Euro2008 – Expect Emotions!

In these last few months, we were reminded again by how “into” soccer Europeans are. Of course, soccer fever heightened to a barely-controlled frenzy in our area when Germany made it through the semi-final round of the Euro2008 soccer games to play Spain in the final round. This tournament, which comes around every four years, is bigger here than the Superbowl is in America. We marveled at the number of car windows sporting small German flags. Houses were decorated to the hilt with German flags and banners everywhere. We saw a dog spray-painted with yellow, black, and red. Even the Germans themselves were dressed in Germany’s colors – sometimes with hair to match – for every soccer match in which Germany played. Unfortunately, despite all of its fans’ enthusiasm and excitement, Germany was not able to pull off making the needed goals to win the final game. And so the flags and colors have been put away until the next tournament.

Rolladen

One of the most practical European inventions we’ve enjoyed here that we haven’t seen in the U.S. are what’s called “rolladen” (pronounced roh-lah-dehn). Rolladen are blinds or screens that roll down over the windows in your apartment or house and keep out all light. Years ago, they were used for blackout purposes during war times. These days, they are used for sleeping and for keeping the house cool in the summer time. It’s handy to be able to completely darken the room when it’s still light outside at 10 pm!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho! It’s Off to Strike We Go!

When we lived in Belgium, it was pretty common to hear about various strikes happening when workers were unhappy with their working conditions. We remember one particular instance when all of the truck drivers in Belgium went on strike. They protested by driving their semi trucks together in packs across the width of a highway very, very slowly, causing all kinds of traffic headaches. That strike was resolved within one day probably because it was so annoying and impacted so many people!

This week in Germany, we just experienced a 10-day milk strike. The dairy farmers – unhappy with the Government’s attempt to lower milk prices when prices for the farmers are only going up – decided to stop selling their milk, period. Stores were beginning to run out of their dairy supply, which caused their customers to experience the milk and butter shortages. Thankfully, as of yesterday, parties on both sides have come to an agreement to bring the milk prices back up to about $1 per liter or just under $4 per gallon.

Who knows? Next week, maybe it’ll be the cows on strike…