Most of a week has gone by since the World Cup finished up with an exciting, close game that ended late into extra time with a German goal and win. I expected Germans, who change work and school schedules around World Cup games, and party well into the night celebrating lower tier wins, to be ecstatic, and on Sunday night they were.
The few (illegal, when not New Years Eve) fireworks that had not been used up, all seemed to be set off within 5 minutes of the final whistle blow. Shortly thereafter, the honking started. We went for a walk into town and there were several people driving round and round, honking and waving flags, while others stood along the edge of the street waving flags and cheering as they went by. Most seemed to be driving safely and carefully--we did see one instance of stupidity, a car with someone laying across the hood as it drove around.
At the public viewing, many people were still watching the post game interviews, shots of the team on the field with their families, etc.
(photo from Fifa.com)
I fell asleep around 2:00, a bit more than 2 hours after the game, and the honking and cheering was still going strong.
So, I was a little surprised on Monday when everything seemed to be back to normal. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was expecting something. I think I heard less post game talk Monday than after the quarter and semi final matches. The same held true for Rio at school and Dave who is actually working in Germany this week.
There was a bit more interest and conversation on Tuesday, when the team arrived back in Germany and was welcomed by a huge group in Berlin (where it appears people were still celebrating!)--but still not much. With all the huge amount of hype and excitement and talk about the World Cup before and during, I am a bit surprised about how little there is after here in Heidelberg.
--Hadley
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