To start it off, I went to my first boxing match. It was the heavy weight world title match actually. Random. It was held in Dusseldorf at the local football arena.
Klitschko (Ukrain) versus Chambers (USA). Klitschko is a fan favorite over here in Europe – and was expected to win easily. Our tickets were pretty far away but we were still able to see.
Indoor pyrotechnics and light show.
The “let’s get ready to ruuuummmmbbblllle” guy was there to get things going.
Action shot
If this bout was in the states, we wouldn’t have been able to get tickets, so it was fun just to experience it. I learned that there are 12, 3 minute rounds. The fight went all the way to the 12th round when, with 15 seconds remaining, Klitschko KO’d Chambers. Boo! Fight over. Germans were happy. There was singing.
The next night, I went back to that same arena – this time to see Fortuna Dusseldorf Football Club take on another team. I would offer more information but I really have no idea who they played. I do know, however, that the game was a draw at 0-0 and was kind of boring.
European soccer... I mean football or fussball in Deutsch... is funny. As far as I can tell, the fans are just having a singing contest. There are flags, there are synchronized claps, chants, jumping and the occasional fire in the stands (don’t worry mom – that was nowhere near me and quickly extinguished). The atmosphere is far more interesting than the game if you ask me.
The greatest thing though is that Fortuna is in the B league, but still managed to pull out probably 40K fans for the game. Impressive.
Before going on to the next activity you probably need a touch of background. Several of my co-workers in the German office are into martial arts. Like WAY into martial arts – and all varieties. I feel very safe in the office because if anyone caused trouble there would be at least 4-5 black belted ninjas to take care of business.
One of my co-workers, Mahmut, actually is the reigning European Champion in Filipino Martial Arts. He and his brother own a gym and were offering a self defense class so of course Abe and I signed up.
Now, this class was probably a little advanced for Abe and I but we made the best of it. My only requirement of the class was that I wanted to learn how to flip someone.
Watch out would-be attackers – because now I can!
That about wraps up March. Stay tuned because April was off to a strong start with an Easter weekend spent in Majorca, Spain. Post to come soon!!
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