Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Germany vs. Turkey

I must be delusional to even consider baking on a sweltering day sans air conditioning. Since Germany plays Turkey tonight in a highly tension filled game, I have decided that baking cookies would be a nice way to support Germany. As I have previously noted, my delight for the games stems mainly around culinary adventures that I pair with them. It's kind of nice that no matter the outcome I will be happy with my yummy cookies.

Besides, who doesn't love a cookie shaped like a beer?


Just to give you an idea of how serious Germany takes this game + soccer in general:

  • The US consulate sent out a warning to Americans saying they should use precaution if attending a public viewing and avoid demonstrations. The Turkish and Germans are good friends but this is a big rivalry, so in true American fashion they put the fear in us. 
  • Porsche, BMW, Daimler, and Opel have either stopped production or created arrangements for their workers to watch the game. Typically Porsche only displays the score on monitors for it's workers (we learned this on the tour we took in March). 
  • The radio has been playing a new Catholic 'Our Father' prayer with the words changed to be about Lukas Podolski scoring goals. I hope the Bavarian Pope has a sense of humor about that. 
  • Leopoldstraße (a large street in Munich's Schwabing neighborhood) is expecting 100,000 people. The Brandenburg Gate has 500,000 spectators. 
  • Out of the 80 million people in Germany 35 million are expected to watch tonight's game. Even German soldiers in Afghanistan will be watching. 
  • People had to leave work for the public viewings at 4:30pm... the game begins at 8:45pm.
Tonight we are also expecting heavy rain and hail storms - so you can guess where I will be... hanging out at home.

3 comments:

JoernandAllison said...

Are you watching the game? I adore your cookies. You are a wonderful wife. I was up till midnight last night, doing getting ready for a birthday at work today. All Joern got was a kitchen full of dirty dishes and scrapbook supplies strewn on the coffee table this morning.
The cookies are the reason Germany got that first goal!
:)

Emily said...

Allison - we were watching the game and I was preparing myself for Stefan's crazy antics. You can imagine how it was when they lost the TV signal / the announcers words were a few seconds before the play.

I'm sure your birthday at work appreciated your thoughtfulness. Hopefully Joern also got a sample of your baked goods!

Unknown said...

Hey Emily,

We were watching yesterday, and my wife kept getting upset when the signal kept dropping. Luckily, we were able to see the winning goal.

In 2006, we were in Germany during world cup. We didn't plan it, it was by coincidence, but I remember how CRAZY it was, especially on Leopold Strasse. We could see and hear all the wild celebrations from my Mother-in-law's balcony. I remember how fun it was in Marienplaz with all the fans from the different countries. That's one Germany trip I'll never forget!