Meeting Liz

Yesterday was a great day. The number one reason it was a great day was because I got to meet Liz Wörley. Liz is living in Berlin working for Athletes in Action and playing for a soccer (football) team. I contacted AIA about a week ago when I saw on their website that they are in Berlin. I basically just wanted to reach out and see if AIA had anything I could get involved with, people I could befriend, connections with good churches or if they do a Bible study, anything! The guy that responded told me that I should meet up with Liz so she emailed me and we arranged it.

I had no idea what sort of person Liz would be. I did not know if she was American or German (turns out she is both, she was born and raised in the US but her dad is German so she actually has dual citizenship). I did not know if she would be older or younger than me, what her personality would be like or what our time together would be like. Liz text me on Thursday morning to figure out where to meet. We decided on a train station in a large shopping area in Berlin. She told me to look for her- 6'1" with brown hair, wearing jeans and a khaki jacket...I laughed...okay, so I should look for myself? I wrote her back, 'I am 6', brown hair, jeans and a white jacket.'

I got off my train that afternoon at our meeting time and started looking around. At last I saw her walking up to me. It was so funny. She looked like she had gotten dressed in my closet. We both had on dark wash skinny jeans, our hair in ponytails with a headband, she had on chuck Taylor's and her jacket looks just like one that is hanging in my closet- and she was wearing it over a hoodie. You people who have been around me much know my affinity for hoodies...She looked to be around the same age as me. I was so relieved to see that at first glance, this is a person I think I can like.

Liz came up to me, us both laughing, and shook my hand and introduced herself. With that, she was off. She started walking and talking as though we had about 45 minutes to learn everything about each other and to eat. I matched her stride and began answering all of her questions. For a moment the barrage of questions stopped (like, how long have you been here, who do you play for, where are you living, do you like Berlin, does your coach speak English?) they stopped just long enough for her to say, 'IhavesomanyquestionsforyouwheredoyouwanttogoareyouhungryIdon'tknowwhereweareIdon'tknowthisarea' ha ha ha. 'Liz is a whirlwind,' I thought. The rest of the afternoon would only confirm that. My next thought was, we have been walking along at break neak speed, I had assumed because Liz knew exactly where she was going and wanted to get there right away. No, that is just how Liz walks. Every step is determined, even when wandering. I laughed when she told me that she had no idea where we were. I let her know that I had no idea either. 'Let's go this way' she responded, and took off in a new direction. That happened a few more times. Each time I just said 'Ok!' and followed my new friend along. Liz continued to ask questions or answer my questions,
Liz:'amItalkingtoofastLetmeknowifIamtalkingtoofast,peopletellmeallthetimethatItalktoofast.'
Me: ha ha, no you are fine! (In my head, but how do the Germans understand a word? Why is it that I suddenly feel that I have southern drawl? I remember in high school I dated a guy from Georgia, I thought that he talked SO slowly. I felt that Liz must feel that way about me) ha ha!

We walked on and talked about her experience so far in Berlin. She has been here since March. I quickly learned that my experience has been a cake walk in comparison to hers. Hardly anyone around her speaks English. Her coach does not speak English and so he does not even try to communicate with her. Her teammates are more distant...I felt a little guilty when she asked me how it was with my team...'Uh...everyone on my team speaks English, a few of the girls speak it really well...my coach speaks good English. He is really kind. The first day he told me not to worry about not knowing the plays and to just go do my thing.' We talked about the adjustments to the new culture and to the weather.
Liz: 'yeah, this getting all dressed up everyday? It sucks! I miss my sweatpants!'
I laughed and agreed. If you wear sweatpants out of the house people look at you like you are in your pajamas. Last night I was coming home from basketball practice and I had on basketball shorts and I caught a few stares.

Anyway, we wandered down a sidestreet and happened upon this little pasta and panini place. It was deeelicious.We made a mental note of where we were so that we could return. We talked more about our backgrounds. Liz is 23 and played soccer at Drake University. She has been involved with AIA for years. She is here with them on support. We talked about our families and faith.

We strolled through H&M and pointed out a few things we liked and then how we had no room for anything in our suitcases and walked back out. We went to Nike town and lamented how much more expensive everything is in Berlin (as if Nike wasn't already expensive enough). Oh, and one great thing about NikeTown, when I walked up I was greeted with this:

Ha ha, I dont actually know Allyson. But I am friends with her brother, and it just felt good to be in a foreign city and feel like you are seeing something that you know. She was on the wall inside a couple of times also and on the flat screen tv inside they were playing videos of athletes talking about their workouts, so I listened to Allyson explain to me why she does core workouts. I was ready to do one right then.

Liz and I walked and talked some more (found out she loves to read, also like me, and she loves coffee shops!) and soon it was time to go. She had her practice in an hour and I needed to go home and get ready for mine as well. We hugged and said we need to get together at least once a week. We are also planning on tryin an English speaking church in Berlin on Saturday night (perfect because most sports teams play on Sundays)...I was so excited to have a friend and a place to go to church.

(I know I know, how can I have anymore to say? But I think the following is funny so I am including it)

Yesterday evening I decided to try to get to practice early so I would have more time to warm up before we got started. FAIL. I made the mistake of bringing a book with me. I was reading in the train station and realized I had better go catch my bus. I walked up RIGHT as my bus was pulling away. 'Oh well,' I thought, 'I will just stand here and read and wait the ten minutes for the next one.' Ten minutes went by really fast. I looked up and realized my bus was there and everyone had already gotten on it. I dashed on board. I thought I got a couple of strange looks. I realized I had jumped on the bus in the middle, instead of going to the front door where you show the driver your ticket. Where I got on was the door where people get off. I hoped no one thought I was a delinquent...Surely everyone at some time has accidentally jumped on in the middle?

I did not have time to warm up at practice. My knees were HURTING and I was playing like poo. My coach was correcting me at every turn. No, use your other foot. Use your left hand on the left side. You are travelling (I have GOT to get used to the European step, it is different so Americans ALWAYS get called for travelling). When we shot around Tini told me, 'yeah, that wasn't so good.'

Later coach was teaching us a new inbounds play. 'So in the corner we want our best shooter on the floor, so probably Dani or Jessi.' Tini interjected, 'I would have to say Dani tonight.' I started cracking up. God Bless German straightforwardness (is that a word?). Everyone else laughed too. Coach looked at me and I shrugged, 'shooting didn't go so well today.'

After practice I had to fill out some forms. Timur was trying to help me read them (because they were in German, not because I can't read people)...On one of the forms he was struggling to tell me what to do...'this one is hard' he said...I thought to myself 'I can't feel too bad if even the Germans can't read German.' It took us forever to get the forms filled out because I kept writing things in the wrong places- either bc he told me wrong or bc I misunderstood. When I finally got it all filled out correctly we both raised our arms in victory.

Bc I was leaving practice so late I didn't take the time to change. MISTAKE. HUGE MISTAKE. By the time I got off the train in Falkensee it was nearly 11:00 PM and it was COLD. I decided that A) I was an idiot for not changing and B)I was going to have to run home, both to keep myself warm and to make it go faster...

The run was more of a pathetic jog, especially because I had my duffel bag on my back, also because there are so many parts of the path home that are pitch black and i would get nervous for my ankles. On those parts I would stop and walk carefully (the streets and sidewalks are very uneven) and then when I got into some light again I would jog again. Once again I found myself chuckling. The few cars that passed probably thought 'who is this nutcase running down the sidewalk late at night with a bag on her back?'

But I made it home safe and sound (answer to prayers) and I was happy to have had another great day on this German Adventure.