The Greek

After 5 years in the States my friend Mike is now back in Germany. He is living in Nurnberg - one hour from Regensburg by car or by train. Thus I packed my backpack last week and paid him a visit to watch Champions League with him and to see his new apartment.

The Champignons League game - Florence vs. Bayern Munich was a highlight and two friends joined us - Jan & Björn. Bayern made it to the Quarter Finals.

The apartment is another highlight - I was not expecting anything else. You have a view over the city and the castle of the city. Well, no surprise that other celebrities enjoy this apartment complex. For example Angelos Charisteas, the soccer champ from club in Nurnberg. He is an absolute celebrity in Greece since 2004. He was the one leading his national team to the European Champion title when scoring the important goal against Portugal - 1:0.

Well it is going to be just a matter of time till Mike will run into Mr. Charisteas. I had the honor not even after 24 hours. When I left Mike’s apartment the next day, to go to the train station, I took the staircase and on the fourth floor I met him – the famous Greek.

We greeted each other and while I continued taking the stairs, this soccer pro took the elevator. Can you believe that? This guy earns his money with soccer and takes the elevator from the third floor. I was so irritated that when we met again downstairs I kept him the door open. I was worried that it might be too much for him to open the door.... He was happy, said thanks... Strange Greek (Sorry, Soto!)

The Newspaper Thief

Life in a community has its downsides as well. Over a long period of time you become a team and you rely on each other. However, if you are not too careful anymore - it happens...

That is exactly what happened to me last week when someone caught me red-handed stealing newspaper.

At 7 am in the morning I was catching downstairs Stephan´s newspaper as always. On this day as well as on the previous 3-4 days I also took newspaper from the neighbors as according to Stephan those fellows were on vacation for a week and would not be able to read it.

Well strange enough that this neighbor appeared on the staircase gave me this strange look. However, he did not say anything - not yet. So later on I went to fetch a cafe latte from a bar and then I ran into this neighbor again and he asked me pretty rude if I had taken his newspaper. Well, of course I said yes as he was supposed to be on vacation as my host told me so. He was not amused and I gave him his newspaper back. Since then the neighbor is less friendly even though I greet him in the most agreeable way. At least he did not put in a charge against me - as far as I know ... :o)

Flat Sharing

It is now over one year ago that we had an apartment. Right now we spend most of the time in Stephan´s apartment - Michaela´s brother. From time to time he gives us a shelter for over a year now. By now it is almost a flat sharing community. It is pretty cozy in this 60 square meter 2 bedroom apartment (1 bedroom, 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom). So he better watches out if we are ever leaving again as we kind of like it. Well, he might need to change the couch in the living room - the one we sleep on since a couple of weeks and we fear we are getting severe back injuries after a while.

And of course there are downsides in community when you want to change it to a normal life. Take this for example, Michaela and I going out till late and even if we try hard not to make much noise, we usually wake up Stephan. This poor guy...

And even I have to suffer from time to time. It can happen that both `Baeren` (Stephan & Michaela) turn on Abba music early in the morning and try to sing loudly along. And that is not even all. Last time I was sitting at the kitchen table, accepted the fact that it was Abba-time when I realized that there was someone dancing in checked PJs in the kitchen. It was Stephan who wanted to take revenge for the late night breach of his peace with this strange performance.

Well, after dining together, playing games or watching DVD everything is fine.

Those joyful moments we will take with us when we are going to leave at one point - the couch? - No way! And of course thanks a million to Stephan our fantastic host!