The Black Traktors from Hong Kong

For those you yet don't know, then I can tell that i have become a soccer trainer for two teams from Renaissance College Hong Kong. The Under 20 and the under 16 teams and we have now also started the school tournament. On tuesday the 8th of April the U20ies took on the team from the Canadian International school. After a concentrated and well played 1st half The Black Traktors were in front 2 - 0. Then it happened like so often before, the team began to play halli galli and thought they were all Ronaldoes, and of course they then got a goal against them and had to fight quite hard not to get an equalizer as well. But at the end we were lucky and managed to keep the Canadians from scoring and the first game were won 2 - 1. Now we will have some talking to do to avoid the same errors to happen in the next games.

A young Canadian and her old rusty Chinese bike.

An unexpected visitor turned last week up at Bob and Yvonne's house. It was Holly Benson from Vancouver in Canada. She has been traveling around China for the last five months, have taught English for one month in the Yunan province where she met a Brazilian guy traveling China by bike. For the last month before coming here she joined him and went around the province by bike. She has very interesting stories to tell and thats why I mention this on this blog, and if somebody has any interest in reading about her trip can do it on her blog:
www.holly-adventures-china.blogspot.com

It is interesting reading and I must admit that I admire her courage taking on this adventure. She now left for Nepal but will be back in May. For the readers from the Medienkulturzentrum in Dresden I just have one question; can you see the amazing similarity with Rebecca Meining from PROfeel.Rebecca caught by Harald at the party in Alaunpark in Juli.

St. Pauli - and more comments on Football this week.(in German)

2. Bundesliga:
St. Pauli hat mal wieder gewonnen - und dann mal endlich in traktor manier -gleich 5 dinge reingehauen- und dann nicht traktor maessig- keine gegentore bekommen. War aber auch endlich wieder zeit im abstiegs kampf sich einen dreier auf das konto buchen zu koennen.
Champions league:
Was in ein spiel keinen Elfmeter ist, ist dann gleich im naechsten spiel dann doch einen. Und so kommt es das der FC Liverpool statt FC Arsenal, ins Halbfinal gegen die nutten aus London antritt. Schade das wieder Schiedsrichter fehler spiele entscheidet, und jetzt koennte es fuer den FC Arsenal eine ganz bittere ende eine eigentlich sehr gute saison bedeuten, wo wieder mal keinen neuen Trophae in die Vitrine reinkommt. Aber herzlichen glueckwuensch an den FC Liverpool und bitte dann auch einen platz ins Finale.
Uefa Cup:
Go Getafe Go Go.
Viva Traktor Trotzdem, viva Alaunpark.
Traktor 007

You can't always get what you want!

And sometimes it is right that way like yesterday where the mighty FC Bayern Munic took on the no name club from the suburbs in Madrid; FC Getafe, to something they might have thought would be a walkover on the way to the Final in the Uefa Cup. But "pustekuchen" the no names scored an equalizer in the last minut, so now FC Bayern might not even win what they call "the Cup of the Losers" -the Uefa Cup.
Maybe it is because of the breakfast the two teams might have had on the day of the game.Here the typical Bavarian breakfast; Weisswurst mit suessen Senf und Brezeln mit Weissbier.
And what might FC Getafe eat for Breakfast? Maybe the same like their coach Michael Laudrup.

Solgryn is product of oatmeal and maybe it really was the secret of Mr. Laudrup's abilities on a football pitch. Who don't remember can have a look in the following clip.


Traktor 007

Forza The Gunners and their stunning goals...

Yesterday in the Champions league it wasn't the best, but just enjoy this clip and hope for next week.


Go Traktor Arsenal Go!!!

Macau - war ma super gau -part II!

Macau is a former Portuguese colony on the south coast of China and is as Hong Kong a Special Administrative Region. From Hong Kong you can get to Macau by boat or helicopter. The journey by boat is apx. one hour. There is several companies who offers trips and they go on an hourly basis through the hole day. The main attraction in Macau is now the huge numbers of Casinos where you either can add money to your budget or -more more possible- loose some, and thats why that you have to pay for your Hotel upfront. Since the handover from Portugal to China in 1999, Macau has developed to be maybe the biggest gambling resort of the world and more and more Casinos are added every year.We didn't go there mainly because of the Casinos. There is so much else to see. Where Hong Kong is a melting pot of English and Chinese culture, then Macau is it in Portuguese and Chinese culture and the influence from Portugal is obvious in the old city's architecture, and walking through the small narrow streets can make you feel like walking around in Porto or Lisboa, if it wasn't for all the Chinese people.On our way through the old city center we became aware of the new wealth which the massive investments in Casino and hotel resorts has brought to Macau in the resent years. All over you see new building sites and reconstructions of the old building volume in the city center, but a bit apart from the tourist sights you'll see the city in a very poor condition. It is like you have two different societies in one space; the new and booming Gambling resorts, built mainly on reclaimed new land, and then the old original part which seems to have been forgotten as the money has been thrown into this place which promises a big turnover for it's investors. Venice is now in Macau, and called "The Venetian" and is one of the new mega Gambling and Hotel resorts -own by the Las Vegas Sands hotel-casino chain- which offers its guests a "camp" version of Venice with channels and gondoliers and free shuttel bus from the airport and ferry terminal. Despite from the feeling of entering a fake world, we managed to have a nice time finding our way through the old and genuine parts and we found some real nice spots and an exellent Portuguese restaurant called "A LORCHA". If you visit Macau it's worth trying, but you have to reserve a table because it is busy and always FULL. -alorcha@macau.ctm.net-
The food is stunning, the portions big and enough for two and it is quite cheap too, so what more do you want?Of course we also went into one of the big Casinos in the evening to see and feel the atmosphere in a place like that. The entrance is free, there is no dress code and nobody forces you to anything, you can walk around an watch the gamblers try there luck in a various number of games. The place was huge with gambling, bars and restaurants on several floors and it was quite full on a Thursday night and it is open around the clock, so if thats you want, you don't even need a hotel room if you want to visit Macau.