"Flugpunkt" und "Green Men"

Picture demonstrating "Flugpunkt"

Well it has been a busy week since I last blogged, but I am having trouble remembering all the things that have happened. One thing I am excited about is that I made a new friend that is going to teach me about photography. I have never had an “eye” for art to say the least, but I am going to try to learn. He travels to America quite frequently for his job and is a camera man for movies and commercials. It is crazy hearing about his job and what he does because it is a whole different world than what I use to. I realize how little I know about actors, actresses, singers, artists, etc. because I mainly just know athletes. Regardless, it has been cool learning about how movies are made and all the work that goes into it. With that being said the first tip I learned about taking photos is called the “flugpunkt” in German. I guess I didn’t learn what it was in English, but that translates to “flight point” so I am assuming that is what it is. This is the picture I took to portray what that is, and of course it was on my first try (ok, not really maybe fourth). It is on a wall for a neat café we went to and all the words are opposites. 

On Saturday, it was a fun day. First I met my friend and her boyfriend at IKEA for an early lunch, we never go to IKEA to actually buy things, usually to just eat breakfast or lunch because it is cheap and tastes good. Then the real adventure began when I met a woman from our soccer club to go to the Hertha game. I knew ahead of time that we had VIP tickets, but I guess I didn’t understand to what extent we were VIP. I felt so in over my head. We met two hours before game time to eat and have a couple drinks. First we walked in, and she explained that there were four levels of food and we could eat and drink as much as we wanted. I was like a little kid in a candy shop and was just fascinated with all that was going on around me. I went to the bathroom, and some woman opened the door for me and ripped my paper towels for me. I felt inept to a certain extent. I almost wanted to ask her if she could wipe for me too.

Dog parking space at IKEA. Yikes.

After a while, we were standing there at our table and the woman had left to bring drinks to her brother outside, so I looked like the awkward loner. I mean whatever though, just stood there and people watched, until out of the corner of my eye I say this guy coming towards me. I was hoping that he wasn’t going to talk to me, because since I have lived in Germany I always just try to mind my own business and not let anyone know that I don’t know German. It is weird because I do understand a lot of German, but for some reason when strangers talk to me it is like I go blank and freeze. I usually assume people aren’t speaking to me; so many times they have to repeat themselves and come directly in front of me. Regardless, this guy came up to me and he had 7 other guys that were at a table behind him, and he asked in English if he could take a photo with me. First of all, I was like, “Do I look that American?”, because I even looked kind of Euro and wasn’t wearing a T-shirt, or sweats or having a fashion emergency according to Europeans. Then I froze and didn’t know what to say and had a panic attack and said, “Um, why?” and he proceeded to ramble on with some reason, in which I said fine because I didn’t know what else to do and I just didn’t want to make a scene, which it was too late. By this time the tables around us were all staring at us and his friend was coming over to take a picture. So I smiled trying to make it as fast as possible, until I see a red light on the back of the guys phone and he is videoing us, and then I realize the guy in the picture is making a kissing face towards me and too close for comfort. I didn’t know which one to stop first, so I started shouting to the guy that he was recording, while the guy next to me is saying, “Please just give me one kiss.” So I am pushing him away and telling him no, turning bright red from embarrassment, and trying to get this guy to hurry up, while all their friends are laughing and somewhat wondering if they should stop it. Needless to say, it was a disaster. Finally the guy was finished taking a “picture” and the other guy stayed and chatted. He was going on about how they were from Iceland and was here for the weekend and just wanted to have fun. I proceeded to tell him that it was sketchy what just happened but finally, I was saved when the woman I was with came back. Now I know next time to be direct and say no from the beginning and to not panic in those situations.

So we watched the game, and after we sat around and ate more food and had a couple drinks with two of the other women from my club. Right when we were going to leave, I had quick gone to the bathroom and I thought they knew, but I guess not because they left without me. So now I am in this big building and have no idea how to get out. A couple of the players had come out and so I decided to go in the elevator, but then realized I didn’t know what floor to get off on because I hadn’t paid attention when we came in. I guessed and ended up getting out on a floor with a bunch of people in suits who all stared at me like what are you doing here. I quickly pushed the button and got back on, and tried to act like I knew where I was going, but had NO IDEA. Finally, I made my way out and was thankful that most the people from the game had probably already gotten on the trains and so it wouldn’t be as crazy. You think you have seen crazy fans in the States, wait until you go to a soccer game with 60,000 people in Europe and these people are die-hard fans. And I was so wrong about missing the crowd. I got to the train stop and was pretty sure I was in the right place, until I saw literally over 40 policemen. Scary looking too, because they wear these green suits with helmets and body suits and have zero emotion. They were blocking the stairs to get to the train, so my first thought was that something really bad had happened. The fans were shouting and singing and going nuts, and I didn’t know whether to turn around (but I knew this was where I had to be), attempt to ask an emotionless “green man” in German what was happening, or just play it cool and wait it out. I went for the play it cool and wait it out option. A couple randos started to talk to me and I just pretended I wasn’t being spoken to. As if there wasn’t enough noise with the screaming, chanting, and singing drunken people; the police dogs were right by me and barking like crazy. If they didn’t have a muzzle on I think they would have bitten my legs right off. I didn’t know whether to laugh at this sight, or be scared. It was one of those times you wish someone was with you to laugh. So below are a video of the barricaded area and a picture of the police lined up before the train came. It was quite humorous. I was graced with chanting and pounding on the train walls the whole way home.  Lucky me. This is long, so the end.

The Emotionless "Green Men"