Germany - Badminton and Dirt on the Court

So I mentioned something a bit back about being slightly off my game over here...well, last night was another good example :-) Mr. Ronny Kschiwan and Ms. Karina Hentrich invited me to play badminton with them last night. Mr. Honicke has been asking around for people who could take me out to do some active things in the area. When I heard about badminton, my vision went to when I was, I don't know, maybe 8 or 10, playing at the family picnics. Pretty low key, not really sweating at all. So I figured this was just going to be a relaxing time with a few of their friends outside somewhere. Plus Ronny said afterwards we would go to the Beer Garden, which is a term for a bar/resturant that is outside under a large roof/cover. So, with all the in mind, I dressed for the Beer Garden, plaid shorts, a polo shirt and sandals.

I rode to the fitness center with Ronny, so that was my first shock, that we were in doors, and when Karina arrived, she was already in workout gear, and Ronny had a bag of clothes to change into. Then Mr. Jochen Walter arrived, and he was in workout gear as well. I think Ronny assumed I has some clothes in my pocket :-)

So, we headed to the gym, and as I am watching the badminton players, I realize I am really underdressed, especially in the footwear department, and I am going to sweat quite a bit. Here is the scene.


We decided it would be best for me to play barefoot. Karina said that she has seen little children do it before so why not. So we divide up into teams, Karina and I against Ronny and Jochen. Karina and I take a serious hit the first game, not even close. We brought it together the second game thought and won, and this is where I learned that Katrina and Ronny are very competitive in this game, so it was quite entertaining to watch her slam the birdie into the ground at his feet numerous times, and him get frustrated and swear in German....and English, for my benefit I think.

This was much more of a workout than I anticipated, it was very fun though, and I had a good time playing with them. Bottom line though, in case you are curious, the good guys and gals came out on top 4 games to 2, but not without some sacrifices. The floor was a little dirty, which was hard to detect with the eye, but my feet had no problem revealing this.



But the worst part, hidden under all this dirt, was this

Tough to tell, but essentially, I had developed blisters on the bottom of my big toe and the ball of my left foot. I didn't really notice this, until around game five, I felt that the bottoms of my left foot was no longer moving and reacting as quickly as I would like, and it kind hurt when I moved. This is when the blister skin broke away from the flesh, so it was just loose skin on the bottom of my foot. I know, good image right. So, I have a bit of a limp this morning, but it was worth the victory......

After the gym, they all showered there, and Ronny was nice enough to take me back to the hotel to shower and change. Then we went to a Beer Garden in the villiage where Karina lives, I cannot remember the name of either unfortunatly. It was nice though, very open, the river was about 10 feet to our left, great weather, I had another good German dish and some good German wine. Here is the scene.

sorry, this pic is a little blurry

The river is right behind me here

We ate chatted about world travel, the Fist of Zen show that is on TV here, my adventures in Germany, cultural differences, and how the part of the US they see on TV are all people from a small area in California, and is not representative of our entire nation, until about 10:30, then we headed out. Here is what the place looks like when they turn the lights on...another bad pic, sorry.

So another good day in Germany, with another adventure, and another miscalculation on my part of what I was getting myself into........