Life in Svan
- 7 Jul 06, 10:12 AM
BERLIN - The World Cup is almost over and it's time perhaps to try to provide a glimpse of what it has been like living in Svan for the past month.
We are currently parked in a temporary campsite somewhere in Berlin. In an effort to disguise the fact that we are basically in what looks like a abandoned piece of land the owners have laid sand over the entire area and dubbed it a crazy beach party.
Despite having been here less than 24 hours, Svan is already starting to fill with sand, giving everything a slightly gritty feel.
Even though there is hardly anybody staying here at the moment, a group of lads - possibly including the Australians in the mobile home next to ours - seemed to spend most of the evening in the bar next to the camping area, most of it yelling, sorry singing, at their top of their voice until the early hours.
The late night sing song - like the temporary campsite - has been a feature of our stay and I think it's only right that fans who have saved hard to come here should make sure they enjoy themselves.
More difficult to take is the early morning sing song. The Australians announced to the campsite that they had woken this morning by banging out a tune with their hands on the side of their van.
At different times I have been brought out of my slumber by , various Latino songs, a few Dutch numbers and some rather awful Europop.
A group of blokes that I know regularly started their morning by playing .
Generally, though, it is the heat that wakes me up. It has been a sweltering month and by early morning sleeping becomes nigh on impossible.
Several times we have stayed at a town without an actual campsite, but most places in Germany appear to at least have a car park where you are allowed to stay the night.
We pulled up at one such place in Ulm to discover camper van after camper van, many with people sat outside in their chairs, enjoying a drink and the evening sunshine.
Given that Ricco and I pledged very early on not to use the toilet in Svan these parking places can cause problems early in the morning when one really needs to visit a convenience.
The morning in Ulm was one such example - quite simply the call of nature would not be ignored.
Desperate, I noticed a guy from a nearby camper van striding with purpose even though it looked as though he had only just got up. After some thought I went in his direction and discovered Ulm's stadium.
It was unlocked as there were plenty of people using the facilities and I discovered a toilet a class above any found at football grounds in England. Bliss.
Everybody we meet asks us whether the van stinks by now - after all we have been living in it for more than a month.
I can honestly say that it doesn't really - and I don't think it is that dirty either.
Admittedly there are quite a few newspapers and bits of clothing scattered all over the place but I think the decision not to use the toilet has been a wise one.
However, perhaps the man to ask will be fellow blogger Mandeep, who joins us on Sunday for the journey home and might pick up smells that we stopped noticing weeks ago.
Ricco has his area at the back, with lots of cables all over the place from his various bits of technology, and I sleep above the cabin, regularly banging my head on the roof.
I have grown to like the freedom that a mobile home affords you - but I think I am more or less ready to return to the boring normality of a one-bedroom flat.
By the way, one of the newspapers that we reguarly buy is . It is clearly not the paper of choice for intellectuals but, not speaking German, has plenty of pictures for me to look at.
I was reading it on Wednesday and was almost moved to tears by the torturous plight facing Danni (18), pictured wearing next to nothing on the front page.
Danni has been removing an item of clothing for every game played - when the article was published there were three games left but the girl only had one item left to remove.
It all seemed a bit much for Danni, who was at a loss as to what to do but was bravely smiling her way through this most difficult time.
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Will yo sell me svan?
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Are you reporters? Can't you go in Casa Italia, there are many italian reporters, I saw on tv, eating spaghetti for free....ciao and forza azzurri!
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"By the way, one of the newspapers that we reguarly buy is Bild. It is clearly not the paper of choice for intellectuals but, not speaking German, has plenty of pictures for me to look at."
Haha, even if you could speak German, there would not be much more content to discover ;-)...
Good luck for your way back home, I am sure many other Germans will miss your great blog, just like me. Great job!
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Poor Danni. Maybe you can adopt her, Paul, and give her a ride in Svan... ehm, maybe I should stop these cheap groaners now... :-)
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Just agree with Matthias (Post 3)! Go on like that and good luck on your way back to the UK. Remember driving on the "wrong" side again ;-)
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Im sure the one bedroom flat and the inmate will be looking forward to your return home on Monday.
I think it has been a good tournament with some good and some not so good football matches. I think on the whole it has been played in good sportmanship style by all teams.The supporters from all over the world have been great. Who will win on Sunday i wouldnt like to say but lets hope it is a good entertaining game.Lets hope it doesnt go to penalties. Who do you think will win on sunday and third place on saturday.
Have a good couple of days and a safe journey home.
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You're right, Bild certainly isn't the intellectuals choice, but having been a regular reader when I lived in Germany for a year, it's certainly entertaining and its brief reports make it ideal for foreign learners of German. To link it to the portugal debate, and in particular the post on the other blog claiming that there was no evidence of Ronaldo being scapegoated, German speakers might find the following article ineresting:
Note to non-German speakers: the headline roughly translates as 'England suffering from penalty madness: And they're said to be the founders of fair play?" Its a comment on British tabloid hsyteria (ironically so considering Bild's own record of fair play isn't great.)
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You're right, Bild certainly isn't the intellectuals choice, but having been a regular reader when I lived in Germany for a year, it's certainly entertaining and its brief reports make it ideal for foreign learners of German. To link it to the portugal debate, and in particular the post on the other blog claiming that there was no evidence of Ronaldo being scapegoated, German speakers might find the following article ineresting:
Note to non-German speakers: the headline roughly translates as 'England suffering from penalty madness: And they're said to be the founders of fair play?" Its a comment on British tabloid hsyteria (ironically so considering Bild's own record of fair play isn't great.)
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I would just like to recommend a website which features a lot of criticism on the german newspaper called "bild".
www.bildblog.de
By the way, I enjoyed reading your blog quite a lot, although i am not into that kind of stuff normally. I am especially pleased with the fact that you as well as other brits have changed their opinion on Germany and its people obviously abandoning a lot of stereotypes which I had to face whilst living in London for about a year's time. I bid you farewell and may your journey back home be safe and swift.
Yours
Greg
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I would just like to recommend a website which features a lot of criticism on the german newspaper called "bild".
www.bildblog.de
By the way, I enjoyed reading your blog quite a lot, although i am not into that kind of stuff normally. I am especially pleased with the fact that you as well as other brits have changed their opinion on Germany and its people, abandoning a lot of stereotypes which I had to face whilst living in London for about a year's time. This World Cup really has been a time to make friends. I bid you farewell and may your journey back home be safe and swift.
Yours
Greg
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I would just like to recommend a website which features a lot of criticism on the german newspaper called "bild".
www.bildblog.de
By the way, I enjoyed reading your blog quite a lot, although i am not into that kind of stuff normally. I am especially pleased with the fact that you as well as other brits have changed their opinion on Germany and its people, abandoning a lot of stereotypes which I had to face whilst living in London for about a year's time. This World Cup has really been a time to make friends. I bid you farewell and may your journey back home be safe and swift.
Yours
Greg
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