The Indians win! and travelling to Egypt

Last night Brian and I went to our third Hannover Indians hockey game. I know I've written about it before, but this time they actually won and so I thought I'd tell you more. We went to the game with Kent Todd, also known as Kent Todd Ice Hockey God. He's a Canadian from Alberta who used to play for the Indians and then coached them for a few years. Now he works at the International School but is Mr. Popularity at the games. I guess we were his entourage.

The stadium is all standing room and open on two sides with a big U-shaped roof over the rest. Last night it was packed - the Indians were playing the Bremerhaven Penguins who are apparently very good. The tickets and the signs and everything said Fischtown Penguins, which confused me because I didn't think the Germans would actually name a city Fischtown. They are not that corny. My lovely husband then told me that it's a nickname for Bremerhaven, which is on the sea. I guess that makes sense. The Indians have not been very good at all this season. I don't claim to know much about hockey but I'm learning a little and I really like going to the games. It's loud and crowded, you get to stand close to the action, and there's a smell of sausages in the air. The die-hard fans sing songs and beat drums and everyone high-fives when the Indians score a goal. They came from behind last night to win 5-4 in overtime. You can look at their website if you are interested: http://www.hannover-indians.de/
And for you Minnesotans out there, they did play the Gear Daddies zamboni song before the game started. We were proud.

Today is Christmas Eve and it's raining. That makes it sound kind of depressing, but we are not depressed. We are going to Egypt in two days. What says Christmas time more than camels and pyramids? I guess the 3 wise men rode camels, so maybe it is a good place to go this time of year. Packing for Egypt will take some thought - because it's a conservative Muslim country, modesty is important. Men can wear pretty much what they want, though shorts are not common, but women need to at least cover knees and shoulders in public. We will be in Cairo for 3 days, then we fly to Aswan, spend a night there, and get on a Nile cruise the next day. The cruise will take us to a lot of sights along the Nile and we will have plenty of guided tours of really old stuff. We will spend New Year's Eve on the cruise (there is sure to be a party in the 'on-board discotec') and end in Luxor, where  we spend another day and then return to Cairo and home.

Why Egypt? We are going with our good friends Tom (Dizzy) and Sonja. They had planned to go last year but never did. Then they invited us to go with them before we even moved to Germany. So now we are making it a foursome. It seems like a place that one should go at some point in life. The pyramids at Giza are the only remaining wonder of the ancient world. I think you should get a special stamp in your passport for that.

Yes, there have been protests and some violence in Cairo. From what we have heard, it's contained in the Tahrir square area of the city. We do not plan to head down there in shorts and tank tops, holding picket signs and waving flags. We do plan to stick to the other areas of Cairo that are safer and I am sure will be exciting enough for us without demonstrations.

So I will dig out some long skirts and get the camera charged up this Christmas. We will also continue our Christmas movie marathon, thanks to a Swiss website that is probably illegal but has all kinds of TV and movies in English. You won't hear from me again for a while - we are back Jan 4th. I plan to write the old fashioned way, in a journal, while we are there, so I can report the details to you later.

Frohe Weinachten to you all, have a very merry Christmas! Thanks for making this blog a fun project this year. There will be more to come in 2012.