Germany, Here I Come

Sorry to stay quiet for so long. To be honest, I intended to write a little more than I have in the last two weeks, but things like life get in the way.

The big news (or, rather, the BIG news) is that I will intend to be in Germany for five weeks, covering most of June and a few weeks of July. There's this thing called the World Cup, you see.

The itinerary covers Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich. The more observant will realise that this is not an accidental choice, being five of the twelve World Cup host cities. But whether I get to see any games live or not is a completely different issue.

Tickets for the games have been hard - very hard - to come by. Actually, I exaggerate a little, since there are online shops selling tickets at twenty to thirty times the cover value. Yet, I'm not willing to spend EUR1000 for a single ticket. Instead, I spend hours in front of the Internet, refreshing the screen for the ticket shop, hoping to get lucky. Even when tickets are available, when I click on them, I usually get sent to a screen that says "Sorry, shop is busy" or "Sorry, it seems that somebody was faster than you".

"So," I hear you asking, "Why on Earth are you going to bother to go all the way to Germany if you don't even have a ticket for a game". Yeah, you and my mom, my friend. I've been questioned on this over, and over, and over, AND OVER again about this. "Why do you want to go all the way over there to sweat it out in some Bierkeller when you can get all 64 games in the comfort of your local mamak shop in KL?".

Partly it's about the atmosphere. But I hesitate to say that, because I believe that if the football is good, nothing else should matter. A good atmosphere hightens the senses, but it can't save a bad game. And a great game is great regardless of where you watch it. So let's just say "partly atmosphere" and move on.

It's actually about travelling. It's about doing things that you've never experienced before. Seeing things that you never imagined before. Pushing back the borders of your personal horizon to a new vanishing point. And then pushing it that bit more.

Of course, there are going to be problems when you put yourself out like this. Uncertainty unbalances you, and you're always questioning yourself. Can or not? Should or not? Safe or not?

Heh. I sound like one of my scripts. I should be doing slogans instead.

Life is hard. Life is great. Live life.

Labels: germany, world cup