revisions and reactions

[olmue]

Woke up feeling excited about getting back to the revision, thanks to awesome suggestions/crit from a friend who has absolutely no time to be critting right now! Thank you! It will take some thought, but I feel positive. Unfortunately, I also need to see the whole thing physically because I have to be able to check how it affects later parts if I change something earlier, I need to mark things all the way through, I need to move a few more things around, etc. I printed out the first few chapters, only to discover that we really, REALLY need more toner. So I'll get to wait for that. In the meantime, I've got a lot to contemplate, though.

Also, it was interesting to go in town today and hear different reactions to the soccer game last night. I've mentioned how bizarre and almost un-German it is to see all these German flags waving and people being proud to be German. Well, not everyone is convinced. The younger people and the people who simply have a more positive outlook on life all agree it was a great game to watch. The first couple I talked to (young grandparents, positive-outlook people) said what great teams both Germany and Turkey had, and "at that point it's just luck who gets the most points first." The next person (woman in her 50s) said, "The Turks went in with nothing to lose because they'd never gotten that far before, so they played in full happiness (voll Freude). But the German team played horribly. They didn't deserve to win. The Turks should have won." Next person, man in 50s, didn't think the German team was all that special, either. Pessimistic on who would win. Also thought the German politikers were awfully restrained during the game, but then again, he hates Angela Merkel (German chancellor), so he'd probably disapprove of whatever she did at the game. So I'm sensing this inability to accept the fact that we have a great team and we can be happy about it. Things are slowly changing, though. I remember when I came here for the first time and people would ask me how I liked Germany. Of course I said I liked it (repeat with me: be positive when visiting another country, even if you're dealing with adjustment issues!). The nearly unanimous response was, "Why? I hate it. Germany is horrible." Which I thought was pretty weird to say about your own country.These days (later date, different place), most people we meet are delighted that our kids identify so heavily with Germany. In a roundabout way they're saying that hey, it's actually a great place to live. But these things change slooooowly.

Anyway, I at any rate hope we do well in the final game, and even if we don't, I'm excited that we've gotten this far! Go Deutschland!

Comments

[angie-frazier.livejournal.com]

Wow, how strange to hear people saying their own country stinks! It sounds as if this game has really altered some viewpoints. Thanks for the coverage of it! It's been very interesting to read about.

And good luck with your revisions, too. I know what you mean, needing to print the whole thing out and look at it as a "whole."

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, apparently Nurnberg was one of the hosts for the World Cup just weeks before we moved here in 2006, and nobody had taken down their flags yet. It was like walking into an unknown country--flags in Germany??? It's been good. No, you don't want to take it too far and take over the world or anything, but a little bit of pride in where you live and the ability to acknowledge the good about the place is healthy, IMO. So hurray for soccer!

[edawn.livejournal.com]

Ok, the German team took a little while to find their game, but I thought they did well in the end. The Turkish were playing full force, and they did well, even if you don't consider that they were playing with more or less a reserve team since two were out on red cards and several were out with injuries. They have nothing to be ashamed of. They did fine. The Germans should have done better in comparison, considering what they were supposedly up against, but I thought they did fine. I have been watching this team enough to have a little bit of feel for how they are doing according to their abilities, and, like I said, they took a little while to get going.

I was really bugged by the fact that these guys just won the semi-final and qualified for the final, and the reporters, within minutes of the game, were asking what was wrong with them that night. One reporter went so far as to point out how inadequate such a performance would be agianst the next opponent, and that if the team didn't make some major improvement, they would fail. Nice! I should be used to this behavior, but I'm not.

[olmue.livejournal.com]

That was totally uncalled for on the reporters' parts. But as I saw today, many people still can't be comfortable with Germany being good at something. It's just a game, people. Just be happy and enjoy life.

I thought they were kind of scattered at the beginning, too, but one thing that's great about the German team is that not only is Lehmann an awesome Torwart, but the rest of the team is willing to take risks in the hope of scoring. If everyone is very calculated and only takes necessary risks, you prevent the other team from scoring, but you can't win, either. For that you need points. And that's where I think the German games are so much more interesting than the other ones. (Just checked in at Spain-Russia--null-null so far. I'll check back in another hour if I'm still awake.)

At least the final should be interesting.

[edawn.livejournal.com]

I know. I thought: They won. What more do you want from them?

A French co-worker of DH's said that it bothers him to think that if Germany wins the competition, they will just be like, "It wasn't that good."

Oh, I think Olli Kahn (I think that's how you spell that name) is better, but he just retired. So, I guess, he was better.

[meredith-wood.livejournal.com]

Hope the revisions keep going smooth for ya!

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Thanks--me, too! It's supposed to be slightly cooler the rest of the week, so maybe that will help my brain as well.