulous crafting of the words, and understand the high ideals supporting the formation of our country!

Daria's Math Party

This is my darling little sister, Daria, explaining what her school calls algorithms. We made this video in NYC at our super-slumber party!!



I am almost done with the back blogging from my time away from Cologne.... I just have to write a little something about the baroque dance conference (I know you are all waiting for that rather breathlessly-- there are some incriminating pictures, though!), and then I firmly resolve to write about books, music, movies, and art.

Beach Pictures

See? Totally tan.










The evil Moustache Twins

I swear the moustache thing was Nicole's brilliant idea, but I will admit that it was I who said, "what can we do for this dinner that would be really weird?". (For those not involved with the Lynch family, at the vacation small groups make dinner for all 25 people each night.) It only took us an hour to make all of them while Jeremy and his brother Ken slaved over the dinner.











Lots of people very gamely ate the foie gras with their moustaches on, including Grandma, Phil, and Martha. I found out that I don't have enough space between my nose and lip to sport a cardboard moustache while eating, such a shame.










I stink at horseshoes and unfortunately brought Jeremy crashing down with me. I always get excited to play games like that, and it usually ends badly. Lots of people loved playing that 12 hour game, though.










Ok. This is at the Elizabethan Gardens with my parents. No comment except that the flower made me act that way. That and the sun. Yeah, it was really, really hot.

Family Vacation Wrap-Up

Oh No! Extreme back-blog!

Hopefully everyone has, by now, witnessed Mama Lou’s amazing feats of strength and has passed on the video to friends and strangers.

Jeremy and I have just returned to Cologne with our suitcases filled with sand from the Lynch Family Vacation. My parents came down too! We had a good time catching up with Jer’s immediate and extended family (for general activity highlights, visit Steph and Kris Lynch’s blog), cooking quiche, and introducing people to foie gras whilst making them wear mustaches. Jeremy and I are actually Tan. This may be a yearly occurrence for some of you, but it is an exceptional event for me.

Other noteworthy events that occurred at the Family Vacation (besides the number 1 highlight of seeing my parents):
1. Hearing Jeremy sing Whip It at the karaoke party
2. Waking up at 5:15am to have a chat with Jer’s grandmother (we wanted to watch the sun rise, but it was blocked by naughty clouds)
3. Standing in the ocean up to our knees with Caroline and Ava (the extremely good-natured and well-behaved children of Ken and Steph Brenneman) and Rocky and swinging them over the waves.

We don’t have any pictures because I emptied the batteries in NYC filming Daria Richman-Prices’s explanation of The Algorithm, but I’ll post something from my parents’ camera. I’ll save The Algorithm for the next blog…

Maybe my parents will send me a couple of pictures through email... hint. hint.

PS- Our plants didn't completely die! Yay! Just the raspberry bush and a few spring flowers didn't make it, but the tomato and zucchini plants are now uncontrollable behemoths that are threatening to invade Luxembourg.