Hallo! Wie schön das Sie vorbei schauen.

Heute, möchte ich ihnen gerne eine kleine, persönliche Geschichte erzählen. This happened while my friend and I were in Frankfurt–am-Main.

“Euh … so what exactly are they chasing?” Frage ich mein Freund after a while. I am utterly clueless. Tja, bis dahin hatte ich jedenfalls keine Ahnung was sich da abspielte. Was wusste ich schon von diesem Sport? Überhaupt nichts!

Stellen Sie sich mal vor. Hier stand ich, auf der oberste decke einer Eishalle… für das erste Mal in meinem Leben! It is all a big blur: people screaming, music blasting. I remember being engulfed by this wave of Leute trying to get to … who knows where? I look down onto the ice surface — remember I was in the nosebleeds — so alles and everyone looks tiny from my vantage point. Ich sehe die Spieler, mit their brightly colored jerseys, swinging these tall thin sticks with curves at the end, skating hin und her, going after… something?

Tatsächlich! Ich war twenty years alt when I was first introduced to the game of hockey. Don’t get me wrong, I had heard that there is a sport called ice hockey. I was aware that they skate on ice and play against other teams, aber für ein junges Mädchen wie ich, who grew up in a small Alsatian village bordering Germany, that was the extend of it — hockey was just not part of my everyday vocabulary, and anyway, sports were just not that interesting to me at that point in meinem leben.

Nun, da stehe ich. Ich sehe the nets and the players going back and forth, aber das ist alles. Du meine Güte! Was spielt sich da an? Am I missing something? I turn zu meinem Freund und fragte: “Euh … so what exactly are they chasing?” Peinlich, was? “Wie bitte? What little black disc?” What ever is he talking about! “That little black speck? That’s what they’re chasing?” That’s what they use to score on the opposing team?

Erstaunlich! It all makes sense now. How embarrassing! Needless to say that was the end of my fragen.

Ich höre zu, nodding my head politely, as mein Freund kindly and patiently explains the rules to me. It sounds interesting, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. Face-off? Icing? Plötzlich, my ears are overtaken by all the sounds from the Eishalle merging into one, never-ending buzz, and … well … I can’t recall what happens after that.

Aber eins kann ich Ihnen sagen. Now that I live in New England, I have succumbed to the magic of this fast-paced sport. As I watch my favorite hockey team am Fernsehen, I sit at the edge of my seat, feeling mein Hertz pumping. Ich spüre the adrenaline rushing through my veins, as if I were one with the team. Yeah … Jetzt verstehe ich the game. Now, I can appreciate the swift moves from my favorite player as he flies across the ice, the skilled handling of the puck when he touches it. The finely executed pass to a teammate, who shoots and scores, and über alles, the incredible sportsmanship that seems to exude from him — Dieser Typ ist einfach Klasse!

Ja woll, das clueless junge Mädchen has come a long way, thanks to the patience of some. I have become an avid ice hockey fan. A fan, who always manages to get “that look” from people sitting next to her, as they follow a game on TV, who is told to, “please relax” and, “stop telling the players what to do” because, “they can’t hear you anyway!” Klar, das weiß ich doch! I just can’t help it; hockey does that to you! Für mich, that day at the Eishalle will always have a special meaning. For it was the day, ice hockey burst into my life.

Ich hoffe meine Geschichte hat Ihnen Spaß gemacht. Macht’s gut und bis zum nächsten Mal.

Tschüss,

Nathalie